Future Audiophile Magazine

Reading Time: 11 minutes Believe it or not, Denon has been building turntables for more than half a century. The Japanese brand’s current flagship model, the DP-3000NE (buy at Crutchfield), is priced at $2,799 and represents the pinnacle of what the company knows how to do with an analog source. However, for most people, that price is simply out of reach and above budget.

Reading Time: 11 minutes It seems like such an obvious statement. One with little ambiguity or question. Yet the manner in which most people, audiophiles and non-audiophiles alike, actually listen to music is remarkably varied. Not surprisingly, the non-audiophile world may easily think those of us who practice the art of audiophilia as certifiably nuts. We go through all these, what, gyrations, just to listen to a song? Why? Who cares? It’s just a song, right? Um, no.

Reading Time: 11 minutes If you follow subwoofer coverage and reviews on FutureAudiophile.com with any regularity, the name SVS should need very little introduction. Ohio-based SVS has quietly become one of the most trusted and widely recommended subwoofer brands in the audiophile hobby, thanks to a consistent formula of high-performance engineering, competitive pricing, best-in-class DSP control, and customer service that has put most of the industry on notice.

Reading Time: 7 minutes A few weeks ago, I took a Sunday trip to the Santa Barbara area with a new woman that I have been dating. Tall, brunette and Australian – respectfully, I could listen to her talk about anything and be entertained far better than any radio or streaming service. To start our day together, we went for a stylish little lunch in the village of Montecito, which is just south of Santa Barbara.

Reading Time: 8 minutes A growing popular trend in high performance audio these days is component consolidation partnered with a smaller footprint system. Many modern audiophiles simply lack the necessary physical real estate to house mammoth racks with three or four shelves full of stereo components. At the same time, as audiophiles, we want performance, we want a reasonable cost, and we want our components to engage some measure of a modest visual statement. Basically, we want it all.

Reading Time: 8 minutes These are exciting times to be an audiophile. It wasn’t long ago that really good-sounding equipment was financially out of reach for many of us. Value-oriented companies such as Schiit, Topping, Benchmark and countless others have been pushing back against this old paradigm for several years now. Ferrum is a quasi-newcomer that can be added to this value/performance list.

Reading Time: 7 minutes The mission statement at this publication is to bring younger and more diverse people into the audiophile hobby. While there are audiophiles who are solely into the stereo components, the real enthusiasts start with a deep love of music. That love of music develops over time and is part of a lifelong education that has to start somewhere.

Reading Time: 9 minutes I wonder if anyone outside of vinyl junkies purchases physical copies of music anymore? While recently in a slowly dying mall, I happened across a regional pop-culture store that my daughter wanted to browse. Of course they had vinyl, but also CDs and a small collection of new cassette tapes. This store, which also stocked a copious amount of pickle-flavored candy, also had available for purchase a portable cassette player complete with wired on-ear headphones.

Reading Time: 12 minutes We hope that Arkansas-based Klipsch does not require a lengthy introduction as one of the most recognizable legacy audio brands of the modern audiophile era. Like many big-name manufacturers, Klipsch makes everything from entry-level bookshelf speakers, sold at big box stores, to $40,000-per-pair custom Klipsch Heritage Jubilee floorstanding speakers, with seemingly endless product offerings in between.

Reading Time: 8 minutes While the use of subwoofers can be a polarizing topic for some audiophiles, it is hard to deny that the need for them exists, as very few speakers can get the bass and ultra-low frequencies that a subwoofer can reach, let alone being able to hit those notes with precision. Paradigm has been making subwoofers since the mid-1990s, when they released their first powered subwoofer, the PS-1000, and haven’t stopped since.