The Light Fantastic

“See me, touch me, hear me!” Those would be the Solista MkII's first words, if it could talk.

The amplifier's flowing lines and voluptuous shape couldn't be from anywhere but Italy. And it is, entirely hand-crafted in Vicenza. The chassis' undulating curves and exquisitely machined knobs show this is no ordinary high-end amplifier. Listen to your favorite tunes and it becomes clear the Solista MkII was designed to preserve, above all else, the essence of the music.

All ears!

Lucky me, I recently reviewed three of the world's very best headphones, the Audio Technica ATH-W5000, Denon AH-D7000 and Sennheiser HD 800 for Home Entertainment, due in the September issue.

But the advancement of high-end headphones doesn't stand still and now I've heard something even better: The WooAudio WES headphone amplifier and Stax SR-007 Mk2 headphone.

Ultimate Hybrid

One of the fastest-growing product categories is high-end audio devices that decode digital audio from a computer or iPod.

This amuses me, as for years many in the high-end audio realm thought of the iPod somewhere above the Anti-Christ but just below one of the Horsemen of the Apocalypse.

Not sure which, maybe the green one.

A mini survey of ear-bogglingly good headphones and headphone amplifiers

I'd like to let you in on a little secret: You can buy terrific headphones for next to nothing. That's not to say they all sound great, but a bigger budget definitely buys better build and sound quality.

For this roundup I've selected three contenders for the world's best headphone: the Denon AH-D5000, Grado Labs GS-1000, and the Ultrasone Edition 9, plus a pair of headphone amplifiers, Benchmark's DAC1 USB and Woo Audio's WA5-LE.

Truth and Soul

I’ll never forget the very first time I heard a Burmester amplifier. It was 20-something years ago, and the rather svelte Burmester Model 878 was being compared with a muscle bound, high-end American amp.

The American amp sounded like a really good hi-fi, and it was more powerful, but the Burmester sounded more musical. It had more soul; the music was simply more alive and realistic sounding over the Burmester.

I’ve heard other Burmesters over the years at various shows and high-end stores, but I never had one at home, until now.

The Parasound NewClassic 5250 v.2 offers the same THX Ultra 2 Certified, five-channel, 250-watts per channel power ratings as its predecessor, but with a more graceful front panel design, adjustable gain for each channel making it compatible with the preamp outputs of any AV receiver, and more than 60 other improvements to its operating features and circuitry.

JL Audio's Ultra-Compact 3-Channel Amplifier

JL Audio is now introducing the XD500/3, a three-channel, 500-watt amplifier designed to power a component speaker system plus a subwoofer system. JL Audio's efficient NexD^TM switching amplifier technology allows the XD500/3 to produce huge power from a very compact package. The main channels produce 150-200W total, giving high-quality component speakers plenty of clean power, while the dedicated subwoofer channel can produce up to 300W of clean, low-frequency power.

"This is a perfect amplifier for powering simpler systems in pickup trucks, sports cars or any application with a single component system plus a subwoofer." said JL Audio's VP-Marketing, Manville Smith. "Because of its tiny size, reasonable price and efficiency, we expect that it will also become very popular for Powersports applications."