Please welcome Khairul Faizi Mohammad to the NOVO High-End writing team! Khairul lives in a small town on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.  His audio journey started in University during the early 90s with a humble “separate” system.  His quest for the ultimate sound began after spending countless hours in a Nottingham living room of a famous British horn loudspeaker designer.  Khairul is a newbie at writing formal audio component reviews but has been contributing his thoughts READ MORE

When I was 15, my older brother gave me my first real stereo. I loved it.  It was amazing to me.  The amp was an Akai integrated, a  brushed aluminum beauty with a lot of aluminum knobs and dials. It had very cool  VU meters and a walnut case.  The turntable was equally beautiful, also Japanese.  It was a Kenwood with a granite-like finish and a very deliberate looking tonearm.  The speakers were made by Realistic, and like most speakers of that time, housed in sealed particle board b READ MORE

Please welcome Shahril Mokhtar to the NOVO High-End writing team! Shahril hails from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. His deep interest in hifi started back in the early 90s when he acquired a vintage Sansui hifi system from his late father.  Shahril began providing opinions on hifi, home theater and headfi topics in online forums in 2005 and became the moderator of one of the most active forums in Malaysia and Singapore. As he attracted more followers, he started his own review blog at www.notanoth READ MORE

Every great audio system starts with clean power delivery - that's why audiophiles pay close attention to power bar and power cable selection.  Our sister site NOVO just posted a review of the Canadian-made BIS Audio PowerBIS Maestro A/C Power Bar + AC20WG A/C Power Cord.  Written by Douglas Brown, this review is sure to make you laugh out loud... while learning about these excellent products :-) Read it here! READ MORE

Vinyl is back..for good! At the end of a nice long listening session with my Rega Planar 6 w/ the Ania MC cartridge, feeding the outstanding  Bryston BP-2 MM/MC Phono Preamp, I just finished spinning all four sides of an original Elektra pressing of The Doors classic Absolutely Live, and two things occurred to me as I lifted the needle at the end of the last track. First, there is no denying, the vinyl “revival” is far more than a revival, it is in its second boom period! With new READ MORE

I would like to wish all NOVO readers a Happy New Year on behalf of the NOVO team!  May the new year bring you health, happiness and everything else you desire - including new audio equipment and tech toys :-) We took a couple of weeks off at the end of December but we're forging full steam ahead starting today - so you'll see lots of exciting new content rolling out in the next few days. Fun fact: I shot the picture above during a recent review of the Swan Song Audio Wh READ MORE

Parasound’s new $599 Zphono XRM phono preamplifier bridges the price gap between its entry-level $200 Zphono and internationally acclaimed $1,495 Halo JC 3 Jr. The new model includes balanced XLR outputs, a switchable rumble filter, a mono-stereo switch, plus continuously variable load adjustment for moving coil cartridges. Separate input jacks and independent circuitry for MC and MM cartridges allows it to accommodate two turntables. Like other Parasound Z models, the Zphono XRM uses the READ MORE

The review sample was provided to us by Canadian distributor Tri-cell Enterprises (www.tricellenterprises.com). We can look at the 330 Integrated Amplifier (330 INT for short) in two ways: This is one of the most expensive integrated amplifiers you can buy, at $20,000 US for the base unit and an additional $3,000 US for the phono option and $4,125 US for the DAC option for a grand total of $27,125 US. Or This is easily the most affordable pre and power amp combination fabled high READ MORE

Is your spouse redecorating your listening space in their mind? Do you lust after mortgage priced statement audio gear but your room and wallet size say no? Take heart! There is an alternative. A high-end headphone package can attain all the sonic virtues of the priciest big rigs at a fraction of the cost and occupies almost no floor space. Prepare to trade the shared musical experience for the highest reaches of intimate listening bliss, because Swan Song Audio wants to lift you into that h READ MORE

McIntosh founded by Frank McIntosh – a.k.a. “Mr. Mac” – in 1949, will be celebrating its 70th anniversary in 2019, and to commemorate this milestone, McIntosh has revealed an awesome 70th Anniversary Limited Edition Commemorative System. The Commemorative System is comprised of two new audio products: the MC2152 70th Anniversary Vacuum Tube Amplifier and the C70 70th Anniversary Vacuum Tube Preamplifier. All the products in each Commemorative System are specially marked and have m READ MORE