If my writing is any good at communicating, you already know a few of my favorite products from 2023. After all, conveying enthusiasm for the things that turn our attention to the beauty and power of music is the first item on my job description list. I should know, I wrote it.
It’s also worth noting that most of the words in a review are meant to be read because describing how something sounds and how that sound influences the listening experience are the 2nd and 3rd items on that list. Boiling a review down to a “like” or a “didn’t like” may be a fun game, i.e. ‘reading between the lines’, but unlike most games there are no winners or losers in hifi.
In hifi, experience matters most. Not mine, not some other reviewer’s, not some guy on a forum or rabid commentor but our own experience matters most and reigns supreme when it comes to the enjoyment of music. At best, I hope to act as a guide, a curator of sorts, to help narrow, or expand, your field of interest.
Here we have a list of gear that I enjoyed mostest this year. And they all share one thing in common—the ability to act as part of a system that transforms recorded music into pure experience, a noble undertaking if ever there was one.
Twittering Machines Favorite Gear of the Year
Rockport Atria II ($38,000/pair) | Review
You saw this one coming, right? The Rockport Atria II rocked the Barn and me hard with pure music power: “They dig as deeply, convincingly, and completely into the heart and soul of music as I’ve heard from a loudspeaker, delivering a level of quality that consistently transformed reproduction into completely captivating music-inspired experience that always lead to the desire for more—more music, more time, and more pure goodness.”
Vivid Audio Kaya K45 Loudspeakers ($19,000/pair) | Review
While their looks may be divisive, the Vivid Kaya K45s performance will charm the heart out the music lover in you: “The Kaya K45’s combined strengths come together to honor the delicate powerful forces captured on record as convincingly as I’ve heard.”
Living Voice Auditorium R25A Loudspeakers (starts at $6350/pair) | Review
When it comes to the kind of hifi I choose to live with, easy to enjoy ranks well above most other criteria. And the Living Voice Auditorium R25A are hot buttered soul for the ears: “What I’m after, what I crave, is the ability to fall into music as the bottomless pit of enveloping beauty it is without the mechanics of reproduction or the voice of the gear getting in the way. The Living Voice Auditorium R25A offer a fast pass to just this kind of experience and their easy to drive load means you have a big wide world of wonderful amps to choose from.”
Soulution 330 Integrated Amplifier ($38,450 as reviewed w/optional DAC and Phono boards) | Review
If refinement that honors music is your bag, the Soulution 330 can fill it: “I prefer clear choices, who doesn’t, so I’m going to make this as easy as choosing between dessert and a toothache—the Soulution 330 integrated amp is among the finest amplification devices I’ve had the pleasure to live with.”
Aurorasound HFSA-01 Vacuum Tube Integrated Amplifier ($3,680) | Review
As you may already know, those tone controls double as EQ Curves for pre-RIAA records!! What you may not know is listening to 78s is better for you than avocado toast. “When it comes to an integrated amplifier, especially in the HFSA-01’s price range, I like having a MM phono stage built in and even a headphone amp for good measure and I put the HFSA-01’s EQ Curves in the crazy-amazingly nice to have category. Add in its retro good looks, rich fit and feel, price, and performance that left me wholly satisfied, opening as big a door onto musical enjoyment as I need, I cannot sing the Aurorasound HFSA-01’s praises loudly enough to anyone looking for an integrated amp that will feed your love of music with endless delight.”
Enleum AMP-23R Integrated Amplifier ($6250) | Review
Sometimes buzz is a good thing. The little and lovely Enleum integrated is a perfect compact package of amplified goodness: “Some things just sing from the very first time you hear them. The Enleum AMP-23R proved to be one such piece of hifi kit, sending beautifully crafted and lovingly resolved music into the Barn from track 1, feeling as good as a cool Spring breeze scented with wildflower perfume gently turning our sheer bedroom curtains into dancing ghosts.”
Grimm Audio MU1 Music Player (starts at $12,500) | Review
Making digital music feel human is not as easy as 1s and 0s. The Grimm MU1 adds the heart & soul: “For anyone looking to bring more refined beauty to their music while simplifying streaming and serving needs in a single lovely to look at and lovely to use device, the Grimm MU1 is my first recommendation.”
Auralic ARIES G1.1 Wireless Streaming Transporter (starts at $3249) | Review
The importance of a digital transport, the thing that takes in a network connection and sends out digital audio, cannot be overstated. Think of a streamer as the pipe delivering your drinking water—no one wants dirty water: “If you’re looking for a very full featured streamer that checks all of the right boxes in terms of what we want a streamer to do, the ARIES G1.1 belongs on your audition list.”
totaldac d1-unity DAC (12500euros incl VAT in Europe, 11500euros excl VAT out of Europe) | Review
If you didn’t see this one coming, I need to retake that remedial writing course from college. The DACs from France’s totaldac have been checking every important box on my DAC to-do list for more than a decade and the new d1-unity is my current favorite squeeze: “If you’re looking for a digital source that moves music so far into the foreground its origins become irrelevant, you owe it to your music to hear a totaldac d1-unity.”
Wattson Emerson ANALOG Streaming DAC ($1750, + $55 Power Supply Upgrade) | Review
Ethernet in, analog out. Simple and yummy, musically speaking: “Add in the fact that this little wonder from Wattson is a plug and play Roon Ready streaming DAC with LEEDH volume control that’s ready to let you explore the endless riches on hand from stored and streamed sources and the result is my highest recommendation.”
Aurorasound VIDA Prima Phono Stage ($1290) | Review
The VIDA Prima Phono Stage is not only a genuine HiFi Bargain, it’s also a lovely thing to look at that happens to know how to amplify the delicate signal lifted from our precious records in a manner that feels. . .complete: “Every piece of hifi gear performs its own kind of balancing act. Price, performance, design, and look & feel all play an important part in any purchase decision I make and the Aurorasound VIDA Prima Phono Stage hit that balancing act on the head.”
Manley Labs Chinook Special Edition MkII Phono Preamplifier ($3199) | Review
When it came time for me to decide on a Barn resident phono preamp, I picked the Manley Chinook for its flexibility and ability to accommodate all manner of cartridges while making sweet, sweet music: “Listening to music on the hifi is not mysterious. If we quiet down, internal and external noise, our bodies can tell us all we need to know. Listening to my system with the Manley Chinook as part of it offered the deepest, most moving, and fastest track yet into a one-on-one communion with the cherished songs, sounds, stories, and moods laying in wait in records, slivers of magic that can change the course of our lives if we let them in.”
EMT HSD 006 Phono Cartridge ($1795) | Review forthcoming
After the first few records, awash in the grooves translated into music energy by the EMT HSD 006, I knew as sure as I know sand is hot on a sunny August day that it is capable of soul-stirring translation. Review forthcoming.