Sometimes it’s as if these lists write themselves.
2025 was a great year for gear here in the Barn bettered only by an endless flow of great new music. There are days, most days, when I feel incredibly fortunate to spend my life listening and writing about it.
Life could be a dream
Life could be a dream
Do do do do, sh-boom
What could be more nourishing and enriching than being wrapt up in music, something we all share as the end goal of our hifi wanderings. The point of all points. The summit.
Here’s my list of the gear that touched me most this year, a list that very nearly wrote itself. Sh-boom.
Twittering Machines Favorite Gear of 2025
TM Favorite Product of 2025
DeVore Fidelity O/Bronze Loudspeakers ($30,000/pair) | Review
A new category for 2025—my favorite product of the year. Out of everything I reviewed in the past year, the DeVore Fidelity O/Bronze brought with them the most musical joy. Simply put, they better the Barn resident and well loved DeVore O/96 and that better brings with it a more meaningful connection to music and that’s the direction I’m headed on my personal hifi journey.
“Beyond the play-by-play, beyond the picking apart of sonic details, the O/Bronze are among the most engrossing loudspeakers I’ve had the great pleasure of living with, placing music intimately close, me inside of it, or it inside of me. I’m talking about a real human connection to music that takes hold of one’s senses, thoughts, and feelings by focusing them completely on the music in play well beyond sounds, digging deep into our shared humanity.”
TM Favorite Digital of 2025
Aurender A1000 Music Server / Streamer / DAC / Preamp ($3500) | Review
The Aurender A1000 is many things and they’re all very good things and its price/performance had me wondering out loud—”The most important question that came up during my time with the Aurender A1000 was—how’d they do this, for that? How did Aurender pack so much functionality into such a lovely package and make it sound so damn good?”
Wattson Audio Madison LE Streaming DAC ($4995) | Review
Wattson recently announced that the Madison line is now just one—the Madison Streamer—replacing this LE (Lounge Edition) and the original “Classic” which hit my Favorite Gear of the Year in 2024—”The Madison LE Streamer offers improvements over the regular Madison which offers improvements over the Emerson Analog most notably in terms of resolution and clarity.” Good, better, best. The new Madison Streamer is built on the LE platform with some changes and I suspect its even better while staying at the LE’s price. Nice.
Weiss Engineering Helios Reference DAC ($25,790) | Review
“There is no doubt the Weiss Helios Reference DAC is one of the finest streaming DACs I’ve had the pleasure of experiencing in Barn.” That’s the beginning of my conclusion from the review and if you like a one-box streaming DAC solution that is feature-rich with a boat load of DSP-based options to tweak performance to room and taste (and more), think Helios.
TM Favorite Amplification of 2025
Aesthetix Mimas Integrated Amplifier ($9000) | Review
Just wow. While not flashy in the looks department, the Aesthetix Mimas is flashy where it counts—”If the mark of a successful hifi design lies in longevity, the Mimas hits that mark as hard as any integrated amplifier to have graced the Barn with truly outstanding performance regardless of price.”
Soulution 331 Integrated Amplifier (starts at $32,975) | Review
Soulution spells seduction, at least when it comes to the Soulution 330 (review) and the newer (and better) Soulution 331 Integrated Amplifiers I’ve reviewed. “The level of refinement, drive, voice, and physicality on display made for entirely captivating and deeply involving music-driven experiences that makes the end of this review period the only let down. The Soulution 331 is a standout product in every meaningful way.”
JMF Audio PRS 1.5 Preamplifier ($39,000) & HQS 6002 Amplifier ($45,000) | Review
If refinement can be refined, the JMF pre/power combo pushed that measure to the limits, “…there’s no doubt that the PRS 1.5 Preamplifier and HQS 6002 Amplifier are among the best I’ve heard and they are clearly the most musically fulfilling amplification devices I’ve had the pleasure of living with.”
TM Favorite Speakers of 2025
Dynaudio Core 5 Professional 2-Way Reference Studio Monitor ($1699/each) |Review
A concert hall on your desktop. Bigger, when it comes to speakers, can mean better when sound quality also improves with size. The Dynaudio Core 5 pack a lot of tech and power into its active package offering big, clear, and completely compelling sound in the near field. Don’t expect to work without distraction.
Gauder Akustik Capello 100 Loudspeakers ($26,975/pair) | Review
The Gauder Akustik Capello 100 were such a surprise and delight, they made me spill the beans on a secret—”I’ll let you in on a little secret—while I have Favorites, within those favorites I have favorites.
I call these favorites within favorites The Short List, a list I share with Patrons, and the Capello 100 are on it because they do what I want a loudspeaker to do which is offer up music in a way that grabs and shakes me with surprise and delight, something the Capello 100 did each and every time I listened through them over their 2 month Barn stay.”
Ø Audio Verdande Loudspeakers ($45,000/pair) | Review
The Verdande from Ø Audio offer up a rather unique and very enticing set of skills—”Soon after I asked the Ø Audio Verdande to play music I realized they are, at heart, delicate and powerful creatures capable of single-driver intimacy coupled with full range reach while exhibiting the speed and lightning fast dynamics you’d expect from a horn-loaded loudspeaker.”