SoundStage! Simplifi | SoundStageSimplifi.com

Elac Navis ARB-51 Active Loudspeakers

: Written by: Gordon Brockhouse; Created: 01 April 2019

Reviewers' Choice The German hi-fi brand Elac dates back to the 1920s, but has lately undergone a renaissance. Following a business reorganization in 2014, Elac established an American subsidiary charged with developing affordable, high-performance loudspeakers. That task was assigned to Andrew Jones, who in 2015 joined Elac as vice-president of engineering, following gigs at KEF, Infinity, TAD, and Pioneer.

Active Voices, Part One: Elac's Andrew Jones

: Written by: Gordon Brockhouse; Created: 01 April 2019

Two years ago next month, in a feature for sister site SoundStage! Hi-Fi, Doug Schneider posed a question: “Is it time for active speakers?” As Doug noted, audiophiles have traditionally been cool toward active designs, despite their many advantages. This is partly because active speakers take some of the fun out of hobbyist audio. Audiophiles want to choose their own amps and cables, rather than have someone else make those choices for them.

Bluesound Pulse 2i Wireless Speaker

: Written by: Gordon Brockhouse; Created: 15 March 2019

Last October, Lenbrook International announced a comprehensive upgrade of its Bluesound lineup of whole-house audio products. Bluesound’s 2i series offers such new features as Apple AirPlay 2 support, improved Bluetooth capability, Amazon Alexa voice control, and updated Wi-Fi connectivity.

SVS Prime Wireless Active Speakers

: Written by: Gordon Brockhouse; Created: 01 March 2019

Over the past several years, Ohio-based SVS has earned a reputation for making affordable, high-performance loudspeakers and subwoofers. Its subs, of course, are active, but until recently, all of its full-range speakers were passive designs. Last year, SVS introduced the fully active, two-way Prime Wireless speakers ($599.99/pair; all prices USD).

Let's Keep it Simple

: Written by: Gordon Brockhouse; Created: 01 March 2019

It’s a common fallacy to believe that things that come easily to you come easily to everyone. But as a recent experience confirmed for me, it’s just not so.

Totem Acoustic Kin Play Powered Speakers

: Written by: Gordon Brockhouse; Created: 15 February 2019

I’ve never thought of myself as having sharp elbows. But here I am, the new guy in the SoundStage! neighborhood, and I keep muscling in on my colleagues’ territories. For my first review on Simplifi, I tackled LG’s G7 ThinQ MQA-compatible smartphone, a product that would fit nicely on SoundStage! Solo. More recently, I opined that the Kii Audio Three DSP-controlled active speakers would be right at home on SoundStage! Hi-Fi or Ultra.

A Roon of One's Own

: Written by: Gordon Brockhouse; Created: 01 February 2019

One of my pet peeves is technology that thinks it knows more than I do. Sometimes, software developers will release a new version that removes a useful feature, supposedly to enhance ease of use, but usually to advance a corporate agenda. Sometimes, they’ll streamline a key function to make it simpler for inexperienced users, at the cost of restricting flexibility for experienced users.

KEF LSX Active Loudspeakers

: Written by: Gordon Brockhouse; Created: 01 February 2019

KEF’s little LSX active speakers ($1099 USD per pair) would seem to contain everything you need for high-resolution stereo sound. Each enclosure houses a KEF Uni-Q driver array comprising a 0.75” aluminum-dome tweeter mounted at the acoustic center of a 4.5” magnesium-aluminum midrange-woofer, each powered by its own amplifier. The LSXes are small enough to virtually disappear into your room, but if you look their way they’ll grab your eye. They’re available in five colors: white, green, red, blue, and black. Speakers in all colors but white are covered on four sides with a matching industrial textile. The white version, which I reviewed, has a high-gloss finish on all surfaces, and the driver is in complementary silver-gray. It’s gorgeous. The red and blue models have drivers of the same color as the cabinet; the others have drivers of a complementary color.

Bluesound Vault 2i CD Ripper-Server-Streamer

: Written by: Gordon Brockhouse; Created: 15 January 2019

Despite what the illuminati say about our brave new world “moving at Internet speed,” sometimes we just have to hurry up and wait. This review is a case in point.

Pro-Ject Audio Systems Stream Box S2 Ultra Music Streamer

: Written by: Gordon Brockhouse; Created: 01 January 2019

Most audiophiles know Pro-Ject Audio Systems as a maker of turntables. Indeed, more than any manufacturer, Vienna-based Pro-Ject is responsible for the vinyl revival.

How I Simplifi'd My Wi-Fi

: Written by: Gordon Brockhouse; Created: 01 January 2019

Keen-eyed readers may have noticed that I recently added a new category to the Associated Equipment section at the end of my reviews. In addition to listing the speakers, sources, and cables used for a review, I’ve started listing my network setup. For most of the products I review, every note I listen to is streamed over a network. That makes the network an important part of my home-entertainment system.

Kii Audio Three DSP-Controlled Active Loudspeakers

: Written by: Gordon Brockhouse; Created: 15 December 2018

Reviewers' Choice This corner of the SoundStage! Network is devoted to “convenient, lifestyle-oriented hi-fi,” to quote the blurb on the Network portal. To some diehards, the word lifestyle conveys a kind of superficiality, a lack of seriousness, but not to yours truly. As I wrote in my kick-off feature for SoundStage! Simplifi, there’s a lot to be said for integrating your hi-fi into your everyday life. Having your main music system in a living area, rather than hiding it away in an inner sanctum, means that everyone can enjoy it, not just the household high priest of audio.

Aurender S5W Battery-Powered Wireless Active Loudspeakers

: Written by: Gordon Brockhouse; Created: 01 December 2018

Once in a while, I come across a product that has me scratching my head: What’s this thing really for, and who needs it? Then a light goes on, and I get it: Hey, this product is really cool, and really useful. Why did it take so long for someone to come up with this idea?

Are Downloads Dead?

: Written by: Gordon Brockhouse; Created: 01 December 2018

This fall marked the 10th anniversary of file-based, high-resolution audio playback. The New York City-based website HDtracks opened its virtual doors in March 2008; in October of that year, it added to its catalog 24-bit/88.2kHz and 24/96 FLAC files.

Cambridge Audio Yoyo (L) Wireless Speaker

: Written by: Brent Butterworth; Created: 15 November 2018

Wireless speakers have become like A/V receivers: it’s almost impossible to build one that’s still up to date a few months after launch. Cambridge Audio’s Yoyo (L) all-in-one home audio system doesn’t have voice command, the latest hot feature boasted by an increasing number of wireless speakers, but it offers almost everything else you might want in a wireless speaker, as well as at least one thing that’s likely to surprise you. It also packs a lot more audio engineering than do most wireless speakers.

Hi-Rez Streaming: Tidal vs. Qobuz

: Written by: Gordon Brockhouse; Created: 15 November 2018

Sometime soon, hopefully before the end of 2018, North American audiophiles will have their choice of two high-resolution music-streaming services. One of them is a familiar name -- now available in 57 countries, Tidal has been operating in North America since 2015. The other is a relative unknown, at least on the west side of the Atlantic.

DALI Callisto 2 C Active Speaker System

: Written by: Gordon Brockhouse; Created: 01 November 2018

Reviewers' Choice For serious, sit-down stereo, active loudspeakers have traditionally been a tough sell. I’ve never understood why -- their domestic advantages are obvious. Active speakers can make possible audiophile-quality sound in spaces where traditional components are unwelcome -- as outlined in my recent feature on "How I Simplifi’d My Hi-Fi."

Toronto Audiofest 2018 Simplifi'd

: Written by: Gordon Brockhouse; Created: 01 November 2018

Toronto has a new audio show. The first-ever Toronto Audiofest was held at the Westin Toronto Airport Hotel October 19-21. In one year, it has effectively supplanted the Toronto Audio-Video Entertainment Show (TAVES), which began in 2011 but gradually lost its way.

Kanto SYD Bluetooth Speaker

: Written by: Kevin East; Created: 15 October 2018

So much is made these days of powered speakers with Bluetooth connectivity that, presented with one of these wonder puppies, I was prompted to plug it in, invoke Bluetooth, link it to my iPhone, et voilà -- music!

LG G7 ThinQ Smartphone

: Written by: Gordon Brockhouse; Created: 01 October 2018

Reviewers' Choice Smartphones are the quintessential jacks-of-all-trades. Beyond their basic function (telephony), you can use them to surf the Web, shoot pictures and videos, play games, feed the parking meter, check your bank balance, navigate strange cities, and a million or so other applications.

Does the trades corollary follow? Are they masters of none? You can tap out an e-mail on your phone’s screen, but you wouldn’t want to write a novel on it. Smartphone cameras are fine for snapshots, but if you’re a serious photographer, you’ll want a serious camera.

How I Simplifi'd My Hi-Fi

: Written by: Gordon Brockhouse; Created: 15 September 2018

A year ago this month, my missus and I made a life-changing decision. We would sell the Toronto home where she had lived for 26 years, and move to a smaller house in the same neighborhood. Our kids had long since left the nest (lucky us!), and that big five-bedroom house was way more real estate than we needed. Downsizing would free up money for our retirements (we are now both, officially, geezers) and simplify our lives.

Pro-Ject Audio Systems Juke Box E Turntable-Integrated Amplifier

: Written by: Brent Butterworth; Created: 01 September 2018

Pro-Ject Audio Systems’ Juke Box E shows how stereo systems ain’t what they used to be. That statement is not a lament for an imagined better past, but an observation of what kinds of systems today’s listeners want and need. The Juke Box E ($499 USD) caters not to the traditional audiophile, but to a new generation with different listening habits. It combines a turntable, phono stage, integrated amplifier, and Bluetooth receiver, all in a package no larger than a typical budget turntable. All you add is speakers.

Time to Celebrate: Five Years of Google Chromecast

: Written by: Sathyan Sundaram; Created: 01 September 2018

Music lovers have been trying to solve a problem ever since they began collecting recordings: How to have convenient access to large music libraries?

NAD D 3020 V2 Bluetooth Integrated Amplifier-DAC

: Written by: Sathyan Sundaram; Created: 01 August 2018

Reviewers' Choice The Canadian electronics manufacturer New Acoustic Dimension, since renamed NAD Electronics, was founded in 1972, and released its famous 3020 integrated amplifier in 1978. For many in the late 1970s and 1980s, the 3020 was their first serious audio purchase. Five years ago, to mark its 40th anniversary, NAD released the first version of the D 3020 integrated amplifier ($499 USD), to positive reviews. Last January, at the 2018 Consumer Electronics Show, they announced the launch of the D 3020 V2 ($399). Along with a $100 reduction in price from the original D 3020, NAD has added a full-range preamp-only output and an RIAA-equalized moving-magnet phono stage, while dropping one of the optical inputs and the USB input. The V2 shares the original D 3020’s compact case -- they’re identically sized -- and is energy efficient. While both versions produce 30Wpc, the V2 offers slight improvements in its specified signal/noise ratio and channel separation.

How Good Can Voice Recognition Get?

: Written by: Brent Butterworth; Created: 01 August 2018

Last month, I talked about the advantages that voice command can bring to audio enthusiasts -- and the complications that limit its applicability to music listening. This month I talk in a bit more depth about the prospects for voice-command technology: How much better can voice-command systems get, and might they someday be the primary user interface for audio systems?

Polk Assist Wi-Fi Smart Speaker

: Written by: Brent Butterworth; Created: 01 July 2018

While many audio writers have questioned the desirability of smart speakers, the general public seems to have no such reservations. Estimates project that more than 80 million of these voice-controlled products will have been sold worldwide by the end of 2018. The market’s been dominated by Amazon and Google, but neither of those brands is synonymous with good sound. Fortunately, mainstream audio companies are now incorporating voice-command technology from Amazon or Google into their speakers. The Polk Assist ($199.95 USD), which includes Google Assistant, is one of the first of this wave.

Are Smart Speakers Any Good for Audiophiles?

: Written by: Brent Butterworth; Created: 01 July 2018

I’ve reacted with hostility to many audio writers’ musings about smart speakers. I’m beginning to wonder if I’ve been wrong.

MartinLogan Unison Wireless Preamplifier

: Written by: Wes Marshall; Created: 15 June 2018

Apparently, MartinLogan’s Unison wireless preamplifier was designed with Simplifi readers in mind -- it offers Wi-Fi, TosLink digital, and analog inputs and outputs, a 12V trigger, and an Ethernet connection. You can use the Unison with DTS Play-Fi or Apple AirPlay to set up a whole-house streaming system. And the Unison includes Anthem Room Correction (ARC) -- essentially the same version of ARC used in Anthem’s own flagship products. Add it all up and combine it with MartinLogan’s stellar reputation, and you have a product that probably goes for several thousand bucks, right? Nope. The Unison costs $399.95.

High End 2018, Simplifi'd

: Written by: Al Griffin; Created: 01 June 2018

High End 2018, in Munich, Germany, was packed with introductions of streaming products. While much of the gear displayed was at the upper end of the hi-fi price curve, there were also a number of new integrated amplifiers and wireless speakers -- from companies such as Technics, Cambridge Audio, and Cocktail Audio -- that can be had for more reasonable prices. What follows is a list of Simplifi-approved products I ran across during my time roaming the halls of the MOC in Munich.

Dynaudio Music 7 Wi-Fi Speaker

: Written by: Al Griffin; Created: 01 June 2018

Reviewers' Choice It’s been a boom time for Wi-Fi loudspeakers -- most major speaker makers have introduced wireless models that stream music via AirPlay, DTS Play-Fi, or Chromecast Built-in. Nor is Denmark’s venerable Dynaudio A/S a stranger to the wireless world -- their Xeo and Focus XD models have set a standard for high-performance, high-resolution-capable wireless speakers, though in both cases that performance comes at a relatively high price. Dynaudio’s newest wireless offerings comprise their Music models -- a range of compact, all-in-one speakers designed to deliver, via WiFi, the company’s proven sound-quality benefits in affordable, lifestyle-friendly packages. I wondered how well the Music models would stand up to their mass-market competition.