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Intro: A Cheaper Sequel Should Make You Nervous A few months ago I crowned the original PL200 the best SMSL CD player you can buy. Not the best value. The best. And I genuinely loved living with it. It was the one player in the lineup that could get through a live album without hiccuping between tracks, and the one that made its cheaper siblings sound like they were trying a little too hard. An overview and review of SMSL PL20, PL100pro, PL150 and PL200: https://www.hifidayd

Let me just say this upfront. I love listening to this amp. I also had to check on it mid-session because it was running hot enough to worry me a little. Both of those things are true. That's basically the whole review in one sentence. What is this thing, actually FiiO didn't bother with a clever model name here. They called it, literally, the FiiO CLASS A. No K-number, no cryptic three digits. Just the topology, printed on the front like a dare. It's also not a standalone pr

The R2R Question I'll admit something upfront: the moment a brand slaps "R2R" on a press release, my eyebrow goes up before my ears do. It's gotten to the point where it feels like walking into a coffee shop and being asked if you want regular or artisan coffee. It might genuinely be better. Or it might just be a marketing word stapled onto the same bean to justify charging more for it. That's the audiophile equivalent of "artisanal," a word that's supposed to signal soul and

When I saw "ES9081" printed on the D100's spec sheet, my first instinct was to assume SMSL had quietly slipped a flagship chip into a $140 box and hoped nobody would check. That's usually how this goes with budget Chinese DACs. Big number, bigger claims, and a comment section full of people who never read a datasheet in their life arguing about which number wins. So I checked. And here's the part that actually makes this review interesting. The ES9081 is genuinely one of ESS

SMSL calls the H200 the "final chapter" of its 200 Series. I've seen a version of that phrase attached to at least four different SMSL launches over the years, and every single time, a new "final chapter" showed up about a year later wearing an MK2 badge. So forgive me if I raised an eyebrow before I'd even opened the box. Here's what's actually inside it, marketing copy aside. The H200 is a $399 fully balanced headphone amplifier and preamplifier. No DAC, no Bluetooth, no st

I'll be honest with you. When I saw "4.6 watts per channel" and "$49.99" in the same sentence, my first reaction wasn't excitement. It was suspicion. That's not a review number, that's a fantasy number. You see specs like that from companies that "measure" power at 1kHz into a dead short with the THD limit turned off, and then quietly bury the real figure in a footnote nobody reads. So I plugged the GIGAS 1 in expecting to write a takedown. A gentle one, because it costs less

There is a box on my desk from a company that has existed longer than most of the hi-fi brands you follow on Instagram, and until a few months ago I could not have picked its logo out of a lineup. That is not a knock on Kaiboer. That is a knock on how the Western hi-fi press decides what counts as a "real" brand. Shenzhen Kaiboer Technology was founded in 2007. The name is a Chinese rendering of the English word "cable," which tells you exactly where they started: HDMI leads,

I have a reflexive twitch whenever a company hides two glowing tubes behind an acrylic panel and tells me my digital music is about to get its soul back. You know the pitch. Warmth. Analog richness. That little "tube hug" for your ears. Nine times out of ten it is a solid-state amp wearing two tubes like costume jewelry, contributing nothing but a soft orange glow across your desk. So when the xDuoo MT-02 showed up at $149, I sat down fully prepared to write something snarky.

There's a drawer in my studio I don't open anymore. It's where budget chi-fi goes to die. Dozens of little resin shells, each one purchased in a moment of weakness, each one promising to "punch above its price," each one now tangled in a mass grave of cables I'll never untangle because life is short and I have speakers to review. So when the CCA Xyrra landed on my desk, my expectations were somewhere between "landfill" and "landfill with a nice faceplate." And honestly? I owe

I'll be honest with you. When a Snowsky box lands on my desk, I brace myself for something shaped like a cassette tape. That's what this sub-brand has been so far: FiiO's playground for retro nostalgia and pocket-money prices, aimed at people who think a Walkman aesthetic is a personality. So when the Oak Nano showed up, a 449 dollar flagship IEM machined from pure titanium, my first reaction wasn't excitement. It was suspicion. A flagship with a complicated birth certificate

This Review was written by Kristina Savić Disclamer After a while it is time for me to review my No1 outdoor source of audio joy. Thanks to my audio reviewer colleagues who were willing to send me this DAP for an honest review, here we are. There are no expectations made upon me and nor am I biased towards this product. I just write what I observe from personal experience. Introduction Hidizs has been a well known player in this audio world for 17 years and they have set the

This Review was written by Kristina Savić Disclaimer Although there are some manufacturers of IEMs that I really like and respect, due to their constant quality implementation or build philosophy or development direction, I am always ready to accept there there are flaws and I am in no position to be stopped in speaking about it, so these are my thoughts, not compensated or influenced by anyone. Introduction Being in business for more than 15 years Hidizs have stated by their

I admire Luxsin, a brand-new company on the hi-fi market, and with just one device they did it right. The success of the X9 lay in the combination of great sonics, a very forward-thinking UI, intuitive software and features, really great build quality, and price. And that last thing — price — might not be the best highlight you can have, but considering what I already mentioned, alongside a high-end DAC and great headphone amplification, it really is a true flagship that offe

EH lineup continues to impress Hello once again, FiiO EH family of headphones... headphone. Everyone was so impressed by your older brother EH11, your smaller, thinner, and cheaper but nonetheless older brother. And there are big shoes of expectations for you to fill. And I am also in that boat of expecting a lot from you, I loved EH11. Telling by just holding you, well you are not giving a run for the money for more expensive models, but this is just an okay plasticky build,

Intro Thieaudio is a brand most of us first met in the IEM aisle. The Monarch line, the Hype series — these are the products that helped shape what a modern, premium Chi-Fi in-ear looks and sounds like. Full-sized headphones have been a more sporadic affair for them, which is exactly why the new Cypher arrives with a curious mixture of expectation and quiet skepticism. At a $399 MSRP, the Cypher lands squarely in the most contested corner of the open-back market — the same co

Introduction There is a quiet conviction in everything Sivga makes. The Dongguan-based outfit has, since its founding in 2016, refused to participate in the race-to-the-bottom aesthetics that define so much of the budget headphone market. Where others reach for matte plastics and edgy industrial silhouettes, Sivga reaches for rosewood, Zebrawood, hand-polished metal, and a kind of quiet, neo-retro elegance that feels closer to a vintage hi-fi cabinet than to a 2026 consumer e

Link 3`s beautiful promise What if your dongle DAC could also store your entire music library and drive your hardest-to-power headphones — all from your phone? That's exactly what xDuoo is going for with the Link3. And honestly? It's one of the most ambitious — and most divisive — dongles I've come across in a while. I'm HIFI Daydreaming and welcome back. Today we're looking at the xDuoo Link3, priced at $219. It's big, it's powerful, and it's got a trick up its sleeve that n

Moondrop Aesthetics Now Moondrop is a peculiar company, on the surface they use this Anime babes, a anime and manga aesthetic to brand and promote their products. It might seem childish, and unprofessional. But the more I have experience with Moondrop products it is a different story all together. It is just their way to communicate and approach younger market. But a lot of product that I had a chance to use like Discdream Ultra, is built incredibly. Like a tank. This is

Continuing legacy of Sivga and Robin What if you could have a pair of headphones that look like they belong in a boutique audio shop — for under two hundred dollars? That's the promise SIVGA has been making since 2021. With the SV021 Pro, they're trying to make good on it all over again. So here we are again, another Sivga product. Another amazing looking product, that feels and sounds great. They are comfortable, with super nice padding and strap around head. The build quali

Introduction The Dongle That Plays the Long Game There is a peculiar rite of passage in the portable audiophile hobby: the moment you realize your smartphone's headphone jack — or lack thereof — is the weakest link in your audio chain. For many, that realization leads to the dongle DAC. And for those who find themselves at that crossroads in 2025 and 2026, Truthear has arrived with a quietly compelling answer: the KeyX . Truthear, the Shenzhen-based brand that surfaced in 202