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I waited long time for streamer like this... and it finally arrived - Eversolo DMP-A8 Master Gen2 review
*A lot more images and videos of this product in video review! So, my first Eversolo review. It's not that I didn't have any chance to listen to the DMP-A6 Gen 2 and DMP-A8 Gen 1. It's that I listened to them much too late, so everyone already did reviews, and I honestly thought that my review would be one too many. But then Eversolo announced the DMP-A8 Gen 2 Master Edition, with a fully functioning CD player. Me, a huge enthusiast for CD players, with the combined power and
ducurguz
6 days ago19 min read


It can Hardly get Better than This - Musical Fidelity M6xi review
Long-time readers of this site know I have a weakness. It is British, it weighs as much as a small dog, and it says Musical Fidelity on the faceplate. I called the M3si big, bold and best in class. I called the M5si the most affordable end game amp on the market, nine years after its release, which is not something a sane reviewer should be able to say about any electronics. So when Musical Fidelity announced the M6xi, the long-awaited successor to the M6si, I felt two things
ducurguz
Jul 2614 min read


I Tested All the New SMSL CD Players and Picked the Best Buy - PL150, PL100 Pro, PL20, PL200 review
So I recently got the SMSL PL150, and with that I had in my possession the entire new line of SMSL CD players. While I could do a regular review of the PL150, with my previous reviews of the PL100 Pro and PL200 I think there is not much I could have added here. So something came to my mind as I listened to all of their CD players. Four CD players. One company. And somewhere between 150 and 670 dollars, there is a line where spending more stops making sense. Today, we find tha
ducurguz
Jul 2317 min read


CCA Xyrra Review: Fifteen Dollars of Pure Audacity
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
ducurguz
Jul 216 min read


This Speaker Understands What Audiophiles ACTUALLY Want | Canton Vento 31 Review
There is something about speakers that are built with the heart of music at their center. Something about speakers that breathe and radiate pure joy and fun. Something that was not built to win measurement reports or for clean analytical sessions, but rather speakers that truly understand rhythm and passion, and tell your body to move your legs to the tempo of the music. That is the Canton Vento 31. I was shocked by how much fun and joy it brought out of me, and by the sheer
ducurguz
Jul 1914 min read


Snowsky Oak Nano Review: FiiO's Flagship in Disguise
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
ducurguz
Jul 176 min read


Fiio Level 1 is a Great Looks, Power, Sonics and PEQ for 140$ Jadeaudio Review
I can tell you right now, there are four reasons to get this amp: great vintage-style real wood panel looks, the FiiO app's PEQ, big power output, and good sonic quality. That makes it one of the most complete packages in this cheap Class D market. Let's go into a little more detail. Build Quality/Specs Jade Audio is FiiO's newer sub-brand, and the Level 1 is its first stab at a desktop power amplifier. It lands at $139.99, built around the Texas Instruments TPA3255 chip that
ducurguz
Jul 1110 min read


Absoulte Best Buy Amp Currently on Market Onkyo A-50 review
Onkyo spent most of the last decade as a cautionary tale. A name that meant something in the receiver years, then a bankruptcy in 2022, then a long quiet stretch where you weren't sure the brand still existed. So I came to the Icon A-50 with a raised eyebrow. The comeback integrated is a genre that usually overpromises. What landed on my rack is more interesting than a nostalgia play. The A-50 is the centrepiece of the new Icon line, built around a simple, slightly aggressive
ducurguz
Jul 613 min read


Topping redefines best budget... again DX1 II Review
Yeah, new day new amazing budget gear coming from east. And it seems like every year we can start to repeat ourselves, and it probably will again in 6 months. We have a constant influx of new gear that pushes what is possible in this cheap budget price range. We are surprised, amazed and always appreciative of the technological progress of these companies, and once again Topping is trying to redefine what is possible in this price range. Topping is trying to redefine best va
ducurguz
Jul 27 min read


Best Speakers you can Buy now in 2026
These are the list of my favourite speakers. Awards are just awards and it does not mean that you should only look at gold award. Maybe that silver or bronze fit better your needs and budget and is therefore a perfect pair for you. I will give 5 awards and additional 10 more speakers that I really love. Somewhere here is certainly a perfect speaker for you. Best Budget Speaker -Dali Kupid Don't let the price fool you, and don't let the size fool you either. The Kupid is the s
ducurguz
Jun 2916 min read


Bet stereo amplifiers you can buy in 2026
Hello and welcome to my channel. Let's go through my favorite amps that you can buy now. I will give 5 awards. The gold, silver and bronze, and best budget, and best value. After that I will quickly go through alternatives that I also recommend. The thing is that it does not mean that the gold award is the best amp out of the bunch, it just is best in the crossroads of price, value, quality and versatility. But for you bronze might be the one, or best value that will best fit
ducurguz
Jun 2414 min read


I was at Vienna High End 2026 and this are my Favorite Devices part 2 / Eversolo, Luxsin, Arcam, Volumio, Fiio, Elac, Ifi
This marks the start of Part 2 of my Vienna High End coverage — if you'd like to see Part 1, click on the link below. https://www.hifidaydreaming.com/post/i-was-at-vienna-high-end-2026-and-this-are-my-favorite-devices-part-1-musical-fidelity-ortofon-a Volumio I stopped by the Volumio booth, where they had the Rivo Ultra on a big, shiny display. It does look like a Volumio product, but at the same time, it completely departs from their usual philosophy of no-screen, smaller de
ducurguz
Jun 1717 min read


I was at Vienna High End 2026 and this are my Favorite Devices part 1 - Musical Fidelity, Ortofon, Advance Paris, Gustard
I never made it to High End in Munich, but here I am in Vienna in 2026, right at the epicenter of everything hi-fi. High End — formerly anchored in Munich for decades — relocated to Vienna's Austria Center for 2026. The move was scrutinized before a single speaker played a note. It didn't need to be. The first Viennese edition landed well: rooms were busy, product pipelines were stronger than expected, and manufacturers showed up with hardware that suggests high-end audio may
ducurguz
Jun 1611 min read


Fiio just released amazing 160$ upgrade for all of their devices - Darkside Pro review
There's a particular kind of audiophile frustration that nobody talks about loudly enough. You've spent real money on a DAC. You've agonized over its chip architecture, its output stage topology, its measurements. You've read every review. You bought it. It sounds good. Maybe even great. But there's something slightly veiled about it, something that doesn't quite let go, a faint hardness in the upper midrange that you keep telling yourself you'll get used to. You don't get us
ducurguz
Jun 1110 min read


Ortofon broke the market and created cartridge that will dominate for a long time MC X40 review
Introduction There are products that arrive with careful PR management, measured expectations, and a polite round of applause from the press. And then there are products that land like a fist on a table — ones that make you put down whatever you were doing and actually listen. The MC X40 is the top model in Ortofon's new MC X range, and it proves to be by far the best in absolute terms — sacrificing some of the rough-and-ready character of the lesser models for a sound that
ducurguz
Jun 99 min read


Is This the Best Budget DAP Right Now? Hidizs AP80 Pro Max Review
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
ducurguz
Jun 98 min read


My Lin, My Rules — Hidizs Makes the Budget Tier Personal and wins
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
ducurguz
Jun 99 min read


The Fosi Phenomenon, and Why the S3 Matters
Fosi now carry many hats, but for one or other reasone they never truly tap their toes in market that is most popular in HIFI, and that is a streamer market. Fosi build amps, and then came headphone amplifiers, DAC/amp combos, a turntable, and now this: the S3, a network streamer with a built-in DAC and preamp stage, priced at $259.99 and aimed squarely at the digital front end of a serious two-channel system. Fosi Audio has spent the last few years building a name around com
ducurguz
Jun 110 min read


FiiO TT11 Review: The Vinyl Gateway Gets Smarter
Introduction: FiiO's Unlikely Vinyl Ambition There's a certain audacity to FiiO entering the turntable market at all. The company built its reputation on digital — dongles, DAPs, DAC/amps — things with chips and firmware and USB-C ports. Analog is philosophically the opposite direction. Vinyl demands patience, physical ritual, mechanical precision engineered in the analogue domain. It doesn't update over Wi-Fi. And yet, FiiO's presence in the turntable category is no longer a
ducurguz
May 3010 min read


Great CD Player with Crisis of Identity Fosi Merak In Depth Review (vs. FiiO, Shanling)
Here is a particular conversation that happens whenever Fosi Audio releases something new, and it goes roughly like this: "It can't be that good for the money. Can it?" For nearly a decade now, the answer has been "yes, mostly," and that "mostly" has been doing an extraordinary amount of work in carrying the brand from a Shenzhen Class D amplifier specialist into something that looks, at least on paper, like a full hi-fi systems company. Crisis of Identity The Merak is the mo
ducurguz
May 3012 min read
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