We are excited to present The Audio Beatnik’s Best of 2019. It’s a short list limited to products we’ve reviewed in the past year, and we are including a little text from the review to let you know why they made the list.
And, for the first time, we are also including Writer’s Awards from Adam LaBarge and Drew Gagliano. Congratulations to all of our winners, and again, thank you for allowing us to review your products!
Best Speakers: DeVore gibbon Super Nines
From the review, “These speakers have plenty of power, scale, refinement, and transparency. They brought music into my room and my heart and created a very soul-satisfying experience.”
Best Amplifier: PureAudio ONE Integrated
From the review, “This is an amp that is all about listening to music, its timbre, harmonics and tone, and the emotions of experiencing a musical performance…I could not imagine giving a piece of audio gear a higher recommendation.”
Best Preamp/Headphone Amp: Linear Tube Audio MicroZOTL MZ3
From the review, “I can’t say that I’m completely shocked that the new Linear Tube Audio Mz3 is such a great preamplifier. However, even with all of the great and expensive preamps I have had in my system over the years, I was still astounded at the level of improvement the MZ3 brought.”
Best Power Distributor: Audience forte V8 Power Platform
From the review, “Improvements to the sound were across the board. The more articulate and dynamic sound appeared to open up space for more details to come through. It was like living in a world of only greys and now adding a true black and true white to offer greater contrast and depth. …I’d almost venture to say the sonic quality was nearly doubled, at least for my setup.” You can read the full review here.
Best Digital Device: Innuos ZENmini MK3 with the LPSU
Changing how I feel about digital music, this combo was a pleasant surprise. Here’s a little from the review, “…what makes the ZENmini special is the Innuos operating system. First, let me say it is as user-friendly as it gets. If this old vinyl guy can figure it out so can you. Once set up, I found the system to be pretty much ‘set-and-forget’.” Read the full review here.
Best Analog Product: Hana ML Low Output Moving Coil Cartridge
Here’s what Jack said in his review, “While the Hana ML is an artisan hand-built cartridge, it also embraces some of the newest cartridge technology. This cartridge has many ways of seducing the listener into spending hours listening to music. It was a joy to use.” Read the full review here.
Product of the Year: Audience frontRow Cables
As I stated in the review, “The Audience frontRow cables have put them in a whole new ballgame, not just for Audience cables, but also for all audio cables. Not only are they in a new ballgame, but it’s the World Series, and for the time being, Audience has won and is the champion. …I’ve never reviewed any cables I could recommend as highly as I do the Audience frontRow cables!”
Writers Awards
We also asked Adam and Drew, our writers, to identify a product they reviewed this year that they think deserves recognition. Here are their choices.
Orchard Audio BOSC™ Monoblocks
Adam LaBarge’s pick is the BOSC monoblocks from Leonid (Leo) Ayzenshtat. Here’s what Adam said about these amps in his review, “…when mentioned, Class-D amplifiers generally trigger reactions and opinions of a generic, mass-market sound. And I’ll admit, I tend to not be too curious about anything based around that amplification method. But Leonid (Leo) Ayzenshtat’s Class-D amplifiers continually force me to think differently. They prove that it isn’t about the type of thing, but rather about how skillfully a thing is made… I think they sound just amazing, and I encourage you to give them a listen, even if Class-D amplifiers aren’t typically your thing.” You can read the full review here.
Parasound NewClassic 200 Integrated Amp
Drew Gagliano picked this integrated amp from Parasound as his choice. Here’s a little of what he said, “Right out of the box, I was impressed by what I heard. The clarity, detail, and grace were immediately apparent. The low noise floor and high signal-to-noise ratio created an expansive soundstage with good 3D stereo imaging effects. The tonal accuracy was admirable, with plenty of body and muscle.” Read more in his review here.
