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Audiophile & Hi-Fi Gear Reviews

Honest headphone, speaker, DAC and amplifier reviews from weeks of real listening, with side-by-side comparisons and buying guides built from the verdicts. Zero sponsored takes.

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Reviews published
70
Highest score
9.3
Sponsored verdicts
0
Last updated

Find the right gear, not the highest score.

The best product on the list is rarely the right one for your ears, your room or your budget. Start from where you are: a product you already have in mind, two you are torn between, or none.

  • I know what I want Browse reviews Every verdict on one scale, filterable by category, price and sound signature. 70 products tested
  • I'm choosing between two things Compare Both products side by side on specs, signature and score, with a pick and the reason for it. 35 head-to-heads
  • I don't know what I want Help me choose Answer a few questions about how you listen and get a shortlist, with what to watch out for. Four questions, all skippable

HIFIMAN HE1000 Stealth Review: Flagship Planar at a Lower Price

A years-old HIFIMAN flagship, cheaper than ever: Stealth Magnets, a nanometer diaphragm, a wide open soundstage, and a fun, bright tuning - mind the treble peaks and the large fit.
  • Excellent comfort despite 458g - the wide suspension band spreads the weight
  • Spacious, deep, breathable three-material hybrid pads; user-replaceable
  • Top-tier hand-polished, CNC-machined aluminum and real leather build
$1,119
Read the HIFIMAN HE1000 Stealth review

New audiophile gear reviews.

The latest verdicts from every hub, newest first, each with the catch that comes with it.

Browse all 70 reviews
Henry Audio DA 256 in brushed aluminum on a wood base, with one small LED and a USB-C port on the front DACs DA 256

8.2

Henry Audio DA 256 Review: A €1,600 Open-Source DAC That Skips XLR on Purpose

Twenty years of one engineer's work in a €1,600 box: a published schematic and firmware, reclocked coax and optical, RCA only, PCM to 24-bit/192 kHz, and every omission deliberate.

Watch out for: No XLR outputs at all
Price €1,600 about $1,730 8 min Read the DA 256 review
Austrian Audio OC16 front on atop a stand, capsule behind the mesh and a 0/40/160 filter switch below Microphones & Recording OC16

8.7

Austrian Audio OC16 Review: A $449 Condenser With a Hand-Built Vienna Capsule

A $449 cardioid condenser built around the CKR6, a ceramic-ring capsule hand-assembled and measured in Vienna: 148 dB max SPL, 14 dB(A) self-noise, one high-pass filter.

Watch out for: One polar pattern, one switch and no pad
Bright, lean bass
Price $449 8 min Why the OC16 earned 8.7/10
FIFINE K688 upright in its round shock mount on a stand, foam windscreen over the capsule Microphones & Recording K688

7.2

FIFINE K688 Review: A $69 XLR and USB Broadcast Mic

A dynamic broadcast microphone with both XLR and USB-C outputs, so the audio interface is already inside it: cardioid rejection, 130 dB max SPL, on-body gain and mute.

Watch out for: Frequency response stops at 50 Hz and 16 kHz
Price $68.99 7 min Read the K688 review
Synergistic Research Network Router UEF from a rear corner, carbon fiber lid above the inlet and ports Accessories Network Router UEF

7.8

Synergistic Research Network Router UEF Review: Does a $3,000 Router Improve Sound?

A wired-only audiophile router with a linear power supply, EM cell, ULF generator and carbon fiber voicing. In my system it lowered the noise floor on everything I stream.

Watch out for: Three thousand dollars, for a network router
Price From $2,995 8 min Read the Network Router UEF review
Ortvik Parametric Tower in natural oak, its wavy slats rising to the top edge against a pale wall Accessories Parametric Tower

8.5

Ortvik Parametric Tower Review: An Acoustic Panel and Diffuser

A freestanding acoustic tower that scatters and absorbs at the same time - handmade Czech oak over a recycled PET felt core, placed wherever the room needs it.

Watch out for: No bass absorption
Price Varies 8 min Why the Parametric Tower earned 8.5/10
The HIFIMAN HE1000se in profile on a leather stand, a dark wood-veneer rim between its grille and pad Headphones HE1000se

9.3

HIFIMAN HE1000se Review: The $1,700 Flagship Planar

An ex-$3,500 flagship, now $1,700: nanometer diaphragm, Stealth Magnets, a holographic soundstage, and state-of-the-art detail - bright, honest, merciless with bad sources.

Watch out for: Bright, peaky treble
Bright, lean bass
Price $1,700 8 min Lowest price now: $1,699 at Apos Audio and 4 other stores on Oct 8, 2026 Why the HE1000se earned Reference

How every review is tested and scored.

Four rules, applied to every review without exception. The median score across all 70 reviews is 8.1, and nothing has ever scored above 9.3. A scale with the top of it still unused is the only kind that can tell you anything.

  1. No sponsored verdicts

    Brands have zero editorial input. Pre-publication review is never granted. The site carries no advertising and no affiliate links, so a negative review ships with nothing for a brand to withdraw.

  2. Long listening, every time

    Two-week minimum on the chain, multiple sources, multiple genres. No first-impressions reviews. No demo-room verdicts.

  3. One scale, category-specific criteria

    Every score is built from the same published weights, in every category, and judged against the gear each category is compared on. What earns the points on each axis is category-specific, and every category hub lists it. A 9.0 is the same standing in any category, which does not make a 9.0 DAC and a 9.0 acoustic panel equal value.

  4. Disclosure first

    A unit lent by its maker or distributor is flagged in the review header, and a loan never buys a verdict. We never accept payment to influence one - and we publish it if a brand tries.

The test chain

A product under review is swapped into the same fixed chain, volume-matched, with everything else held constant. Each piece is a published review.

Who does the listening

Every review is signed by the writer who tested the gear, and each writer's page lists everything they have reviewed and the verdicts they have given.

  • Jakub Charkiewicz, founder and lead reviewer, has written 66 reviews and 12 buying guides since .

  • Bastien Beauchamp, reviewer, has written 4 reviews since .

Audiophile gear reviews, by category.

Eight review hubs, one per kind of gear, each filterable by price and specs and each stating what earns the points in its category.

Buying guides: skip the guesswork, start with the shortlist.

Curated "best of" lists where every pick is one of our scored reviews - ranked by what actually sounds best on the chain, never by who paid. No "top 10" filler.

All 12 guides

Settle it head-to-head.

The closest, most cross-shopped matchups in the catalogue, both products scored on one published scale, with the trade-offs between them set side by side.

All 35 comparisons

Sixteen free tools, right in your browser.

Calculators, blind tests, and analyzers that usually cost money or need an install. Every one runs in your browser - no signup, no upload, no tracking - and is built from the same engineering that backs the reviews.

  • Online Tone Generator Sine waves from 20 Hz to 20 kHz, five noise colors, sweeps and a polarity check.
  • Headphone Power Will the amp you own actually drive those headphones? Get the answer in watts and volts.
  • ABX Blind Test Can you really hear the difference? Take a double-blind test and get a p-value.
  • FLAC & Hi-Res Checker Drop in a file and see whether that "hi-res" track is genuine or an upsampled fake.
  • Online Equalizer Hear a 10-band graphic EQ live over music, then export the preset for your gear.
  • Room Mode Calculator Map the standing waves in your listening room and see where to place bass traps.
Browse all 16 free tools

On YouTube

See the gear. Hear the verdict.

The same reviews, in motion. Long-form listening sessions, A/B comparisons, and the occasional teardown. New videos most weeks.

Subscribe on YouTube (opens in new tab) Watch the Henry Audio DA 256 review (opens in new tab)
Henry Audio DA 256, video review thumbnail
Henry Audio DA 256
@TheAudioStuff Watch on YouTube (opens in new tab)

The questions we get most.

How scoring works, what the verdicts mean and which gear we cover.

More questions about how we work

  1. How does The Audio Stuff score audio gear?

    Every review carries a single score from 0 to 10 plus a one-word verdict, and each verdict owns a score band no other tier shares: Reference 9.2-10.0, Highly Recommended 8.2-9.1, Recommended 7.0-8.1, Mixed 5.5-6.9, Pass 0.0-5.4. The bands do not overlap, so a score names one tier. The single exception is a score exactly on a tier's floor (9.2, 8.2, 7.0 or 5.5): that makes a product eligible for the tier, and the verdict may hold it one tier lower where price, competition or reliability argue against the higher one. Our publishing system will not let a review go live with a verdict its score does not allow. The scale is normalized across categories: every score is built from the same weighted axes, so a 9.0 is the same standing whether the product is a headphone, a DAC or a pair of speakers, while what earns the points on each axis is category-specific - tonal balance on a headphone, measured noise on a DAC, a measurable or audible effect on an accessory - and each category hub lists its criteria. When a new benchmark arrives in a category, an older score can move, and the change is dated on that review.

  2. What does 'Reference' mean in the verdict scale?

    Reference is the top verdict, for scores of 9.2 and up: a product that sets the standard in its class, and rare by design. It does not mean the product suits everyone - price, taste and the rest of your system still decide that. It is also a different thing from the test chain, the gear every review is compared on: a piece is in the chain because it stays the same from one review to the next, and three of its six pieces score below 9.2.

  3. What audio gear brands does The Audio Stuff cover?

    Gear from 33 brands so far, most of all HIFIMAN, SMSL, Sivga, Taga Harmony, Denafrips, Kiwi Ears, Melodika and Monosaudio; the other 25 are in the review catalogue, searchable by name. Category, merit and reader requests decide what gets reviewed next; brand relationships do not.

  4. Do reviews use measurements or just listening tests?

    Both, in that order of weight. Listening is always primary - over weeks, on multiple chains, against the gear each category is compared on. Measurements (frequency response, distortion, output impedance, jitter, sensitivity) are added when they reveal something audible or contradict the marketing claims. We do not chase graphs over what the gear actually sounds like in a real room.