Editor’s Choice

• When R2R goes streaming: Gustard R30 DAC review 2nd January 2026
  At €3311/US$3599, the Gustard R30 wants to be your next streaming DAC. The Chinese manufacturer has put discrete R2R conversion and basic network streaming into a single chassis that weighs a surprising 10kg. The heft comes courtesy of dual toroidal transformers – one feeding the digital section, another powering the […] The post When R2R […]
• Global feedback: black or silver? 31st December 2025
  Earlier this week, a finish preference poll followed my extensive article weighing the pros and cons of black versus silver hi-fi components. I invited Darko.Audio YouTube subscribers and Patrons to choose between the two. The results are in. And they’re spookily consistent. YouTube (10,000 votes): Black: 63% Silver: 37% Patreon […] The post Global feedback: […]
• Black or silver? The eternal hi-fi aesthetic debate 29th December 2025
  [Editor’s note: This is the seventh in a series of fifteen observations from fifteen years of audio writing] Black or silver? It’s the question that keeps us scrolling through product photos at 2 am, agonising over a choice that has nothing to do with sound quality and everything to do […] The post Black or […]