Editor’s Choice

• Moondrop’s $25 Old Fashioned headphones: review not necessary 6th December 2025
  Moondrop’s latest headphones take direct aim at those of us who remember foam-covered on-ear headphones from the Walkman era. The Old Fashioned isn’t just another retro-styled product, though – it’s a proper attempt to modernise a form factor that largely disappeared when the iPod generation embraced in-ears and noise-cancelling became […] The post Moondrop’s $25 […]
• Ready-made phrases: how hi-fi reviews dress up laziness as expertise 5th December 2025
  [Editor’s note: This is the fifth in a series of fifteen observations from fifteen years of audio writing] Catherine Shannon recently wrote something on her Substack that stopped me cold: “Bad writing relies heavily on ready-made phrases,” she notes, quoting Christopher Lasch’s Plain Style. “This method of writing requires less […] The post Ready-made phrases: […]
• Schiit’s $149 Modi 5, $199 Magni Unity land with ‘Mesh’ 5th December 2025
  Schiit Audio just dropped two new affordable products that could shake up (albeit just a little) the budget DAC and headphone amplifier markets. The Modi 5 DAC and the refreshed Magni Unity’s optional DAC card both incorporate Schiit’s Mesh conversion technology. Mesh explained Mesh represents Schiit’s clever workaround to an […] The post Schiit’s $149 […]