We’ve been wondering about just who would be on a list of the top contenders for the Champion of the World in several categories of high-end audio equipment.

Contenders are either the products we know to be great and hearing them several times actually *sound* great, those that we suspect to be great, and those that are generally considered to be great.

Note that some of this has to do with fashion, and some has to do with popularity, and some to do with actual performance.

To put it simply, if you won the lottery today – what would you want to audition tomorrow?

Solid-state Amplifiers:

[This is such a hard category. There is such a lack of satisfaction with SS amps amongst audiophiles it causes a new heir-apparent to be nominated approximately every 6 months. The previous was Soulution. Before that it was Vitus. Before that it was Gryphon. Before that was Boulder. Now it is Technical Brain? D’Agostino? ]

MBL (sound)

Ayre (sound)

Nagra MSA (sound?)

FM Acoustics (rep)

Soulution (rep)

———–

Others? Anybody? Remember they have to be recognized as a tip top performer by at least some percentage of audiophiles.

There are a TON of solid-state amplifiers out there. But do people really like any of them? Or is it just reviewer hype?.

If you want to nominate others, please leave a comment!

We’ve been wondering about just who would be on a list of the top contenders for the Champion of the World in several categories of high-end audio equipment.

Contenders are either the products we know to be great and hearing them several times actually *sound* great, those that we suspect to be great, and those that are generally considered to be great.

Note that some of this has to do with fashion, and some has to do with popularity, and some to do with actual performance.

To put it simply, if you won the lottery today – what would you want to audition tomorrow?

CD Players:

Audio Note CDT-5 and Fifth Element (sound)

Audio Note CDT-4 and DAC 5 Signature (sound)

Emm Labs XDS1 (rep, sound)

Esoteric stack and top end players (rep,popular)

DCS stack (rep)

Audio Aero LaSource (sound,popular)

———–

Others? Anybody? Remember they have to be in the ultra high-end and be recognized as having a great reputation, great sound, or is just plain popular by at least some percentage of audiophiles.

There are a TON of digital out there – but in general most people either use these players, or their little brothers of the same brand.

If you want to nominate others, please leave a comment!

We’ve been wondering about just who would be on a list of the top contenders for the Champion of the World in several categories of high-end audio equipment.

Contenders are either the products we know to be great and hearing them several times actually *sound* great, those that we suspect to be great, and those that are generally considered to be great.

Note that some of this has to do with fashion, and some has to do with popularity, and some to do with actual performance.

To put it simply, if you won the lottery today – what would you want to audition tomorrow?

Speakers:

Kharma Exquisite Grande, Midi Grande Exquisite and several others (rep, sound)

Marten Coltrane Supreme, Momento, Coltrane 2 (sound)

Audio Note (UK) Sogon and AN/E SEC Signature (sound,popular)

Focal Grande Utopia EM (rep)

Avantgarde Trio (popular)

Acapella Triolon and Campanile (sound)

Rockport Arrakis (rep)

Wilson Alexandria (rep)

Magico Q5 (rep)

MBL 101e (popular)

Avalon ISIS (sound)

Verity Lohengrin (sound)

YG Acoustics Anat (rep)

———–
…popular means that people just really like them.

Others? Anybody? Remember they have to be recognized as a tip top performer by at least some percentage of audiophiles.

There are a TON of speakers out there. This is the longest list we have in this little virtual battle of the top components competition here.

If you want to nominate others, please leave a comment!