Warwick Acoustics Introduces APERIO Flagship Electrostatic Headphone System

Warwick Acoustics, the company behind the multi-award-winning Sonoma Model One electrostatic headphones has launched the APERIO, its new flagship integrated headphone system. Launched at the 2019 High End show in Munich, Germany, the APERIO headphone system introduces the unique Balanced-Drive High Precision Electrostatic Laminate (BD-HPEL), which takes Warwick's original HPEL to a whole new level, complemented with a completely new electronics unit where nothing is missing. The whole system costs US $24,000 but sounds like a million dollars.

Antelope Audio announced availability of Amári — a reference-grade AD/DA converter capable of 24-bit, 384 kHz conversion and with DSD256 support. Clearly targeted at a more demanding music enthusiast segment, the company says Amári "is most likely the only device on the market that can achieve 138dB dynamic range," thanks to using eight CS43198 DAC chips at its D/A stage. The Amári features an easy-to-use interface and includes a unique headphone membrane weight compensation system with user-selectable output resistance.

Focal is announcing its first foray into the DAC and amplifier market with the launch of Arche, an audiophile DAC and amplifier that is developed by Micromega for Focal. It combines a digital-analog converter, as well as two pure class-A amplification modes (voltage and hybrid) designed especially for headphones. At the same time, Focal announced a new headphone closed-back model. The Focal Stellia combines sound quality with a more sophisticated style "à la Française."

With the iPod and all the clone mp3 players now long gone and forgotten, music enthusiasts already deeply committed to music streaming services are looking again for ways to enjoy higher-quality and high-resolution audio options when out of home and on the move. Manufacturers like HiBy are responding with dedicated and affordable streaming music players like the R3, promoted as the smallest and lightest Tidal's Online Music Library Player. And now HiBy also confirmed MQA playback support for the R3.

Another week and more audio products are pitched on crowdfunding platforms. Some products have new or clearly differentiated arguments - sometimes so new or different that it's hard to believe! - while others are simply well-designed or products that have to rely on better quality and technical arguments that consumer's will find hard to understand or believe. The latter is the reason why we decided to write about the new Dense Audio USB audio DAC, called Adapt. This is a product designed by an experienced team, who have ventured into creating a new company and launch a product "that could set a new standard and be used for a long time in this fast-changing world."

Parasound will introduce its new Halo P 6, 2.1-channel Audio Preamplifier and DAC to audio enthusiasts at the Rocky Mountain Audio Fest in Denver, October 5-7. The Parasound Halo P 6, which is now in stock to replace the five-year-old P 5, improves upon its predecessor with a premium ESS Sabre32 Reference DAC, ladder-style volume control, many internal audio refinements, and subtle new gold highlights.

ACTIVO is a new audio brand focused on portable devices and high-resolution music. The CT10 portable audio player is the brand's first product, and the first hi-res portable audio player with MQA support at an affordable price of just $299. The device, probably the first portable player with a decent design since Apple's iPod, is actually designed by groovers Japan, a high-res jazz music label and distribution website. The ACTIVO CT10 is now available in the US!

Parasound has introduced the HINT 6, an improved version of its popular Halo Integrated Amplifier. The new HINT 6 features a Burr-Brown volume control with easy-to-read front panel display. It also adds an upgraded USB receiver with plug and play functionality for Windows and Mac, a second optical input, increased phono gain, greater channel separation, and some pleasing refinements to its appearance.

Asahi Kasei Microdevices Corporation (AKM) has developed a 32-bit stereo D/A converter with headphone amplifier, the AK4377, enabling playback of DSD sound sources in smartphones or portable music players. The new advanced stereo D/A converter uses AKM's Velvet Sound architecture, delivering improved audio performance with a THD+N of -109dB, and offers support for DSD inputs up to DSD256.

ATC announced its new CDA 2 MkII CD/DAC Preamp, which represents a re-engineering of its predecessor in all the key performance areas. Developed as the ideal partner for ATC’s latest P2 power amplifier and active speaker designs, the Mk2 combines convenient USB access to high-resolution music streaming with an upgraded CD transport and DAC board, dedicated headphone amplification, expanded input choices and analogue circuits redesigned to deliver an extremely wide and flat frequency response with very low distortion.