Here Are All the EISA 2025-2026 Awards in Audio Categories

The Expert Imaging & Sound Association (EISA) revealed the winners of its 2025-2026 Awards. Technical experts from over 54 specialist magazines and websites in 27 countries across the world have recognized and awarded the best products in their categories. The 43rd edition of the awards recognizes stand-out products in hifi, home theater, mobile and car audio. This year there are again surprises and predictable winners, but the unexplainable absence of leading products in home audio, personal audio, and particularly in the true wireless category continues.

MAAT Incorporated announced the release of a cross platform plug-in and native application for routing, matrixing and visualization of digital audio. The new MAATgo Plug-in represents the debut of MAAT’s first product designed specifically for hi-fi enthusiasts and high resolution audio (HRA) music playback from computers. Available for all major plug-in formats for macOS and Windows, MAATgo delivers complete "preamp" channel routing, plus a software goniometer that authentically replicates an analog oscilloscope experience.

Music streaming is now the mainstream music distribution method. European high-resolution music streaming company Qobuz expanded to the US in 2019 to challenge Tidal for the audiophile streaming market. Qobuz claims the largest hi-res catalog in the world, the most complete metadata, and the best editorial content. In this review for audioXpress, Luke McCready puts those claims to the test and offers input on Qobuz as a streaming service.

Audirvana, maker of the renowned audio playback and management software for Mac, has unveiled the redesigned new version 3.5, introducing new Sound Quality enhancements and a completely new User Interface. According to the French software company, Audirvana version 3.5 for Mac was completely rewritten, with benefits on the playback quality compared to previous versions, as well as introducing new features such as the Mini Player.

Audirvana, maker of Audirvana Plus, the hi-fi audio player first released for Mac users, announced the commercial release of the highly anticipated Windows 10 version. This new version features a totally redesigned user interface designed to change the way PC users enjoy and organize their music. The French software house is also teaming up with audio streaming services Tidal and Qobuz in its support of higher-quality streaming options, including MQA support and Qobuz Hi-Fi Sublime+.

As previously announced, Audirvana Plus, the desktop music player for macOS, has released the latest version of its software which now includes integrated MQA audio technology. The MQA Core decoder, contained within the new Audirvana Plus 3 player, enables the first origami ‘unfold’ and also authenticates the file using a blue or green light to confirm that the sound is identical to that of the source material.

Music technology company MQA and Universal Music Group (UMG) announced that the companies have entered into a multi-year agreement that will encode UMG’s extensive catalogue of master recordings using Master Quality Authenticated (MQA) technology, promising to make some of the world’s most celebrated recordings available for the first time in Hi-Res Audio streaming. A historical development for all the high resolution music enthusiasts.