Page 2 - Monthly Archives: May 2015

A good pair of speakers will need a good amplifier to bring out the best in them... and it's the same with headphones.

Using a headphone amplifier with your headphones will give you a much better level of audio performance. A headphone amplifier gives you a power boost, which relieves your smartphone's onboard amplifier from the job of providing power - which in theory should give you a longer battery life for your phone!

The more substantial and capable your headphones are, the more likely they

We've been impressed with the Oppo HA2 since it first hit the shelves, and it seems now that it's not just us that love this little Headphone Amp/Dac combination... The team at AV Forums have recently extensively reviewed the HA2, and given it the coveted 'Best Buy' award.

[If you still haven't got an Oppo HA2 Headphone Amplifier, you can buy yours here]

"The Oppo is not an entirely mainstream product. For the most part, people are content to use the headphone output of their smartphone and be done

One thing that we've learned in our time as hi-fi specialists, is there truly are no rules. A hi-fi brand can be five decades old or five minutes old, and still hold its own against the other. It's not often that we feature a brand that isn't steeped in heavy hi-fi history, but every now and then, a brand like Burson comes along - an amplifier manufacturer with a difference.

Don't get us wrong, Burson aren't exactly spring chickens. They've been around long enough to be notable in the hi-fi history

A recent post on the news website Salon caught our eye this week...

When does a record collection become a burden?

WEDNESDAY, MAY 13, 2015, Sell your records, sell your soul?: How I learned to stop hoarding and embrace the cloud

The article raises some very good points about the fine line between hoarding and collecting, the grey area between a hobby and an obsession.

At Audio Affair, we love our vinyl, and it has it's place... but streaming, online storage and the cloud has changed the musical landscape.

When  does portable start being... cumersome? When you have to fill your pockets with too much stuff - we're willing to wager. Don'[t get us wrong - we love that portable players are giving us the abiloity to take our hi-fi outside. That never ceases to be awesome. But when there are other factors to consider - such as portable headphone amplifiers - you start to run out of room for other things. Like your phone, your wallet, your keys...

Your fruit. Life is tough.

The solution? No, we're not

Summer is coming! A time for parties, a time for BBQs and a time for working out how the devil you're going to get your music outside in a discreet yet effective manner. Lucky for you, this is not a unique qualm. In fact, there are a few manufacturers out there who heard your call - and answered with some of the weirdest (yet completely fit to purpose) outdoor speakers we have ever come across.

In the spirit of the season, we decided to compile our three favourites for you to consider for your

As nice as it is to preen about our own products, sometimes it's nice to take a little step back (or step up, at times) and see what else the big, wide world has to offer. Now... hi-fi is a luxury industry. And as a luxury industry, it's pretty unlimited. Where there's a will, there's a way. Which is why there are some extraordinary examples of extremely expensive hi-fi paraphinalia floating around in the ether.

Which brings us to the rather gobsmaking Avid Actus.

Do you like your music loud and proud? Do you like it in stunning high fidelity? And do you like it... outdoors? Well now you can have all of those things.

Okay, you have technically been able to have all of those things for some time. But hey, it's hi-fi, there's always room for improvement. And the latest portable player to hit our shelves has really got us excited. Yes, there's a new player in town. Enter: the FiiO X3 II / X3K - FiiO's second generation of high-fiedlity music player. It's everything