Page 73 - Blog

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

Buy yours here:

https://www.audioaffair.co.uk/fiio-e12k-mont-blanc-2-portable-headphone-amplifier-dac

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If you're new to the hi-fi game, or if you're looking for a complete system overhaul - sometimes it's hard to know exactly what to get. There are so many options, which way do you turn?

Well luckily we've identified this as an issue, put our heads together and come up with a series of packages. All of which will work well together, look great together and - most importantly - sound great together. Each of these packages will form a complete system: i.e. all you will need is the cables, and you're

There isn't much left that will make us do a double take... but the The Focal Aria SR900 Bi-Polar did. This nifty little twin-fronted speaker is part of the bigger 'Aria' picture - and yet its controversial name and bold appearance (un-grilled especially) has really made us gawp.

Composed of two 5” woofers with Flax sandwich cones, the speakers provide natural midrange, rich bass, ultra high-definition and natural sound. It is desgned with the rest of the Aria 5.1 range firmly in mind, and

No, it's not obvious, and yes - we get asked it all the time. The fact of the matter is: hi-fi is a little... complicated. There are choices, there are preferences, there are brands that are more compatible with other brands and combinations that are more effective than other combinations... and the list goes on (... and on. And on). So it's no wonder we get asked such things, even by those with the know-how and the passion.

Well, I have good news, and I have bad news... which are both also good