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WAV, FLAC, DSD and PCM – how to coax music from digital files that comes closest to analog soundA few years ago, listening to music was simple. A CD player, an amplifier, and a pair of speakers made up an entire Hi-Fi system. Today, digital streaming has become the primary source of music. Millions of high-resolution albums are just a few taps away.But with the rise of services like Qobuz and TIDAL, a new question has emerged:If everyone is playing the same FLAC file, why don't systems sound the same?More and more music lovers are asking themselves this. At first glance, the answer should be s..

Perlisten A3T: Speakers That Sound the Way Music ShouldWhen engineering follows the ear, not just the measurements Perlisten is a young American speaker manufacturer, founded less than a decade ago, that has already carved out a distinctive place for itself in the hi-fi world. Its philosophy is simple in principle, far less so in execution: a speaker shouldn't just measure well on paper — it should sound the way the human ear actually perceives music in a real room. The brand's name is a fusion of "perceptual" and "listening," and it sums up the approach nicely.The A3T we're covering today bri..

Some Things You Can't RationaliseThere are audio experiences that stop you mid-thought. Moments when you stop analysing and simply start listening. When the music stops working at sounding good and just — sounds.The Primare Allt-i-Ett is that kind of system.We say this with a certain degree of self-awareness. At INTEK Hi-Fi, we are firmly rooted in the world of separate hi-fi components — preamplifiers, monobloc amplifiers, dedicated DACs, turntables. We believe in the chain. In control over every link. And towards systems that compress all of this into a single box, we carry — let's be honest..

A Question That Refuses to DieWalk into any hi-fi shop, scroll any audiophile forum, or sit down for coffee with a friend who just bought their first turntable, and the same question surfaces sooner or later: which sounds better, vinyl or digital?The answer you'll hear most often is simple, confident, and wrong: "Vinyl sounds better because it's analog." This claim is repeated so frequently that it has hardened into something close to an article of faith. And yet, the moment you put it under the lens of engineering, physics, and the actual history of how music gets made, it falls apart.The rea..

A New Era of Sound ReproductionIn the world of high-end hi-fi, we are accustomed to various marketing promises. Occasionally, however, a product emerges that shifts the boundaries of what is possible. PERLISTEN (Perceptual Listening) is a company that has taken the world of audiophile reviewers and enthusiasts by storm in recent years. Their PERLISTEN S5t model is not just another speaker; it is the result of years of research in psychoacoustics and advanced materials. Company Philosophy: Science Over MythsUnlike many traditional manufacturers who rely on "listen and tweak" methods, PERLISTEN ..

Where High-End Design Meets Raw PowerThe audiophile world has long awaited the next giant leap from the company that redefined the aesthetics and performance of modern hi-fi. The answer has arrived: Devialet Astra. If you thought the limits of a compact integrated amplifier had been reached, Astra is here to prove otherwise. As noted in the latest The Absolute Sound review, this isn't just an evolution—it’s a digital-analog masterpiece. Revolutionary ADH Technology ReimaginedAt the core of Astra lies Devialet’s patented ADH (Analog Digital Hybrid) technology. It is a fascinating feat of engine..

The Silence Between the NotesAsk any seasoned listener what separates a truly extraordinary audio system from one that is merely good, and you'll often hear the same answer: it's not louder, not brighter, not more detailed in the obvious sense. It simply sounds more real.That quality — the sense that musicians are present in the room, that notes have weight and air around them, that the space between sounds has texture — is almost always the result of one thing: a well-managed noise floor.And yet it remains the most consistently overlooked aspect of hi-fi system building. What Is the Noise Flo..

Where Science Defeats Audiophile MythsIn the realm of high-end audio, there is a common belief that a true technological leap requires an astronomical investment. The Shunyata Research Theta series turns this notion upside down. As expert reviews confirm, Caelin Gabriel and his team have achieved the impossible: taking the essence of their flagship models and distilling it into a series that performs way above its weight class. The Secret in the Process: KPIP v2What sets the Theta series apart is not just the high-purity copper, but the patented KPIP v2 (Kinetic Phase Inversion Process). This ..