ALO Audio along with a handful of other companies has been leading the charge on portable audio amplification. Their product lineup includes one of the largest and varied sections of both tube and solid-state portable headphone amplifiers. Sitting atop the mobile offerings is the ALO flagship Rx Mk3-b ($650). Offering both balanced and single-ended inputs and outputs, this battery-powered headphone amplifier is a reminder that head fi audio is slowly adapting the same principals as audiophile loudspeaker components. While close competitor Ray Samuels and budget brand Fiio provide even more illumination to the landscape, ALO pushes the performance (and price) of portable even further north with the Mk3 over previous amplifier-only incarnations. Even more recent than the Mk3, a new wave of amp+dac combinations is sweeping the countryside with the promise of everything you need for desktop listening in a compact package. This new arrangement however, doesn’t allow for the versatility that accompanies the Mk3. As I’m sure you know if you are reading this review, that DAC technologies and improvements are moving at a much faster clip than the rest of HiFi audio, especially in the portable realm. For the purpose of this endeavor, I paired the Mk3 with a wide variety of sources in an attempt to deliver the fullest viewpoint of applications. On both the giving and receiving ends the Mk3 is quite a flexible device.
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High end audio can be a polarizing hobby. Audiophiles like to select a product or technology and support it vigorously as if they have a large financial interest in its success. I was born an audiophile. I completely understand the desire for one's selection to be validated by the audiophile community. I also completely understand how unhealthy that desire for validation is and the neurosis it can cause. Audiophiles, myself included, must realize the products we select today will sound just as good in five years regardless of competing products, newer technologies, and others' opinions. One polarizing topic in computer audio is digital interfaces. Two digital interfaces that have strong vocal support from users are USB and Ethernet. Users of one technology frequently turn a blind eye to the merits of the other technology and won't even consider its use. Many users selected one technology a few years ago based on the information available at that time and refuse to update their own knowledge for any number of reasons. This leads to armchair engineer arguments based on half truths and old information. These discussions are a disservice to all readers. Based on my experience with both USB and Ethernet interfaces it's clear to me that both can sound excellent and both will have a strong presence in high end audio for the foreseeable future. One Ethernet interface that caught my attention a couple months ago is the UPnP AV 2.0 / DLNA compliant Simple Design Rendu Ethernet to S/PDIF Converter. Admittedly I was drawn in by the features and specs, notably its ability to play DSD, 24/192 PCM, and gapless audio streamed over Ethernet. I've since listened through the Rendu for countless hours and put it through a number of network audio tests. At first the Rendu was a bit picky and had some playback issues. Today using the newest firmware I'm happy to report the Rendu works very well and continues to sound very good. The Simple Design Rendu Ethernet to S/PDIF Converter is a product to watch in both two channel and whole house network audio.
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Good USB to S/PDIF converters have been around for years, but the presence of great USB to S/PDIF converters is a fairly new phenomenon. The original Bel Canto USB Link was a good product when introduced in 2009. Since then new USB to S/PDIF converters seem to have hit the market every week. Several of these new converters offer the same or similar performance as products released years ago. In some cases the chassis have been upgraded to version 2.0 while the sound quality remains at version 1.0. A bump from 24 bit / 96 kHz to 24 bit / 192 kHz support by itself means nothing in terms of sound quality. In fact it can reduce sound quality because of the increased power draw and noise introduced by the high speed circuitry. The need for exemplary digital design has never been greater. The Bel Canto uLink USB to S/PDIF converter is a substantial step forward from previous Bel Canto converters and on par with some of the best converters available today. The uLink's unique features, great design, and great sound quality combined with its less than reference grade price point place it in a very sweet spot. It's far better than commodity converters and very close to reference quality converters. Computer audiophiles, without budget constraints, seeking the final 5% in sound quality may want to consider the Bel Canto REFLink and Berkeley Audio Design Alpha USB. Everyone else, myself included, should seriously consider the Bel Canto uLink.
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I've been a fan of Van Halen since purchasing the cassette of 1984 as a nine year old budding audiophile. The album cover depicting a child with cigarettes was quite controversial back in the day. Soon after immersing myself in all the treasures on the 1984 album I purchased the previous five studio albums completing my collection of Van Halen cassettes. When the Compact Disc versions of the first six albums were released I purchased each one. As a Sophomore in high school I heard Pearl Jam and Nirvana for the first time and my taste in music immediately changed. I subsequently sold all my Van Halen CDs, with the exception of 1984, at the local used record shop. It's hard to believe I collected about a dollar for each of the first five Van Halen CDs, and walked out the door satisfied. The time had finally come to replenish my Van Halen music collection when I noticed HDtracks offering Van Halen's first six studio albums in high resolution at both 24 bit / 96 kHz 
and 24 bit / 192 kHz . I opted for the 24/192 download, containing 8 GB of FLAC files. Thirteen minutes later I had all sixty tracks on my desktop. I started listening to the albums in order of release, Van Halen, Van Halen II, Women And Children First, etc. Soon after the first click of the mouse I was hooked on high resolution Van Halen. The first six albums sound as good or better than any Van Halen release in recent memory. In fact I've had the entire Studio Album collection on repeat for several hours. Maybe I'll watch Fast Times At Ridgemont High tonight so I can see Mike Damone sell Van Halen tickets to two kids for a "sixteen" dollar profit.
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Paging through audio magazines over the years Computer Audiophile readers have likely noticed something not quite right about many advertisements. That something is a look that's far too clean for a functioning audio system. Advertisements rarely show all the cables required to connect components to each other and to loudspeakers. Dynaudio on the other hand doesn't have to show this unsightly necessity when advertising its new Xeo wireless speaker system. The speakers cabinets contain nearly everything required for great sound such as amplification and digital to analog conversion components. A single power cable for each speaker and a wireless transmitter connected to a computer is all that's required to complete a Xeo system. The Xeo 3 speakers wirelessly connected to either my MacBook Pro or CAPS v3 server sounded great. The Dynaudio Xeo 3s aren't the type of ear splitting speaker that can only be tolerated for 30 minutes at a time. Rather the smooth sound and surprisingly deep but
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I've been using IEM earphones for about ten years and custom IEMs since 2005. I started with a pair of Etymotic ER-4Ps. These earphones were great for iPods back in the day and remain on my shelf of earphones that I use once in awhile. The Achilles heel of the Etymotics is the uncomfortable foam tips required for a good in-ear seal. Another less than stellar element of the ER-4P is the cord. First it protrudes from the ear in a way that prohibits resting one’s head on a pillow of any type. Second the cord acts like a microphone picking up every brush against one’s clothes and passing the noise right into the ear canal. After a couple years with the ER-4Ps I moved to Ultimate Ears 11 Pro custom earphones. The fit of the UE 11 Pro was excellent, but the sound was a bit bass heavy. I lived with the UE 11 Pro until February 2013 when I received a pair of JH Audio JH13 Pro customs with the new Freqphase technology. The JH13 earphones are so much better than the UE 11 Pro I can’t believe I hung on to the 11s for so many years. I’d heard from friends and colleges that the JH Audio products were excellent, but for some reason I held on to what was familiar for far too long. Now, I’m on a thirteen hour flight to Seoul, Korea 
enjoying every bit of the 26 dB passive noise suppression of the JH13 Pros and the sound of my favorite music like I’ve never heard it before on an airplane.
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