The best products of 2020

It has been quite the year, as we have discovered a good number of exceptional products from headphones to In-Ear-Monitors (IEMs) to DAPs to DACs and so on. Below you will find the products that we feel are remarkable for what they do—beautifully free the music from the confines of their various platforms/media for our, the collective, musical enjoyment. As stated, we are music lovers first and foremost, which, generally, means that we eschew the “reference, neutral, bright” for that which moves us—the musical. If you are also a music lover, who listens to music for pure enjoyment, to relax and unwind, to wax romantic of times past, or to escape, what can, at times, be a rather mad world, please find curated below a number of remarkable products. We know that they will prove themselves powerful aides.

The best product of 2020

MEZE EMPYREAN

Rare is the piece of audio equipment that can remove itself as intermediary to the music and reveal performers, venue, emotion, truth of timbre and tone as a genuine, heartfelt experience. The Meze Empyrean embodies that rarity for what it does in the service of the music. And for that very reason we award the Meze Empyrean our Best Product of the Year Award for 2020.

EDITOR’S CHOICE AWARD 2020

EAMT-2C (IEM)

It is, perhaps, the most incredible, if not the best IEM that I have ever had the opportunity to review, let alone listen to. And given the fact, that I’ve never heard the AMT/NDD combination implemented in another IEM prior, there is mounting evidence that this was, indeed, a masterstroke of design engineering! We happily award the EAMT-2c our Editor’s Choice Award for 2020.

BEST PRODUCTS OF 2020 TO $500

audioquest dragonfly cobalt

The DragonFly Cobalt ($299) represents a beautiful solution for those wishing to rescue their computers and ‘smart devices’ from the purgatory of ‘unmusicality’ to the ‘garden,’ if you will, of “quite glorious musicality,” plain and simple. And STILL at a pittance of the price we two-channel folks not that long ago, paid to get similar sound.

final audio sonorous III

The Final Sonorous III ($399) will mate well and easily with the AudioQuest DragonFlys Red and Cobalt, and Black, DAC/Amp combinations, and DAPs—Cayin N6ii. We happily recommended the Final Sonorous III headphone for those who may be seeking headphones at or even above this price point, who like to have fun, fun, fun, and who love music and movies! Yes, they will happily do double-duty!

fiio fh5

What the FiiO FH5 ($259) will do is beguile and engage with its natural, analog-like musicality, its rendering of copious detail, its coherency, prodigious bass (when called for), and its excellent layering and positioning. And while it is not perfect, when has $259 (in an IEM) ever bought perfection?

BEST PRODUCTS OF 2020 TO $1.5K

burson conductor 3xp

The Burson Audio Conductor 3XP ($1,399) delivers a transparent, natural, and highly engaging, musical experience, well beyond its price point. Further, it is coherent from top to bottom, provides a dead-quiet background, a very generous soundstage, and it has the ability to simply disappear, which is rare regardless of price.

ibasso dx220

The experience with the iBASSO DX220 ($979) was both unexpected and profound. It was difficult from our research to gauge its “sound profile”—reference, bright, neutral, warm—given the divergence of reviewer opinions. Then upon use with our stable of reference gear (analog-like, organic, rich with sublime transparency) its modus operandi became clear to us—it is that rarest of creatures—a “sound chameleon.”

cayin audio n6II

The Cayin N6ii/A01 ($1,199) beautifully tuned and well executed in a clean, intuitive, industrial design is one such product. The Cayin N6ii renders music in a way that unites the best of the past with the best of the now and this is no easy task. And its contradiction is wondrous, analog musicality with irrepressible transparency.

MEZE RAI PENTA

In the end, the RAI PENTA’s ($1,099) are beautifully tuned, balanced, textured, and exceptionally detailed works of art. They provide a very natural, airy, and fluid listening experience with captivating musicality and superb tone and timbre. The sum of this is fatigue-free, longterm, listening, that, again, is quite addictive and, dare I say, with the proper music maker.

MEZE EMPYREAN

Rare is the piece of audio equipment, that can remove itself as intermediary to the music, and reveal performers, venue, emotion, truth of timbre and tone as a genuine, heartfelt experience. The Meze Empyrean ($2,999) embodies that rarity for what it does in the service of the music…

ROSSON AUDIO RAD-0

The Rosson Audio RAD-0 ($2,600) planar headphone appears to encompass all that is good about the Audeze line, while pushing past the boundaries of treble extension, musicality, coherence, and timbral/tonal saturation. The result is a natural analog-like richness, a sublime transparency, incredible treble extension, and a delicious harmonic balance, that, collectively, has few if any peers. But more on that later. 

OBRAVO EAMT-2C

Upon first listen (straight out of the box!), the resident cynic in me had to ‘figuratively’ lift his lower jaw from the floor. How can this be, I asked? Here was an IEM, oBRAVO EAMT-2C ($3,000) that had audacity to act as if it were an “Over-the-Ear,” planar-magnetic headphone of truly exceptional capability, right out of the box!