John Darko
UPDATE 17th December: an abridged video version of this gift guide can be found here.
It’s that time of year when we treat ourselves…
Meze 105 AER headphones
🛒 https://amzn.to/4iAaF0K
Meze didn’t send me the 105 AER. I bought a pair from my local hi-fi store. Shout out to Hifi im Hinterhof in Kreuzberg. And I think this headphone is one of the best value all-rounders currently available at the more affordable end of the market. For €399/US$399 we get supreme – and I mean supreme – comfort from an auto-adjusting suspended headband. Meze has taken the DNA of the 109 Pro and swapped the open-backed wooden earcup out for ABS plastic. It’s unclear if the 105 AER uses the same driver as its more costly forerunner but there is no doubt that the voicing is different. Meze has tamed the treble for a more intimate and less fatiguing sound. The result is the illusion of a more open midrange. (Or maybe it’s real?) Meze asserts that the 105 can be driven by portable devices but in my testing, the Asus Zenfone 10’s 3.5mm socket needs to run close to full volume to reach the listening levels that I get more easily with (more powerful) desktop devices.
FiiO DM13 portable CD player
🛒 https://amzn.to/49BF2Qw
One such ‘desktop’ device is the FiiO DM13: a transportable CD player with 3.5mm and 4.4mm balanced outputs straddling its front panel display. Electronic skip protection and a lockable lid mean it can be used outside the house but doing so ties us to the internal Cirrus Logic-based D/A converter. The digital outputs on the rear panel set us free: TOSLINK and coaxial are packed into a single socket for connection to an outboard DAC. My review sample has only recently arrived but a quick scan of the user manual suggests that this FiiO spinner can also be used as a USB DAC and an aptX Bluetooth transmitter. Most surprisingly, it can rip CDs as .wavs to a directly attached USB drive. That’s not bad for US$135/€165.
Alva Noto – Xerrox Vol. 5
🛒 https://amzn.to/3BuU79N
I’ll use the CD version of Alva Noto’s Xerrox Vol. 5 – the final instalment in the series – to confirm gapless playback on the FiiO CD player. Xerrox Vol. 5 is part ambient, neo-classical and part drone: it’s the perfect electronic soundtrack for Berlin’s moody winter days. But this CD doesn’t come in a jewel case. It’s wrapped in a cardboard slip whose internal cutout holds the CD. Last weekend, I had the good fortune to speak with its creator Carsten Nicolai who sees his music and its packaging as a holistic art project. It turns out Nicolai is a big fan of CDs because – according to him – the format better captures his music’s low-frequency depth. Be warned: there are some seriously invigorating bass moments on this album. Just be prepared to shell out over twenty bucks for a copy.
Todd Hido – House Hunting
🛒 https://amzn.to/4gxyCnI
This next item has been skulking in the background of my videos for the past three years. No, it’s not a vinyl copy of the Silver Sun Pickups’s Neck Of The Woods. It’s the cover art’s source material: a photograph from Todd Hido’s book called House Hunting. The photos in this book show American suburban houses at night. They evoke an eerie discomfort similar in feeling to Alva Noto’s music. That might be why Hido’s website calls House Hunting “a rumination without resolution”. And I must shout out YouTuber Jamie Windsor who turned me onto Hido’s book. You should be able to find your own copy for around US$70.
WiiM AMP
🛒 https://amzn.to/41SBHLd
A few weeks back, a friend messaged me: what did I think of this home theatre in a box. “Stay away!” was my knee-jerk response. I feel the same way about soundbars. Their visual minimalism is unsurpassed but their lack of soundstage width for music comes up short. Way short. “What would you recommend for music then?” asked my friend. Hifi veterans will know that there are many options out there but I’ll stay away from second-hand suggestions – as always – because price and supply vary hugely with territory. I suggested to my friend that he pick up a pair of DALI Spektor 2 standmounts and drive them with a WiiM AMP. Out of the box, the WiiM covers pretty much every streaming system out there (including Apple AirPlay 2), it will talk to a TV’s HDMI ARC output AND it offers basic room compensation software. However, the WiiM AMP keeps one eye on future expansion: an MM-loaded turntable can be directly connected to the rear; and the internal bass management system will low-pass a subwoofer and high-pass the speakers to relieve 2-way designs (like the Spektor 2) of their low bass burden for better midrange performance. There might be better-sounding integrated amplifiers out there for the WiiM’s €340/US$299 asking price but none – not one – will match it on functionality.
Roon Nucleus One
🛒 https://store.roonlabs.com/products/nucleus-one/
The WiiM AMP is ‘Roon Ready’. Roon is a magazine-like streaming system that’ll send Tidal, Qobuz and locally stored files – i.e. CD rips and downloads – to Roon Ready endpoints. A bare minimum setup puts the Roon software (US$12.49/month) on a Mac, PC or Linux box. We then point Roon at our locally stored music files and tell it what to stream to which Roon Ready endpoint using the Roon Remote smartphone app. For those without a spare PC or Mac, might I suggest the Roon Nucleus One server (US$499): a small Linux PC that comes pre-installed with Roon’s operating system to do one job only; and one job extremely well. We connect an external storage device to the Nucleus One’s USB socket – or install an SSD to its undercarriage – to host our FLACs and MP3s. The Nucleus One will also satisfy people (like me) who like nice-looking objects. This server’s outer shell is all plastic but the pattern weaved into the top plate has turned more than one head at my Haus.
Google Chromecast 4K
🛒 https://amzn.to/49EyMHI
Regular viewers of my YouTube channel and readers of this website will know that I’ve been using Roon since it was first released in 2015. Its ability to send audio to a Roon Ready (or Sonos, AirPlay, Chromecast or Squeezebox) endpoint whilst separately sending the cover art and basic metadata info to a video streamer for displaying on a TV is more recent. We keep the streams separate because we want the audio to be sent directly to the audio device and not to the video device where it or the TV’s operating system will alter its sample rate (although you can if you want to). This gives us something to look at whilst streaming music from Roon without having the audio stream pass through the TV’s sample-rate converter. For most of this year, I’ve used an Apple TV running the third-party Apple TV TV:Remote app and extension. If you don’t have an Apple TV or find Roon’s Extension setup panel too intimidating, most modern Google Chromecast video streamers will do the same job. Their streaming video input can host Roon’s ‘now playing’ artwork and metadata without a third-party app. I use an older model: the US$50 wifi-only Google Chromecast 4K. But if you don’t do wi-fi, you’ll need the newer, more expensive Ethernet-equipped Google TV streamer at around US$100.
‘Neon’ LED Cactus and Flamingo
🛒 https://www.ale-hop.org/
I have a glowing green Cactus in my Lisbon home’s main listening room. I also have one in the office and one in the spare room. You’ve probably also seen one glowing in the background of my Berlin videos. For me, the LED cactus adds a bit of colour pop to the room, especially on gloomy days. It is powered via USB and I use the USB socket on my Samsung The Frame’s transmitter box so that the cactus turns on and off with the TV. More recently, I’ve added an LED pink flamingo to the Lisbon space. Both of these items come from a chain of Chinese stores in Portugal called Ale Hop. Look for the cow in the doorway. Mooo! The cactus and flamingo sell for €10-12 each but I think you can also get them on Amazon for slightly more.
IKEA BAGGBODA
🛒 https://www.ikea.com/de/de/p/baggboda-beistelltisch-weiss-20556507/
Rejoice! The BAGGBODA storage shelf is back in stock at IKEA Deutschland. Rejoice because it can, under certain circumstances, work as hi-fi furniture. This two-tier low-riser has been designed with a vintage aesthetic but it won’t cope with anything heavy. The bottom is good for up to 15kg before it starts to sag. The top shelf – which I use for turntables and CD players – is strengthened by cross bracing that the bottom shelf could also use. However, the BAGGBODA beats traditional hi-fi furniture on shelf width and depth and doesn’t scream ‘specialist’. Best of all, it’s only €79.
Hario V60 coffee server set
🛒 https://amzn.to/49FjX7y
Hifi people tend also to be coffee people but if you’re still slumming it with a Nespresso, how about a wake-up call from Japan? At $25, Hario’s V60 coffee server set won’t break the bank and comes in a striking red finish. If you buy fresh beans from your local roastery and then ask them to grind them for filter coffee (not espresso), I can promise you’ll be a changed wo/man in a matter of days. The V60 is the most important item on this list.
