In the waning weeks of 2023, our last few Top Picks included small and large sets of speakers from two well-known but very different brands and two superb TVs a quantum-dot OLED and a mini-LED Google TV, both reasonably priced. As we kicked off the New Year, the hits kept coming with an audiophile-caliber streaming amp combo, a state-of-the-art AV preamp/processor that leaves little to the imagination, and a high-performing yet affordable streaming amp.
EISA, or the Expert Imaging and Sound Association, is an organisation representing 58 of the most respected special interest publications and websites from 29 countries that cover Hi-Fi, Home Theater Video, Home Theater Audio, Photography, Mobile Devices, and In-Car Electronics. Every year EISA's Expert Group members, including editors from this publication, test a very wide range of new products from their field of expertise before comparing results and voting to decide on the cream of every product category.
Last year's AXPONA brought the debut of SVS' Prime Wireless Pro active speakers ($899/pair). In the fall, I spent a couple of months listening to them, and came away impressed. "No sub-$1000 all-in-one system can attain anything close to perfection, but night after night the Prime Pros surprised me," I wrote in my review, praising their sonic balance and satisfying low-frequency extension.