Network Audio Players/Servers

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Network Audio Players/ServersOutboard DACsPre/Power Amplifiers
T+A PSD 3100 HV Streaming DAC/Preamp
Review: Mark Craven, Lab: Paul Miller  |  May 20, 2024
hfnoutstandingComplete with a new streaming module, T+A's latest network-attached DAC/preamp is the perfect partner for its PA 3100 HV integrated and A 3000 HV power amplifiers

Tipping the scales at a hefty 26kg, measuring a portly 46cm deep and 17cm tall, and selling for £14,900, T+A's PSD 3100 HV appears every inch the flagship DAC/streamer/preamp. Except that it isn't – that accolade is reserved for the German brand's SDV 3100 HV [HFN Oct '19], which has been deemed its 'reference' model since its arrival in 2019 and remains available for £26,040.

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Disc PlayersIntegrated AmplifiersNetwork Audio Players/Servers
T+A R 2500 R all-in-one receiver
Review: Andrew Everard, Lab: Paul Miller  |  Apr 23, 2025  |  First Published: Oct 01, 2024
hfnoutstanding

Conceived as the ‘command centre’ of a modern high-end system, T+A’s powerful all-in-one system embraces CD and streamed audio, in all its flavours, and radio too...

Looking for a simple, no-frills, ‘straight wire with gain’ amplification solution? If so, it’s a case of ‘move right along, please – nothing to see here’, for T+A’s R 2500 R, available in black or silver at £12,905, is a prime example of large-scale integration in the quest for one of those ‘just add speakers’ systems. Yes, you could connect other source components to it, thanks to a choice of analogue and digital inputs – but really, why would you want to?

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Integrated AmplifiersNetwork Audio Players/Servers
T+A Symphonia streaming integrated amp
Review: Mark Craven, Lab: Paul Miller  |  Nov 11, 2025  |  First Published: Nov 01, 2025
hfnoutstandingThere’s more than a hint of retro styling to T+A’s slender all-in-one amplifier, but the feature set – including a custom DAC stage and Class D power – is thoroughly modern

With its latest integrated amplifier, German marque T+A says it is offering a ‘bold look to the future of audio’ as well as a nod to the company’s near 50-year past. And the Symphonia, yours for £7990 in silver or black finish, certainly has a styling that’s unusual, if not unique. The busy front fascia, with crisp monochrome OLED display and hand-built analogue VU meters, continues the kind of retro-modern aesthetic seen on other recent models from HiFi Rose [HFN Jul ’22] and Yamaha [HFN Jul ’23], plus T+A’s own series 200 separates [HFN May ’22 and Feb ’23].

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Network Audio Players/Servers
Volumio Rivo Network Audio Streamer
Review: Jamie Biesemans, Lab: Paul Miller  |  Oct 26, 2023
hfncommendedItalian brand Volumio is responsible not just for a series of network-attached digital players, but also an open-source OS and bespoke app. The Rivo (stream) is its 'bridge'

Launched in 2022, the Rivo is the middle model in a trio of new streaming devices from Florence-based Volumio, and this digital-only streamer, together with the second-generation Primo streaming DAC and the Integro networked amplifier, concludes an unlikely journey for the Italian start-up.

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Network Audio Players/ServersOutboard DACs
Wattson Madison Streamer streaming DAC
Review: Mark Craven, Lab: Paul Miller  |  Jul 16, 2026  |  First Published: Sep 01, 2026
hfnoutstandingThis Lake Geneva-based Swiss brand not only develops much of its own custom digital technology but is now also a daughter company to high-end champions CH Precision

Although Wattson Audio has a relationship with fellow Swiss manufacturer CH Precision (more on which later), its products couldn't be further removed from the latter's monster-sized amplifiers [HFN Sep '25 & Mar '26]. Reviewed and tested here is the Madison Streamer, a network-attached DAC with fixed/variable output, priced at a not-inexpensive £4700 but measuring a positively bijou 175x52x185mm (whd).

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Network Audio Players/ServersOutboard DACs
Weiss DAC501 USB/network DAC
Review: David Price, Lab: Paul Miller  |  Dec 01, 2018
hfncommended.pngPacking a high quality DAC and streamer into a half-size box, this new digital converter also features powerful user-configurable DSP. It's a potent combination…

With this new DAC, for the first time in my design career, I have the chance to make an impression that has people saying “wow”', Daniel Weiss told HFN. 'Designed by our team here, it is different – but not radically so – to our earlier products.' He's being a little modest because the new Weiss DAC501 is more than a little diverting in any number of different ways…

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Integrated AmplifiersNetwork Audio Players/Servers
WiiM Amp
Review: Mark Craven, Lab: Paul Miller  |  May 30, 2025  |  First Published: Nov 01, 2024
hfnoutstandingIndustry ‘disrupter’ WiiM continues its campaign to shake up the audio scene with another comprehensively-equipped streamer, this time with a Class D amp on board

If I had a pound for every time I’d heard someone talking about WiiM in the last year I would easily be able to afford the £329 streaming amplifier auditioned here. Since its arrival in the UK in 2023, WiiM – the consumer-facing brand of California-based smart technology company Linkplay – has earned a reputation for compact, networked hi-fi products that combine wide feature sets and a forward-thinking control app, but at prices that would have seemed like science-fiction just a few years ago.

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Network Audio Players/Servers
WiiM Pro Plus
Review: Andrew Everard, Lab: Paul Miller  |  Oct 29, 2024
hfnoutstandingThis unassuming little black box packs as much streaming technology and features as the biggest players in the audio biz - plus support for Google/Alexa voice control...

Every once in a while, the hi-fi industry encounters a disrupter - a brand or a product able to create waves and challenge established ways of doing things. Think the original NAD 3020 integrated amplifier , which entered an arena full of feature-heavy products, and became a best-seller thanks to its combination of price, simplicity and sheer performance.

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Network Audio Players/Servers
Yamaha R-N2000A Network Receiver
Review: Jamie Biesemans, Lab: Paul Miller  |  Aug 15, 2023
hfnoutstandingMarrying old-school Yamaha looks with new-fangled digital functions, the R-N2000A streaming amplifier offers convenience in a package to delight vintage devotees

Few audio brands have escaped the component shortages and wonky logistics of the last few years, including Yamaha, but the company is putting all that behind it with a slew of new products. The £2895 R-N2000A is in the vanguard of a new series from this venerable Japanese manufacturer, one or two sneak-previewed at High End Munich 2022. The 2023 show then saw the launch of its lower-tier R-N1000A and R-N800A network-attached amplifiers, sharing many features with the flagship model reviewed here. Yamaha is also offering a range of speakers to match, so if you want to go full Yammy then matching high-gloss piano black NS-2000A floorstanders are available to pair with the R-N2000A. This fits with the brand's efforts to re-establish its once-familiar position in the two-channel hi-fi scene.

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