Stereo Times list of the " 2020 MOST WANTED COMPONENTS"

what defines ’most wanted’?? by whom? for whom? for whose benefit?

more grist for the mill, the self-interested/self-serving marketing machine grinds on

not to say the equipment mentioned is bad, but basis for inclusion/exclusion is not disclosed... neither is selection criteria

yet another cooperative effort by those wanting eyeballs and those equipment makers wanting exposure to boost sales

I am getting delivery of 1 of the items on the list tomorrow, the  Coda Technology CSib integrated though I paid half price. It is supposed to sound pretty good.

Nice and interesting article, good audio is not the exclusivity of Stereophile and The Absolute Sound only.
I liked that they included something from Acoustic Revive.
G

I found this list to be more useful than I thought it would be, given some of the comments. As someone recently shopping for a lot of gear, there were more than a few things there which would have been within reach and good to know about. I look at such lists with my own budget in mind -- which is framed roughly around a $15k system cost. (It keeps going up, but I’ve not shifted that much!)

So, looking at this list with an audiophile-but-not-extravagant mindset, a number of things would have turned my head, back when I was shopping. The Denafrips and Pagoda DAC’s for one. I don’t have a turntable, but someone on a modest budget who sees a phono stage at $349 would probably be glad to know about the Vincent. I’ve been reading about Aric a lot on these forums, and while this one is pricey, it’s not astronomical. I liked seeing the Coda on the list (so many people just go straight to Pass Labs, it sometimes seems) but wondered where the Belles was. The SPL was a real head-turner; very good looking and, again, not out of reach for anyone willing to spend $6k for preamp *and* amp. Speakers can be so extravagant and so many of the usual names dominate the reviews and forums. So, here, I was interested to see the potential value in speakers from Kings Audio, Spatial, and LSA. The Kirmuss speaker cable also seemed reasonable. My two cents as a relative newbie. FWIW.

The only thing I own on that list is the Origin Live Gravity One Record Weight. It is a very nicely constructed weight. Maybe its bias, but I do believe I’m hearing an improvement, who knows really lol. It’s only money and well, it looks nice. 😁