$200 for a 200-watt per channel integrated? That you can hold in the palm of your hand? Really? And it will drive a pair of Magnepans? You bet.

I was really excited about the FX-Audio DS-07 DAC/PRE. We’ve just finished up a Distilled “first look,” and I have listened to both of these enough to give them a Product of the Year award in the upcoming issue.

The L-07 checks off more than the normal number of boxes for an entry-level component. It sounds great, looks great, and is easy to use. It’s easy to get carried away with mega-expensive gear, but what so many of us forget is that we all started our audio journey considerably further down the food chain. I know I did.

This amplifier is a model of design and engineering efficiency. It’s class-D, so the sound is more neutral than warm, but that’s a great place to start. With plenty of power to spare, you should be able to use any speakers with it and get great results – as I mentioned, it drives my Magnepan 2.7X speakers just fine. While you probably won’t pair this amp up with a $10k pair of Magnepans, you might pair it up with a nice pair of used $1,200 Magnepans and have a very musical system.

With one balanced and one unbalanced input, it’s easy to connect a phono preamplifier and your favorite DAC (or the great L-07). It also proved to be a great match for my vintage ESS AMT-1b’s out in the garage system. Bass is tight and controlled, and the highs are reasonably smooth. The amplifier also manages to throw a very wide soundstage. We’ll go into further detail and explore some more speaker combinations in the full review.

I love the L-07 because it’s a great place to start your audiophile journey on a reasonable budget. I bought the review samples to keep around as an example of what can truly be accomplished at this level. If you’re a well-heeled audiophile and want to get a friend or a friend’s kid into the game – buy them one of these, and away you go.

$199

szfxaudio.com/

Hello and welcome to Distilled.

We are not abandoning our standard reviews, but for those of you that would like a little more than the canned press releases everyone else is posting, but not sure if you want to make the time investment in a full review, we present the distilled column.

A quick overview of components that will be 200-300 words. No space for blather, pontification, or a lot of “I, Me, Mine” stuff.

We’ll do our best to present a couple of good pics, a link to the full review (if it’s done and you’re so intrigued) and a link to the manufacturer. On occasion, we will even post a purchase link if it makes sense. Please NOTE: we are doing this for your convenience, and these are not sponsored or affiliate links.

Thank you for reading!

If you happen to be a moving coil cartridge enthusiast or are thinking about stepping up (pun intended), you’ll need a way to raise that signal to a level that your current MM stage can handle.

Inexpensive ($400 and under) cartridges usually sound dreadful, with only a few exceptions. However, there are a handful of great $300-$500 MC cartridges. Two of our favorites are the Denon DL-103R ($499) and the Ortofon Quintet Red ($399).

Another interesting option is a Step-Up Transformer (SUT), but again, good ones tend to be between $1,000 and $2,000. For these ears, the SUT option always presents a slightly softer (not that that’s a bad thing) presentation than an active gain stage because there is a lot of wire for that tiny signal to go through. Every approach has its fans.

Recently, some great trans-impedance phono stages have come to market that work in current mode instead of voltage mode. If you’re not super geeky about vinyl, what this means is the current stage frees your MC cartridge from impedance matching and associated resonance effects. The bottom line is that they sound cleaner and more alive. The bad news is that it’s usually a pretty expensive solution.

Jim Hagerman is a clever guy known for bringing high-quality, reasonably priced preamplifiers to the world of audio. He keeps costs to the bone by using simple, elegant circuits and casework to a minimum. No one will ever accuse his products of being “audio jewelry.”  But we want performance. Right?

$269 gets you a current mode first stage that certainly is the equal or better of all the SUTs I’ve had the pleasure of auditioning. (But I only have so many data points, so keep an open mind)

Plug this into your MM phono preamplifier or MM phono section of your preamp/integrated and get ready for a major audio experience. The PZ is big, dynamic, and quiet. We tried this with the above-mentioned MCs and had amazing results, yet this thing is no slouch with higher-buck cartridges either, plugged into a couple of other tube MM preamplifiers, as well as some vintage gear. Or perhaps, a Hagerman MM phono stage.

Definitely a TONEAudio Exceptional Value Award Winner. You won’t be sorry.

Here’s a link to the Hagerman site, where the shopping cart is. We do not get any compensation from this. Jim is a cool guy, and deserves all the business he gets. We’re happy to pass the good word along!

https://hagerman-audio-labs.myshopify.com/collections/phono-preamps/products/piccolo-zero-mc-headamp

We’re huge fans of Black Ravioli products; over the years, they have kept improving their process.

The latest Big Pad Plus is more efficient at isolating your components from vibrations in the environment that subtly blur the ultimate resolution of your system.

The best thing about a set of these pads is that you don’t know you need them until you have them and take them away. After putting them under about a dozen components in various sizes and levels of performance, they tend to do even more for tube components than solid-solid state. But we still suggest trying a pair under your favorite solid-state component. They also make a nice change for the better under a solid plinth turntable.

However, even placing a set under a used Dynaco PAS-3 significantly improves image focus and lowers the noise floor. Ditto for the PrimaLuna ProLogue ONE and EVO 100 integrated amplifiers.

BR suggests using the pads “pin up,” but our limited experience suggests they work better with components pin up and turntables pin down. Again, try both ways to see what delivers the best result in your system. We also noticed that they offer immediate improvement but improve further after settling in for a day or so. Try your favorite track or two upon installation, 12, 24, and 48 hours later, and see what you think. Do the same thing if you reverse them.  A more detailed analysis is coming soon, but we suggest you try a set.

About $120 each

https://www.blackravioli.com/shop/big-pad-plus/

What we’ve got here is a very cool, very compact DAC and Preamplifier that is only about 5 inches tall, 3 inches wide, and 7 inches deep. (125mm x 80mm x 176mm to be exact)

What is so exciting about this mighty little DAC is the performance it delivers for such an approachable cost. Can it deliver 98% of the sound that my dCS Vivaldi does? Of course not, but that’s not the point. What it does offer is an incredible taste of true high-end sound for $199.

Why is that so awesome? Because for $199, you can get in the game. That’s exciting. If you’re new to hifi, you’re probably on a limited budget, and the more sound you can get for your budget, the more you will enjoy your music. Add the FX-Audio L07 amplifier (same price) and a pair of speakers, and you can be rocking for under $1,000 all in. Stream your tunes from your computer or laptop via the built-in USB.

The DS-07 decodes PCM files up to 24/768 and DSD up to DSD512 via the USB input. The coaxial and optical inputs, up to 192kHZ and DSD 64, are still very impressive. It even decodes MQA. The heart of this DAC is an ESS 9068AS chipset, and the analog stage features RCA and XLR outputs.

Overall, sound quality is excellent and on par with a handful of other budget DACs we have here that cost more. Plus, that optical input is a great upgrade for that old CD player you’ve got hanging around. Using it in our garage system with a vintage Sony ES player was a real ear-opener!

We’ve got a full review on the horizon. The DS-07 and the L07 have received Product of the Year awards in the upcoming TONE issue because they deliver so much value. To put this in perspective, back in 1980, when I was finishing college, a Pioneer SX424 was $199. $199 in 2025 dollars is about $43 in 1980. Let that sink in for a minute.

$199

szfxaudio.com/

Don’t even ask.

They only come in black. And I’m guessing that’s a part of how Dynaudio can offer this much speaker for this price – they don’t have to build four color combinations.  Utilizing the same Esotar 3 tweeter as the $13k/pair Confidence 20 that is a personal favorite and a personal reference here at TONE, the Contour 20 has a similar but unique (to this model) 7-inch woofer.

Playing material with limited bass extension, it might be tough to tell the two apart at first listen, but the more expensive Confidence 20 plays louder, deeper, and with more authority. Let’s suffice it to say that Dynaudio has given you as much of the Confidence 20 in a similarly styled (but lighter) cabinet as they can at this price. Dynaudio’s top qualities: ease and smoothness, while retaining a high level of resolution – combined with the ability to create an enormous soundstage are all intact here. Also worth noting, these speakers are designed and built in Denmark.

As with every Dynaudio monitor we’ve reviewed, we suggest adding their stands to the package. They are custom-fit to the speakers, easily filled with sand or your favorite media to increase mass (suggested), and they look great. Why dilute that Danish style with something else?

The Contour 20s have only been here for a few days, but playing 24/7 to get hours on the clock reveals a highly musical character that should be ideally suited to small to medium-sized rooms. Do you need a subwoofer? That depends on the size of your room, how much drive your amplifier has, and how loud you need to listen. Though the sensitivity spec (86dB/1-watt) might have you guessing these require big power – it’s all about quality. With excellent results, they have already been used with a few integrated amplifiers in the 30wpc to 80wpc range.

We’ll have a full review shortly, but the initial take is highly recommended.

$8,000/pair Stand 20 stands/ adapter plate $599/pair  (optional)

www.dynaudio.com