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High-end audio can be a rather expensive hobby, but every now and then I stumble across something really amazing that's priced for the real world. The Schiit Audio Asgard headphone amplifier looks and sounds like an overpriced high-end audio component, but it sells for $249!

How good is it? Much better sounding than run-of-the-mill headphone amplifiers, the sort designed around inexpensive integrated circuits found in home theater and stereo receivers. The Asgard is a no-holds-barred Class A, single-ended, zero-feedback design. Pardon the audiophile jargon; let's just say the Asgard is built like a serious piece of high-end gear.

Look inside and you see individual resistors, capacitors, transistors, etc, configured in a proprietary design by Schiit Audio's founders, Jason Stoddard, formerly of Sumo, and Mike Moffat, formerly of Theta Digital (two pioneering American high-end audio companies). The Asgard's chassis, circuitboard, and power transformer are all sourced from American suppliers, and the amp is built in Newhall, Calif. Oh, and Stoddard, his wife, or Moffat actually listens to each and every Asgard before it leaves the premises.

The Asgard's clean lines and elegant proportions strike me as distinctive, I love the look. The brushed, all-metal chassis' fit and finish are excellent, easily on par with high-end electronics that sell for four times the Asgard's price. That's no exaggeration, it's really nicely put together. I mostly listened to the Asgard with my Ayre C-5xe SACD/DVD-Audio player, but you could hook it up to any stereo analog connection.

The amp is fairly compact, and can be placed horizontally or vertically. The chassis measures 9 by 6.75 by 2.25 inches, and it weighs 4 pounds. Accessories include a 3.5 mm to 6.3 mm headphone plug adapter, and a high-quality 3.5mm to male RCA cable adapter.

The amp's high-current design makes it suitable for use with all sorts of headphones, rated from 8 to 600 ohms, and it worked perfectly with my favorite Grado, Hifiman, Phiaton, and Sennheiser headphones. A lot of companies toss around phrases like "high-current design," but judging by the amount of heat the Asgard generates, I believe the claim.

It runs very warm to the touch, and even so, Jason Stoddard told me the Asgard was built to have a 20-year lifespan, or at least 5 years if left on continuously. How many $249 consumer electronics products can you buy with that sort of life expectancy?… Read more

Subwoofers make bass, that's easy. But really high-quality affordable subwoofers are surprisingly rare. The big problem facing subwoofer designers is the pressure to make really small subwoofers. That's not to say small subs can't make bass, they boom and thunder all right, but the sound tends to veer to the muddy side of accurate. That can sound acceptable for home theater duty, where nuance and subtlety aren't always big priorities.

So sure, a 1-foot cube sub can get the job done for a home theater, but can it define the sound of a 1962 Fender Precision Bass? Can it play music and let you really hear what's going on in the bass? No way! For that you need something a bit more substantial: a large subwoofer. Big subs also make their presence known in home theaters, where their sound has the gravitas no minisub can match. Oh, but most large, high-performance subs come with heavyweight price tags.

That's why I'm jazzed about the $799 Epik Empire; this bad boy boasts two 15-inch woofers; a Class D 600-watt (1,500 peak watt) power amplifier; in a 22-inch-high, 18-inch-wide and 24-inch-deep cabinet. The Empire's 120-pound weight might be a not so subtle indication that it's solidly built.

I briefly spoke with Epik's founder and chief designer, Chad Kuypers, Thursday. He's a no-nonsense kind of guy, and he told me he's working on some really cool larger and slightly smaller subs, but for now he's just offering one model, the Empire. Epik Subwoofers is located just north of Chicago, Illinois, where they build the subs, including fabricating the precision CNC machined cabinets in-house.… Read more

My pal Dave Clark, editor at Positive Feedback Online, took a lot of great pictures at CES 2010. After the jump, see but a brief sampling from his Web site.… Read more

School Administration Made Easy is, frankly, anything but. Although the program has some useful features, its lack of professionalism and options for customization seriously limit its usefulness.

The program bills itself as a way to manage a variety of school administration tasks, including student enrollment, attendance, grades, transportation, and more. As far as navigation is concerned, the program's interface is average, neither particularly well-designed nor particularly difficult. However, the templates into which users enter information leave something to be desired. One would expect to be able to customize the templates, allowing users to enter information relevant to their particular … Read more

You should see the mess of cables, chargers, and charging cables that clutter my backpack every day. Moving from car to car and home to work while testing a variety of devices means that iPod sync cables, USB cables, Mini- and Micro-USB cables for mobile phones and GPS devices, 12-volt car chargers, and 110-volt wall chargers eat up a good deal of my bag space. For me, this is why Scosche's PowerFuze charger system looks interesting. This charging solution should let you replace a number of cables and chargers for an all-in-one approach. It's a car charger and … Read more

For over 10 years ElectronLuv has been producing custom amplifiers and high-end components.

I think they're awesome-looking things, and I love that they're built to order. In a way ElectronLuv's design ethos reminds me of the "American Chopper" TV series where they custom build high-end motorcycles to order. But in this case it's stereo pre- and power amplifiers, guitar amplifiers, turntables, and horn speakers designed to meet ElectronLuv's customers' desires.

Some might call it steampunk or retro chic, but I think ElectronLuv products are unique and represent the best of American high-end audio.

ElectronLuv's Josh Stippich needs three to six months to design and build each of his one-of-a-kind products. In the early design stages Stippich sends his customers drawings to get feedback so he can give them exactly what they want. … Read more

Focal Audio, aka JM Lab, may not be a well-known name in the U.S., but it is France's largest speaker manufacturer. I had Focal Mini Utopia speakers in my reference two-channel system for years and the Focal Grande Utopia EM ($180,000 per pair) is the best sounding speaker I've ever heard.

Maybe that's why the Focal Dome 5.1 satellite/subwoofer system ($2,595 MSRP) review by Michael Trei in Sound & Vision magazine piqued my interest.

The Dome replaces the Sib and Cub 5.1 system I favorably reviewed a few years ago. Unlike the Asian-built Sib and Cub, the Domes are manufactured at Focal's factory in Saint-Etienne, France.

The Dome 5.1 package is Focal smallest home speaker system yet. Trei writes: "the Dome satellite's cast-aluminum enclosure feels solid enough to withstand being run over by a small car." Each satellite speaker has a 4-inch woofer and a 1-inch aluminum/magnesium inverted dome tweeter, similar to the one Focal uses in its upscale Profile and Electra S models. Optional stands are available for the sats.

The matching cylindrical, rounded-top subwoofer has a single downward-firing 8-inch woofer and a built-in 100-watt amplifier.… Read more

In preparation for the third season of its hit series "Mad Men," cable network AMC has put out a new marketing tool called "Mad Men Yourself." It lets fans of the show create themselves (or their friends) as early-1960s cartoon characters using a variety of costumes, props, and body parts that are loosely tied to the world within the show.

Set to rhythmic lounge lizard music, you can assemble your virtual self piece by piece. When done, you can then download and export your creation in sizes ready for Twitter, Facebook, and as desktop wallpapers.

It'… Read more

Build your skills for spelling with this interesting tutorial program. While its commands are confusing at times, the results are hard to beat. Users will be able to find help by utilizing this program.

The program has a sleek look, which gives a professional impression. However, users will be wise to look over the massive Help file for directions on how to create their own word lists, since there is no direction on how to navigate the various boxes and command buttons to do so. Users must start by creating one of these lists, so they can focus on words … Read more