lkv research

CAF 2015: LKV Research, with Joseph Audio and VPI

September 18, 2015

Bill Hutchins, the Chief Designer of LKV Research, was showing off a lovely system anchored by his flagship products — the Line One linestage ($3,500) and the Veros One phono pre ($6,500). Bill told me that the current Veros One (a dramatic [...]

CAS 2014: Bob’s marvelous little Devices

August 27, 2014

CAS 2014 finally gave me a chance to talk a bit with the man in white lab coat, Bob Sattin of Bob’s Devices. Bob usually has a table in the big room at these events, but those rooms are usually noisy, steaming hot, packed tight with [...]

CAF 2014: Backert Labs floats a gorgeous new pre

August 6, 2014

Backert Labs was a new-to-me venture here at CAF, showing off their fab new preamplifier, the Rhythm 1.1 ($7,500). First thing — any audio component that can successfully manage to incorporate toggle switches is already doing better than [...]

Newport 2014: LKV Research expands the line, mega-buck gear makers past nervous

June 22, 2014

Bill Hutchins is a fine fellow. His audiophile brand, LKV Research, has been merrily upsetting apple carts for the last few years with their over-performing and under-priced phono preamplifier. Newport saw Bill with two new bits, a line-topper phono [...]

High End 2014: Some Announcements

May 16, 2014

Been seeing a slew of NPI (new product intro) announcements hitting the wires, perhaps targeting (or just piggybacking on) the High End Show in Munich. Thought it might make sense to set out a few that I’ve seen so far: Astell&Kern AK 100 [...]

An Analog Twist: Bob’s Devices 1131 Step Up Transformer Review

February 28, 2014

Bob’s Devices is a small operation run by one Bob Sattin, the man in the white lab coat with the words “Hear the Magic” embroidered in big red letters on the back. Maybe you’ve seen him at a local audio show? Bob makes and [...]

CAF 2013: LKV Research

August 3, 2013

Bill Hutchins of LKV Research was showing off his new baby, the Phono 2-SB ($2,500). This Swiss Army knife phonostage has pretty much everything you could want, including both balanced (40/50/59dB) and unbalanced inputs (34/44/53dB). Not enough [...]