LATEST ADDITIONS

PRICE $7,499

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Reference-grade sonics
Outstanding digital audio performance up to 32-bit/384kHz
Gorgeous fit and finish and industrial design
Minus
Basic user interface
Comparatively limited onboard music streaming options
Ethernet connection can be finicky

THE VERDICT
The Micromega M-150 is a pricey, somewhat limited, but fine-sounding integrated amp with a super-slim form factor and surprising power.

Nominally, French firm Micromega would seem a deeply conflicted organization. Is it micro, or is it mega? We may never know. (For the record, “Micomégas” is an 18th-century, ur-science-fiction novella by that most French of Enlightenment figures, Voltaire.)

Either way, the south-of-Paris firm has an established record of filling niches in the ever-shifting digital-audiophile world, beginning with several notable high-end CD players. Today, like most such manufacturers, Micromega is redefining itself for the post-physical media age: Witness its latest M-One duo of streaming- capable, digital-input integrated amplifiers—streamplifiers, as I like to call them.

Klipsch today kicked off its new “Keepers of the Sound” video series, which spotlights pioneers of all crafts who’ve “stayed true to a vision of preserving their rich heritage, while adapting to today’s tech-driven world.”

When Sony launched the first videocassette recorder in 1975, it was just a matter of time before movies would become available on tape for viewing at home — a foreign concept at the time — but Andre Blay got the ball rolling and started a business that would forever change the way Americans enjoy entertainment at home. Blay passed away August 24 in Bonita Springs, FL at age 81.

Two years ago, I stumbled across a display booth with an overly energetic dude eager to convince me that he'd invented something akin to the home-theater version of sliced bread — a DVR for the streaming age. It appears that the Modulus M1 is about ready to ship.