Bob Ankosko

Lit cigarette in hand, pop-rock icon John Mellencamp sauntered to the front of the room in McIntosh’s swanky Soho townhouse. He had a serious look on his face. No hint of a smile. Maybe he’s nervous, I thought to myself as he sat on a stool with a large ashtray at his side. Or is it just that he’s the personification of cool and really doesn’t give a rat’s ass about what people think…

HiFiMan founder Dr. Fang Bian has been crafting fine headphones for more than a decade, collecting numerous awards along the way. In the past two years alone, five of his designs have been designated Top Picks in these pages. Despite this incredible success, Bian wanted more. He had a lifelong dream to fulfill: To create the “world’s best-sounding headphone.” As he put it, “While HiFiMan has made many good headphones, and people certainly enjoy them, none has ever fully satisfied that dream.”

PRICE $599

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Solid build quality
Powered by AC or battery
Integral handle
Minus
Disappointing sound quality
Expensive

THE VERDICT
The Adcom Luna has style and pizzazz but falls short of the competition on sound quality.

Luna is not your father’s Adcom. As the first speaker to bear the familiar red logo, from a relatively recent licensee of the venerable old brand, it has no common heritage with the fine power amplifiers and preamplifiers on which the original company built its name in the ’80s and ’90s, except for its dominant color—black.

15 Minutes with Dirac Founder Mathias Johansson

Mathias Johansson, CEO and co-founder of Sweden’s Dirac Research, has devoted his professional life to developing technologies that improve sound quality—whether that sound is music heard over headphones or car speakers, or an intricate Dolby Atmos soundtrack played over a high-end home theater system. “Our passion is to invent new sound technologies that offer a better sound experience regardless of the sound system,” he says. “We want to be a quality seal for good sound, and we want to achieve this through scientific methods.” If the accolades the Dirac Live room-correction system has garnered among enthusiasts is any measure, Johansson is not only on the right path to elevating sound quality but making tangible progress.