HOW TO USE THE LISTING

The classes each cover a wide range of performance. Carefully read our descriptions here, the original reviews, and (heaven forbid) reviews in other magazines to put together a short list of components to choose from. Evaluate your room, your source material and front-end(s), your speakers, and your tastes. With luck, you may come up with a selection to audition at your favorite dealer(s). “Recommended Components” will not tell you what to buy any more than Consumer Reports would presume to tell you whom to marry!

CLASS A

Best attainable sound for a component of its kind, almost without practical considerations; the least musical compromise. A Class A system is one for which you don’t have to make a leap of faith to believe that you’re hearing the real thing. When hi-rez became available, we introduced a new Class, A+, for the best performance in those digital categories. Class A now represents the best that can be obtained from 16/44.1 resolution. We also created Class A+ categories for turntables and phono preamps, originally to recognize the achievements of the Continuum Caliburn and Boulder 2008, respectively. More recently, we created Class A+ for headphones.

CLASS B

The next best thing to the very best sound reproduction; Class B components generally cost less than those in Class A, but most Class B components are still quite expensive.

CLASS C

Somewhat lower-fi sound, but far more musically natural than average home-component high fidelity; products in this class are of high quality but still affordable.

CLASS D

Satisfying musical sound, but these components are either of significantly lower fidelity than the best available, or exhibit major compromises in performance—limited dynamic range, for example. Bear in mind that appearance in Class D still means that we recommend this product— it’s possible to put together a musically satisfying system exclusively from Class D components.

NOTE TO READERS

Due to space limitations, the following sections had to be omitted from this print edition of Recommended Components: Subwoofers; Digital Datalinks; Interconnects; Loudspeaker Cables; Miscellaneous, Phono, & Powerline Accessories; Stands, Spikes, Feet, & Racks; Computer Software; Room Acoustic Treatments; FM Tuners; and Books. These can be found at stereophile.com/category/recommended-components.