French company Metronome Technologies make a whole host of kit for the digital domain, here Stuart Smith tries out their AQWO CD/SACD player and DAC with valve output stage costing £13,870 Euros as tested.

“Metronome Technologies is a French brand you may or may not be aware of, but they have been in existence for over thirty years, they were founded in 1987, and if you have ever seen the Kallista DreamPlay CD (yes, that’s one of theirs too, though you won’t find it on the Metronome website oddly) you will certainly remember its massive aluminium and methacrylate structure – it’s one of those “once seen, never forgotten kind of products” that just screams high-end luxury. Despite having manufacturer amplifiers, speakers and other products, they now concentrate on products aimed at reproducing high-resolution music and formats with their product range including DACs, CD Transports, Integrated DAC/CD Players and in 2016 they launched new servers, all of which are distributed in the UK by Absolute Sounds (interview with Ricardo of Absolute Sounds here)…”

Read the full review here