Emotiva is always full of surprises. They first made their name with a series of high-performance/high-value power amps and home theater surround processors, and their Airmotiv 4 speaker knocked me for a loop last year. The little speaker set a new standard for affordable desktop speakers, and Airmotiv 4 became my go-to reference. Now they've done it again with the XDA-2. The beautifully finished, full-size (17 x 2.25 x 14 inch) $399 component boasts a generous assortment of inputs and outputs. Getting acquainted with the sound with my Hifiman HE-400 headphones was a treat for my ears.

I've been avoiding this for quite a while now. I knew it wouldn't show a damn thing. Puts me in a pickle because I can hear differences between cables...I'm pretty sure. Ah well, you gotta throw the objectivists a bone every now and then.

Consonance probably intended for this EL34 based tube integrated to be used in a dedicated listening room driving some high-efficiency speakers. And it does that quite well. Thanks to its relatively compact size and built-in headphone amp, it works perfectly for desktop audio too, which is why it fits here at InnerFidelity.