A renowned website dedicated to hi-fi news and reviews, The Ear has published its selection of the best hi-fi equipment of 2025. The “Best of 2025” awards highlight the various speakers, amplifiers, turntables and other hi-fi products that have impressed the editors over the past 12 months, offering a glimpse of the leading devices of 2025. Here is a look at a few of the winners.
The best speakers
DALI Epikore 9
Entirely handcrafted in DALI’s Danish workshops, the Epikore 9 immediately stands out for its luxurious cabinet. The latter is designed to preserve the integrity of the sound message, and is dressed in a carefully polished real wood veneer. This imposing 4-way floorstander features the flagship technologies developed for the prestigious Epicon and Kore ranges. It combines two woofers and an SMC midrange driver, as well as a hybrid tweeter combining a dome and a ribbon. The result is an exceptionally rich, detailed sound reproduction.
With its clean lines and glossy wood veneer, the DALI Epikore 9 is a true work of art. Featuring an extremely rigid, inert structure, its cabinet ensures very low resonance, preserving the naturalness and precision of the sound.
While they do proper hi-fi stuff like imaging immaculately as well, reproducing depth and placement of musicians with ease, the primary purpose of hi-fi gear is to make music accessible and enjoyable, to deliver the signal with the minimum of colouration. In this respect the Epikore 9s are among the very best loudspeakers I have had the pleasure of living with. They do everything so well that it’s very easy to sit back and enjoy the music and that, after all, is what this game is all about.
The Elipson Planet L Performance speaker builds on the foundations of the multi-award-winning Planet L and pushes the boundaries further, thanks to a new 6.5 inch coaxial driver with damping treatment and DAR (Double Asymmetric Rubber) technology. Its 1 inch tweeter, optimized by a neodymium magnet and shallow horn, guarantees a particularly linear response. Offering a generous, precise and detailed reproduction across the entire spectrum, the Planet L Performance embodies the French manufacturer’s expertise, while preserving the range’s iconic spherical design.
The Elipson Planet L Performance features a coaxial driver optimized for high power handling and low distortion. Its audiophile-grade crossover preserves every detail of the signal, offering transparent, precise sound reproduction.
French brand Elipson upgraded its distinctive Planet L coaxial loudspeakers to Performance level, with improved crossover and new driver. These ‘balls of sound’ produced a refined, transparent and detailed sound, confirmed by in-room measurements. They are something of an audiophile bargain and justly deserve a Product of the Year accolade. I was particularly smitten with the treble and midrange from a design that is clearly extremely well-engineered and built, and a serious loudspeaker despite its cute appearance.
Issued in a limited series to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the first Concertino, the Sonus Faber Concertino G4 speaker features a solid walnut cabinet enhanced with vegan leather for a unique, premium look. Its trapezoidal shape, internal bracing and cork center structure effectively reduce resonance to guarantee acoustic purity. This two-way speaker features a 5″ midbass driver with a paper pulp cone, offering excellent dynamics and generous bass. This is complemented by a 1.1″ DAD silk tweeter, renowned for its linearity and the smoothness typical of the Sonus Faber sound.
The handcrafted Sonus Faber Concertino G4 speaker uses high-end materials, with a solid walnut cabinet and vegan leather covering. Thanks to its trapezoidal shape and cutting-edge technologies, it promises an exceptionally pure reproduction.
The two-way stand-mount G4 is a welcome addition to Sonus faber’s Concertino series of loudspeakers. These Italian-crafted boxes came with matching stands and boast walnut veneer inserts plus vegan-friendly ‘leather’ embellishments. Proficiently engineered, beautifully crafted and with an inviting sound, they offer a balance that is warm and natural, drawing the listener in to the performance. Nothing grates; nothing sounds out of place or exaggerated. They are a beautiful thing in so many respects, and that includes their aesthetic design. An all-round winner, in fact.
As the flagship of the Evo range, the Atoll IN400 Evolution amplifier builds on the heritage of the IN400 SE model, while incorporating the latest advances from the French manufacturer. It features a triple power supply isolating the analog and control stages, a completely redesigned audio circuit and new-generation components. Its amplification, based on eight MOS-FET transistors per channel, delivers 2 × 160W into 8 ohms, with a combination of power, precision and musicality.
The Atoll IN400 Evolution has a fully balanced architecture with complete signal separation. Its bipolar transistor input stages and Darlington transistor driver, combined with eight MOS-FET transistors per channel, enable it to deliver up to 2 × 160W into 8 ohms and 2 × 300W into 4 ohms.
Replacing its IN400 Signature integrated, Atoll launched the Evo model as a new top-of-the-range design. Pumping out 300 watts, it bristles with analogue inputs and offers an optional digital board with DAC for extra versatility. The solidly-built unit is clearly very well designed and beautifully constructed. Sonically it doesn’t disappoint, in the highest echelons for its price bracket and can’t be recommended highly enough. The overall balance is one of beautiful transparency, without audible blemish, the resolution of detail supreme, and the ability to handle an enormous variety of material is refreshing.
To celebrate its 50th anniversary, Naim unveiled the NAIT 50 amplifier in a limited edition of 1973 units, inspired by the legendary Nait 1. This model retains its vintage design while incorporating modern technical improvements, with a linear analog architecture and a class A/B power stage delivering up to 2 × 25W into 8 ohms. Reduced distortion and a high signal-to-noise ratio guarantee a transparent, dynamic and detailed reproduction. True to the original model, the NAIT 50 only features analog connections, including two DIN inputs, an MM phono preamp and a headphone output for flexible listening.
Limited to just 1,973 units, the Naim NAIT 50 amp is a collector’s item celebrating the British manufacturer’s 50th anniversary, and paying tribute to the legendary Nait 1 from 1983.
The Nait 50 wins a Best of 2025 award because it is quite simply the most musically rewarding amplifier you can buy for under £1,500. Offering 25 watts per channel, inputs for three sources plus a headphone socket, this is all the amplifier most people will ever need.
The Rega Brio MK7 amplifier is the seventh iteration of the British bestseller, improving on an already award-winning model with a completely redesigned audio circuit. Compact yet powerful, it delivers up to 2 × 50W into 8 ohms, or 2 × 73W into 4 ohms, to power a wide range of speakers with musicality and precision. This new generation also incorporates a DAC designed in-house by Rega to exploit the full potential of digital and analog sources.
The Rega Brio MK7 amplifier concentrates the expertise of the British manufacturer in a compact but comprehensive format. Thanks to its dual power supply and 2 x 50W into 8 ohms, it can be easily matched to a wide range of bookshelf and floorstanding speakers.
The Rega Brio has always been a strong contender in the affordable amplifier stakes and its seventh iteration retains this advantage. You might find a smoother sounding amp and you will undoubtedly find one with more bells and whistles but I would challenge anyone to build something that has the authority and musical coherence that this amp displays for the same price. If you are looking for an amplifier that will keep you entertained no matter what music you play this is the strongest option on the sub £1,000 market right now.
The WiiM Amp Ultra is a compact, versatile connected amplifier capable of delivering up to 2 × 200W into 4 ohms. Natively compatible with major streaming services such as Qobuz, Tidal and Spotify, it can also receive a wireless signal via Chromecast and Bluetooth, or connect to a TV via HDMI ARC, with Dolby Digital support. Control is flexible: remote control, mobile app, voice commands or via its large touchscreen.
The WiiM Amp Ultra amplifier delivers up to 2 × 200W into 4 ohms to power both bookshelf and floorstanding speakers with ease. Its large touchscreen makes it easy to navigate through menus, and can display album art or an attractive VU meter.
The reality is though, if you look at how much the Amp Ultra does and how well it does it, the result is faintly astonishing. The Ultra takes Wiim’s self-contained streaming amp platform and elevates it to Ultra level, with more power and a slicker interface. The result is £500 of all in one system that will pair happily with a wide spread of speakers and deliver a performance that isn’t ‘good for the money’, it’s downright ridiculous. Affordable hi-fi has never been better and this is one of the reasons why.
Handcrafted in Japan, the Hana Umami Red MC cartridge combines high-end materials and technical precision: Nude MicroLine diamond on boron cantilever, 4N copper coils, duraluminium and red Urushi-lacquered ebony shell, and gold-plated connectors on a PEEK terminal. The majority of this cartridge’s components have been cryogenically treated to optimize its longevity and transmission quality. Easy to install thanks to its high compliance, it remains compatible with most phono tonearms and offers an exceptionally refined musical reproduction.
With its Nude MicroLine stylus mounted at the end of a boron cantilever, the Hana Umami Red cartridge is a high-end model that extracts every micro-detail from vinyl records.
The Hana Umami Red is a deserving winner of the Best of 2025 awards because it exudes sheer class both sonically and visually. Housed in a stunning red Urushi lacquered duralumin body, the Umami Red’s hand wound generator is cryogenically treated and its stylus tracks the groove with the sure footedness of a Brazilian striker. Sonically this is a cartridge which offers a rich and vibrant portrayal of music, revealing each instrument’s contribution to the mix. Dynamics soar and the timbre and body of strings, piano and vocals are wonderfully portrayed within a soundstage which is as tangible as architecture. In short, it’s a cartridge that rewards the listener with musical magic on every record.
The Rega Planar 3 RS Edition turntable is a belt-driven manual model, perfecting the famous Planar 3. It features a reinforced HPL aluminum base, Rega Nd5 cartridge and separate Neo PSU MK2 power supply. Retaining the high-precision bearing and low-noise, optimized 24V motor, it also benefits from a sub-platter equipped with the EBLT belt, derived from the top-of-the-range Planar 8 and 10 models. Its brushed, satin-like aluminum finish, combined with the range’s sleek design, underlines its premium character.
Delivered with a separate Neo PSU MK2 power supply and incorporating the brand’s best technologies, the Rega Planar 3 RS Edition turntable promises precise, rich and captivating playback of vinyl records.
The Planar 3 RS Edition is a stonkingly good turntable; one that offers notably more than the Planar 3 that it’s based on thanks to the power supply and plinth. It really does deliver the musical goods in a more engaging and enjoyable manner than the competition, what’s more you get build quality that few can compete with and a lifetime warranty. Add in the superb finish and extra savings provided by this package and you have a record player that anyone with a £1,000 budget would be nuts not to audition.
The Ear’s “Best of 2025” offers an overview of the best hi-fi equipment of the year. Based on the opinions of the site’s editors, it includes equipment in all price categories and from a wide variety of brands. This selection is an excellent starting point for anyone wishing to build a hi-fi system, from beginners to seasoned audiophiles.
Diapason, Les Numériques, What Hi-Fi?, Trusted Reviews… Find all the hi-fi and home theater equipment awarded by the French and international specialist press with our press selections on Son-Vidéo.com.
