'Tis the season for gift guides and while our gift guide is the best, there's nothing wrong with getting second opinions. CrunchGear recently looked at high-end consumer audio equipment for several different categories, doing a fine job in its own right. The "winners," so-to-speak are:

•Wireless Audio: The Sonos ZonePlayer ZP80 and the Olive Opus.

•Headphones: The Shure E500PTH and the UltimeEars triple.fi 10 Pro.

Some of the other winners... meh, a little impractical, methinks.

•Too Big For Its Own Good: Open Labs MiKo Portable Media Workcenter. Now, I saw one of these during the summer, and while it's definitely got a "Wow!" factor going for it, it's entirely too large to be even mentioned in the same sentence with the word "portable." Better have a giant desk with plenty of room on it for this guy.

The rest of the round-up is fairly spot-on, so if you're itching for some audiophile info, it could be worth a few seconds of your time. After you're done with our own efforts, of course. – Nicholas Deleon

Holiday Buyers Guide 2006: Audiophile Gear [CrunchGear]

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