Jessica Monroe

I spent the last three months testing nine Class D amplifiers on my reference bookshelf speakers, and I want to share what I found. The best Class D amplifiers for bookshelf speakers deliver clean, powerful sound in a fraction of the size of traditional amps, while running cool enough to sit on your desk without … Read more

Pulling my old Marantz 2226 out of the closet last spring reminded me why tube integrated amplifiers have such a devoted fan base. They make music feel like music, not a frequency sweep. I spent the last three months running eight of the best tube integrated amplifiers under $1000 through a battery of tests in … Read more

When I started building my first serious vinyl setup, I picked a Yamaha integrated amplifier because the brand kept showing up in conversations with seasoned audiophiles. Years later, after testing eight current models from the A-S301BL all the way up to the flagship A-S3200BL, my opinion has only gotten stronger. Yamaha’s “Natural Sound” philosophy and … Read more

Finding the best Genelec monitors for professional studios has become harder in . Genelec’s legendary 8000 series has been out of stock at most US retailers for months, leaving engineers, producers, and serious home studio owners searching for alternatives that deliver the same accurate, flat frequency response. Our team has spent the last 90 days … Read more

When I first set up my home mixing room, I picked whatever monitor fit my budget. My mixes translated terribly on car stereos, earbuds, and club systems. The problem was not my ears or my plugins. The problem was that my speakers were lying to me. That frustration is exactly why engineers gravitate toward Neumann. … Read more

Setting up your first home studio is exciting, but shopping for monitor pairs on a budget can feel overwhelming. I remember unboxing my first pair of near-field monitors and realizing the rules I had read about cheap studio monitors were mostly wrong. A solid pair of budget studio monitor pairs can absolutely deliver the kind … Read more

Finding the best audio interfaces under $100 in is more achievable than most people think. After our team spent six weeks testing 15 different budget USB audio interfaces in our home studios, eight models stood out clearly for different use cases. Whether you are recording vocals, producing music, podcasting, or streaming on Twitch, this roundup … Read more

I remember when I bought my first audio interface in college. I had no idea what to look for, what the specs meant, or whether the cheapest option would actually work for recording vocals and guitar. After testing dozens of budget interfaces over the past few years for our home studio here at SK Records, … Read more

When I launched my first podcast back in 2019, I used the cheap USB mic that came bundled with my laptop and called it good. The audio was thin, noisy, and frankly embarrassing. Switching to a dedicated audio interface for podcasting was the single biggest upgrade I made that year, and it changed everything about … Read more

Finding the best Audient audio interfaces for the money in felt like a personal mission for me. I have spent the past three months comparing eight Audient models in my home studio, recording vocals, acoustic guitars, and even a full drum kit with the EVO 16’s bigger sibling. Audient has built a reputation on console-grade … Read more