Cabasse Pacific 3Price: $16,000 per pair

Website: www.cabasse.com

Hans said: Cabasse’s Pacific 3 loudspeaker is as visually distinctive as it is sonically pleasing. It’s a unique quantity on both counts; it can reproduce the human voice with aplomb, and it offers some of the best imaging I’ve ever heard. The Pacific 3 may not be conventional, but it’s a very well-engineered loudspeaker offering a deeply involving sound.

Read the Ultra Audio review.

The gist: Distinctive is the right word for these lovely speakers from France.