Music is not merely sound.
It is memory, space, suspended time.
It is emotion — that invisible substance no graph or specification table can ever truly translate.
At MoustachesToys, everything begins precisely there:
with listening as experience, not as a technical exercise.
This project was born first from an intimate relationship with music, and later with the equipment that make it possible.
I do not write to describe products, but to understand how they integrate into a system, a room, a life lived around music.
Each text is the result of time spent listening and comparing, allowing perception to mature, unhurried.
On listening
Listening is always contextual.
No piece of equipment exists in isolation, just as music is never neutral.
The review process (Staches Views) is based on extended stays within my own system, using familiar and emotionally meaningful repertoire.
I’m not only interested in what a component does, but above all how music makes me feel through it.
I do not follow scientific methods, nor do I seek absolute truths.
I look for coherence, sonic identity and, above all, musical involvement.
The writing reflects this approach: personal, deliberate, informed by lived experience — while still attempting to place myself in the position of the reader.
Editorial independence
All content published here on MoustachesToys is editorially independent.
Equipment is loaned temporarily for evaluation, with no financial compensation or obligation to publish.
Texts are neither negotiated nor influenced by manufacturers, distributors or retailers.
I believe reader trust is built over time, through transparency and critical freedom — even when that critique takes a personal, emotional or narrative form.
Reference system
The reference system (Benchmark Stache) exists as my listening tool; it does not claim to be an absolute standard.
It has evolved — and will continue to evolve — reflecting personal and musical choices, as well as the natural constraints of space and context.
At the same time, it aims to meet the demands of a consistent and reliable system, conceived for serious and ongoing work.
It is, ultimately, a point of balance between passion and rigour:
a reference system built by an amateur — in the noblest sense of the word — in service of attentive and honest listening.
Best Toys
My compass is not marketing.
It is emotion.
At MoustachesToys, listening is more than analysing specifications or following trends.
It is the search for that rare moment when sound takes hold — and refuses to let go.
That is why the Best Toys section was created.
It is not a list.
It is not a ranking.
It is a selection made with passion — and with my ears.
Those are the pieces that have endured. The ones that left a mark.
The equipment is organised into four distinct levels.
Each of them is there on its own merit:
🔴 High-End
Rare experiences.
Music taken to the edge of emotion.
🟣 High Fidelity
Refined listening, with a distinct sonic signature.
🔵 Upper Level
Products of evident quality, very close to the top.
🟢 Recommended
Practical, honest, surprising.
Each component has undergone a minimum number of critical listening sessions.
Tests carried out with time.
With calm.
As music demands.