BennyAudio Odyssey Turntable Review
January 15, 2026 § Leave a comment
Suffice it to say that if I’ve dedicated half a year of my life working to afford and finally owning the BennyAudio Odyssey, it speaks volumes about its incredible capabilities. Mine is all black, with the engraving painted in a light blue metallic and pearl finish. Other colors are available, including silver and white, and Thomasz is reportedly working on more options.
If you’re seeking the ultimate turntable to elevate your system and ensure decades of satisfaction, the Odyssey should be at the top of your list. Its performance is unparalleled, and I can’t imagine anyone not being fully content for a long time.
However, if you’re looking for a competitive advantage in a spitting contest with your audio buddies, spending a lot more money won’t necessarily translate into a significant improvement in sound quality. As I mentioned earlier, there are turntables that cost much more and have more intricate features, but they often come with unobtainium and can’taffordium bits and pieces that don’t always equal a relative improvement to the sound and add more complexity.
In my opinion, it’s better to save the extra money and invest in more reference vinyl or upgrade the cartridge. That, in my view, would be a more prudent choice. You simply can’t get a better bang for the buck.
Matrix Audio MP1 and MA1 $15,000 Review
January 15, 2026 § Leave a comment
The Matrix Audio components are complementary pieces rather than clones of each other. The voicing of the MP-1 is shaded towards a richer and robust presentation with a dense tonal tapestry that in many ways shares the strengths commonly associated with vacuum tube preamplifiers. This is not to say this preamplifier is a caricature of a tube based component, but rather they share defining characteristics that are appreciated by many audiophiles. In the case of the MP-1, it excels at combining realistic tonal structure while teasing out the fine details embedded in a recording rather than covering them up with an overly warm mid-band voicing. This combination allows the MP-1 to provide a honest and unvarnished portrayal of the music, and hand it off to the MA-1 amplifier where that musical presentation is expanded and filled in. “Conversation With A Ghost” by Ellis Paul is a deceptively complicated song that is challenging for an audio system to unearth the subtle details embedded in this composition, and not lose this detail in highlighting the darkness and languid flow with which the song is recorded with. Many systems can get the richness of sound in this piece, but lose the interplay between Ellis Paul and his vocal partner Mary Black. The Matrix Audio components stay balanced and surefooted through this song, with just the right balance between detail and warmth, and deftly teases out the complicated interplay between the two vocalists.
Marantz Model 10 Integrated Amplifier $15,000 Review
January 14, 2026 § Leave a comment
https://www.soundstageultra.com/index.php/equipment-menu/1282-marantz-model-10-integrated-amplifier
Where the Model 10’s phono stage is lacking is in that ethereal sense of depth and layering that only the best phono stages can deliver. A case in point is the 2018 remixed version of Pink Floyd’s Animals (Pink Floyd Records PFRLP28), which just drips with ambience and hallucinogenic fever. While the Model 10’s phono stage still projected the barking dogs midway through with a good sense of wraparound, it couldn’t keep up with the Mola Mola’s miles-deep-yet-still-behind-you presentation. Still, pulling the trigger on the volume and sitting back while “Dogs” washed over me was a luxurious pleasure via the Marantz. The very slightly laid-back character of the Model 10’s phono stage meshed extremely well with the amp’s incisive, detailed nature.
KECES P14 Ultra Low Noise Linear Power Supply $1800 Review
January 14, 2026 § Leave a comment
To say I wasn’t prepared for the shocking difference between the sound of the Roon Nucleus+ with the stock SMPS and the P14 would be an understatement. There is no going back to the SMPS that comes with the Roon Nucleus+ after you hear the P14 in your system. In fact, if you own a Roon Nucleus+, you have no idea how much better it can sound from top to bottom with the P14. The amount of information that is missing without the P14 is staggering in my system.
If you use any audio devices that are powered by an outboard SMPS that the P14 can replace with the correct voltage and current, it would be hard to imagine that the P14 won’t improve the sound of your system. With regards to people who currently own the Nucleus+, there is no doubt in my mind that you too will be shocked at the improvement to your system.
Magnepan 2.7i three-way quasi ribbon panel speakers $6,495 Review
January 13, 2026 § Leave a comment
There is excellent deep space behind the speakers and placement of the individual parts of the drum kit is very impressive; you know where the snare, various toms, cymbals are within the space. Same with the guitars. Palpability of the drums in particular is completely on point. You can feel them which I didn’t quite expect, based upon my long ago experience with Maggies. The air around the instruments feels real, as well.
Although the notes of the electric bass are there, they aren’t as palpable in the way I would have hoped and I don’t feel the bass through my feet, as I usually can with dynamic speakers.
T+A Symphonia streaming integrated amp Review
January 13, 2026 § Leave a comment
https://www.hifinews.com/content/ta-symphonia-streaming-integrated-amp
Neatly styled and refreshingly compact, T+A’s Symphonia appeals before it’s even powered up – then you discover its wide-ranging connections, excellent app/remote controls, and vibrant, revealing sound. Proof, if needed, that good things can come in small packages, this premium streaming amp is ready to be the centrepiece of a forward-thinking hi-fi set-up. A colour display would be nice, though…
SME Model 35 Turntable and Series Vi Tonearm. Reviews
January 12, 2026 § Leave a comment
The SME Model 35 with its new Series Vi arm is an astonishing turntable. It offers world-class detail retrieval, rock-solid pitch stability, a gorgeously stable and believable soundstage, and the ability to track and retrieve deeper bass than you ever imagined could be pressed into a vinyl groove. This weight and solidity low down is highly addictive, and is something that is a particular characteristic of top-tier SME ’tables, as well as the AVID HiFi Acutus Dark Iron. Most other turntables I have heard seem to lack that total command of the lowest registers of the music, and sound a shade lighter and fractionally less extended. Listening on the Model 35 provided a level of gravitas, solidity, scale, and palpable impact that I sensed as much as heard. Combined with shimmering highs, breathtaking transient speed, and a midrange so beautifully balanced and nuanced it shamed digital sources, it was abundantly clear that I was hearing a magnificent vinyl spinner.
Arendal Sound 1528 Monitor 8 Loudspeaker Review
January 12, 2026 § Leave a comment
Eager to hear these two speakers head-to-head, I reached for an album I appreciate more with time, namely Tom Waits’s Mule Variations (CD, Anti‑ / Epitaph Records 86547‑2). I found the opening notes from Waits’s upright piano on “Take It with Me” sparkled a little more through the Monitor Audios, as if they had a bit more energy up top relative to the Arendals. The notes “popped” more through the 300s, helping draw my attention to them. However, I heard more texture in Waits’s voice through the Norwegian speakers. For example, when he sings the words “take it with me when I go,” the coarseness of his sandpaper baritone seemed rougher than when I heard it through the British towers. Additionally, the fuller-sounding Arendals communicated more of his voice’s warmth. The Monitor 8 is an incredibly revealing speaker, and in this instance, I could more easily tease apart what was happening in the lowest register of his voice. Compared to the Monitor Audios, the Arendals sounded more open.
Both sets of speakers have a fair amount in common, regardless of their obvious physical differences. It’s worth noting that in terms of their driver configuration and arrangement, they exhibit more than a passing resemblance to one another. Both the Arendals and the Monitor Audios sounded squeaky-clean, with each delivering a highly detailed, incredibly resolving sound that made it easy to uncover what’s happening in a recording. For example, the rapid-fire percussion that establishes the driving rhythm of “Hunter,” from Björk’s Homogenic (CD, Elektra E2 62061), was vividly conveyed by both sets of speakers. The drums sounded a bit tighter through the Monitor Audios, giving them a subjectively faster sound. For their part, the Arendals had a slightly warmer character that was fuller and more enveloping.
Audiophilepure 
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