Audiophilepure

A few years ago, Michael Børresen and Flemming E. Rasmussen embarked on a mission: to create a flagship loudspeaker that preserved the distinctive M-series aesthetics while delivering dramatically greater performance. The Børresen M8 Gold Signature is the result of that quest —a singular creation representing the absolute pinnacle of our craft and more than a decade of accumulated engineering insight.

The M8 was conceived from a simple but uncompromising premise: a loudspeaker should react to the signal as quickly and as precisely as physics allows. To achieve this, long-held assumptions were re-examined. Every material choice, every structural decision, and every acoustic principle serves one overarching goal: to remove inertia, distortion, and delay between the signal and the sound. The result is a loudspeaker whose performance challenges conventional categories.

https://www.stereophile.com/content/nad-masters-series-m10-v3-streaming-integrated-amplifier

I connected my vinyl playback rig—the Arkiv B fitted to a Linn Ekos tonearm and a Linn Sondek LP12 turntable with its Lingo power supply—to the Black Head and the NAD M10 V3’s phono input. I took a deep breath, crossed my fingers, and played a test pressing of Sasha Matson’s Fillmore Street/Little Woodstar album on Albany Records, which I produced and which, like the 2012 Cannonball Adderley album, was mastered by Kevin Gray. Interesting. I remember the Black Head as sounding sweet back in the day, and the balance with the SUT feeding the NAD’s phono input did indeed sound sweet, though there was no lack of high-frequency detail. Alvester Garnett’s cymbals on Fillmore Street‘s first movement had sufficient “splash.”Using the Matson album, I performed level-matched comparisons between the LP played via the M10 V3’s phono input and the 24/96 FLAC files streamed with Qobuz Connect. The LP’s low frequencies sounded powerful and extended; the double bass and kickdrum were more clearly articulated with the digital version but somewhat less warm. The midrange seemed palpable with both media; on balance I slightly preferred the LP’s presentation

I never anticipated the need for a network switch when I first started reviewing digital audio gear for pt.AUDIO, but then again I was perfectly happy with streaming Qobuz with my laptop as a music server. The truth is, digital keeps getting better and better when you start upgrading your DAC or your server or your streamer or your digital cable connection–just like in other areas of high-end audio. Once you’re happy with the performance of your streamer and server, once you’re ready to adopt it as a viable and perhaps primary source for world-class sound in your life, the next step is trying a network switch like the Innuos PhoenixNET.

For me, a longtime analog lover, it’s been a watershed year for digital audio. The Master Fidelity NADAC C and D converter and reclocker proved to me that digital can compete with some of the finest analog playback when it comes to sheer sound quality. The Innuos ZENith NextGen server/streamer finally convinced me that I can ditch my CD collection, resulting in house that looks more like a home and less like a dealer showroom. The Innuos PhoenixNET finally convinced me to look beyond my hi-fi system, and the components therein, and realize that there’s so much more to computer audio than I ever realized.

In other words, if you’re still using your laptop as a streamer you probably don’t need the Innuos PhoenixNET, or any other digital switch for that matter. You’ll be content, as I once was. But if you want to get serious, if you want to buy serious digital audio gear and listen to seriously great sound, your rig won’t be complete without it. Highly recommended.

https://www.headfonia.com/pmg-audio-apx-me-review/

Before diving into the individual frequency bands, it is worth clarifying my preferences among the previous Apx models. I personally preferred the original “Amber” Apx over the Apx SE. As explained in my Apx SE review, the original sounded more coherent and more spacious to my ears, while the SE felt fuller and slightly darker, with a somewhat more compressed stage. That tuning made the SE more of an all-rounder, but not necessarily superior.

https://www.stereophile.com/content/doshi-audio-evolution-stereo-power-amplifier

Keeping everything else the same, I switched to the Voxativ Ampeggio loudspeakers. Now the Evolution Stereo sounded more like a SET amp. The music retained its finery, detail, texture, and palpability, now with less generous bass and less profound imaging, but with even more presence and precise layering. The Tord Gustavsen Trio was remade, the Ampeggio’s focused, fast, full-range driver playing exceptionally well with the Evolution Stereo’s low noisefloor and high elucidation factor. The sound practically glowed.Playing Tower of Power’s In the Slot with the Evolution Stereo/ Voxativ Ampeggio produced similarly striking results. The treble was silvery, not forward but highly informative, and bass was more atmospheric than sculpted in space. The sound was thrilling, palpable, bracing—3D to a degree not heard before in my system. The Voxativ speakers confirmed this amplifier’s life force, ample power delivered with controlled grace.