Audiophilepure

https://www.stereophile.com/content/aurender-n50-serverstreamer

Overall, the Conductor app is a pleasure to use: polished, complete, and easy to navigate. It has filtering, by recently added, format, sample rate, bit depth, and favorite tracks. It supports gapless playback, a feature sometimes neglected but of key importance for fans of classical music and some other genres. It does not support the grouping of tracks by composition; to my knowledge, Roon is the only platform that can do this.The N50 supports Apple’s AirPlay 2 and UPnP file streaming, though for UPnP streaming, you will need a third-party control app such as MConnect. Qobuz Connect and Spotify Connect are both supported—you can use the N50 with those apps controlling playback—but Tidal Connect is not.

How do the Ovation cables compare to Kubala-Sosna’s other cable lines? The Emotions imaged superbly and were warm, a little forgiving and a touch soft. The Elations were a step toward a more neutral and resolving cable but lost just a touch of the Emotions musical beauty. The Realization cable line was a return to the roots and soul of the Emotion cables but with far more resolution and transparency and a reduction in colorations. And the new Ovation speaker cable clears the bases.

Other speaker cables may offer slightly more resolution, sound slightly faster or be more liquid sounding. But I have yet to encounter another cable as balanced, linear, dynamic, and capable of expansive soundstage, exceptional dimensionality, ultra resolution, and deep, detailed bass as the Ovations.

When all is said and done, the best audio cables should be seen and not heard. Imparting as little of their character as possible to the sound of the audio system. Neither adding to nor subtracting from the music. If there’s one cable that meets those criteria, it’s the new Kubala-Sosna Ovation speaker cables. My new reference. And for those searching for the best in audio cables, possibly yours, too.

https://pt.audio/2026/02/13/equitech-model-2rq-tvti-balanced-power-system-review

I realize it’s hard to discuss the importance of power management–so many audiophiles I know use nothing at all and they’re perfectly happy. But once you experience your hi-fi through a balanced power system, it’s very hard to return to the way things once were. (That goes for adequate grounding as well.) The Equi=Tech made that painfully aware once I took it out of the system. Can I survive with my normal complement of earthing devices and noise suppression and power conditioning? I can, but with one caveat: the Equi=Tech seemed to supplant many of those products in one box. I can describe that as downright economical, in fact. The comparisons between the Model 2RQ and nothing at all, however, were shockingly obvious, more than any other single power management device I’ve used in the past.

It’s rather industrial looking, downright utilitarian, especially when compared to other power management devices that are built to look like $50K power amplifiers, but that suggests the seriousness of this product and that it’s manufactured for people who know when something works and when it’s not pulling its own weight. (Besides, I still put my power management products behind the rack, so who cares.) My conclusion is that I’ve yet to try another power management product that gets the job done in such a convincing manner. Plus, it’s not ridiculously priced compared to some of the high-end competition out there.

Thanks, Doug, for introducing me to Equi=Tech. Highly recommended.

https://www.stereophile.com/content/marten-mingus-septet-statement-edition-loudspeaker

See open.qobuz.com/playlist/21395182. I listened to several tracks including “Bass at 100 M.P.H.” by Bassotronics and “Chameleon” by Trentemøller. Tom’s playlist lets you sample many different kinds of bass in different kinds of music. Musicians include The Chieftains with Sinead O’Connor, Rage Against the Machine, Bob Marley & the Wailers, Aretha Franklin, and the Rolling Stones.Footnote 4: Fun story. Akbar Kahn founded the Ali Akbar College of Music in San Francisco in 1967 and became an important fixture in the San Francisco cultural scene. In 1974, Zakir Hussain (the leader on Making Music, who at the time was living in Mickey Hart’s Marin County barn) met up for dinner with John McLaughlin at Ali Akbar Kahn’s San Francisco home. They brought their instruments. McLaughlin later said that after five minutes, it seemed like they’d been playing together for decades. It was the core of what would soon become the band Shakti, which fused the music of northern and southern India with Jazz.

https://www.audiophilia.com/reviews/2026/2/28/allnic-audio-asra-rhpa-7500-headphone-amplifier

Returning to civility, I spent some time streaming the Tatrai Quartet’s legendary Haydn cycle on Hungaroton. I focused on “The Lark” from the 1986 set Six String Quartets, Op. 64 (Hungaroton, 1986), which I also have on CD. String quartets can be a litmus test for a hi-fi system. Four string players in a room, simple recording with nowhere to hide. These Tatrai recordings sound fine with the PS Audio Stellar Strata Mk2, but came to life with the Allnic. While soundstage depth was similarly wide, depth expanded dramatically with the Allnic. The real magic was in the timbre. Closing my eyes, the realism was beyond what I’ve experienced with solid-state amplification. 

Many of my listening impressions of the RHPA-7500 were consistent for both headphone and speaker listening. One example I particularly appreciated was that turning up the volume resulted in the musical presentation becoming larger rather than just feeling louder. Not only is this phenomenon enjoyable in itself, but it is an illustration of how the Allnic is just as easy to listen to at higher levels as it is at moderate levels. And considering I was not using efficient speakers, it indicated to me modest power rating of 10-20 watts goes a long way.