Audiophilepure

https://pt.audio/2026/05/23/oe-audio-ymir-loudspeakers

By the end of the review period, I had deduced that the Ø Audio Ymir loudspeakers had one very important ace up their sleeves. They don’t sound like horn speakers. Sure, they’re big and dynamic like horn speakers, and occasionally the sweet spot needs to be marked with crime scene tape. But as I mentioned, off-axis listening is still thoroughly enjoyable for such a design if you’re not requiring full 100% commitment. The Ymirs are very adaptive when it comes to that restless, mobile listener, but there is a small space where everything jumps into focus and locks in. They do avoid that dreaded sense of beaminess, that feeling like spatial cues aren’t entirely lifelike in their movement and your brain says whoa there fella, that felt kinda weird. This is a coherent speaker from top to bottom, however, and it is a two-way with a crossover designed to be as simple as possible. That, in conjunction with the rigid enclosure and that stainless steel baffle, is a quick and easy recipe for sound this persuasive and coherent.

Progress within existing architectures brought improvement, but also exposed a limit. Systems adapted from general-purpose computing could not fully govern how the signal took form. Variability remained, and with it, a loss of predictability in how music would be conveyed. The work shifted to a different approach, centered on creating the right conditions from the very beginning.

This required a system designed specifically for digital audio, where behavior could be defined and maintained, rather than managed after the fact.

Oladra is the expression of that shift. It brings the formation of the signal into a controlled and predictable state, so that what leaves the source retains its structure. When this is achieved, everything that follows operates on a stable foundation, and its contribution becomes additive rather than corrective.

Antipodes Audio remains the originating company and continues to develop its Kala range. Oladra carries this work forward as a dedicated platform for digital audio sources, representing the point at which the approach could be realized in full.

https://www.soundstageultra.com/index.php/equipment-menu/1311-engstroem-arne-integrated-amplifier

I’ll happily vote the Arne in as the most elegant component that’s flowed through my listening room. There. I said it. But the Arne isn’t just a pretty face. It’s fully balanced, from input to output, which is perhaps the most interesting design feature, since you don’t see this type of configuration on other triode tube amps. It’s a pure class-A amplifier, using direct-heated triodes, with zero negative feedback. What further distinguishes the Arne is its direct-coupled driver stage, which connects directly to the power tubes.

The Arne employs two 300B power tubes and two D3A driver tubes per channel. You don’t see many D3A tubes these days. The D3A is a nine-pin miniature frame-grid pentode developed in the 1950s for wideband telecommunications applications. The particular ones in this amp are Siemens NOS types, and I envision Timo Engström purposefully descending a ladder into a well-provisioned cellar containing a steamer trunk full of these little guys. The 300Bs are high-quality tubes from Emission Labs. Engström carries a host of other brands, and you can discuss other options for driver and power tubes with them at the time of purchase.

https://pt.audio/2026/04/12/bergmann-modi-turntable-review/

None of that would matter, of course, if the Bergmann Modi and Thor didn’t sound fantastic. It does. It’s one of those turntables that’s difficult to fault, although I suppose there are some shortcomings or else Bergmann wouldn’t have come up with the Magne and the Galder and the Odin. But for a hair over $18K, the Modi and Thor is a wise and prudent choice for those audiophiles who are serious about analog. It also helps that the Bergmann rig is neutral enough to draw out bigger differences between your favorite cartridges. Highly recommended, of course, and I’m glad we were finally introduced after all these years.