Audiophilepure

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.

https://www.stereophile.com/content/ch-precision-l10-stereo-line-preamplifier

We listened before installing spikes. With Audio Research 330M monoblocks for amplification, we began with the same track with which the 330Ms dazzled me at AXPONA 2025, Rimsky-Korsakov’s Danse Macabre from the classic Minnesota Orchestra collection Mephisto & Co. (16.44.1 FLAC download, Reference Recordings). Then we turned to a newer but not necessarily better high-resolution recording, of Thomas Adès’s The Exterminating Angel Symphony (24/96 FLAC, Pentatone/download) performed by the Minnesota Orchestra under Thomas Søndergård.Then we installed the spikes under the preamp box and listened again. Highs were a bit more brilliant and tighter, the presentation even more alive, dynamic, and resolved. The spikes also delivered more transparency and textural clarity and further highlighted the Audio Research 330M’s luscious and colorful midrange. My customary component supports, Wilson Audio Pedestals, may have delivered highs that were a bit smoother, but CH’s spikes showcased the L10 at its best

However, upon careful listening, there are audible but gentle peaks in the treble, which occur at 2.6 kHz, 5 kHz, 8 kHz, and 12 kHz. According to the graph, I have observed these gentle peaks before my measurements were taken.

I want to emphasize that the peaks mentioned above do not present themselves as coloration as much as they add air, details, and sparkle, which makes the NOTT Phantom more engaging because they make the sound more spicy, energetic, and exciting.

However, if I must nitpick, I believe the peak at 5 kHz contributes to the faint sound coloration, which prevents the NOTT Phantom from achieving the cleanest background decay. Nevertheless, the background is dark, and the decay is clean, albeit not as clean as the best I’ve heard.