Audiophilepure

https://www.whathifi.com/speakers/hi-fi-speakers/marten-parker-duo-diamond-edition

Unusually for such revealing and analytical performers, these Marten speakers won’t go out of their way to highlight those flaws. You can hear the shortcomings easily, of course, but they remain in proportion, and the good parts of the recording will still shine.

However, feed these speakers a diet of great recordings – classics such as Miles Davis’ Kind Of Blue or Take Five by the Dave Brubeck Quartet, for example – and they will turn in a performance full of subtlety, dynamics and cohesion that’s almost eerily convincing.

That the Marten Parker Duo Diamond Edition are capable of a high level of resolution should not be a surprise. Such qualities should be a given at this level. However, what sets them apart from most rivals is the degree to which they step beyond the mechanics of hi-fi – you know, a cone moving backs and forward, crossover components and enclosure resonances – to put the music front and centre.

These speakers sound impressively natural regardless of whether we are talking about rendering instrumental textures in classic jazz recordings or the nuances of Billie Eilish and Khalid’s vocals on the wonderful song, Lovely.

With its $1,599 MSRP, the Onkyo A-50 Network Integrated Amplifier is essentially a streaming computer built around a very good integrated amplifier with a built-in DAC and phono stage. You can build a very feature-rich system by simply adding a pair of speakers and streaming all of your music to it, and you can add a turntable or CD player to it later if you’re into physical media.

https://www.headfonia.com/sendy-audio-kylin-review/#google_vignette

So, I had to take my most insensitive headphones to perform the listening testing. The Sennheiser HD6XX was also fine, as it’s high impedance and the noise couldn’t come through. And the thing is, once you have the right headphones connected, the Sendy Kylin is pretty excellent. Maybe they only used their own planars to test it and nothing easier to drive?

So, with my heavier loads, the Sendy Kylin exhibited a very mature and sophisticated sound signature. Not too warm and not cold in the least, despite using an ESS chip. Together with the Questyle Sigma Pro, it’s one of the more organic-sounding implementations of an ESS converter that I’ve heard. Long-term listenability is great, provided you have the right headphones.

In terms of technicalities, the Sendy Kylin is also one of the more impressive all-in-ones I’ve heard. There’s a very believable transmission of timbre and overall recording venue ambiance. I had to use my Moondrop Skyland to really explore the depths of it all. Macro dynamics here are stronger than minute shifts, likely because of the relatively high noise floor.

https://www.hifinews.com/content/techdas-air-force-ivreed-1h-turntablearm

I am not going to say it was as night-and-day as comparing tubes with transistors, but careful, intense and even frustrating listening allowed me to differentiate between the two, the vast cost disparity notwithstanding. That in itself makes all of this moot. But I was able to tell which was which thanks to my old faves, the J. Geils Band.

‘Did You No Wrong’ from Ladies Invited [Atlantic SD 7286] features each of the band’s members displaying virtuoso talents on guitar, harmonica, drums and assorted keyboards. Both decks allowed the listener to zoom in on each, or simply sit back and savour the experience. Where the two differed was in presentation. The Air Force III was more revealing, more analytical, with the kind of grip and command which places great demands on the rest of the system.

With the EMM, the soundstage was very clear. Mostly, the instruments were placed on each side, as was common with early stereo, but in ‘So What’, Miles’ horn came out from the right toward the center, with a remarkably three-dimensional effect. The result was spellbinding, as that solo can be. ‘Freddy Freeloader’ sounded as if it had been recorded with a different mic set up. It was still left-right, but the horns seemed more up front, with more space around them, and with a bit more warmth. The detail, again, was superb, but in the service of the music. Miles’ occasional hesitancies in his attacks, his sudden volume changes, and his other somewhat unusual expressive devices, were as – or more – clean and clear than I’ve ever heard.

Stromtank S-6000 Alpha – uncompromising power for the ultimate high-end experience
The Stromtank S-6000 Alpha represents the pinnacle of clean power delivery for the most demanding audio systems. Designed as a true reference solution, it provides enormous power reserves and an exceptionally pure energy supply, allowing high-end components to perform at their absolute best. With its advanced battery technology and complete mains isolation in OFF-Grid mode, the S-6000 Alpha creates the ideal foundation for maximum transparency, dynamics, and musical realism.