Stereophile and AnalogPlanet at EISA 2018, Antwerp, Belgium
August 11, 2018 Comments Off on Stereophile and AnalogPlanet at EISA 2018, Antwerp, Belgium
Aurum Cantus LEISURE 2 LUXURY MkII Review
August 10, 2018 Comments Off on Aurum Cantus LEISURE 2 LUXURY MkII Review
“The rosewood gloss finish is just superb, never mind the price. Granted, Aurum Cantus did cut a few corners by using a black gloss for the rear and bottom panels, but even these parts of the speaker are not out of place, and the deep black gloss compliments the rosewood. Inspect the speaker carefully. Quality is instantly apparent, especially on the front sloped baffle that facilitates time/phase coherence.”
Alta Audio Celesta FRM-2 Review
August 10, 2018 Comments Off on Alta Audio Celesta FRM-2 Review
“This octave is getting its own section. It is that good. First, it is perfectly integrated with the mid bass, mids and treble. Nothing sticks out. But when specified by the composer or the engineer, pow! Try the two tubas (low F) and bass drum in the opening of Stravinsky’s Le Sacre du Printemps (Salonen/LA/DGG)—this is one of my hidden gems to surprise guests. On this live recording, the engineers replicate the sound perfectly. All three instruments are separated by tone and in space, but the effect, the visceral movement of air, is astonishing.
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Vivid Audio Giya G1 Spirit Loudspeaker $93,000 Review
August 9, 2018 Comments Off on Vivid Audio Giya G1 Spirit Loudspeaker $93,000 Review
“As expressive and balanced as they are, man, can the Spirits rock! I heard stories from Philip O’Hanlon of absurdly loud SPLs with no distortion, and I have no trouble believing them, as my own rocking-out test had them playing briefly at 110–115dB peaks with absolutely no sign of stress or strain. During this experiment, I kept turning them up, certain that at some point they would start to distort. Good sense took over long before I ever found a breaking point; they do have a 1600-watt power-handling rating, after all! With clean and dynamic power amplifiers (the Audionet MAXes deliver 400 watts into 8 ohms and the CIA Audio D500 MkII’s bring 500 watts to the party), these speakers seemed utterly bullet-proof.”
Roon Nucleus Plus Network Streamer Explained
August 9, 2018 Comments Off on Roon Nucleus Plus Network Streamer Explained
Pass Laboratories XA200.8 monoblock power amplifier $42,000 Review
August 8, 2018 Comments Off on Pass Laboratories XA200.8 monoblock power amplifier $42,000 Review
“The XA200.8s’ reproduction of air around individual instruments was fine, but through Wilson Audio’s Alexia and Alexia 2 speakers the Progression Monos topped it in the presentation of the entire acoustic spaces of recording venues. The D’Agostino also excelled in dynamic contrast—hardly a surprise, given the Progression Mono’s greater power into these 4 ohm Wilson speakers: 1000W vs the XA200.8’s 400W.”
FENDER FXA9 $1.299 REVIEW
August 8, 2018 Comments Off on FENDER FXA9 $1.299 REVIEW
“From the A&Futura SE100, the FXA9 sounds smoother and clearly has a touch of warmth all over. Bass is a bit thicker but it’s also slower and less detailed/layered. The presentation of the mids is smoother and that actually goes for bass and treble as well. It’s an easy to listen to combo but you don’t get the sound stage, spaciousness and separation the SP1000 and FXA9 combo brings. It’s still a balanced FXA9 but it’s more relaxed and soft. I myself prefer the more energetic signature the FXA9 delivers from the SP1000.”
DYNAUDIO CONTOUR 30 FLOORSTANDING LOUDSPEAKER REVIEW
August 7, 2018 Comments Off on DYNAUDIO CONTOUR 30 FLOORSTANDING LOUDSPEAKER REVIEW
“The joy of the Contour 30 is it is perfectly designed to work precisely where it should work: in mid-sized rooms. The loudspeaker is large enough to physically and sonically dominate small rooms, and is probably just not quite loudspeaker enough in really big rooms, but in a medium sized room it works nigh-on perfectly. I can’t help but think of Goldilocks and the Three Bearshere. In a smaller room, if you want this performance, go with a Special Forty or a Contour 20 (but probably the Special Forty) and in a bigger room, possibly go for the Contour 60 or the C2 Platinum. That’s the other secret joy of Dynaudio – the company has nailed consistency. There’s no batch variation in individual models, and the individual models have a consistent sound through the ranges. Many brands make that claim and some achieve that goal with a smaller and more high-end portfolio. Dynaudio smashes this one out of the park – if you like the sound of the bigger or smaller models but have a room that’s too small or too big, the Contour 30 fits. If you think this sounds like faint praise, guess again.”
SweetVinyl | SC1- Vinyl Noise Remover
August 7, 2018 Comments Off on SweetVinyl | SC1- Vinyl Noise Remover
Audio-Technica ATH-ADX5000 Headphones $1999
August 5, 2018 Comments Off on Audio-Technica ATH-ADX5000 Headphones $1999
“In his “Conclusion,” Brent declared: “I think Audio-Technica put themselves back among the top players in audiophile headphones — something that hasn’t really been true since the rise of ambitious audiophile-focused competitors such as Audeze and HiFiMan.” The ATH-ADX5000s are “sonically competitive with anything on the market up to at least $3000,” he said; “if you’re looking for high-end open-back headphones, they’re a must-hear.” Appropriately enough, with the ATH-ADX5000s, Audio-Technica is now included in our list of Recommended Reference Components for the very first time.”
Audiophilepure 
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