DCS BARTOK $17,250 HEADPHONEAMP REVIEW
September 17, 2020 Comments Off on DCS BARTOK $17,250 HEADPHONEAMP REVIEW
“The Bartok experience is all about depth and width and more importantly generating excellent power from that depth. The low-end power is incredible, to be honest, and not just right at the lowest reaches but seeping up into the mids it carries that power and density with it if paired to the right headphones.
Despite the Bartok offering excellent headroom and a wonderfully black background, I would not consider this to be an ethereal airy staging experience. Unlike our tested competing amps, the Bartok does not really push the treble that far forward and you can hear that difference side by side. It is less dominant more coherent especially for percussion in recordings.
Cymbals and high hats have tons of texture and weight but its even-harmonic weight as opposed to odd-harmonic overtones that shine brighter so they are pleasing sounding rather than crisp and shimmering in tone.
The office Studio 6 SET actually sounds a little bit airier and a shade brighter from the upper mids onwards on the HeDD Studio HeDDphones but that is not to say the Bartok is relaxed or dark but rather it feels neutral in quantity and positioning.”
Rotel Rolls Out Michi X3 and X5 Integrated Amplifiers
September 17, 2020 Comments Off on Rotel Rolls Out Michi X3 and X5 Integrated Amplifiers
“The Michi X3 ($4,999) is spec’d to deliver 200 watts of power into 8-ohm loads and 350 watts into 4-ohm loads. According to Rotel, it features an “oversized toroidal transformer feeding independent analog, digital and power amplifier voltage regulator circuits for optimal power isolation.” The X3’s source inputs include balanced XLR, analog RCA, coaxial and optical digital, USB type-B (for a direct computer link), and moving magnet phono, and it has subwoofer out, RS232 control, and 12-volt trigger out connections.”
KRS 4344 High-end Special Crossover Speakers
September 17, 2020 Comments Off on KRS 4344 High-end Special Crossover Speakers
Rega iO Integrated Amplifier REVIEW
September 16, 2020 Comments Off on Rega iO Integrated Amplifier REVIEW
AUDIO TECHNICA ATH-WP900 REVIEW
September 16, 2020 Comments Off on AUDIO TECHNICA ATH-WP900 REVIEW
” The ATH-WP900 is intended to deliver a fun and engaging listening experience, no question. These babies are made to entertain, rather than analyse. These are the sort of headphones that you can hand over to someone completely uninterested in audiophilia, and they would plant an immediate smile on their face – they make music come alive in a visceral, exciting, and crowd-pleasing way. And you know what? I absolutely dig it. You only need to listen to four bars of Outkast’s ‘Behold a Lady’ to know that you’re in for a Good Time with the ATH-WP900. The WP900 is equally at home playing well-mastered and recorded audiophile material as it is churning out Top-40 ‘guilty pleasures’. Let’s just say that I went to town on both Phil Collins and Taylor Swift for the purposes of this review. You’re welcome. ”
AGD ANDANTE PREAMPLIFIER AND VIVACE MONOBLOCKS $15,000 REVIEW
September 15, 2020 Comments Off on AGD ANDANTE PREAMPLIFIER AND VIVACE MONOBLOCKS $15,000 REVIEW
“Comparing the two, the music, like the amps themselves, is lighter weight with the Audion. (6.5 pounds for each Audion versus 22 pounds for each Vivace.) The soundscape is equally broad, but the musicians seem more firmly anchored in place with the Vivace and there is a greater sense of physicality, not only in the musicians and the music, but of the space among the players — more room tone, if you will. The atmosphere of the venue becomes more prominent in live performances, whether rock ‘n roll, jazz, or classical. With the larger power supply, there is also greater control of power passages, whether crescendos in rock, classical or deep organ. Sustained notes extend without wavering. The similarity to tube amplifiers is uncanny with smooth, three-dimensional notes, particularly when used with a tube preamp.
What this adds up to is greater involvement with the music. It takes less mental energy to convince yourself that you are listening to live music and the music reaches out to you and pulls you in with realism that I have rarely heard before — and only in much more expensive systems, or with music that was not complex. This is not the pull of romantic musicality such as you get with a high-efficiency speaker driven by a 2A3 SET amp, but the pull of seemingly live music being performed in front of you right at home. This was my response to the Vivace driven by my Coincident Statement Line Preamplifier and Statement Phono Preamplifier. But read on. The story gets even better, and perhaps even worse.”
Acora Acoustics SRC-1 Loudspeaker $28,000 Review
September 15, 2020 Comments Off on Acora Acoustics SRC-1 Loudspeaker $28,000 Review
“My listening notes abound with specific examples addressing the rest of what TAS reviewer Anthony Cordesman has called “The Sonic Checklist,” but just one recording will suffice to underscore how consistently the Acora SRC-1s deliver more than a taste of the real thing. For several years now, Bernard Haitink’s 2010 recording of Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 15 with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, specifically the first movement Allegretto, has been among the first selections I put on when I’m at the critical listening stage with a component. The Acoras met all the challenges this recording presented. The glockenspiel notes that open the piece were focused and precisely localized. Solo woodwinds were correctly scaled and timbrally believable. Each note of the two trumpets’ unison triple-tongued triplets registered with clarity, and the ominous-sounding bass drum thuds underlying nervously chattering strings were presented with a sense of the instrument’s volume and the kind of mallet used to strike it. The full orchestra climax five minutes into the movement crested majestically, and there was a superb sense of the Amsterdam hall, one of the finest places on earth to make a recording or, better yet, hear a performance. The Acoras did all that, without exaggeration or artifice.”
Jazz & Cafe SlowBoat KENRICK SOUND JBL 4331 Newly Open in Tokyo
September 15, 2020 Comments Off on Jazz & Cafe SlowBoat KENRICK SOUND JBL 4331 Newly Open in Tokyo
Olympica Nova V Floor Standing Speakers $16,500 Review
September 14, 2020 Comments Off on Olympica Nova V Floor Standing Speakers $16,500 Review
“Downsides? Very few if any really. Entry into this game is no small chunk of change. The lack of truly protective grills will cause some to hesitate, especially if they have animals and little humans around. Needing help to set them up could be seen as a concern, but once they are set minor adjustments are not difficult and who doesn’t have a friend that can give you a hand? I have truly enjoyed the speakers during their stay here. If and when I am in the market for a new set of speakers these will be on a very, very short list of candidates. (That list is no more than five so that is saying quite a bit). I would opt for the wenge finish, but that is just a visual issue and has nothing to do with the overall elegance and beauty. I could live just as well with these walnut ones. Perhaps one day the speaker fairy will drop a set in my audio room.”
Audiophilepure 
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