Naim Audio NAIT XS3 Stereo Integrated Amplifier Review
February 3, 2020 Comments Off on Naim Audio NAIT XS3 Stereo Integrated Amplifier Review
“This latest Naim NAIT XS 3 represents a subtle but really worthwhile improvement on its XS 2 predecessor and puts it back at the top of its class in terms of value for money. It has a thorough and even-handed yet engaging and enjoyable presentation that’s hard not to love. It’s a long way from the fierce and feisty NAIT of the mid-nineteen eighties – being far more civilised and powerful – yet very much retains its fundamental love of music. Indeed, if anything, the XS 3 has actually got some of this insouciant quality back, sounding less workmanlike than its XS 2 predecessor.
The only stumbling block is also arguably its greatest strength – the lack of any digital connections. Sadly in electronics, you can’t have your cake and eat it – you either go for all-out sound as your priority, or convenience. With this amplifier, Naim has chosen the former yet hasn’t sacrificed too much of the latter. The design team deliberately omitted a DAC stage to provide the best possible sonic performance at the price. Overall then, if you’re in the market for a superb sounding, purist integrated amplifier in a neat and compact package, then look no further – just go and listen.”
Drop x THX Panda Headphones – Review,
February 3, 2020 Comments Off on Drop x THX Panda Headphones – Review,
Bluesound Vault 2i Review
February 2, 2020 Comments Off on Bluesound Vault 2i Review
https://www.hifichoice.com/content/bluesound-vault-2i
Material played out by the music server creates a solid, believable soundstage that, while not as spacious as some streaming rivals, is able to portray Lofgren, the stage and his enthusiastic audience in a manner that makes total sense to the listener. Give it something enormous like Underworld’s mighty live recording of Push Upstairs on the Everything Everything album, and it doesn’t quite deliver the scale and visceral impact that is possible on some other devices but it’s far from unconvincing. Some of this seems to be down to the bass, which favours detail and speed over outright depth, but if I were asked to pick two of those three attributes, those are ones I’d favour.”
MOONDROP KXXS $189 REVIEW
February 2, 2020 Comments Off on MOONDROP KXXS $189 REVIEW
https://www.headphone.guru/moondrop-kxxs-review/
Metheny’s guitar was alive and detailed allowing you hearing each individual note, and Charlies Haden is behind Pat in the studio with little spacing between the 2 musicians. This well-recorded sonic masterpiece is loaded with inner detail and musicality. I was amazed at the quality of sound that the KXXS was procuring while playing this tune. The sound of Metheny’s guitar was exceptionally transparent and listening clearly showcased his style of playing and made his guitar come to life. Haden’s bass notes were detailed with excellent venture and space with air between the two musicians reproduced exceptionally.”
Optimal Media Pressing Plant Tour
February 2, 2020 Comments Off on Optimal Media Pressing Plant Tour
ELAC Navis ARB-51 Review
February 1, 2020 Comments Off on ELAC Navis ARB-51 Review
https://www.hifichoice.com/content/elac-navis-arb-51
The way it is able to communicate such a dizzying amount of detail and yet hold on to a thunderous bass line is quite a revelation – I suspect being both active and a true three-way is key to this. It certainly comes into its own with Randy Crawford’s You Might Need Somebody. This is a thumping late-seventies soul ballad with some fantastic session playing by some of the best in the business. Here the ELAC’s subtlety comes into play and it’s able to drill down right into the spaces between the notes and show the players’ superb syncopation. Crawford’s powerful vocals dance around the slick rhythm, bass guitar work and laid back Fender Rhodes playing, and the result is magic. Once again, I find myself forgetting that I’m listening to a pretty diminutive cabinet, and an inexpensive one considering the price includes power amplification.”
HELM AUDIO TRUE WIRELESS 5.0 TWS – WIRELESS Review
February 1, 2020 Comments Off on HELM AUDIO TRUE WIRELESS 5.0 TWS – WIRELESS Review
https://headfonics.com/2020/01/helm-audio-true-wireless-5-0-tws-wireless-weekend/
This is where the TW5.0 absolutely excels. Both driver units are capable of 6-8 hours playback time and I did get just over 6 hours during testing. The EW1 from Jade Audio is its closest competitor at 6-7 hours but I did get a few minutes more than the EW1 so this is number 1 in our TWS reviewed to date for battery life.
The charging case at 40 hours probably explains why it has a bit of girth beyond driver size. 40 hours is fairly chunky and the chunkiest numbers we have encountered thus far. The closest we have tested it the MPOW M5 at 35 hours. With an average of around 7 hours and 30-40 hours in the tank that’s a pleasing 4-5 recharges. More importantly, a long time before you have to slip them into the cradle which I like.
ZMF Verite Headphones Review
January 31, 2020 Comments Off on ZMF Verite Headphones Review
https://positive-feedback.com/reviews/hardware-reviews/zmf-verite-headphones/
“Tight, punchy, and definitive are few of many words that can be used to describe the Vérité’s low-end tuning. Slightly ahead of neutral, the bass is perfectly done with the right amounts of heft and slam to really make the listening experience a pleasurable one. The dynamic driver really does come into play with a great texture and weight that many planar models and electrostatic fail to recreate. It is nice to see (or rather hear) that the bass levels are not unrealistically elevated, but instead have such a natural timbre and depth that depict the realism of tracks. Compared to HiFiMAN Susvara and HE-1000 V2, the Vérité Open renders heftier slam and physical presence of bass, while the former two headphones have a more agile and intelligible bass line. The Meze Empyrean, on the other hand, is closer to the Vérité’s tonality with a linear and gently upward sloping sub- to mid-bass region. Both the Empyrean and Vérité have a pleasant low-end with the Empyreans sounding slightly more boosted and leaning more towards the smoother and warmer musical tonality. In “NICE” by The Carters, the low-end on the Vérité is represented with no bloom or bloating, but bass that stops on the dime with outstanding texturing.”
SONY IER-Z1R SIGNATURE SERIES UNIVERSAL-FIT EARPHONE $1,999 REVIEW
January 31, 2020 Comments Off on SONY IER-Z1R SIGNATURE SERIES UNIVERSAL-FIT EARPHONE $1,999 REVIEW
http://www.hifiplus.com/articles/sony-ier-z1r-signature-series-universal-fit-earphone/
The third characteristic is masterful rendition of reverberant information and spatial cues in recordings, which enables the IER-Z1R to produce huge, ‘outside-the-head’ soundstages. This quality proved stunning on Elvis Presley’s ‘Fever’ from Elvis Is Back [Sony Legacy, 16/44.1]. Specifically, the earphones neatly exposed the amounts and types of reverb applied to Elvis’ vocals throughout the song, while showing how widely spaced percussion instruments define the boundaries of the soundstage through sounds that reverberate and linger on the air.
Audiophilepure 
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