January | 2021 | Audiophilepure

Sonus faber Olympica Nova III Loudspeaker $13,500 Review

January 2, 2021 Comments Off on Sonus faber Olympica Nova III Loudspeaker $13,500 Review

http://www.theabsolutesound.com/articles/sonus-faber-olympica-nova-iii-loudspeaker/

For her debut compact disc Fantasy, violinist Tessa Lark had the good fortune to be recorded by veteran engineer/producer Judith Sherman. Several of the works on the CD are unaccompanied, including a pair of Telemann Fantasias and Lark’s own Appalachian Fantasy. The tonal shadings created by the soloist on her 1683 Stradivarius are reproduced with realistic immediacy through the Sonus faber speakers—bow grabbing string, the resonance of the instrument’s hollow body, minute changes in bow pressure, the room adding body to the sound issuing from the violin. String quartets, solo wind instruments, and keyboard recitals are enthralling, utterly believable in tone and timbre—these loudspeakers are a chamber music lover’s dream. And aficionados of great singing will find the most distinctive voice rendered with every ounce of its character intact.

AURENDER A30 CACHING MUSIC SERVER/CD RIPPER/STREAMER

January 2, 2021 Comments Off on AURENDER A30 CACHING MUSIC SERVER/CD RIPPER/STREAMER

http://www.hifiplus.com/articles/aurender-a30-caching-music-servercd-ripperstreamer/

Moving over to Tidal and their MQA Master files I selected Jan Lisiecki and the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra performing Mendelssohn’s Piano Concerto No.1 in G Minor, Op. 25, MWV O7 – 1. Molto allegro con fuoco. [2019 Best of Tidal Masters].Growing up in a home where my father is a professional piano player it was exciting to hear a piano recording sound so authentic. Fronting the orchestra, the piano had the right attack and decay. The tone was near live and the space between notes in the allegro was just that small space to show off the recording’s quality (and the pianists’ considerable skill!). The strings, horns and woodwinds played their support role with live energy and tonal accuracy. Over the years I would have needed an SACD or vinyl album in the house to enjoy this level of connection with a recording. To experience this connection via streaming was truly magical and illustrates how far audio has come over my lifetime.

JBL HDI-3600 Loudspeaker $3,800 Review

January 1, 2021 Comments Off on JBL HDI-3600 Loudspeaker $3,800 Review

https://www.soundandvision.com/content/jbl-hdi-3600-loudspeaker-review

Easing into something a bit more subtle and quiet, I streamed harpist Mary Lattimore’s “Til a Mermaid Drags You Under” (16/44.1 FLAC, Tidal), a track from her latest release, Silver Ladders. The song’s dry, cascading layers of harp, mixed with reverb-heavy guitar (from Slowdive’s Neil Halstead), were conveyed with impressive clarity by the JBLs, and there was a notable sense of spatial depth. When the song’s bass synth drones are introduced about halfway through, the sound becomes anchored with a massive foundation that serves to enlarge both the horizontal and vertical scale. The HDI-3600 towers rendered this perfectly, disappearing into an endless-seeming soundstage that somehow reminded me of sitting in a planetarium.

Sony WF-SP800N Review

January 1, 2021 Comments Off on Sony WF-SP800N Review

https://www.whathifi.com/us/reviews/sony-wf-sp800n

At the top of the frequency range, the Sonys are never less than crisp. In the wrong circumstances, it’s a trait that could possibly manifest itself as thinness, but here the WF-SP800N summon just about as much top-end attack as is acceptable.

Through the midrange, they load Beck’s vocal with information – he often sounds lazy and half-hearted when delivering a vocal, but through the Sonys the subtlety and nuance in his technique is revealed. As a result, he sounds more engaged, and is more engaging, than is usually the case through a pair of reasonably affordable true wireless earbuds.