Aavik Acoustics I-180 Integrated Amplifier, D-180 DAC, and S-180 Streamer / Network Player Review
September 8, 2021 Comments Off on Aavik Acoustics I-180 Integrated Amplifier, D-180 DAC, and S-180 Streamer / Network Player Review
I often said to myself that I was impressed by this integrated amplifier, that for a Class D amplifier, it sounded excellent. However, as I got further into the review period, I stopped thinking that it was an outstanding Class D integrated amplifier, but simply an outstanding integrated amplifier, especially at its price. I thought this true even after reinstalling it into my system after listening to my reference. Of course, I have heard better, but these amps had much less power and far fewer features than this very good-looking integrated amplifier.
The I-180’s front-panel covering red LED display was easy to read even from across the room, and the intangibles of this amplifier, as many settings can be changed by the user. I would have liked a subwoofer output, but other than that, there wasn’t much more than I would have liked.
Audio Psychoacoustics – Real or Imagined?
September 8, 2021 Comments Off on Audio Psychoacoustics – Real or Imagined?
How we sense what we hear is also a listening experience based on a different set of parameters than mechanical. Our perception of what we hear may be influenced by our mood and how our brain tells us we are feeling at any one point in time. Hearing perception is likely the reason my system sounded so spectacular after a three-week absence when logic and common sense tells me it should have sounded exactly the same as before.
Bowers & Wilkins 800 D4 Diamond Series Review
September 8, 2021 Comments Off on Bowers & Wilkins 800 D4 Diamond Series Review
Stenheim Alumine 2 Speakers $11,800 Review
September 7, 2021 Comments Off on Stenheim Alumine 2 Speakers $11,800 Review
The Stenheim Alumine 2 Speakers
The all-aluminum enclosure is beautiful to behold, and the level of execution is terrific. If you are a qualityphile and an audiophile, you will completely geek out on the absence of fasteners and the perfectly seamless assembly of the enclosure. The textures and finsh on both the front baffle and the rest of the case is equally flawless. Stenheim’s Jean-Pascal Panchard tells me that even though it looks like anodizing, they use a fine-structure powder coating process. This is an incredibly durable way to coat aluminum, assuring that these speakers will look like new 30 years from now.
Helius Designs Viridia Turntable and Phaedra Tonearm $7195 Review
September 7, 2021 Comments Off on Helius Designs Viridia Turntable and Phaedra Tonearm $7195 Review
Yet, the Phaedra and Viridia could play with superb finesse when called for—possessing a feathery touch with the most delicate of sounds. When I played “Clair de Lune,” the famed solo piano piece by composer Claude Debussy, its achingly slow tempo, as performed by Ivan Moravec on Debussy (Connoisseur Society 1866), was exquisite. The beautiful chiming of the right-hand melody came like chiffon clouds over a plein-air landscape in progress. Moravec’s notes rose in the soundstage as though from an actual piano, the image of his big, concert grand high as the ceiling and wide as the walls of my listening room. Isolated, individual notes came ghostily, sending teasing chills like soft snowflakes landing on still pond water.
Meze Audio Elite Review And Measurements
September 7, 2021 Comments Off on Meze Audio Elite Review And Measurements
Bluesound Node (2021) review
September 6, 2021 Comments Off on Bluesound Node (2021) review
https://www.whathifi.com/us/reviews/bluesound-node-2021
We play Ludovico Einaudi’s Einaudi: Seven Days Walking / Day 1 – Golden Butterfly from the composer’s newly released Cinema album, and through the Audiolab the piano notes are precise-sounding, plotted in a soundstage that’s not short of space and breadth. We wish the Bluesound displayed a little more of the latter – especially during times we play denser tracks such as Mogwai’s Here We, Here We, Here We Go Forever, which can sound a little messy through the smaller-scale Node.
MARANTZ MODEL 30 INTEGRATED AMPLIFIER REVIEW
September 6, 2021 Comments Off on MARANTZ MODEL 30 INTEGRATED AMPLIFIER REVIEW
Have I found ANY type of music that the Marantz doesn’t excel at? Not yet. But I’m still listening… What makes the Marantz so strait-laced in its proclivities? The bass is tight and very tuneful. The pitch of string bass and cello notes is easily followed whether the instruments are bowed or plucked. The bass extension (subwoofer driven off the Marantz’s preamplifier output jacks in my system) is prodigious. For example, try “Flight of the Cosmic Hippo” by Bela Fleck or “How Great Thou Art” by Valor. The Marantz brings it on in the bass.
The Marantz’s midrange is very dynamic without ever becoming brash (this is a very tight rope to walk). I like to test amps with complicated music like the Seekers’ and the Pentangle’s live performances. If the voices and instruments remain discreet instead of blending into mush, the amplifier is doing its job. The Marantz does. Another test for midrange is Goran Brevogić’s “Maki Maki.” The voice is somewhat recessed at times in relation to the instruments and other general musical mayhem in the background. If the lower-volume comments and asides are clearly audible in this piece, then the amplifier has got exceptional midrange definition. The Marantz does.
Audiophilepure 
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