PSB Synchrony T600 loudspeaker Review
November 21, 2021 Comments Off on PSB Synchrony T600 loudspeaker Review
https://www.stereophile.com/content/psb-synchrony-t600-loudspeaker
This work by Latvian composer Eriks Ešenvalds features a solo cello and an off-stage viola. The cello represents the composer’s late grandmother, to whom the work is dedicated, and the viola her soul. The choir is presented as a halo around the cello and notes the dedicatee’s passing by singing “In Paradisum” from the Catholic Requiem Mass. Producer Erik Lichte and I had worked hard at the sessions and in mixing to achieve the appropriate ethereal texture in the sound of the singers. The choir did indeed sound ethereal with the PSBs, with good weight to the basses. Memory is a fickle witness, of course, but the viola didn’t sound as distant as it had been when I played this track on Jason Victor Serinus’s Wilson Alexia 2s or when I reviewed the Magico M2s I was using when I mastered the 24/96 files for the CD release. To put this comment into perspective, those speakers are much more expensive than the Synchrony T600: The Wilson costs $57,900/pair, the Magico $63,600/pair. (Returns may be diminishing, but that doesn’t mean they are not real.) Also, there was a little more soundstage depth with the USB/JitterBug-connected Ayre QB-9 Twenty than there had been with the network-connected MBL N31.
Engström ERIC Encore Mono Power Amplifers Review
November 20, 2021 Comments Off on Engström ERIC Encore Mono Power Amplifers Review
https://www.hifinews.com/content/engstr%C3%B6m-eric-encore-mono-power-amplifers
Enchanted by their sound, we rounded up our last session with two favourite test tracks. The first was the dense and richly detailed performance of ‘The Carousel Waltz’ from The John Wilson Orchestra’s Rodgers & Hammerstein At The Movies [Warner Classics 3193012], which utterly delighted with its propulsive detail and the sense of conductor and orchestra having an absolute ball.
The other? ‘The Dance’, from the London Chamber Orchestra’s 1989 recording of Nick Bicat’s Under The Eye Of Heaven [Virgin Classics LCOCD 1], which can sound thin or even tinny on some systems. Here the bass weight and insight ensured a real sense of punch in Christopher Warren-Green’s solo amplified violin, the sparkling percussion and the deep, hard-hitting bass and drums.
The pounding yet very clean sound brought back the thrill of hearing the piece performed live at Hammersmith Odeon back in 1990, and the poster simply saying ‘Classical Music Bloody Loud’. And, yes, that’s just what these Engström flagships delivered!
iFi Go Blu review
November 20, 2021 Comments Off on iFi Go Blu review
https://www.whathifi.com/us/reviews/ifi-go-blu
Switching back to the Go Blu and streaming West Indies by Koffee, we note that the initial vibraphone-esque keys in our left ear are faithfully relayed with clarity and zeal. As the beat drops, the soundstage extends to both ears and really goes deep into the lower registers. The M-DAC Nano is similarly neutral and clear but doesn’t offer quite the same levels of separation and dynamic sensitivity, although it is a closely run race.
167 by Farruko and Gallego opens with the sound of motorbikes and cars driving past on the 167 freeway. With the iFi Go Blu, it is as lonely a setting as the artist intended and feels as if we are hitch-hiking at the side of the 167 in Puerto Rico. Each car tracks from one ear to the other – a sensation the Audiolab product is unable to match with similar precision. The horns, pensive keys and deep Spanish vocal are exciting, but the Go Blu is sensible too, reserving just enough to add the required bite to the reggaeton rap section as the track progresses.
Expert Level Caraudio Fabrication
November 20, 2021 Comments Off on Expert Level Caraudio Fabrication
Sony WF-C500 wireless earbuds review
November 19, 2021 Comments Off on Sony WF-C500 wireless earbuds review
https://www.whathifi.com/us/reviews/sony-wf-c500
Building affordable true wireless in-ear headphones is a different discipline to building expensive ones, but it’s no less tricky. In the WF-C500 Sony has managed to bring a lot of what makes its expensive true wireless in-ears such a success without cutting too many corners too obviously – and in the process it’s made your job of choosing a great sub-£100 pair that little bit harder.
Yes, the WF-C500 can be bettered (and by quite a margin) for battery life, but you’ll be hard-pushed to find a more comfortable pair. Yes, you can buy greater outright scale of sound but you won’t encounter a more complete control app. Some alternatives are a punchier and more ‘exciting’ listen, but very few strike a more convincing sonic balance.
Convergent Audio Technology • JL5 Limited Edition Stereo Amplifier $25,000 Review
November 19, 2021 Comments Off on Convergent Audio Technology • JL5 Limited Edition Stereo Amplifier $25,000 Review
https://www.theaudiobeat.com/equipment/convergent_audio_technology_jl5_limited_edition.htm
After 25 years, I’ve still not discovered a single amp that’s everything to everybody, if such a beast even exists. But I’ve now heard one that comes closer than any other. The CAT JL5 Limited Edition brings together tremendous drive with transparency and, for lack of a better term, humanness. It has the body and presence that bring performers to life, the power reserves to keep up with seemingly any music played at any level, and the clarity to reveal the qualities of each recording. And the JL5 has its own set of super powers, which include exceptional control, wide dynamic range and high resolution, all while driving any speakers (or a pair of huge passive subwoofers). It also displays the tonal beauty of great tubes, in a package that costs less — even far less — than other stalwarts.
Ken Stevens is a unique audio character and as confident as a shaman in his message: that everything that goes into creating audio electronics matters to the sound, that tubes don’t have to give to and take away from the music, that an all-triode amp doesn’t have to peter out when the music gets really loud or really dynamic, and that a stereo amp that achieves all of this doesn’t have to cost six figures. How the JL5 is a Limited Edition is a mystery, because I’m sure CAT will make as many as the company can sell, but it is an audio rarity, and a musical revelation too.
IBASSO DX240 REVIEW
November 18, 2021 Comments Off on IBASSO DX240 REVIEW
This makes a big difference in terms of UI and usage, even more with APK Pure installed as standard. Still, no Google Play Store out of the box, but since APK Pure gives you the same options (and more…) that’s no big deal. In a few seconds, you’ll have all your usual apps up and running, like most modern smartphones
Thanks to the new Qualcomm 660 CPU and 4Gb of Ram (2 gigs less than the DX300) the player feels snappy. Obviously, it isn’t as fast as the DX300 – and that must be due to the screen – but it’d be unfair to call the DX240 slow. Everything open/close in the blink of an eye and downloading tracks from Apple Music/Amazon didn’t take much time as it could be with some players.
Meze Audio Launches First Portable Closed-Back Planar Magnetic Headphone $2,000
November 18, 2021 Comments Off on Meze Audio Launches First Portable Closed-Back Planar Magnetic Headphone $2,000
Today, Meze Audio released the $2000 LIRIC, their first portable planar magnetic headphone! This new model is a closed-back beauty with a matte black magnesium frame trimmed with leather.
Inside the cups are Rinaro’s Isodynamic Hybrid Array Drivers, the same used in Meze’s flagship Elite and Empyrean headphones. In this case, they are scaled-down to allow for portable use. Utilizing these unique drivers coupled with several other remarkable technologies, LIRIC is designed to provide a similar high-end spatial sound to their top-of-the-line headphones.
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