CrystalConnect Reference Diamond Review
December 17, 2021 Comments Off on CrystalConnect Reference Diamond Review
https://stereo-magazine.com/review/crystalconnect-reference-diamond-review
You bet! While it might have sounded a bit stiff, flat and “silvery” at the beginning, all objections dissolved into pure pleasure as the playing time progressed. The Reference Diamond Speak is equipped with a plug-in coupling for attachments with different connectors that can be screwed securely tight. After the play-in, it sounded perfectly balanced, as “big” as it was tidy and displayed no limitations in the dynamic range, even when Accustic Arts‘ potent AmpII-MK4 shot the vehement impulses of Monty Alexander‘s “Moanin‘” at brutal volumes through it. Paul Kuhn‘s “Young At Heart” enchanted with a profound, decidedly contoured foundation as well as a feel-good atmosphere made of harmonious, vibrant timbres. On top of that, its skills in depth gradation and unbiased naturalness were captivating once again. In short: This super-cable overturns common prejudices and makes us think anew.
Cambridge Audio EVO 150 all-in-one Review
December 17, 2021 Comments Off on Cambridge Audio EVO 150 all-in-one Review
Nagra Debuts its New Reference Anniversary Turntable/Tonearm Record
December 16, 2021 Comments Off on Nagra Debuts its New Reference Anniversary Turntable/Tonearm Record
The 10.5” one piece arm allows for all set-up parameter, repeatable adjustability and features a dual concentric carbon fiber tube with an intermediary wood layer. The arm is composed of but eight parts. All parts other than the wand were designed by the Nagra team and manufactured and assembled in Switzerland and you know what’s coming and it involves watches and Swiss precision.
Vitus Audio SIA-25 Integrated Review
December 16, 2021 Comments Off on Vitus Audio SIA-25 Integrated Review
The Vitus Audio SIA-25 Integrated
If you can, try some tracks that you’ve played hundreds of times. The more you listen, the more you’ll hear. It may be old, but I always go back to the title track from Michael Hedges Aerial Boundaries (if you have this on vinyl, even better) or Al DiMeola’s Friday Night in San Francisco. There are plenty of great others, yet these are burned into my memory, not only because I’ve used them to evaluate so many components, I’ve heard them both live more than once.
Another area the SIA-25 really excels in in its ability to render size and scale. Some amplifiers just sound big, others just sound small. Not all amplifiers have the ability to expand and contract with the source fed. I consider this another aspect of resolution. If you love chamber music, listen to selections that feature violin and viola together. On lesser quality playback gear, a string quartet just sounds like four of the same stringed instruments. I really enjoy Luigi Gatti’s Six Sonatas for Violin and Viola, to illustrate this. The viola, being about 20% larger than a violin and plays a bit lower, and more mellow than a violin, so this is a great test of resolution and behavior on the top end of the frequency scale.
Even if your taste in music falls to the completely electronic, I suspect you’ll get excited (or really freak out) about when the SIA-25 is in your system. First, the level of bass extension and control is incredible, and feels like a much larger amplifier. Jean-Michel Jarre’s Zoolook is usually the go to here, but his latest release, Amazonia, serves up a massive soundscape, full of guttural sounds, deep bass tracks, and plenty of signature Jarre tinkly bits all over the room. While none of this music has a “real” component to it, there is again a degree of liveliness that mega components bring to this kind of music. Again, the SIA-25 aces the test.
Best DAC under $1500? Merason Frerot
December 14, 2021 Comments Off on Best DAC under $1500? Merason Frerot
MEZE ELITE! MASTERPIECE OPEN BACK REVIEW
December 13, 2021 Comments Off on MEZE ELITE! MASTERPIECE OPEN BACK REVIEW
Meze made its mark with the Empyrean and the Elite has built on that successful headphone. The sound of the new Elite is a continuation of that design and offers more refinement over the Empyrean. Meze was able to get more bass with the new driver and more midrange transparency.
Listening to vocal recordings the Elite always captured the artist without sibilance and delivered everything you expect from a reference headphone and delivered performance that was among the best for planar designs and rivaled many electrostatic designs as well.
Perlisten S7t loudspeaker
December 13, 2021 Comments Off on Perlisten S7t loudspeaker
https://www.stereophile.com/content/perlisten-s7t-loudspeaker
When the S7t’s arrived, I was glad to have help setting them up—definitely not a one-person job. Three masked men—Steve Jain of Fidelity Imports, his son Ethan, and a friend—made quick work of assembling and positioning the S7t’s, which came in a spectacular Gloss Ebony finish. The substantial-looking rectangular cabinet bears what at first glance appears to be five drivers mounted to a thick, meticulously sculpted front panel. On the rear is a glamorous polished brass panel with two massive pairs of multiway binding posts fitted with jumper plates. Below that is a perforated rectangular metal grille that is echoed on the side panels; they function as the vent when the S7t is used in its standard, bass-reflex mode. A 27.5lb steel plate attached to the base supports four adjustable outrigger feet. Spikes are optional.
When you look closer, you see that the S7t has seven drivers, not five. Four of those—two on bottom, two up top—are 7″ (180mm) woofers. Between them is a carefully contoured waveguide—an acoustic lens—that is roughly the same size as the woofers. Its central element is the 28mm (1.1″) beryllium-dome tweeter. Closer examination reveals two additional 28mm domes embedded at the top and bottom edges of the lens so that their perforated covers preserve the lens’s contour; these domes are made from “thin-ply” carbon. Perlisten calls this central assembly the Directivity Pattern Control (DPC) waveguide. This feature is central—literally and figuratively—to Perlisten’s Signature and Reference speakers.
BØRRESEN Acoustics 01 Silver Supreme Edition Loudspeakers Review
December 12, 2021 Comments Off on BØRRESEN Acoustics 01 Silver Supreme Edition Loudspeakers Review
https://www.audiophilia.com/reviews/2021/8/24/qlybat1myvyh5qj9q18s2x5wnuktbm
I hope that was not too flowery. But, my prose is too limited to describe the essence of what’s going on with these speakers.
This amazing musical honesty was experienced in repertoire played by solo artists, rock bands like Led Zeppelin, fusion masters Steely Dan, and the above mentioned large orchestral works.
My wife, Jan, called them ‘thrilling’, ‘exciting’. She’s not easily impressed. But, as we discussed, it’s much more than thrilling and exciting. Sure, if listening to the Debussy Préludes on one of the magnificent systems I listed above, maybe I’d experience the same. But, I don’t think so. These past three months have been musically very special. And, possibly unique.
Audiophilepure 
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