Carver Black Magic 25
January 8, 2023 Comments Off on Carver Black Magic 25
The amp runs cool, and provides a sound not as romantic as a vintage Mcintosh, Marantz or Dynaco amp, yet still delivers plenty of tubey, midrange magic that you’d expect. And of course, with only three input tubes, you can roll em’ if you’ve got em’ to fine tune and experiment.
Thanks to careful design, this little jewel plays louder than you would expect a 25Wpc amp to play, even with less efficient speakers like a pair of Harbeths, or your favorite LS3/5a variation on the theme.

Q Acoustics Concept 50 REVIEW
January 8, 2023 Comments Off on Q Acoustics Concept 50 REVIEW
That last sentence is important as it describes the Q Acoustics Concept 50 perfectly; it passes every test with flying colours. It’s a £2,000 loudspeaker that sounds almost like a £4,000 loudspeaker. The design isn’t just ‘another box’ but nor are the innovations that go into the design merely there for their own sakes. A loudspeaker that is easy to drive and possessed of a classic sound yet isn’t so ‘classic’ as to be boring and isn’t undemanding of electronics in quality terms. With Concept 50, Q Acoustics more than earns a place at audio’s top table.

High End ANC Headphones Tested – Focal Bathys, B&W PX8, Mark Levinson 5909
January 8, 2023 Comments Off on High End ANC Headphones Tested – Focal Bathys, B&W PX8, Mark Levinson 5909
HiFi Rose RA180 integrated amplifier $6995 REVIEW
January 7, 2023 Comments Off on HiFi Rose RA180 integrated amplifier $6995 REVIEW
https://www.stereophile.com/content/hifi-rose-ra180-integrated-amplifier
Perhaps the GaN transistors’ decreased “dead time” helped music’s sense of smoothness and continuity. Maybe their speed aided quick and sharp transient attacks and overall dynamics. It’s hard to say, but I do know I enjoyed my time with HiFi Rose’s RA180 flagship. At times it felt hyper-responsive. Its heightened detail lent an exciting intensity to most material.
Except perhaps for this impression of heightened detail, the RA180 remained mostly neutral in its tonal balance. If anything, it ran slightly cool rather than warm. Once in a while, the RA180 verged on leaning a little too far to light, clean, and shiny, like a new penny. Yet, in any kind of music—delicate classical, hard funk, crystalline electronica, all the other stuff I played—the RA180 maintained its cool sense of control.
Audiophiles who appreciate a unique visual and functional design and fast, clear, detailed sound—especially those with biampable speakers (or, even more, who use supertweeters)—should give the HiFi Rose RA180 a long look and listen.


Mark Levinson No. 5909 Review
January 7, 2023 Comments Off on Mark Levinson No. 5909 Review
The soundstage the Mark Levinson describe isn’t the most expansive in all of headphone-land, but it’s authoritatively controlled and consequently extremely easy to understand. Every element of a recording stands securely in a personal pocket of space, enjoys absolute positivity where attack and decay of its contributions are concerned – but is nevertheless integrated into the overall performance in an entirely believable fashion. There’s nothing detached about the way the No. 5909 present music, any more than there’s anything ostentatious or self-satisfied about the way they sound. More than anything, in fact, they sound uncomplicatedly and thrillingly musical.
The post-COVID-19 world has gone a bit mad; people are paying £35,000 for an £8,000 Rolex watch now. So, getting a foot on the Mark Levinson ladder without buying either a room full of expensive equipment or a well-specified Lexus suddenly seems eminently sensible in today’s world. And if you’re fortunate enough to consider the No. 5909 a realistic option then a) lucky you, and b) make sure you hear a pair as soon as possible. You won’t regret it.

Magnepan LRS+ Quasi Ribbon Floorstanding Loudspeaker $995 Review
January 6, 2023 Comments Off on Magnepan LRS+ Quasi Ribbon Floorstanding Loudspeaker $995 Review
Before discussing the Plusses’ downside, I need to say a word about setup. In the old days, Maggies were typically listened to head-on, without any toe-in, for greatest neutrality. A lot of folks still prefer this alignment, but…it won’t work ideally with the LRS or the LRS+. Because of the smaller size of their quasi-ribbon panels and the fact they are two-ways, you may end up with either too much bass or too much treble and not enough in between — i.e., with too dark or too bright a tonal palette — if you don’t cant the speakers in a fair amount (at least 15–20 degrees). Though this may be room-dependent, Maggie also recommends that the speakers be situated with their tweeters (visible via a flashlight shined through the grille as the section of the panel with narrower, more closely aligned foil strips) to the outside and away from the wall and, with the requisite toe-in, their woofers to the inside and closer to the wall. My description of the sound of the LRS+ reflects Maggie’s set-up recommendations, albeit with toe-in painstakingly tweaked almost degree by degree until I achieved a balance that was neither too top-down or too bottom-up but audibly and measurably close to neutral.

SME Model 60 Turntable and Series VA Tonearm £49,950 REVIEW
January 6, 2023 Comments Off on SME Model 60 Turntable and Series VA Tonearm £49,950 REVIEW
I was enjoying the sound so much I ended up playing the whole album, and reveled in the ease with which this special system conveyed the beauty of Barry’s score. On “Try,” the plucked double bass had astonishing depth, articulation, and timbre, and the accompanying piano sounded incredibly natural. Best of all, the system effortlessly reproduced the dramatic climaxes when the orchestra was going at full tilt, even at high volumes. There was a sense of boundless headroom and dynamics, devoid of compression. Sudden transient blasts of trumpet and drums on “Ski Chase” actually made me jump with their force and speed.
In terms of imaging, the Model 60 offered a soundstage that was so stable it felt like architecture hewn from granite. Nothing moved or drifted in depth or width, instruments and performers stayed absolutely secure, and were thus more believable. The soundstage extended far outside the confines of the speakers and I was sometimes surprised at just how wide this felt compared to other sources. Of course, soundstage is affected by a whole range of things, from the loudspeakers to room acoustics, but if the turntable isn’t retrieving spatial information from the record groove then no loudspeaker can put it back.

We listened to Dolby Atmos inside a Mercedes at CES 2023
January 6, 2023 Comments Off on We listened to Dolby Atmos inside a Mercedes at CES 2023
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