Naiu Laboratory Ella Mark 3 Class ND Stereo Amplifier Review
June 30, 2023 Comments Off on Naiu Laboratory Ella Mark 3 Class ND Stereo Amplifier Review
If you click on my name in the header, you can see the equipment I used throughout the review process. I recently acquired the excellent Topping E70 Velvet DAC, which features a pair of the latest top-of-the-line AKM AK4499EX DAC chips (AKM’s production came back online mid-2022). The E70 Velvet presents digital music (especially DSD files) with an exciting level of transparency and musicality in combination with the already outstanding Euphony gear. And I’ve had the Ella Mark 3 amp set up in my larger listening room for several months now, connected to the Magneplanar LRS+ loudspeakers. I used an AudioQuest Blizzard w/DBS AC cable to provide power to the Ella Mark 3, and the entire system used balanced connections throughout. Since the origins of this review came from Robert Devcic’s interest in my impressions of the Ella with my Magneplanars, this was the logical place to start. A word of note: while the Ella Mark 3 doesn’t generate the kind of heat an amp that’s biased into pure Class A does, it gets somewhat warm to the touch with extended listening. In my experience with Ella, it sounds a bit cold from startup, and needs time to reach its normal operating temperature to achieve the ultimate in sound quality.
Klaudio Magnezar Turntable Review
June 30, 2023 Comments Off on Klaudio Magnezar Turntable Review
https://www.analogplanet.com/content/klaudio-magnezar-turntable
Features for the Magnezar ’table include a magnetically levitated platter, an ultra-quiet direct-drive motor, enhanced liquid stabilization and lighting, automatic spindle and peripheral clamping, aluminum construction, a dual tonearm support that includes the aforementioned Klaudio tangential tonearm and laser pod, and adjustable platter speeds of 33, 45, and 78rpm.
The SRP for the Klaudio Magnezar turntable has yet to be announced, but as soon as the company confirms it with us directly, we will update that information here accordingly.
HiFiMAN Ananda Nano MEGA Comparison Review
June 30, 2023 Comments Off on HiFiMAN Ananda Nano MEGA Comparison Review
VPI Avenger Direct Turntable & 12″ FatBoy tonearm Review
June 28, 2023 Comments Off on VPI Avenger Direct Turntable & 12″ FatBoy tonearm Review
https://www.stereophile.com/content/vpi-avenger-direct-turntable-12-fatboy-tonearm
“This is the most solid and least error-producing system in the business,” Weisfeld senior said. The Avenger Direct uses the same basic motor—the same rotor stator—used since the Classic Direct, but the way that motor is driven changed with the HW-40. In its earlier implementation, the motor was driven as a brushless, direct-current (BLDC) motor; in the later direct-drive ‘tables, including the Avenger Direct, it is implemented as a PMAC (permanent-magnet AC) motor, “driven sinusoidally as a three-phase AC motor,” Harry wrote in an email. The motor-drive system is servo-controlled by an active Texas Instruments–based feedback loop. A magnetic strip with 2500 magnetic elements on the platter is read by a magnetic head; that information is fed back directly into the drive system to correct errors. “The drive is so powerful you can put your finger on the side of the platter while running and it does not slow down,” Harry wrote. “With no cogging, when the platter turns there is no vibration.”
Parasound HALO JC 5 Amplifier $6399 Review
June 28, 2023 Comments Off on Parasound HALO JC 5 Amplifier $6399 Review
Titanium Hestia II Loudspeaker & The Method 3 Monoblock Amplifier Review
June 28, 2023 Comments Off on Titanium Hestia II Loudspeaker & The Method 3 Monoblock Amplifier Review
JBL 4329P Powered Studio Monitors $4500 Review
June 27, 2023 Comments Off on JBL 4329P Powered Studio Monitors $4500 Review
https://www.soundandvision.com/content/jbl-4329p-powered-studio-monitors-review
I streamed a live reading of this memorial to the Ukrainian victims of Nazi genocide by Muti and the Chicago Symphony and Chorus, which won a best-engineered Grammy a couple years ago, from Qobuz as a 96/24 FLAC. Via the JBLs this very naturalistic recording stunned me with the great definition of instruments and voices, letting the ear pick out individual voices from the (mostly) men’s choral parts, and the dense, dark woodwinds—the bass clarinet, for one example—of the dark, somber opening. The brasses were plangent and sparkling, the choral consonants crisp and, where appropriate, realistically sibilant, yet the Chicago’s warm and gooey string sound was well evident
Connected Fidelity AC-2K Reference Review
June 27, 2023 Comments Off on Connected Fidelity AC-2K Reference Review
There’s no power cord provided with AC-2K; Connected Fidelity is primarily a cable company so upsell opportunities are available. The test unit was supplied with a new cable just added to the range, the Chronos 2 (£840). It’s based on a braided weave of cryogenically treated multistrand UP/OCC copper and silver-plated copper wires, totalling 12 square millimetre for each of the two power lines, terminated with Furutech IEC and MS HD Power UK plugs.
Inside the box, protection circuitry on the balanced output side is specified as two residual current circuit breakers with overcurrent protection (RCBO). On the input side is a soft-start relay switch to reduce switch-on surge. The toroidal transformer is mounted on a compliant anti-vibration support plate, with transit screws to secure the mass when packed for shipping. And in a bid to extract the best performance from this transformer, it undergoes deep cryogenic treatment prior to installation in AC-2K, cycled by a commercial specialist down to –195 °C in a process that is said to benefit the ferrous core of the transformer by increasing the proportion of martensite and decreasing austensite in the steel’s crystalline structure. And since the toroid is treated complete with its copper wiring, there may be positive effects of cold annealing on the primary and secondary windings.
Audiophilepure 
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