Final Audio Reveals New D7000 Planar-Magnetic Headphones $3499 Review
June 12, 2024 Comments Off on Final Audio Reveals New D7000 Planar-Magnetic Headphones $3499 Review
The D7000 is designed to strike a balance between the detailed highs of planar-magnetic drivers and the dynamic lows typically found in other headphone types. Listeners should expect clear vocals, nuanced strings, and a smooth overall sound. Constructed from lightweight aluminum-magnesium alloy, the D7000 offers both durability and an aesthetically pleasing design.

SPL Phonitor SE $1199 Review
June 10, 2024 Comments Off on SPL Phonitor SE $1199 Review
https://www.whathifi.com/reviews/spl-phonitor-se
As the Mahler symphony builds we note the pleasing sense of space in the Phonitor’s presentation and its ability to avoid sounding cluttered. It helps that details are crisply rendered with little in the way of blur or vagueness when it comes to defining the leading edges of notes. This is particularly praiseworthy at low frequencies where the SPL delivers exceptional grip without sacrificing tunefulness.
That same bass quality works wonderfully with Massive Attack’s Heligoland set. Here, the SPL headphone amp delivers bass with considerable conviction, thumping it out with punch and power. Move up the frequency range and you will find that the midrange is crisp and clean while retaining the natural warmth of vocals. We are pleased to report that the Phonitor SE is the kind of product that you can listen to for hours on end without issue. For all its insight and resolution, it avoids sounding hard-edged and sterile. Feed it a poor or aggressive recording, we used Bruce Springsteen’s heartfelt Terry’s Song, and the SPL refuses to make a meal of things. It is highly revealing of the recording’s shortcomings but never goes out of its way to be rude.


Mola Mola Lupe irresistible vinyl amplification Review
June 10, 2024 Comments Off on Mola Mola Lupe irresistible vinyl amplification Review
Other musical selections Philip played demonstrated again the T66’s balanced sound and ability to reveal details. The sonic characteristics that Philip discerned in the T66 were also revealed in our measurements. The on- and off-axis frequency-response plots, from the bass through to the treble, are quite flat and consistent, which corresponds to that evenhandedness Philip heard—a neutral sound, in other words. The level of distortion the T66 induces across much of the audioband is laudably low even at a high output level (90dB, in our testing, at a distance of two meters under strict anechoic conditions, which is equivalent to more than 96dB at one meter in a room).
Comparing the T66 with his own reference loudspeakers, the Monitor Audio Gold 300 5G floorstanders ($9500/pair), which are also a three-way design with an AMT tweeter, Philip found that apart from their markedly different appearance, the two pairs had quite a different sound. Listening to “Hold On,” from the CD release of Tom Waits’s album Mule Variations, he noticed that the GoldenEar pair “delivered more weight from the upright bass, and their fuller, warmer demeanor made [the song] sound bigger.” But, as clean as the T66s were, the Gold 300s were a touch more revealing. Waits’s baritone is the focal point of his recordings. It is rough and well worn, and the Gold 300s better exposed its full hoarseness, delivering it “like a coarser-grit sandpaper,” Philip writes.
Still, the T66 and Gold 300 had a lot in common, which is unexpected given how different they look. In fact, listening to Tori Amos’s “Caught a Lite Sneeze,” from her Boys for Pele, on CD, Philip found the two pairs “incredibly similar” tonally, both being so well-balanced. “Where they differed was in the scale of presentation, which is where the GoldenEars distinguished themselves,” he writes. “This was particularly evident with the percussion, and was apparent from the opening drum sounds, which were more propulsive and powerful through the T66 speakers. They imparted a sense of impact that the Monitor Audios were unable to equal.” Philip’s main takeaway from this comparison is that the T66 offers a better value: “for $2300 less, the pair of T66s came close to matching the resolution of the Gold 300s, while producing far more bass.”


Bowers & Wilkins Gorgeous 700 Series Signature
June 10, 2024 Comments Off on Bowers & Wilkins Gorgeous 700 Series Signature
HiFi Rose RS150 Review
June 9, 2024 Comments Off on HiFi Rose RS150 Review
https://www.hifichoice.com/content/hifi-rose-rs150
So much more than just a beautifully designed component showing others the way to go, the RS150 back ups the stunning aesthetics with a performance to match. Regardless of whether it’s employed as a player or DAC the supreme levels of richness and detail not only make the slight softness on some material easier to over look, but also underline this as a supreme debut. We enthusiastically look forward to hearing what else the South Korean brand has up its sleeve in the future.

Tekton Design Perfect SET 15 Loudspeakers $2705 Review
June 9, 2024 Comments Off on Tekton Design Perfect SET 15 Loudspeakers $2705 Review
One important point about the footers. If you choose not to use any footers, maybe because you will use some other isolation device under the speakers, you need to either get ¼-20 bolts to screw into the footer inserts or find some way to seal the inserts. They extend all the way into the cabinet, and if they aren’t sealed they become very noticeable either as an upper midrange distortion or in some cases, an actual whistling sound noticeable at certain frequencies. I made that mistake when I borrowed the Impact Monitors and had them sitting on Audioquest Q-Feet! It took a while to figure out the issue.
Marten’s Coltrane Quintet Speakers $190,000
June 8, 2024 Comments Off on Marten’s Coltrane Quintet Speakers $190,000
We have no doubt that the Coltrane Quintet sounds great based on a brief observation in our High-End Munich 2024 Show Report. However, the market is getting very crowded in the ultra-high-end speaker category and we wonder how this trend is sustainable over the long run given a lot of competition in this seemingly narrow market. Yet Marten is not shying away as the Coltrane Quintet joins even more expensive step-up models, Momento 2 and Supreme 2, in the flagship Coltrane series.

Hegel New H190V Integrated Amplifiier Review
June 8, 2024 Comments Off on Hegel New H190V Integrated Amplifiier Review
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