LTA Velo Headphone Amplifier | REVIEW
May 29, 2025 Comments Off on LTA Velo Headphone Amplifier | REVIEW
https://pt.audio/2025/05/04/lta-velo-headphone-amplifier-review/#google_vignette
While there is no dearth of choices in the $2-3,000 price point, equivalents to the $2,100 Velo are rather scarce. There’s plenty of solid state choices, but just a few more standard OTL tube amps and only a handful of the most affordable transformer-coupled designs. In general, a pure OTL design will tend to sound a bit thinner and more upper-midrange focused than the ZOTL technology from LTA, whereas a transformer-coupled amplifier will often be thicker, and darker. This leaves us in the company of quite clean sounding tube amps which generally cost more or hybrid or solid state amps that sound particularly smooth.
All of this is to say that I think the LTA Velo stacks up quite nicely at its price point. Given the design considerations and how much good sound is on offer, the Velo to my ears and eyes is a welcome exception to the “products must always get more expensive” mantra. While you won’t necessarily be pairing the absolute hungriest planar magnetic headphones with it, it pairs very well with most dynamic and planar headphones, from Audeze to Focal, and plays all of them with that signature LTA balance of good tone, pleasantly warm-of-neutral frequency balance and dense harmonic structure. Definitely worth a listen if you’re in the market for a tube headamp in this price range.
Siltech Royal Single Crown Speaker Cable Reviews
May 29, 2025 Comments Off on Siltech Royal Single Crown Speaker Cable Reviews
The overall neutrality of the Art Series Monets, their quick, insightful nature, and their coherence and imaging is certainly part of a family sound that translates over to the Royal Single Crowns. The Siltechs, though, add in a most endearing character through the midrange, fleshing out instruments and voices in a manner that the Monets can’t quite match. I noted other improvements in the frequency extremes, like increased definition that better focused the flying wedge of basses and drums, and a clearer, more incisive treble that provided more easily digestible information, especially at higher volumes.
Exclusive: BACCH Stratos Atmos Processing System Listening Preview
May 29, 2025 Comments Off on Exclusive: BACCH Stratos Atmos Processing System Listening Preview
Pure Audio Project’s Duet 15 Horn Review
May 29, 2025 Comments Off on Pure Audio Project’s Duet 15 Horn Review
dCS Varèse Music System D/A Processor Review
May 28, 2025 Comments Off on dCS Varèse Music System D/A Processor Review
https://www.stereophile.com/content/dcs-var%C3%A8se-music-system-da-processor
A new, downloadable Mosaic ACTUS app (footnote 7) for iOS or Android, designed especially for Varèse, that enables playback from streaming services, USB stick, or (with the I/O Module) external computers, streamers, and network-attached storage (NAS). Networked servers must be UPnP compatible. The app helps with setup, guiding you through initial system update and remote configuration. It also detects audio sources and controls volume. Google Cast enables streaming from phone, tablet, or computer; you can also use it for multiroom casting with Cast-compatible speakers. Apple AirPlay, Roon, and Tidal Connect are other options.
The Mosaic ACTUS app enables you to configure all system options, audio sources, streaming services, local network inputs, Digital I/O Module inputs, and signal path settings including filters, conversion modes, and mappers. dCS offers six PCM filter choices, four usable DSD filter choices, three mapper choices, five conversion mode choices (DXD oversampling or DSD/DSD2/DSD4/DSD8 oversampling), absolute phase choice at the analog output, output voltage choice, and more. Thanks to Mosaic ACTUS, it’s far easier to change these than in other dCS DACs and music systems. Everything is visible on the app—no more pushing buttons on the front panel—and filter settings have been blessedly simplified
Playback Designs MPT-8 Dream Transport Review
May 28, 2025 Comments Off on Playback Designs MPT-8 Dream Transport Review
When a CD transport enters the arena, I must compare it to my reference at its price point: the Aqua La Diva M2. The Diva M2 has a huge heart and is my favorite player under 10.000 Euros. Its main fortes include fluidity, delicacy, refinement, air, and flow. Connected via a Mogami 3080 Neglex AES/EBU cable, the La Diva M2 sounds seductively smooth, lush, and deliciously delicate. However, there is no denying the MPT-8’s transport has spoilt me with its vitality and expression. In comparison, the Aqua is a little rounder than strictly neutral and lacks a measure of control and impact in the low and mid-bass. Otherwise, though, the Aqua keeps up remarkably well, providing similar measures of resolution, transparency, and, importantly, musicality.
While I greatly admire what the La Diva M2 achieves at its comparatively modest price point, this is also a reminder of what is possible in still higher tiers. The MPT-8 may cost more than three times as much, but it beautifully underlines the performance level that Playback Designs achieved with this product.
Audiophilepure 
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