SHANLING EH3 REVIEW
January 18, 2024 Comments Off on SHANLING EH3 REVIEW
You might feel that the top markings, such as the MQA badge, Hi-Res Audio markings, or the block diagram, are a bit unnecessary. It would have been better if they had followed a similar approach to the flagship M30 unit, which displays small areas of the circuit board, but this one is all enclosed.
The topic of design is always subjective, but I doubt anyone would find a flaw in EH3’s build quality. The device is exceptionally well-built, featuring a glass front and a complete aluminium wrap-around chassis. It feels like a rock-solid device from top to bottom, and the volume control is particularly impressive with good rigidity and satisfying clicks. All of the ports, inputs, and outputs are also nicely built, leaving me with zero complaints.
Astell & Kern AK UW100MKII Review
January 18, 2024 Comments Off on Astell & Kern AK UW100MKII Review
The two biggest drawback of the earphone is probably the touch interface and the overall build of the case. The touch interfaces is a bit…touchy. While this is by no means unique to the AK UW100MKII (I’ve come across far too many hard-to-use touch surfaces in the TWS market) a ultra responsive surface would just have been more consistent with the rest of the steller features of the earphone. To get the touch capabilities to work, one needs to touch the earphone only on the conical tip of the design, and nowhere else. The touch needs to be done with an exact pressure as well, which takes some getting used to. With proper training, a useful interaction can be had, but I found this hurdle to be under par for the rest of the exceedingly impressive feature set as a whole. However, outside of a few athletic implications, I typically just control things from my phone, so the issue is neither here nor there for most of my daily listening routines.
2023 EMMA, IASCA, & MASQ Finals Competitor
January 18, 2024 Comments Off on 2023 EMMA, IASCA, & MASQ Finals Competitor
AUDEZE CRBN ELECTROSTATIC HEADPHONES $4,500 REVIEW
January 17, 2024 Comments Off on AUDEZE CRBN ELECTROSTATIC HEADPHONES $4,500 REVIEW
Clarity is the watchword of the CRBN with a timbre that is pure Audeze, a warm bottom end, a lively realistic midrange, and unlike many electrostatics that will try to bite your head off, a mellow yet extended high-end. And, of course, to top everything off, there is that expansive open soundstage that you can only get from electrostatics. It is not for nothing that the Audeze CRBN earned a much-deserved Editor’s Choice Award for 2023 from our publisher Frank Iacone who will be following this review up with a review of his own.
Congratulations to Audeze for a challenge well met in designing an electrostatic headphone that can not only meet the demands of medicine but the hypercritical desires of the audiophile also.
Usher Audio UA-50 Anniversary Three-Way Monitor Loudspeakers Review
January 16, 2024 Comments Off on Usher Audio UA-50 Anniversary Three-Way Monitor Loudspeakers Review
The Usher Audio UA-50 Anniversary loudspeakers are very impressive, delivering detailed, and wide-staged imagery, cohesive top-down from their diamond tweeters through a rich and lush midrange, into the mid-bass, and a little below. On their own, they render a variety of material from classical to jazz, blues, and rock. Combined with quality sources and electronics, they’re quite compelling. And if you need extra lower end, you can always deploy a quality subwoofer (or, better yet, a pair of subs) to your heart’s content. However, for the vast majority of time spent listening to them, the thought rarely crossed my mind. They really drew me into the music.
Summed up, if you’re into an immersive audio experience, high-performance three-way monitors with a slick retro 80s vibe, a lush and detailed midrange, and modern accouterments like an updated curved chassis and modern diamond tweeters, the Usher Audio UA-50s just may be your end game. But, don’t wait long; there are only a few left!
Audiophiles room build
January 16, 2024 Comments Off on Audiophiles room build
https://www.stereophile.com/content/working-room
Here’s the main thing: A dedicated high-end space allows your music’s full dynamics to blossom (and not just decibels, though that’s a big part of it). It’s next to useless to play Led Zeppelin’s “When the Levee Breaks,” Control Machete’s “Si Señor,” or the Minnesota Orchestra’s version of Rimsky-Korsakov’s “The Snow Maiden” at low levels. I’m not embarrassed to say that for me, the power of such recordings isn’t unleashed until the SPLs begin to border on unreasonable.
Most audiophiles have spent a small (or large) fortune on speakers and electronics, and another bundle on cables, antivibration solutions, power conditioners, and so on. The vital component most often overlooked is the room. I’m very fortunate that I was able to build mine almost from scratch. The expense seemed excessively self-indulgent until I realized that, unlike equipment, an extra room should more than pay for itself when the time comes to sell the house.
Tribal People React to Pentatonix Hallelujah
January 16, 2024 Comments Off on Tribal People React to Pentatonix Hallelujah
Simaudio’s Moon 791 Streaming Preamplifier:
January 15, 2024 Comments Off on Simaudio’s Moon 791 Streaming Preamplifier:
I’d be remiss to not point out that one way to better the 791’s performance is to opt for the company’s top-of-the-line streaming preamplifier, the Moon 891. Dimensionally similar to the 791, albeit taller, the 891 improves on its sibling through subtle circuitry refinements to the line stage, phono stage, and digital-to-analog sections, as well as to the volume control. The resulting improvements would undoubtedly show up on the test bench, but whether they’d be discernible to the ear, given the extraordinary performance of the 791, is questionable. The 791’s noise and distortion figures, and other performance parameters, already dip below the theoretical threshold of audibility. A side-by-side comparison would be the surest way to find out.
The takeaway
In implementing a large set of valuable features with no apparent compromises to its performance, the Moon 791 marks an extraordinary departure from the expected norm, linking fancy features to performance penalty. In fact, the outstanding test-bench results of the 791 led Diego to write to Dominique Poupart, “Bravo on a technically exceptional product!” Diego rarely offers such commendations, and rarely do I heap such praise on a component, but the audiophile-grade 791 is exceptional: it is a straight wire with gain and it has oodles of features. Have your cake and eat it too!
Audiophilepure 
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