Audiophilepure

The Kinera Thorking surprised me when I first put them in my ears. Given the brand’s recent track record, I expected a slightly fun, warm, or somewhat coloured sound. I listened to Loki in Canjam 2023 and wasn’t impressed much. But the Thorking is different, and I mean, very different.

The new Thorking has a reference-style tuning with a flat response from start to finish. This is a fascinating new tuning direction from Kinera, and it works perfectly with classical music. I would never believe a Kinera IEM for classical music until I heard it in person. Of course, that doesn’t mean it’s not an all-rounder. On the contrary, ThorKing can blend in with many genres. I agree with Kinera’s claim that the ThorKing is a mildly v-shaped IEM, as it prioritizes the treble a bit, and the mid-range is not pushed forward.

https://pt.audio/2025/02/09/svs-ultra-evolution-loudspeakers-review/

Next up on the “SVS Testing” playlist was a great track that my sons put me onto, “Monsters” by All Time Low and Demi Lovato. Somehow this song was released four years ago but I’m just now hearing it, primarily because it has explicit lyrics and when I heard my kids listening to it, I had a bit of a conniption fit until I realized it was quite good. The vocals and slamming guitar intro turn into a fantastic hook that played very well on the Ultra Evolution towers. I was particularly impressed with how the sound engineers were able to blend Lovato’s and Alex Gaskarth’s voice on the second verse, and this was reproduced flawlessly by the SVS Ultra speakers. Lovato has shown that there is real talent to be had coming out of a Disney Channel child-star meat grinder, and I for one am very happy to see her overcome her earlier personal struggles and continue to be so successful in the notoriously ruthless music business. On “Monsters,” which was co-written by Lovato, the edginess of the track is combined with the somewhat dark lyrics that invariably impart an autobiographical slant on the song. This is of course typical of any songwriter, but it doesn’t always land well with audiences. This one was a real success in my humble opinion, and I was left jamming to the track on the SVS Ultra Evolution Towers on repeat for a while, both giving the speakers their run-through as well as just enjoying the music as it was meant to be heard.

https://pt.audio/2025/02/14/yg-acoustics-talus-loudspeakers-review/

The Descent sub, however, is both a sophisticated one and a simple one. It’s sophisticated because it’s an active, DSP-powered subwoofer. The internal power amp has 1000W, for example. The driver is “an entirely new, 11″ (28 cm) BilletCore driver with 3″ voice coil, titanium former and advanced magnet structure.” The DSP filters are “based on advanced computational modeling, state-of-the-art measurements and extensive listening tests, with presets frequency and phase curves to accompany bookshelf, small floor-stander and large floor-stander speakers.” in addition, the control panel on the back of the Descent has all the features you’d need from a subwoofer with this excellent pedigree. There are both balanced and unbalanced inputs, and the balanced connections are distinguished between an input that can be used with a subwoofer (or two) out on the amp/preamp and an “XLR through” which allows you to “chained from a preamp through the Descent and onto a power amplifier for that channel of the main speakers.” There’s also a high level input, which I used, for “an expert set-up.” More on that in a bit.