Cary Audio CAD-805RS monoblock power amplifier $15,995/pair Review
January 7, 2019 Comments Off on Cary Audio CAD-805RS monoblock power amplifier $15,995/pair Review
“Through that last day in my listening room, the sound of Cary Audio’s CAD-805RS monoblocks was thoroughly engaging: I enjoyed every record I played through them, and though their deep-bass response was too generous, it was never unmusical—and was often decidedly fun.
No less important, evaluated solely on the basis of the quality of parts and the apparent amount of labor that have gone into it, the US-made CAD-805RS offers good value. I have a rough idea of what it costs to make just the transformers in this amp; although $15,995/pair isn’t chicken chow, I find it difficult to imagine how two of these can be sold at retail for that price.
Boulder 1100 Series Preamplifier $21,000 and Power Amplifier $28,000 Review
January 5, 2019 Comments Off on Boulder 1100 Series Preamplifier $21,000 and Power Amplifier $28,000 Review
“As best I tried, no matter which musical genre I played, I couldn’t detect a “signature” Boulder sound; put succinctly, this combo is about as neutral as it gets. Good recordings sounded good; great recordings sounded great; crappy recordings sounded, well, crappy. Therein lies the audiophile’s conundrum: be careful what you wish for. A fundamentally neutral sounding combination like the Boulder duo will give you exactly what’s on the recording, not more, not less. Your only choice to tune the sound more or less to your liking is to play with cables, different analog decks and cartridge combos, that’s about it. The preamplifier and power amplifier do what they ought to in first place: get out of the sound.”
Anthem AVM60 11.2CH Atmos Processor Review
January 4, 2019 Comments Off on Anthem AVM60 11.2CH Atmos Processor Review
Cambridge Audio EDGE Lineup Review
January 2, 2019 Comments Off on Cambridge Audio EDGE Lineup Review
Esoteric F-03A Integrated Amplifier Review
January 1, 2019 Comments Off on Esoteric F-03A Integrated Amplifier Review
“The F-03A’s moving-coil setting provided plenty of gain for the Sumiko Blue Point No.2 cartridge’s high 2.5mV. The phonostage was dead quiet even on the higher-gain moving-coil setting, delivering black backgrounds and good resolution of very low-level detail. I didn’t hear quite the midrange liquidity and treble smoothness through the phonostage that I do when using the Berkeley Alpha Reference DAC MQA. I attribute that difference to the Sumiko Blue Point No.2 cartridge, not to the Esoteric. Although the Blue Point No.2 is a good cartridge for the price, I suspect that the F-03A will be partnered with higher-quality cartridges. Nonetheless, LP playback had that wonderful feeling of openness and life, with bloom and air around instrumental outlines.
If the F-03A’s output power and bottom-end dynamics aren’t quite enough for you, consider doing what I did: add a JL Audio Fathom f113v2 (or f112v2) subwoofer. Although I evaluated the F-03A without the JL sub for this review, adding the f113v2 for my listening pleasure vaulted the overall system performance into another tier. Forget about any limitations in dynamics, or loudness, or bass impact; the Fathom f113 frees up the Esoteric to do what it does best—deliver delicious Class A sound—while handling the bottom-end duties and bringing 3000W to the party. This combination was the most successful mating of a subwoofer with an amplifier and speakers that I’ve experienced.”
MBL Noble Line N11 Preamplifier $14,600 and N15 Monoblock Amplifier $35,200/pr.
December 31, 2018 Comments Off on MBL Noble Line N11 Preamplifier $14,600 and N15 Monoblock Amplifier $35,200/pr.
“Another thing that the Noble electronics do not short-shrift is three dimensionality. Of course, an omnidirectional loudspeaker like the 101 E Mk.II, with 360-degree dispersion (and no enclosure), is a paragon of 3-D sound—to the extent that it is the one transducer I’m familiar with capable of making digital seem as if it’s got nearly as much bloom as analog. Already notably three-dimensional with the other speakers I used, the Noble amp and preamp made the Radialstrahlers sound, as I once said about their big brothers, the X-Tremes, like the sonic equivalent of going to a stage play rather than watching a movie. Indeed, the 101 omnis’ inherent ability to project musical energy in all directions rather than merely forward (or forward and back) is highly realistic—and a large part of the reason the Radialstrahlers sound so thrilling and real with the right sources and electronics. The Noble Line gear did them proud in this regard.
I could go on about the 101 E Mk.IIs—about their incredibly lifelike power-range weight and impact, about their bottommost octaves (which are said to extend to 22Hz), about their uncannily natural reproduction of voices, brasses, and strings, about their boxless openness and vast soundstage—and even though some of these things would also be to the credit of the Noble Line electronics driving them, the Radialstrahlers are not the subject of this review. It is the N11 and N15 that I’m focusing on, and the bottom line here is plain. Neither the amp nor the preamp is the last word in high-end electronics (even in the MBL lines), but then they don’t cost anything close to what that last word costs. What they are, like the MBL Radialstrahlers they pair up with so beautifully, is thrilling to listen to—a little dark, a little soft and sweet on top, a little lower in top-end extension and resolution than their $100k+ competition, but always enjoyable, powerful, and musical, and, given the right source and pairing, fully capable of a realism that raises goosebumps and of a soundfield of head-slapping breadth, width, and depth. In sum, these are components I can recommend to every kind of listener, and particularly to those with Magneplanar or MBL loudspeakers.”
$250,000 Dan D’Agostino Relentless amplifier
December 29, 2018 Comments Off on $250,000 Dan D’Agostino Relentless amplifier
“The Relentless is rather large, it’s 22 by 11.5 by 32.5 inches (570 by 280 by 826mm), and it weighs a staggering 570 pounds (258kg). It’s big, and trust me on this there are a lot bigger but less powerful high-end amps on the market. D’Agostino’s old 1,000 watt per channel Krell Master Reference Amplifier amps were four times the size of the Relentless. Oh, and the Relentless is a mono amp, so you need two for stereo. His other D’Agostino amps are far more sensibly sized, and by ultra high-end standards affordably priced.”
CYRUS AUDIO ONE HD INTEGRATED AMPLIFIER
December 27, 2018 Comments Off on CYRUS AUDIO ONE HD INTEGRATED AMPLIFIER
” Overall, I like the sound of the Cyrus Audio One HD. It may not be the last word in pace and timing, but it more than makes up for that in precision, accuracy, and bass depth. The Speaker Impedance Detection circuit is a great move, too. Partnered properly (not too difficult, the amp can deliver up to 78A peak current into a loudspeaker, it makes a closer link between amp and speaker, and gets rid of many of those grumblings directed at Class D. At no time did I reach for the remote handset, either. In short, this might be the amp of tomorrow, today.”
Cambridge Audio Edge A Integrated Amplifier Review
December 25, 2018 Comments Off on Cambridge Audio Edge A Integrated Amplifier Review
“As an afterthought, I suppose anyone purchasing a $5,000 two-channel amp will probably already own a headphone amp of commensurate quality. If not, the Edge A has you covered. I tried all three of my available cans—long-standard studio Sony and excellent NAD and HiFiMan pairs—with great success: sound quality was about as high as I’ve heard from any of them, and in all three cases there was plenty of level. Another afterthought: the Edge A’s Bluetooth feature worked as expected, but since I lack a Bluetooth aptX source, wireless quality was dramatically inferior, though that’s no fault of Cambridge’s amp.”
Cambridge Audio Edge A Integrated Amplifier $5,000 Review
December 23, 2018 Comments Off on Cambridge Audio Edge A Integrated Amplifier $5,000 Review
“As an afterthought, I suppose anyone purchasing a $5,000 two-channel amp will probably already own a headphone amp of commensurate quality. If not, the Edge A has you covered. I tried all three of my available cans—long-standard studio Sony and excellent NAD and HiFiMan pairs—with great success: sound quality was about as high as I’ve heard from any of them, and in all three cases there was plenty of level. Another afterthought: the Edge A’s Bluetooth feature worked as expected, but since I lack a Bluetooth aptX source, wireless quality was dramatically inferior, though that’s no fault of Cambridge’s amp.”
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