Audiophilepure

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“This pattern of less-than-ideal bass and a toned-down top end continued through a wide range of recordings. In the sublime aria “Se potessero i sospir’ miei,” from Handel’s opera Imeneo, from Philippe Jaroussky and Artaserse’s The Händel Album (24/96 WAV, Erato 33572994), timbres were true, but the high extension was darkened. As much as I appreciated the tanginess of theorbo and violins and the subdued tinkle of harpsichord, and could hear slight changes in the weight and color of countertenor Jaroussky’s voice during one long-breathed phrase, nothing shone. Jaroussky is an exquisite artist, but a key element of his brilliance was dimmed due to the Bricasti’s darker range of colors.

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“As a for-hire Stereophile scribe, my job is to communicate my impressions of the sound of the audio component I’m assigned to review, warts and all. If I can’t describe an amplifier’s sound in a clear, concise, convincing, and hopefully somewhat entertaining manner, I’m not worth what Stereophile pays me. I like to think that, most of the time, I get it right—my 22 years of hi-fi reviewing put me in good stead: in the black, not the red. But for all my juggling of sources and speakers, spinning numerous LPs, and quizzing Gary Dews until he was ready to bust, any characteristic sound that the BorderPatrol P21 EXD may have had evaded my ears, at least at first. Its standout trait seemed to be its unerring transparency. But is any audio component truly transparent, imposing on the music no personality of its own and thus influencing the listener’s perception of that music not at all? Balderdash, I say. Nonetheless, I heard what I heard—or didn’t hear

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“One of the toughest parts of the musical spectrum for tube power amplifiers to reproduce is the lowest register. More often than not, tube amplifiers don’t have that last bit of grip that the best solid-state amplifiers do, yet some solid-state designs can come across over damped at times. Hair-splitting for sure, yet the 75SE produces a hefty amount of bass extension, combined with control and definition. Listening to Jaco Pastorius tear up and down the fretboard on his self-titled album, the 75SE gives an exciting and engaging performance, full of low bass grunt, combined with the harmonics of Pastorius’ complicated technique.”

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“Audio Research has built a compact version of their top line REF series amplifiers that sacrifices nothing sonically to their biggest amplifiers and has put it in reach of a broader audience. For music lovers that crave the best, yet have to keep somewhat of an eye on the bottom line, this is a dream come true.”

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“Considering all its features and configuration options, the STR Integrated has more in common with a pre-pro or AVR than with most integrateds. Thankfully, Anthem has provided an extensive menu system, visible on a large, dimmable color display that’s easy to read and to use. Up to 30 virtual inputs can be separately named, specified, and assigned to any physical input, and the display will then show the selected input, data type, and sampling frequency, and whether ARC is engaged. One cool feature: When you cycle through the inputs, the display momentarily shows not only the selected input’s name, but a large image of the type of connector used for that input — it makes identification easier. The Thin Film Transistor (TFT) display can be set to show only the volume level, displayed in large characters that can be easily read from across the room.”

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“I was concerned that my cartridge might not work well with the Sprout100 because the Grado is a moving iron, not a moving magnet. But the fixed 47K Ohms, 100pF was just fine, and the fact that the Sprout100 has a built in preamplifier allowed the volume to be adjusted just fine too–no gain issues. Remarkably, buzz distortion (e.g., when a record is not playing but the volume is up) was almost non-existent. In short: very satisfying for what it does. (Of course one can’t expect it to compete with my reference set up–and it did not; but it certainly did well; better than I would have thought.)”