Audionet AMP and PRE1 G3 preamplifier Review
April 6, 2016 Comments Off on Audionet AMP and PRE1 G3 preamplifier Review
” Listening to the second movement is even more intimate and emotional for me. Perahia starts off the second movement Largo superbly, making me feel as if time has stopped and as if I had been transported into a different world. This is Beethoven. The Audionet is not just about power and smart design. It also has finesse. Tons of it. This combo was able to get me so involved with the music that I forgot I was in the middle of reviewing this stuff. Can’t give a higher compliment than that.”
Audio Note Level 3 system review
April 3, 2016 Comments Off on Audio Note Level 3 system review
” Almost past the 500 hours another shipment arrived. This time the new Audio Note M3 phono and the Audio Note Conquest 300b mono blocks. While unpacking I was listening to the Brahms – 16 Hungarian Dances (reference recording by Antal Dorati). A stunning well recorded album with a ton of dynamics. Perfect for getting the AN/E settled in. Suddenly it was as the speakers took my attention away from unpacking the new amplifier setup. Something was happening. It was as if the speakers just took a nap and then woke up even fresher. Even though I wasn´t in the room I could easy hear from a distance that the music sounded way more refined and spacious. So off I went in to the listening room. I restarted the album, took a deep breath and listen. It was as if the speakers just turned my wall and living room in to illusion of a concert hall.”
TRON ATLANTIC INTEGRATED TUBE AMPLIFIER REVIEW
April 1, 2016 Comments Off on TRON ATLANTIC INTEGRATED TUBE AMPLIFIER REVIEW
” Try another recording from Atlantic’s back catalogue and suddenly the amplifier makes a lot more sense: John Coltrane’s Giant Steps from 1960. On the opening track of the same name, the amplifier’s ability to track this incredible piece of improvisation is lucid and coherent enough to hear just how much pianist Tommy Flanagan is struggling to keep up with Coltrane’s chord changes (in fairness, at times this track almost seems like Coltrane is reinventing musical harmony from first principles on the fly, and anyone this side of Lizst would have probably just given up). It’s a little difficult listening 56 years later to process precisely how revolutionary this was, but the key changes are quicksilver fast and perfectly related through the Atlantic, where many other amplifiers would simply gloss over them, making Giant Steps sound like yet another jazz album. The Atlantic amp portrays this through the use of effortless dynamics, a fine sense of foot-tapping fun, and a very deep (rather than wide) soundstage.”
iFi Retro Stereo 50 Review – Video
March 31, 2016 Comments Off on iFi Retro Stereo 50 Review – Video
Red Dragon S500 stereo amplifier Review
March 31, 2016 Comments Off on Red Dragon S500 stereo amplifier Review
” Ryan seems to know intuitively that customer service is of paramount importance in today’s consumer climate. I found him to be candid and completely inoffensive, timely in delivering on his promises and paying attention to my requests. For not having met him in person it was a comfortable introduction and purchasing experience.
BOULDER AMPLIFIERS 2110 PREAMPLIFIER AND 2160 STEREO POWER AMPLIFIER REVIEW
March 30, 2016 Comments Off on BOULDER AMPLIFIERS 2110 PREAMPLIFIER AND 2160 STEREO POWER AMPLIFIER REVIEW
” I think there’s an instinctual recognition of transparency. It doesn’t need years of listening to increasingly expensive audio components, and it challenges the “I’m no expert,” mind-set of the neophyte. The Boulder 2000 series amps here are extremely transparent and faithful to the source, and that is not difficult to hear in test. It’s surprisingly easy, in fact. You know it’s right on some atavistic level, because the amps offer more of an insight into the recording with less artifice in the way. There are only a handful of amplifiers that offer that kind of clarity, and none of them come cheap.”
TECHNICS SU-C700 INTEGRATED AMPLIFIER REVIEW
March 27, 2016 Comments Off on TECHNICS SU-C700 INTEGRATED AMPLIFIER REVIEW
” As nice as the amplifier/speaker pairing was, I was somewhat surprised that the ST C-700 network audio player probably left the biggest impression on me. I really thought of it initially as more of a convenience add-on, but its internal digital processing made it so much more than that. Outside of the unit going into standby automatically as I mentioned before, the Bluetooth capabilities were flawless. Even limited to streaming Redbook resolution material, I was immensely impressed by the sonic effects of the ST C-700. I don’t know how to best describe what I was hearing, but it was definitely less audiophile and more musical.”
Benchmark Media AHB2 Stereo Power Amplifier $2995 Review
March 26, 2016 Comments Off on Benchmark Media AHB2 Stereo Power Amplifier $2995 Review
” I was further frustrated by the use of what appear to be the 0735 or 0765 safety series of WBT speaker binding posts. They sport a clear Makrolon protective cover and guide to prevent accidental shorting. However, this added safety measure affords only a very limited area of engagement for spade-terminated cables. Only spades up to a certain width will pass through the guide to actually engage the post, and then only from one fixed and immovable insertion angle. On the AHB2, cables may only be inserted up from the bottom of the posts. This prohibits the use of larger, less flexible cables in general, and of those with large spades in particular, like my Stealth Dream V14’s. I had to use a banana converter (my trusty ol’ Monster Cable Xterminators) to make a connection.”
AUDIO ALCHEMY DDP-1 PREAMP/DAC/HEADPHONE AMP, DPA-1 STEREO POWER AMP, AND DPA-1M MONOBLOCK POWER AMP
March 23, 2016 Comments Off on AUDIO ALCHEMY DDP-1 PREAMP/DAC/HEADPHONE AMP, DPA-1 STEREO POWER AMP, AND DPA-1M MONOBLOCK POWER AMP
“The Alchemy products threw a large and well-defined soundstage, with outstanding depth, dimensionality, and separation of individual instrumental lines. On “Mars” from The Planets (Mehta, LA Philharmonic, Decca), the insistent snare drum that drives the rhythm was well back in the stage, with a real sense of air and space around it. The call-and-response lines of the tenor tuba and trumpet were well differentiated from each other and from the rest of the orchestra. The sense of size and scale was outstanding. Other hallmarks of the products were clarity and transparency—the sense of nothing between you and the music. The soundstage lacked the veiling that diminishes the sense of realism of instruments at the back of the stage.”
Classé Audio Sigma Amp5 Multichannel Amplifier Review
March 21, 2016 Comments Off on Classé Audio Sigma Amp5 Multichannel Amplifier Review
” As I prefer to listen to music through only two speakers, I have few, if any, multichannel discs in my collection — so all of my musical listening was to two-channel recordings. I kicked things off with “When We Were Young,” from Adele’s 25 (16-bit/44.1kHz FLAC, XL Recordings). Two instruments open this track: piano and bass guitar. Not surprisingly, each was cleanly delineated by the Classé Sigma Amp5, yet with a vast difference in size. The piano filled the room, seemingly emanating from outside and slightly above both of my Atrias, while the bass guitar was neatly placed at center stage, sounding precise in scale. When Adele entered, she completely filled the center stage, sounding dimensional, powerful, and, frankly, massive — but something interesting was happening. Despite the room-filling piano and Adele’s soaring voice, I could still hear the picking of each string of the bass guitar. In fact, I found it easy to focus on whichever facet of what was happening on stage I wanted to, be it the bass, Adele’s voice, the voices of the backing singers, or the subtle shakes of the maracas to far left. Each sounded neutral, fulsome, dimensional — and, in the case of Adele’s voice, highly dynamic.”
Audiophilepure 
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