Paradigm Premium Wireless Series PW AMP Stereo Amplifier Reviewed
December 19, 2015 Comments Off on Paradigm Premium Wireless Series PW AMP Stereo Amplifier Reviewed
” Frankly, the sonic differences between Anthem Room Correction set to its defaults and tweaked to heck and back to suit my own preferences were minimal at best. The differences between the performance of the PW AMP with and without ARC, though, were substantial. Switching back and forth between room correction and no room correction is a simple matter of holding the Mute button for a few seconds, which makes for pretty easy comparison. Without ARC, bass performance was a wee bit less even, a little less controlled, and some mixes had a tendency to be a little out of whack.”
Jadis Orchestra Reference Mk.II integrated amplifier Review
December 15, 2015 Comments Off on Jadis Orchestra Reference Mk.II integrated amplifier Review
“I wished for a bit more texture, a little more string and wood—qualities that aren’t lacking in my EL34-powered reference amps, the Shindo Corton-Charlemagne monoblocks, or in other low-power EL34 amplifiers of my acquaintance. Those impressions endured throughout Mulligan’s baritone-sax solo: The Jadis was musically nimble, easily following his counterpoint to Baker’s distinctly full-bodied trumpet solo. The sound of Mulligan’s horn was sufficient in texture, but only just so; I admit to a fondness for excess in that department, and I left the table very slightly hungry.
Auralic Aries and SBooster Linear Power Supply
December 14, 2015 Comments Off on Auralic Aries and SBooster Linear Power Supply
“And that is what the SBooster is doing with the Aries. It is letting the Aries sing and swing. Dynamics, space, presence… damn. Now anyone using the power supply included with an Aires is doing really well. It is not like you are sucking it here as I stand by what I wrote about the Aries previously. It is killer with its own power supply and it is not like you are sitting there asking yourself how it can be improved, what is missing, what is that I am hearing and what can I can do to make it better, etc. No, the stock Aries with its power supply rocks, but for sure it can be elevated to compete with the way bigger, badder boys by spending more money on a better NAS and so on—tweak it. And certainly by adding the SBooster… yeah baby, now we are clearly hanging with the really, really cool people at school. Check me out. Highly recommended for anyone with an Aries.”
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Mark Levinson No.585 integrated amplifier Review $12,000
December 11, 2015 Comments Off on Mark Levinson No.585 integrated amplifier Review $12,000
” Immediately drawn into and involved in the music, I soon realized that I’d inadvertently increased the volume until the No.585’s display read 62dB. Mick Fleetwood’s drums were rendered with enough power and solidity that the Quads began to cut out on peaks. Soon, the No.585 went silent, and its display announced that it had an overheat fault condition. Sure enough, the areas of the top plate nearest the internal heatsinks were almost too hot to touch. I switched the amp into standby, but it continued to display the fault message. I reached around to the back and flipped the main power switch, waited one minute, then flipped it back on. The No.585 began its normal turn-on sequence: I hadn’t broken it. Whew!”
Audion Silver Night 300B Special Edition Stereo Amplifier Review
December 8, 2015 Comments Off on Audion Silver Night 300B Special Edition Stereo Amplifier Review
” The Audion 300B Special Edition has a completely new driver section and redesigned output transformers that are the result of years of development. Audion has been making and winding their own audio transformers in house for nearly 8 years to exacting standards. So its no surprise this new design brings the most out of a 300B tube.”
PERLA AUDIO SIGNATURE 50 INTEGRATED AMPLIFIER Review $9000
December 5, 2015 Comments Off on PERLA AUDIO SIGNATURE 50 INTEGRATED AMPLIFIER Review $9000
” The S50 was capable of generating slightly warm, sweet, and liquid harmonic textures, though it could never be mistaken for a tube amp simply because of its superior transient speed and the lack of a euphonic harmonic signature. In this respect it bettered even the much more expensive Lamm Audio M1.2 Reference monoblocks. However, the voicing of these two amps was significantly different. While the M1.2 was a master of tonal neutrality, the S50 consistently dished out darkish harmonic hues. Consequently, harmonic colors appeared less saturated relative to the M1.2 and a tad paler than the real thing. I found the M1.2’s sunnier disposition much easier to live with over the long haul, though I suspect that a slightly bright speaker would provide the S50 with a perfect tonal antidote. In compensation for its closed-in treble range, the S50 served up amazing soundstage transparency and image resolution.
Pass Labs X250.8 Stereo Amplifier Reviewed
December 1, 2015 Comments Off on Pass Labs X250.8 Stereo Amplifier Reviewed
“Now that I have had the pleasure of having both the Pass Labs X and XA .8 Series amplifiers in my system, I have come to the conclusion that this generation of Nelson Pass designs is the best that Nelson and his team have created so far. I was expecting great sonic virtues from the X250.8 stereo amplifier, but I assumed that that the XA60.8 mono blocks would at least be slightly better in their overall performance than the single-chassis X250.8. This was based on two assumptions. First of all, mono blocks, because of their different chassis and power supplies, would create better soundstaging and space around individual players. Secondly, because the XA60.8 mono blocks are pure Class A, they would be somewhat warmer and more full-bodied and grainless compared with the X250.8. But in the area of tonality and overall warmth, I was unable to tell the difference between the two amplifiers.”
Simaudio 760A Power Amplifier Review
November 24, 2015 Comments Off on Simaudio 760A Power Amplifier Review
” Simaudio also touts the use of an “oversized power supply using a custom proprietary toroidal transformer design.” The 760A has both XLR and RCA inputs, with Simaudio preferring XLR for maximum performance. The 760A, interestingly, has an onboard self-diagnostic system to detect overheating or the presence of DC in the input signal. ”
EMM Labs MTRX monoblock amplifiers Review
November 22, 2015 Comments Off on EMM Labs MTRX monoblock amplifiers Review
” The last two selections, at least for that evening, were the Michael Tilson Thomas Mahler Symphony No. 4 and Honneger’s Symphony No. 2 on a London recording, both on vinyl. I am among a (probably) small minority of listeners that find the Tilson Thomas Mahler recordings to suffer from a bit of digititis; by this I mean a bleaching/diminution of harmonics and overtones in conjunction with a subtle hardening at some frequencies. With the EMM Labs MTRX, the upper strings could get a bit grainy when pushed and the lower strings lacked a bit of richness and warmth; however, the detail was phenomenal.:
Arcam FMJ P49 power amplifier review
November 21, 2015 Comments Off on Arcam FMJ P49 power amplifier review
” As the P49 has a class-G output stage, I monitored its output voltage during one of my listening sessions using the YGA speakers. At my usual listening levels, with Steely Dan’s Gaucho (24/96 ALAC files transcoded from FLAC, MCA B0000868-36/HDtracks) peaking at 90dB (Studio Six iPhone app, Fast, C-weighted reading), the RMS level never exceeded 7V, meaning that only transient waveform peaks were activating the voltage-rail lifters. The P49 behaved like a high-performance 50W/17dBW amp with 6dBW of dynamic headroom.”
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