Audiophilepure

Switching to a fairly new pair of PMC twenty5.26i loudspeakers which have a lower sensitivity than the 802s but offer an easier load the sound initially seemed a little dry from a tonal perspective. After a few tunes this characteristic took a back seat to the spectacular combination of timing and muscle on offer from the M8xi, with track after track offering up oodles of detail in a very coherent and engaging manner. Even an orchestral Schubert piece was delivered with the tempo in full effect, this didn’t take precedence over the dynamics however which were delivered with gusto yet without any discomfort in crescendos. All that power really counts when you are trying to reproduce a ‘big band’ with real world loudspeakers, and it matters with smaller stuff too. Somewhat controversially I put on Nils Lofgren’s rather overplayed dem favourite ‘Keith Don’t Go’, just for old times sake you understand, and heard a fabulous acoustic guitar, a croaky voice and the energy of a live event in surprisingly convincing virtual reality.

https://www.hifinews.com/content/mcintosh-ma9500-integrated-amplifier

The MA9500 is a memorable all-round package, one that’s distinctively and originally styled, highly versatile and hugely powerful too. Most importantly, it is engaging across a wide range of musical genres while its three output taps invite subtle sound tuning. Best partnered with smooth, warmish-sounding speakers, this mammoth Mac should make many prospective purchasers very happy indeed.

https://www.the-ear.net/review-hardware/peachtree-audio-predac-and-gan400-preamplifierdac-power-amplifier

Regular Class D amplifiers generally offer a lot of power for the money. The GaN400 does too, but adds to it a level of sonic sophistication that left this Class D sceptic thoughtful and marginally disorientated. Driven by the accompanying Peachtree pre-amp the GaN400 gave a better, more rounded and believable musical performance than I associate with even the best of MOSFET Class D amplification. 

When the Icon4 Pro passive line stage was used in place of the preDAC the GaN400 revealed itself to be capable of better still performance, with generous servings of the immediacy, dynamic expression, timing acuity and spatial detail that we expect as audiophiles. I have no hesitation in observing that thus paired, the GaN400 is truly competitive with Class AB stereo power amplifiers at a similar price point or higher and is therefore well-deserving of consideration. Audiophile Class D may be truly coming of age.

https://www.soundandvision.com/content/marantz-model-40n-streaming-integrated-amplifier-review

Alexis Cole’s “Something So Right,” from The World’s Greatest Audiophile Vocal Recordings, Volume 2 (16/44.1 FLAC), sounded sophisticated and gorgeous. Cole’s voice, backed by the warm sound of Marvin Sewell’s guitar strings, came across as relaxed and liquid with beautiful midrange bloom. All of the sonic images were large and solidly planted against a quiet background. At the same time, the high-frequency glissando of Sewell’s fingers sliding between notes was cleanly reproduced without being grating, a common failing of components that don’t cost an arm and a leg.

If pushed to identify a minor quibble I had with the Model 40n’s sound, it would be that it produced a smidgeon less detail than some of its competitors. NAD’s C 399 integrated streaming amp, which I reviewed for the June/July 2022 issue and still have in-house, reproduced Sewell’s guitar strings on “Something So Right” with slightly more vibrational spring, though the difference was subtle and would likely go unnoticed without a contemporaneous comparison. Indeed, absent such a comparison, the long and metallic low-level dynamics of cymbal decays seemed fully resolved on the title track from Billy Cobham’s Total Eclipse album

To summarise the Karan Acoustics Master Collection POWERa Mono in musical terms, I need ‘Spitfire’ from Public Service Broadcasting’s Inform Educate Entertain album [Test Card]. It’s not a demonstration quality track; just a pounding rhythm coupled to some noisy samples from the 1942 British movie, The First of The Few. It’s easy to get it wholly wrong on a big system, but get it right, and I’m back building Airfix kits; and this got it so right, I could smell Humbrol enamel!

The only downside to these amplifiers is that they spell the end for Karan’s existing KA M line of power amps. While these big power amps are not in the same sonic league as the Master Collection models, they are (somewhat) more affordable. I doubt something like the KA M 2000 would be a steppingstone to the POWERa Mono (and there will likely be a POWERb line that would make such jumps even harder to justify). Nevertheless, it would be nice to have something more attainably priced in the Karan portfolio just to make the Master Collection even more of a goal for some.

I was expecting (and hoping for) a lot of power, and the Cambridge amplifier did not disappoint. The Cambridge Audio CXA61 delivers 60 watts/channel into 8 ohms and was designed to play with very low levels of distortion at any volume. 

I found this to be overwhelmingly true as I experimented with all types of music at many volume levels. The amp is incredibly responsive, sounding equally fantastic at low and high volumes. Some high-end equipment sounds rather “mid-fi” at lower volume levels but I found the CXA61 to be quite engaging in this manner. 

I listen to a lot of classical recordings and the HINT 6 really surprised me with how well it dealt with complicated orchestral pieces; instruments had excellent separation and I found myself often lost in how vivid the combination was. Voices were never lost in the mix and very easy to place.

The midrange resolution was also rather superb; Maggies excel with the human voice and the HINT 6 did not disappoint; texture, timbre, and so much presence with most recordings.

I also own a pair of vintage Klipsch Heresy II’s and I wanted to see if the HINT 6 had the headroom to drive them with rock, heavy metal, and other complex electronic pieces that can really load the room.