Audiophilepure

https://www.soundstageultra.com/index.php/equipment-menu/1046-spl-performer-m1000-monoblock-amplifiers

My two months of listening to SPL’s Performer m1000 monoblocks has left me impressed and a bit smitten with them. The m1000 packs one hell of a punch, in sound and in value. Not once did I feel it had to strain to produce enough output power, or that its sound was constrained in any way, even at very high playback levels. Furthermore, the Performer m1000s ran cool, look cool, and, if you’re brave enough to lift one, feel solid as a rock. But most important, the m1000s were compelling to listen to.

https://www.hifinews.com/content/pegaso-audio-p50a-integrated-amplifier

But I’m certain that if I was to own a P50A, I’d often find myself seeking out the best recorded music I had, because it deserves it. Aretha Franklin’s vocal on ‘Respect’ [I Never Loved A Man The Way I Love You; 44.1kHz/16-bit FLAC] sounded as uplifting as ever, but the thin nature of the recording (I know, I’m a philistine) came to the fore.

I’ll end on that bass. Perhaps it’s a case of recency bias, but with suitable tracks I don’t think I’ve ever heard my B&Ws so competent, so fluid and so musical in the low range, outside of Pass Labs’ more expensive INT-25 [HFN Dec ’20], another Class A amp, but solid-state. It turned the unfussy three-note bass line of Chris Rea’s ‘Daytona’ [The Road To Hell; Tidal Master] into something to luxuriate in, while at the other end of the audio band, the delicate percussion rang through with spine-tingling clarity.

Switching gears to the Mountain Goat’s Jordan Lake Sessions, the acoustic and vocal heavy music really showed off the mid-range strength of the Rockwell. To be clear the Rockwell is not a one trick amp, it sounds awesome with dance, jazz, rock, classic rock, electronic, and modern pop. But, there is something special about its presentation with acoustic and vocal heavy music. This is not a surprise, DHTs are known for this, the thing that is incredible though is that Weber has created a DHT that performs universally well. Coming back to the Mountain Goat’s, when listening to “This Year” you can hear the emotional toll that this past year has taken on the band. The Rockwell provides this tight emotional coupling that once heard, is hard to forget.

And it wasn’t just Lucille that benefited from the Nextgen II treatment. So did King’s smooth, vaguely Nat Cole-like tenor, which makes such a sweet contrast with his epigrammatic style of guitar playing. (As Adam Gopnik of The New Yorker put it in a 2015 piece honoring the great bluesman’s passing, as an instrumentalist B. B. King was “not at all showily virtuosic…but no one made a guitar talk as he did, as an…instrument of human expression more than of the adolescent finger-mania [of all those young British whiz kids].”) The Nextgen II not only brought Lucille and King back to life, it also had a similar effect on the sound of his marvelous rhythmsection, which, though reduced in size, impact, and presence (due to gain-riding), I could almost see again, playing and twirling in unison from stage left to right.

https://www.stereophile.com/content/line-magnetic-lm-845ia-integrated-amplifier

Rubens came to mind while I was searching for a way to explain the abundance brought into my life by the Line Magnetic LM-845IA, an integrated amplifier that has altered my understanding of how hi-fi components work together. Everything about the Line Magnetic is Rubenesque: It weighs 77lb, crowds most equipment racks, and its 845 tubes—each the size of an ear of corn—glow brighter than some table lamps. It replaces the company’s LM-518IA amplifier, which Herb Reichert reviewed in 2015 and still uses, happily. What sets the LM-845IA apart from most other commercially manufactured amplifiers is that it uses a single output tube per channel—a topology that many audiophiles revere for its pellucid sound, rich tone, and textural detail—while generating enough power to effectively control speakers of only average sensitivity. As it happens, it has much more to offer, but more about that in a moment.

Line Magnetic is a decidedly unusual company, having gotten its start manufacturing replicas of classic American audio equipment by the likes of Altec, Jensen, and Western Electric. Made in Zhuhai, in China’s Guangdong Province, the LM-845IA is part of Line Magnetic’s more affordable line of original circuit designs with a more contemporary look, though the company’s devotion to prewar tube equipment is apparent here. The LM-845IA relies on a single 845 tube per channel—first released by RCA in 1931 for use in AM radio transmitters—to produce a whopping 22 watts.

https://www.audiophilia.com/reviews/2021/7/16/ps-audio-stellar-strata

I relied on the assumption that the version available on streaming services came from the same master as my CD. Ohio is impeccably produced and sounded great through the analog outputs of the Yamaha, just as it always has. But switching to coax instantly via the remote was a revelation. At first I thought the Stellar Strata’s DAC must somehow add more gain than analog inputs. Even after playing around with volume matching the sound was bigger, bolder and warmer. It’s not that the Yamaha was missing anything outright, the Stellar Strata’s DAC just created a sound with real meat on the bones. Streaming the album gave the same overall presentation as playing the CD through the DAC. Slightly less realism, perhaps, but close enough that without an A/B comparison they would be indistinguishable. Why exactly they sounded different is beyond me but the experiment was a victory for both the DAC and streamer

https://www.audiophilia.com/reviews/2021/5/18/uwo8qezl1oq1y1gvtphmj66gjx123f

Over the years I’ve acquired a number of performances of this piece but the one I listen to most often is an EMI Classics of Riccardo Muti and the Philadelphia Orchestra. These amps highlighted the drama of the performance and hit all the right notes with power and precision. The brass instruments shone with full-bodied power and just the right amount of warmth. Flash, you saved us again.

Frank Sinatra. What can you say about Mr. Sinatra that hasn’t been said already? I don’t know anyone who doesn’t have at least three or four of his albums. His artistry is without peer and most of his recordings are superbly done. A classic recording, Sings For Only The Lonely, with Nelson Riddle and his Orchestra, shows off Frank’s ability to set the mood, in this case a sombre, reflective one. The detail and nuance of his voice are captured so completely you want to pull up a barstool and buy the poor guy a drink. We’ve all been down that road before. It’s a quarter to three….

https://www.stereophile.com/content/gramophone-dreams-51-feliks-audio-arioso-amplifier-western-electric-300b-tube

Replicas or not, the Cossors were hyperbolically eloquent and water-clear. Their overtly appealing liquidity made the new Western Electrics seem a bit stark and the Electro-Harmonix EH Golds a bit coarse. The EHs specialized in making snare drums, double bass, saxophone solos, and spring reverb sound tangibly present. The more delicate and transparent Cossor WE 300Bs specialized in making church choirs, sitars, string quartets, and sultry female vocals seem unabashedly beautiful.

After a couple of weeks of studying the new Western Electric 300Bs, I went back to the Cossor “replicas” and played a stunning, gloriously transparent recording called Bloom featuring Armenian singer, songwriter, pianist, and storyteller Areni Agbabian backed by Nicolas Stocker’s sparse, mystical percussion (24/96 FLAC, ECM/ Qobuz). The Western Electric tubes played Bloom with unprecedented clarity and transient authority. In contrast, the Cossors played it with conspicuous delicacy and detailed refinement.