Audiophilepure

How did the Parasounds perform on more delicate fare? You’ll get few quibbles from me, friends. There were moments when I was simply startled by the finesse that they offered. On Louis Bellson’s album Thunderbird, for example, I was smitten by the rendition of the Neal Hefti standard “Softly With Feeling.” The Parasounds were able to provide the hushed backing of the winds with total control, endowing the song with a sense of realism that it would otherwise have lacked. This was one of those times when this LP on the Impulse! label really sounded opened up rather than claustrophobic. I mean talk about pristine. Suffice it to say, that the Parasounds conveyed, or appeared to convey, just about every last little nuance the cartridge excavated from the black grooves.

But even on the delicate passages, the sound was never wispy. Take the magnificent album Festival of Trumpets [Nonesuch]. It was mastered in 1974 by Bob Ludwig and features the New York Trumpet Ensemble, directed by Gerard Schwarz. I was riveted, among other things, by a lovely Sonatina by the baroque composer Johann Christoph Pezel, who himself  played trumpet and violin. The gossamer-like trumpet playing of Schwarz and Louis Ranger sounded very enticing, but it was the accompaniment of the bassoon and harpsichord that really caught my ear. It’s easy for them to get lost in the mix. But here it was easy to hear the pleasingly sonorous sound of the bassoon as it puffed along, as well as the soft and deliberate plucks of the harpsichord. If I had to pick a nit, it would be in the treble. It’s not that the sound ever became hard or dirty—the Parasound always has a rich, warm, inviting sound on top—rather, the amp could sometimes be less slightly transparent and pellucid on top than some of its far-pricier brethren.

https://www.hifinews.com/content/cambridge-audio-edge-nqm-streamermonoblocks

This streaming DAC/power amp combination has a lot going for it – gorgeous looks and a sound and build quality to match. It’s simple both to install and use, and you won’t need any tweakery to tease out their best. Cambridge Audio has got its ‘no limits’ series pretty much bang-on, and anyone who still thinks the brand is just about ‘budget hi-fi’ needs to know it’s playing with the big boys now – with great success.

At the beginning of this review, we called the M33 an innovative new design. Looking at the distortion and noise results above we can confirm this. We believe this is the best performance to date of a stereo or AV product, that has no analog volume stage. It’s the AKM AK5578 chip used with four converters processing one channel. Wired this way this ADCs performance is about as good as can be achieved from a single chip. We know of no other consumer product with this ADC performance. We believe we are the first to extensively examine the preamp-out performance of the M33 and note the performance standard it has set. Only a relay-based analog volume or a volume using an exotic current mode multiplying DAC with laser trimmed film resistors will provide a significant improvement over what we see here.

“Are triode tubes the answer for everything? Like everything else, triodes have their limitations. In the case of these ancient triode tubes that were born in the 20-30s, they have very low-efficiency. So when we design around with these triode tubes, we need to make sure to use preamp tubes that have a good enough voltage range to drive them. Although, these triodes are on the lower side of efficiency compared to newer and other types of power tubes, there are still many choices of tubes to use as the driver, and the 6SN7 / CV181 is one of them. We like the 6SN7 / CV181 very much with its good-ole tube sound and flavor, over the more controlled and quieter 9-pin preamp tubes. The 9-pin preamp tubes are sometimes too “perfect” or synthetic sounding for tube connoisseurs. Like the triode tubes, the 6SN7 is also a very rugged and durable tube. Getting a quiet 6SN7 is difficult today. Recently we bought 10 new premium versions of 6SN7s, and 6 of them we tested were microphonic, and we had to send back.”

https://www.soundstagehifi.com/index.php/2-uncategorised/1559-bryston-b135-cubed-integrated-amplifier

These aren’t the kinds of differences that will make B135 SST² owners run out and sell their amps—the gap in performance was no gulf. However, if I had the choice of buying one or the other and sound was the only factor, I’d opt for the B135³. As I switched back and forth between them, it was sometimes hard to pinpoint exactly what difference I was hearing—yet I consistently heard an overall smoothness to the sound of the B135³ that was incredibly easy on my ears. When I reviewed my listening notes, I found the nouns ease and easiness sprinkled throughout. Evidently, that was the consistent impression I was left with.

https://www.stereophile.com/content/rotel-michi-m8-monoblock-power-amplifier

As I write this easy-to-write conclusion, I’m listening to an original pressing of Joni Mitchell’s Clouds (RS 6341). It’s not as murky-sounding as her David Crosby– produced debut, Song to a Seagull, which Mitchell recently remixed for the new 4-LP Reprise-era box set, but it still puts her in a warm environment in one channel with her equally warm guitar in the other. As my system improved, the sound of this album worsened, but more recently, as the system continued to improve, the album’s sonics have come out on the other side of murky to pleasingly well-detailed, warm, and cozy. The M8 delivers all the subtle sonic and musical goods this album can give.

Having the M8s in-house was a pleasant surprise and one of the most enjoyable visits made by any piece of audio gear that’s been here over the past 21 years—and for a change, it’s affordable, at least by my usual standards. Mikey didn’t like it: Mikey loved it.