Audiophilepure

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“NAD’ s Masters M33 is an incredible achievement for a leading-edge integrated amplifier. As Doug Schneider predicted, NAD’s implementation of their Hybrid Digital version of Purifi Audio’s Eigentakt amplifier has resulted in excellent sound — and the M33 does so much more. It has nearly every option you could want in an integrated amp, including Dirac Live’s top-flight room correction and a highly capable streaming platform. Whether you prefer its neutral and confident sound over that of other integrateds of similar prices and features will be a matter of personal taste. I was never disappointed in the M33, even when I compared it to my far costlier separates, and I enjoyed the convenience of streaming and controlling it with its BluOS app. The Masters M33’s combination of sound quality and features makes it the current front-runner in the extremely competitive market of $5000 integrated amplifiers.”

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“If the Manley Labs Snapper Monoblock Amplifiers were a city, they would be Toronto. They would be the straight A student who doesn’t need to show off, who throws birthday parties at comic book shops and goes to bed early enough to be mostly rested but still late enough to allow room for a little mischief. A night on the town means a concert in the park and a visit to the local Tea & Board Game Cafe, and so it is with the Snappers. They hit all three Rs that straight A student does—Rocking Out, Relaxing and Refinement. As the music flows, so do the Snappers portrayal of it. If you’re looking for a tube amp that can play with the high-powered solid state and the flea-watt SET amplifiers and yet bring home the transparency and leave any annoying coloration behind, the Snappers carry my highest recommendation.”

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“As I pondered these questions, my sorely missed colleague, Art Dudley, came to mind. Art and I shared similar taste in and love for music—classical and beyond—and waxed equally rapturous about some of the same recordings. Yet, his sonic preferences were so different than my own that I doubt we would have liked each other’s systems. That doesn’t make one system “right” and the other system “wrong.” Diversity is a big part of what makes the world so wonderful. But how does one adequately take fundamental differences into account in a review and say something meaningful, while simultaneously acknowledging the humbling fact that experience itself is subjective?

What matters most, to many of us, is that our sound systems bring us joy. Do I believe that many card-carrying audiophiles will love the sound of the A-S3200? Absolutely.”

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“With “Mad Rush,” from Philip Glass’s Solo Piano (16-bit/44.1kHz FLAC, CBS/Tidal), it was remarkable how I was able to check every audiophile box. Glass’s repetitive, minimalist theme danced in front of me with an intoxicating blend of accuracy and smoothness, and nary a hint of harshness or bite in the sound of his piano. The depth of the soundstage extended well past my room’s front wall, and its width past the outer side panels of my KEF floorstanders. Glass’s nimbleness on the ivories was on full display in my room, and in no way was the weight or distinction of individual keystrokes abbreviated. The imaging was superb — I could easily track his fortissimo runs up and down the keyboard — yet the Integrated 1.0’s articulation and spaciousness never called attention to themselves. The elusiveness of any sound of the Constellation’s own meant that, whether I played this 1989 recording or a far more recent selection by Jóhann Jóhannsson, I got the same result: everything sounded accurate, linear, fundamentally right — dare I say, perfect? Those who, like me, love dynamics and top-end sparkle will be plenty satisfied — as will those whose tastes veer toward a fuller, more analog sound, which the Integrated 1.0 also delivered in spades.”

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“Disco was always characterised by a tech-y feel, maybe even exaggerated sonic properties, but the CSA100 delivered the shake-your-booty excitement without ever resorting to aggression. It’s an area where Copland has always excelled and which it hasn’t abandoned, its hybrid sounding as ear-friendly as its all-valve designs. I hope I am getting across to you all that this amp seems incapable of causing listener fatigue.

As a farewell to the CSA100, I put on Howard Tate [Analogue Productions APO 009], a live mini-LP that Chad Kassem’s crew produced a decade ago, featuring my all-time favourite R&B singer. With a crack band and a guitarist whose notes soared, the ageing singer brushed away the years to deliver heartfelt renditions of a couple of his classics and gems like B B King’s ‘Sweet Sixteen’. The intimacy was tangible, the space enveloping. The CSA100 did all of which it was asked.”

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“We switch to records and are pleased by the quality of this amplifier’s phono section. Both the moving magnet and moving coil sections are decently quiet and have enough gain for the cartridges we’re using. The amp’s appealing character shines through, though there’s the expected subtle drop in outright clarity compared to the line stages. This performance will be good enough for all but the most committed of vinyl purists.

We play a range of music from Bob Marley’s Catch A Fire and Four Tet’s There Is Love In You to Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, and the McIntosh sounds happy regardless. Despite all the power on tap, this brute also has a sensitive side. It has enough finesse not to bulldoze through tracks that require subtlety, coming across with a surprising lightness of touch when required.