Audiophilepure

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“When the Masters M33 arrived, I connected it to my home network with an Ethernet link, updated its firmware, and from that point on it worked without incident for the entire review process. After moving it back and forth between my two systems a few times, I found it easier to access my network with the Wi-Fi connection. I had no problem setting up and using the Masters M33, so intuitive and simple is its interface.

I used the M33 mainly with Qobuz as a streaming service, with either Roon or BluOS to manage playback. I also used its digital and analog inputs: the MM phono input with my Pro-Ject X1 turntable, and my Oppo Digital UDP-205 4K UHD universal BD player through its balanced (XLR) analog outputs. Although I primarily used a MacBook Pro computer to control the M33, I also installed and used the BluOS app on my Apple iPhone 6S and Samsung Galaxy S9 smartphones.”

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“Having definitely answered, at least for my own purposes, the question “Is 50Wpc enough?,” I moved on to more typical audiophile fare to assess other aspects of the Essence’s sound. I went straight to what I’m sure has appeared in the recent Qobuz playlists of many audiophiles: Lido Pimienta’s Miss Colombia (16/44.1 FLAC, Anti-/Qobuz) and its first track, “Para Transcriber (Sol).” The Gryphon painted this track with vivid colors, impressive depth of soundstage, and with all its minute details intact. There was a magnificent amount of space around Pimienta’s voice at the beginning, with soundstage depth for miles, and enough ambience retrieval to make my listening room completely transform into another acoustic environment. Pimienta’s voice was also smooth and tonally perfect — the Essence reproduced this track with finesse and fidelity.

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“The Naim put on full display the great sound of Lady Gaga’s Chromatica (24/48 FLAC, Interscope/Qobuz). This wonderful album is personal and cathartic, but is nonetheless upbeat and punchy. The Supernait 3 had no trouble keeping up with the album’s immense and pulsing dance beats. The album’s sweeping electronic flourishes highlighted a huge soundstage, the Naim assertively positioning deep, well-defined synth notes between the speakers in a dense and dizzying wall of EDM sound. But even as the dance beats pounded through hectic electronica, the voices were still clear — when Elton John enters 1:42 into “Sine from Above,” I was caught entirely off guard by how present his voice was. The slight processing on his voice didn’t keep the Supernait 3 from presenting it with an arrestingly crystalline quality that was vivid and commanding in the best possible way.
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The Supernait 3’s headphone output was also extremely satisfying. The many-layered vocals in Sting’s “Desert Rose” were well defined, and benefited from a bit of warmth that made this recording sound big and inviting through my Sennheiser HD 580 headphones. Although the sound wasn’t quite as clear as through the headphone output of my Oppo UDP-205 — my reference for built-in headphone amps — small details were still audible, and there was a touch more bass. And despite the signal having to travel through a pair of Nordost Quattro Fil interconnects to get to the Naim from the Oppo, the sound from the Naim’s headphone output was always clean and authoritative. I suggest that, unless they’re very serious about their headphone listening, those considering buying a Supernait 3 think twice before spending more on an external headphone amp.

https://www.hifinews.com/content/emotiva-xpa-hc-1-power-amplifier

Still, it’s the ability to impart bass weight and slam that marks the XPA HC1 out from less powerful amplification, and this encouraged me to frequently step upwards on the XSP-1’s volume ladder. There’s tangible power here and you’ll want to use it, because at lower listening levels the XPA HC-1s’ star attractions – their dynamism and scale – are dimmed. ‘Too Young To Know’ by UFO [Phenomenon; Chrysalis 50999 5 04440 2 1] bounced along amiably enough at a family-friendly volume, but gained a fizzing energy and midrange crunch when the amps were given a push.

Happily, these amplifiers are just as adept with music that seeks to stir emotions through orchestral swells and charismatic crescendos. John Williams’ ‘Theme From Jurassic Park’ [Tidal Hi-Fi] may have no driving rhythm behind it, but its melody hit like a tidal wave made from string, brass and wind instruments, while the soaring violins and diving cello of Max Richter’s ‘On The Nature Of Daylight’ [The Blue Notebooks; 130701, CD13-04] had me breaking out in goosebumps. Value these amplifiers for their muscularity, but don’t discount their musicality too

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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.”