Aurender N100H Caching Network Streamer Plus X725 USB DAC / Amplifier Review
March 9, 2018 Comments Off on Aurender N100H Caching Network Streamer Plus X725 USB DAC / Amplifier Review
“I’m a sucker for the French Impressionists. No, not the painters, the composers – Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel. Sometimes Eric Satie is lumped into this category, but he doesn’t have enough recorded works to really be part of this group. If I would have to pick only one piece of music to represent this subgenre, though, it would be Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloe. I have many recordings of this work in my collection, my favorite digital version, which also happens to be my favorite analog version, is the Living Stereo issue conducted by Charles Munch. His Boston Symphony Orchestra recorded this for RCA that was originally released in 1960. I have a Red Book CD versions ripped from the two-layer SACD and an older CD, and a DSD file of this on my hard-drives, and all of them sound incredible. I’ve read that some aren’t as enamored as I am of this recording, mostly because of the tape hiss that’s been faithfully reproduced. I suppose I’m used to it. It doesn’t bother me at all. I played both the 16-bit and DSD version through the N100H, sometimes connected to the X725 and sometimes not, and I had the same impression of their sound quality as I did when listening to the Peter Gabriel, but on this album it was amazing to hear how well the N100H was able to handle these real instruments recorded in a real space.”
McIntosh Laboratory MA9000 Integrated Amplifier-DAC $10,000 Review
March 9, 2018 Comments Off on McIntosh Laboratory MA9000 Integrated Amplifier-DAC $10,000 Review
“Overall, the Devialet D-Premier’s primary traits of transparency, resolution, and a slight coolness were fully revealed in comparison to the McIntosh MA9000’s closer, more intimate sound, the latter displaying denser, more tangible images. Which will you prefer? As obvious as were the differences between these sounds, the differences in how these two integrateds are styled and built are even greater. The Devialet is sleek, compact, and European; the McIntosh is substantial, bold, unabashedly American. I can appreciate either look, my preference depending on the day and my mood. Devialet’s amps have received many awards from the SoundStage! publications over the years — and the McIntosh equaled them. High praise indeed.”
PS AUDIO DIRECTSTREAM MEMORY PLAYER – REVIEW
February 16, 2018 Comments Off on PS AUDIO DIRECTSTREAM MEMORY PLAYER – REVIEW
“If you’ve bought into streaming source components in a big way, you may find PS Audio’s DirectStream Memory Player will force you—in the nicest, gentlest, and most rewarding way—to reconsider the sonic merits of disc-based music playback. Streaming sources can be very, very good, but in many cases and in many ways, the DirectStream Memory Player often proves to be that extra ‘Nth degree’ better, in the process helping music to sound more vivid, emotionally rich, and alive.”
AVM Ovation MP 8.2 CD player-D/A processor Review
January 25, 2018 Comments Off on AVM Ovation MP 8.2 CD player-D/A processor Review
“I could stream all day about streaming—but here I should mention a glitch I encountered, perhaps five days in, when using a wireless connection between the MP 8.2 and my router: The AVM suddenly, and for no apparent reason, dropped the connection. I was busy with something else when that happened, so it wasn’t until a couple of hours later that I shut down the system, remade my Ethernet cable connections, rebooted the system, and set about remaking the wireless connection. It worked for less than one full song, then the AVM again dropped the connection.”
CES 2018: Chord QUTEST DAC – VIDEO
January 14, 2018 Comments Off on CES 2018: Chord QUTEST DAC – VIDEO
AudioQuest’s Beetle DAC $199 Review
January 6, 2018 Comments Off on AudioQuest’s Beetle DAC $199 Review
“This connectivity trifecta shows us that deployment flexibility is just as important to some listeners as out-and-out best sound quality. If that weren’t the case, AudioQuest would have called it a day with the DragonFly Red and shoehorned every would-be buyer into USB connections. But they didn’t. And that means the Beetle has the potential to enrich more lives than its airborne forerunner; a democratic DAC deal for the real world.”
Chord Dave Ultimate Reference DAC Review
December 21, 2017 Comments Off on Chord Dave Ultimate Reference DAC Review
“With Hifiman’s flagship planar magnetic headphone, the Susvara, I heard all that’s great about Dave’s sound: Jaw dropping transparency, big as the outdoors stereo imaging, and pristine highs. Still, the Susvara is a power hog, and Dave didn’t quite have enough juice to push the Susvara to very loud levels. At saner volume Dave and Susvara made beautiful music together.”
DACs Product of the Year – Chord Hugo 2
December 18, 2017 Comments Off on DACs Product of the Year – Chord Hugo 2
iFi Audio’s iGalvanic 3.0 Review
December 17, 2017 Comments Off on iFi Audio’s iGalvanic 3.0 Review
“Where the Recovery cannot match the iFi piece is on its go anywhere flexibility. A wall wart power supply is required to get the Recovery out of bed whilst the iFi sucks on the host device’s bus power. For yours truly, that meant marginally better sounding MQA-d Bowie (A New Career in a New Town box set) with the Meridian Explorer2 driving a pair of Fitear Air CIEMs, all whilst sat in a hotel lobby with Microsoft Surface Pro 3 on lap. Perhaps we should see iFi’s iGalvanic 3.0 as the goto USB fixer-upper for road warriors.”
Mytek Brooklyn DAC + REVIEW
November 13, 2017 Comments Off on Mytek Brooklyn DAC + REVIEW
” Like its predecessor (Brooklyn DAC), the DAC + can handle an amazing diversity of digital files and formats: PCM up to 32/384, DSD up to quadruple rate (DSD 256), and if you desire, at the push of an ‘enabling’ button it can fully ‘unfold’ (using internal hardware) high-resolution MQA including Master Files streamed from Tidal. (Mytek was MQA’s first standalone-hardware technology partner.) Digital inputs include USB, S/PDIF (coaxial), Toslink/ADAT, and AES/EBU.”
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