CanJam SoCal 2018 Preview and Sneak Peeks
April 4, 2018 Comments Off on CanJam SoCal 2018 Preview and Sneak Peeks
iFi nano iDSD Black Label Amp/DAC $200 Review
March 25, 2018 Comments Off on iFi nano iDSD Black Label Amp/DAC $200 Review
“The unit is specified to run up to 10 hours on battery power with IEMs or efficient headphones. With two sets of moderately efficient cans and one set of inefficient ones—the first three mentioned below, and connected one at a time—it ran my 57-minute playlist nearly three times, or fewer than three hours, before the red battery-discharged indicator went on. iFi clarified that their initial production had firmware that set the battery warning LED too conservatively and that the unit runs about twice the time indicated by the light. I verified that the Black Label did last a more reasonable five to six hours on a full charge irrespective of the LED. Current production has the updated firmware in place, and any customer in the field who encounters this and wishes to correct it can send their unit to iFi’s service center for a software update (http://support,ifi-audio.com). In any event, the issue is cosmetic and has no effect on the unit’s performance.”
Shure’s $3,000 KSE1500 headphones Review
March 21, 2018 Comments Off on Shure’s $3,000 KSE1500 headphones Review
“Listening to Igor Stravinsky conducting his own composition “The Soldier’s Tale Suite,” the purity of the sound was utterly breathtaking. Pink Floyd’s early work, “A Saucer Full of Secrets” was a mind expanding experience. Again, it’s the sense of being there, feeling like I’m breathing the same air as the musicians. You just don’t get that with other in-ear headphones.”
IFI NANO IDSD BLACK LABEL $200 REVIEW
March 3, 2018 Comments Off on IFI NANO IDSD BLACK LABEL $200 REVIEW
“The Nano iDSD BL has a natural sounding tonality with a presentation that is easy going and slightly euphoric, especially in the vocal and instrumental timbre. Its staging is fairly open and spacious with excellent width and some decent depth and height but not the most extended. Instrumental separation in particular benefits from that open sound and black background the BL is able to project.
There are some nuanced differences that the filters bring to the sound of the BL. The listen filter adds a little more low-end warmth, particularly in the mid-bass and pulls back a bit more on vocal and treble presence. The reduction of higher frequency levels produces a very smooth and euphoric sound with good low-end body.”
ULTRASONE NAOS PORTABLE HEADPHONE DAC REViEW
February 12, 2018 Comments Off on ULTRASONE NAOS PORTABLE HEADPHONE DAC REViEW
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“It should be noted that when the NAOS was paired with headphones approaching the £250 price barrier like the Audio Technics ATH-MSR7 (£200) and Final in-ear F7200’s (£400) that the NAOS was much less effective. This loss of utility with the more expensive (and presumably higher performing) cans seemed to be consistent and ultimately I considered it inconclusive if the NOAS substantially enhanced the music after breaking the $250 mark with the selected headphones listed above. Fortunately for Ultrasone most of us live in the world (especially on the go) where the virtually limitless variety of superior quality headphones under £250 will do just fine. In this vast price plateau the NAOS was able to augment virtually all facets of the musical presentation (treble, bass, mid-range) regardless of the quality of source”
Chord Poly Review
February 8, 2018 Comments Off on Chord Poly Review
“It turns out the Mojo sounds its best with the Poly and in my testing, better than even a direct USB cable. So not only are you cutting the wire out, you’re actually getting better sound. We all know our PCs are noisy and USB conditioners could only do so much. This is a very compelling case for using WiFi to transmit high-res files. Although I’ve heard WiFi will compress the music being streamed, I’ve actually never tested this (or heard it). All I know is…streaming from the Poly’s internal card reader has given the Mojo a new life it didn’t know it needed.”
Chord Hugo 2 Portable Headphone Amp/DAC Review – video
January 25, 2018 Comments Off on Chord Hugo 2 Portable Headphone Amp/DAC Review – video
CHORD ELECTRONICS HUGO 2 TRANSPORTABLE DAC/HEADPHONE AMPLIFIER $2379 REVIEW
January 23, 2018 Comments Off on CHORD ELECTRONICS HUGO 2 TRANSPORTABLE DAC/HEADPHONE AMPLIFIER $2379 REVIEW
“So here I am about 3 months into my Chord Hugo 2 ownership and I am still one very happy camper! This little unit has served as an excellent desktop DAC/amplifier for literally all of my headphones and IEMs, but has also performed gallantly as the guts of my portable setup too! While harder to drive headphones like the Audeze LCD-4, Abyss Phi, or Hifiman Susvara headphones will likely require a dedicated (and quite powerful headphone amplifier), I can’t think of any other pair of headphones that the Hugo 2 won’t drive without breaking a sweat! Throw in truly world class transparency and tonal balance and leading edge detail retrieval, the Hugo 2 is a slam dunk in my books”
PATHOS INPOL EAR HEADPHONE AMPLIFIER REVIEW
December 2, 2017 Comments Off on PATHOS INPOL EAR HEADPHONE AMPLIFIER REVIEW
” the DAC section. I’d suggest the DAC in the InPol Ear should be a mandatory recommendation as it works exceptionally well, and matches the performance of the rest of the amplifier. It’s aimed more at sheer detail retrieval, and that works well with the overall InPol Ear performance. If I am being picky, I’d prefer more of an on-board streaming solution, so that aspects like Internet radio, TIDAL, and maybe even Roon were functions of the InPol Ear with the built in DAC, but for the most part, I suspect the InPol Ear will sit next to a laptop, and both the Ethernet streaming option and app control are more of a nice add-on than a useful function of the device. Judging by my own use, I used the Ethernet connection to evaluate the Ethernet connection, and listened through USB.”
Audiophilepure 
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