Audiophilepure

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“I realize that aesthetics is not needed to showcase a sound system, but having beautifully designed speakers will not hurt with the wife acceptance factor. The Sonetto Vs look and sound expensive, yet they are more affordable for music lovers looking to up their game. They display an ideal combination of design and function that helps make the music more emotionally engaging. You may find other speakers in the $5,000 range, but not many have the design details and sound qualities of the Sonetto Vs. As I get older, my desire to reach the summit in this hobby becomes more important to me. The Sonus faber Sonetto V Speakers remind me that I still have time to reach for something a bit higher without mortgaging my future to obtain it. Bravo Sonus faber!”

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“As I whiled away my COVID-19 isolation, I had plenty of time to reflect on PMC’s origins as makers of recording-studio monitors. Accurate reproduction of the source material is obviously the primary goal of all audio components, a goal whose fulfillment is often diluted by any number of design choices. From nonlinear speakers to tube amps to LPs, designers and audiophiles often choose euphony over accuracy. Just so you know where I stand: I’ll choose an easy-to-listen-to, euphonic-sounding system over a ruler-flat, dead-nuts-accurate system every time.

Over the years, I’ve tuned my reference system to nip off many of the sharp corners, installing tubes and vinyl to make soft pillows for my ears. I was at first extremely nervous about replacing my aging, no-longer-reliable, all-tube Audio Research VT100 power amp with the solid-state, pro-audio Bryston 4B³. But I took the plunge, and I’m thrilled with how well the Bryston has slid into my system. So with this toe dipped in pro audio, I felt comfortable — heck, even a bit tingly — as I inserted the banana plugs of my Nordost Tyr speaker cables into the Fact.8 Signatures.”

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Toward the end of my listening sessions I swapped out the EMM preamp and DAC for Anthem’s STR preamplifier-DAC. The sound didn’t change drastically, though the total price of the system did: the Anthem costs $3999, the two EMMs $50,000. But with the STR, the soundstages of the tracks mentioned above were consistently just a bit shallower, and the sound wasn’t quite as refined. However, the width of those stages, and the way the sound floated so free of the speakers, were unchanged, as was the ability to play every musical genre with aplomb. Perhaps most important was that the sound was still top-drawer — don’t think the $50,000/pair Vivid Giya G2 Series 2s require ancillary gear as crazy-costly as themselves. The Anthem and Hegel taught me that, if you spring for a pair of G2S2s, it might be wise to experiment with upstream gear of all sizes, types, and prices.”

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“The ability of Volti Audio’s Razz to portray music of any genre with scale, realism, and thrilling dynamics is unmatched by any loudspeaker I’ve had in my system. The Razzes demonstrate a lovely midrange liquidity, but there’s no sacrifice of detail. The type of amplification—tubed or solid-state—made some difference in the Razz’s sonic presentation, but the result was never less than musical. The Razz is also beautifully constructed; the level of craftsmanship and quality is remarkable for a loudspeaker at this price. If you’re shopping for a serious, horn-based, high-sensitivity design in this price range, you should add the Volti Audio Razz to your short list.”

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So where’s the trade-off that the Prime Pinnacle’s price tag implies? Sure, there’s a sense that treble definition could be sharper, which robs tracks of that top layer of incisiveness, and the superb driving nature of its low-end isn’t matched by the same forcefulness higher up the frequency band. As such, the astonishing lead solo in Pink Floyd’s ‘Comfortably Numb’ [The Wall; EMI 50999 028944 2 3] sounds a little shy, Dave Gilmour’s axe not so much cleaving through the instrumentation as gliding across it.

This is hardly a blot on the copybook for, as well as being nuanced, authoritative and weighty with bass, these SVS’s floorstanders are very effective at creating soundstage depth and width.”

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“And bass? Neither the cabinet volume nor drivers are especially capacious but the TD2.2 still digs impressively deep while very rarely biting off more than it can chew. The signature drum programming that powers Gorillaz’ ‘Dracula’ [G Sides; Parlophone, 44.1kHz/24-bit] takes these Raidhos as far as they will comfortably go, while the opening of ‘Faust’ moves them just a little bit further still – no overt bloom or boom here but there is some loss of rhythmic composure. Time to back off the volume control.

The TD2.2s seem otherwise quite at home penetrating and untangling the densest of mixes. Their ability to convey energy without chaos was ideally suited to a session listening to Jimmy Page’s latter-day remastering of Led Zeppelin’s Presence, the band’s seventh album also produced by Page back in 1975-76 [Warner Music 0081227955724; 96kHz/24-bit]. The album, free of keyboards, still sounds raw but the multiple, over-dubbed guitars have a greater clarity in this 96kHz rendering – a quality not lost on the TD2.2s.”

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On the plus side, those changes in mid/bass and cabinet size help the speakers produce an output of impressive scale and authority. Play Hans Zimmer’s Interstellar OST and the Bronze 100s render a huge sound underpinned by a good hefty slab of bass. They can play loudly too, retaining their composure even when pushed to high levels with demanding music such as this.

The Monitor Audios are also clear and manage to dig up a fair amount of detail. On a dense and demanding track, such as Where We’re Going, they do a good job of separating the various instrumental strands and keeping them easy to follow.”