Audiophilepure

Read Here

“The transparency the L-7000 creates is beguiling and projects the most wonderful, tactile feeling—from the ‘reach out and touch it’ variety. Many friends who heard my system just before this review’s publication said they have never heard it sound so good, so musical, and, especially, so transparent”

READ HERE

“Next up was Beethoven: Violin Sonata from Wilson Audiophile recordings. It was Father’s Day, and I was enjoying a moment in my listening room. I had a conversation with Daryl Wilson the day prior and I was remembering his late father and thought the best way to honor David Wilson was to listen to one of his best recordings. The truth is that I hadn’t listen to this LP since a few days after RMAF 2013 when David and I had spoken, and he was so kind to sign the cover. If you love chamber music, I encourage you to dust off this LP. I could feel the presence of the piano and violin’s wood in my room as I closed my eyes. The background was pitch black and tonality of the instruments was potentially the best I had heard in my room. It brought out the best of my Wilson Audio Alexia Series-2.”

Read Here

“After a shower, I decided that the Master excelled at producing air and spaciousness around large and usually solid instrumental images (save with orchestral music, which is notoriously difficult if not impossible to reproduce), superbly delineating different timbres and defining aural images, and reproducing rich textures, all on deep, broad soundstages, with great punch and timing. It was just a pleasure to listen to, making music that was immersive and sensuous that could reach out from the soundstage and just grab you. Though it was easy to pick out all the items on the usual audiophile checklist, mostly I just leaned back and reveled in the gorgeous worlds of its precisely animated soundfield.”

Read Here

“To compare the sounds of the Signature Mk.IIa SE and Master, I listened to the Roy Hargrove Quintet’s Earfood again and with particular care to “I’m Not So Sure,” the track that had been so gorgeous through the Master. Overall, it sounded similar in terms of tones, soundstage depth and breadth, and air around instruments. The timbres of the trumpet and alto sax were also similar in character and sensuousness. But I could tell that the impacts of drumstrokes and bass plucks were softer, not as crisp or explosive. Hargrove’s trumpet was certainly as clear as through the Master, but not as dimensional in terms of its metallic sheen or blattiness. Finally, although Justin Robinson’s alto sax still sounded fluid and expressive, it wasn’t as piercing in the highs or dynamic peaks. There was a marked difference in extension, resolution, snap, and punch.

Listening again to Florilegium’s recording of Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No.3 confirmed all of this. Though string tone was fine and the separation of sections impressive, microdetails were not quite as refined. I couldn’t pick out single instruments as easily — something I’d very much enjoyed doing with the Master. Pace, rhythm, and timing were good with the Signature Mk.IIa SE — the attacks of instruments were precisely together in this performance’s myriad tight entrances — but I couldn’t “see” as deeply into and among the aural images of the violins and viola da gamba. Yet with the Signature Mk.IIa SE, the strings were expressive and open, tutti energetic and thrilling, and harmonies bountiful.