MCINTOSH C49 STEREO PREAMPLIFIER $5,000 REVIEW
October 5, 2019 Comments Off on MCINTOSH C49 STEREO PREAMPLIFIER $5,000 REVIEW
“I would have been happy to purchase the McIntosh C49. Even my wife commented that she loved the way it sounded, and we spent many an evening exploring music together on the couch. I had time to contemplate what made my music sound this much better. Was it the DA1 DAC module? How much better was the DA2? Was it just the quality of the parts inside and the incredible attention to design and detail? Likely, it was all of the above. The McIntosh C49 is built to last a lifetime and is now more future-proof with its new modular design. Like Harley-Davidson, there is a mystique to owning McIntosh. They may not be for the beginner audiophile, but they are worth climbing the mountain for. Me? I’m back to my climbing, thanks in no small part to my time with the McIntosh C49 Stereo Preamplifier. Thank you for that, gentlemen.”
D’Agostino Progression Preamplifier Review
October 2, 2019 Comments Off on D’Agostino Progression Preamplifier Review
“The Progression Preamplifier by D’Agostino is simply an excellent stereo preamp. While I was expecting a pretty strong performance, the Progression went above and beyond my sonic expectations. Expect the warmth of tubes without the headaches associated with tubes. Expect detail at a level that, frankly, I have never heard in 20 plus years of reviewing some of the world’s finest audiophile electronics.
In terms of fit and finish, the D’Agostino Progression Preamp is simply in a class of its own. This is a product for a very small group of people with the means to appreciate the best, and to those people I say that I am jealous. It is going to be hard to find a stereo preamp that outperforms this one.”
Allnic Audio L-7000 Preamplifier $16,500 Review
September 30, 2019 Comments Off on Allnic Audio L-7000 Preamplifier $16,500 Review
“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”
Simaudio Moon 390 Network Player and Preamplifier $5300 Review
September 1, 2019 Comments Off on Simaudio Moon 390 Network Player and Preamplifier $5300 Review
“You, the reader, must decide for yourself if the 390 is right for you. For my own system, I require more balanced inputs, and already have an excellent phono preamp. Simaudio could make the 390 more modular so as to offer more flexibility to the customer, offering for instance different combinations of inputs. This would, however, make the 390 considerably more expensive. I would recommend that Simaudio consider some factory break–in for the units, thus alleviating some of the burden on the customer. I’d also suggest they improve their MiND app.
AUDIO RESEARCH LS28 TRIODE STEREO PREAMPLIFIER $8,500 REVIEW
September 1, 2019 Comments Off on AUDIO RESEARCH LS28 TRIODE STEREO PREAMPLIFIER $8,500 REVIEW
“THD+N vs. Frequency yields the following graph. It always stays below 0.08%. The two channels are slightly different, but that is just the way tubes behave. Because the tube is electro-mechanical (filament, grid, plate), and because the tube gets hot during use, performance is slightly variable from tube to tube. These small differences are only measurable on a spectrum analyzer. They are not audible.
Cocktail Audio HA500H MQA DAC, pre-amp and HP ampc Review
August 16, 2019 Comments Off on Cocktail Audio HA500H MQA DAC, pre-amp and HP ampc Review
Audia Flight Strumento No1 mk2/No4 mk2 Pre & power amplifier Review
August 10, 2019 Comments Off on Audia Flight Strumento No1 mk2/No4 mk2 Pre & power amplifier Review
“That’s much in evidence with the Living Stereo SACD of Dvořák’s ‘New World’ Symphony [BMG Classics 82876-66376-2], with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under Fritz Reiner. This recording dates back to 1957, and is hardly the most subtle, with seemingly enormous musical forces and a real sense of bombast about it. Add to that an SACD mastered very ‘hot’ – in other words damn loud – and you have a test disc that majors on attack rather than subtlety. The Strumento No1/No4 amplifiers deliver this set in all its full-blooded pomp, and while the sound is necessarily vintage, there’s no denying it’s loud, proud and intriguingly odd.
By contrast a much more recent recording, of Mozart’s Serenade in B flat, K361, seems to hit the Italian amplifiers’ sweet spot. This Gran Partita set, by the Royal Academy of Music Soloists Ensemble conducted by Trevor Pinnock [Linn CKD 516; 192kHz/24-bit], sounds gorgeously rich and fluid, while instrumental tones are glorious. Or as someone once described this recording to me, ‘It’s a lovely noise’.
Read more at https://www.hifinews.com/content/audia-flight-strumento-no1-mk2no4-mk2-pre-power-amplifier-page-2#KsojudKoYP6whxEy.99
D’Agostino Momentum Phono $28,000 Review
July 31, 2019 Comments Off on D’Agostino Momentum Phono $28,000 Review
“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.”
Parasound Zphono XRM Phono Preamplifier Review
July 29, 2019 Comments Off on Parasound Zphono XRM Phono Preamplifier Review
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