BALANCED AUDIO TECHNOLOGY REX II PREAMPLIFIER AND REX II MONOBLOCK POWER AMPLIFIERS REVIEW
January 21, 2016 Comments Off on BALANCED AUDIO TECHNOLOGY REX II PREAMPLIFIER AND REX II MONOBLOCK POWER AMPLIFIERS REVIEW
” If the BAT equipment has continued to make great strides toward what some more audacious than myself term the absolute, it also retained some of the qualities that have characterized its performance in previous generations. The timbral reproduction of both the preamplifier and amplifier, it must be said, continued to hew to the darker sound of the spectrum. This has both pluses and minuses. The upside is that the overall presentation is rich and organic without a trace of treble rebarbativeness. The downside is that the treble is not as extended as that of a variety of other amplifiers. A certain rounding of the treble means that even hand claps or whistles simply sound lower on the frequency spectrum than I have heard with other gear. There is absolutely no shrillness that can be associated with the Rex, but it’s also the case that the somewhat velvety treble impinges ever so slightly on the micro-dynamic performance of the Rex II.”
Balanced Audio Technology Rex II line preamplifier Review
January 14, 2016 Comments Off on Balanced Audio Technology Rex II line preamplifier Review
“It took me a while to figure out just what the Rex II sounded like—what it brought to the show on its own, as distinct from how it affected, or was affected by, the associated components, especially the cables. (This is always a puzzle, to some degree.) I began with my Nirvana interconnects and speaker cables, and, after playing music for a couple weeks, began listening closely to the BAT. It sounded wonderful (details to follow), except for two things: a darkness in the lower midrange that, curiously, didn’t much affect the translucence of higher frequencies, and a slight tubbiness in the bass. Did the Rex II need to break in a while longer? Was something else in my system at fault?”
BEST OF 2015 AND PRODUCT OF THE YEAR
January 2, 2016 Comments Off on BEST OF 2015 AND PRODUCT OF THE YEAR
“We’ve had an amazing run over here at Part-Time Audiophile and quite frankly, I’m continuously baffled by that. Clearly, you, our readership, have some serious issues with maturity, taste, and time-management. God bless you.”
McIntosh unveils C1100 preamplifier
December 9, 2015 Comments Off on McIntosh unveils C1100 preamplifier
“If you’d rather listen through headphones, the output jack is said to have a higher output than any previous McIntosh preamp and it also features the company’s proprietary Headphone Crossfeed Director (HXD) technology. The C1100 can also be used within a home cinema system thanks to Home Theater Pass Through support.”
PrimaLuna DiaLogue Premium Preamplifier Review
December 7, 2015 Comments Off on PrimaLuna DiaLogue Premium Preamplifier Review
” I think Chesky Records did a nice digital transfer from the original analog master tape of Rene Leibowitz conducting Beethoven’s Symphony No. 2 and No.5. The PrimaLuna duo delivered nice harmonic realism of live acoustic instruments. The presentation of micro and macro dynamic ranges was near excellent. This is one of the reasons why I have always owned active preamplifiers-except for one instance which I considered was the best sounding of the passive breed at that time. Except for one or two exceptions, in my experience I have found passive preamplifiers or attenuators terrific at presenting transparency, resolution, and image specificity, but lacking a bit in macro-dynamics and bass impact”
ROGERS FIDELITY PA-1A PHONO PREAMPLIFIER REVIEW
November 17, 2015 Comments Off on ROGERS FIDELITY PA-1A PHONO PREAMPLIFIER REVIEW
“When comparing with my reference BAT phonostage, the Rogers Fidelity was close in performance with barely noticeable limitation on its treble delivery. The VKP12SE Superpak has a better sense of airiness and soundstage comparatively. This may not be a fair comparison as the price gap between the two phonostages was widen by more than half. However Rogers Fidelity deserves its ride with the giants and it could probably fair well among some of them.”
Cambridge Audio Azur 851N Network Music Player-DAC-Digital Preamplifier
October 7, 2015 Comments Off on Cambridge Audio Azur 851N Network Music Player-DAC-Digital Preamplifier
No DAC should have a tailored frequency response, and the Cambridge Azur 851N didn’t. It sounded as flat and linear as every other DAC I’ve heard in the past couple of years. For the first week or so of background listening, I struggled to pick out what set the Cambridge 851N apart from the Benchmark DAC2 DX that had been in my system for the preceding several months. Slowly but surely, I spotted a couple of fine differences.
JE Audio Reference 1 Preamplifier
September 20, 2015 Comments Off on JE Audio Reference 1 Preamplifier
One of the things I’ve always loved about the VL10.1 is its ability to cast a wide, deep soundstage — it makes recordings that have preserved a credible soundstage sound gloriously superspacious. In this area, too, the Reference 1 didn’t disappoint — its soundstages were as wide and deep as the VL10.1’s — but it one-upped the VL10.1 in image specificity on those stages; its images being much more precisely delineated and holographic. When I played “Mining for Gold,” from the Cowboy Junkies’ The Trinity Session (16/44.1 FLAC, RCA), Margo Timmins’s voice hung with laser-like focus and palpability at the center of the stage, with each accompanying instrument positioned tangibly in its own space at a realistic distance from her. I’ve visited the space in which this recording was made
CLASSÉ CP-800 PREAMP AND CA-D200 AMPLIFIER
September 17, 2015 Comments Off on CLASSÉ CP-800 PREAMP AND CA-D200 AMPLIFIER
Day-to-day living with the Classé was both a pleasure and a real eye-opener in the way it illustrated the ever-shifting nature of the high end. Whereas once upon a time my source components were limited to a turntable and a Dolby cassette deck, I took stock of all the sources driving the CP-800 during the time of period of my evaluation, and it was a like a population explosion. There was the ever-faithful turntable, CD transport over SPDIF, an HD-DVR, Blu-ray player, Lumin Music Player on the network with twin NAS drives, Apple TV, and a handful of USB thumbdrives. And they were all playing nicely, thanks to the CP-800’s copious input selection and switching flexibility.
Margules Audio SF220.15 20th Anniversary Stereo Tube Preamplifier Review
September 12, 2015 Comments Off on Margules Audio SF220.15 20th Anniversary Stereo Tube Preamplifier Review
“The SF220.15 has a nicely extended and refined sounding top-end. I thought it was sweet, not rolled off, not overly detailed, clear but not bright. It gets the timbre and harmonics of the music right. It has a rich a harmonic structure, and while it is a robust sounding preamp, I never found it overly lush or overly romantic. I loved the way voices came to life in my listening room; they had a stunning presence with this preamp in my system.
Audiophilepure 
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