10 of the world’s most expensive turntables
March 26, 2025 Comments Off on 10 of the world’s most expensive turntables
https://www.whathifi.com/features/10-worlds-most-expensive-turntables
High-end hi-fi never comes “cheap”. Jump over to our Temptations reviews and you’ll regularly see speakers, streamers and of course record players with price tags as big as the deposit on a small house, or high-end sports car.
But having reviewed many of the top options in the upper echelons of hi-fi we can confirm many of them justify this by delivering incredible sonic performances that can make even the most ardent of audiophiles weep with delight when matched and set up well.
That’s why we often describe them as the super-cars of hi-fi. And in this list we’ve penned a guide detailing the 10 most expensive turntables we’re aware of.
PLUSSOUND VOLTA $2499 Review
March 26, 2025 Comments Off on PLUSSOUND VOLTA $2499 Review
Moving to the VOLTA’s technical performance, there is nothing to fault. Channel-to-channel movement is crisp and nuanced, regardless of whether we’re moving just off-center or out to the edges of the sound stage.
Tracks sound deep and layered, with distinct spacing that helps with the immersive quality mentioned earlier. Also impressive is the VOLTA’s ability to separate individual instruments, keeping them clear and distinct from one another.
Picking out and following a single instrument, even on congested tracks, is no problem, though the VOLTA’s electrostatic driver can’t pull out as much detail and texture as the AMT found in oBravo’s Clio. The VOLTA comes very close, though, while sounding more natural.
Stromtank S-4000 ProPower MK-II XT computer-controlled battery power source Review
March 24, 2025 Comments Off on Stromtank S-4000 ProPower MK-II XT computer-controlled battery power source Review
I conducted three listening sessions, solo and with friends, going back and forth between pure Stromtank power and pure wall power. By the end of the longest listening session, I’d lost a pound moving six amplifiers back and forth.
Shortly after completing those tests, another issue arose. Nothing the folks in Germany tried could address a soft buzz that slowly grew from silence to an audible peak before buzzing down to silence, then repeating. Also, the unit would not recharge until it had discharged completely, and the row of LED charging indicators did not function properly. No amount of long-distance or on-site finagling could solve those problems.
Focal Diva Utopia Wireless Streaming Active Loudspeaker $39,999 Review
March 24, 2025 Comments Off on Focal Diva Utopia Wireless Streaming Active Loudspeaker $39,999 Review
https://www.stereophile.com/content/focal-diva-utopia-wireless-streaming-active-loudspeaker
The analog connection between the preamp and primary speaker did not induce any hum or hash that I could hear, ears close to the speaker and volume cranked up beyond comfortable listening level.
Listeners who like vinyl as well as streaming won’t have to compromise with the Diva Utopia system, except in that the only analog connection isn’t balanced. The same goes for someone with a large collection of CDs they haven’t ripped to a server, as long as their CD player has a TosLink output. The only downside is all those connections, running cables from wherever the turntable or CD player resides to the rear of the primary speaker. In the setup described above, I used a 6′ cable from my phono preamp to the rear of the primary speaker, which in my setup was the right one.
Constellation Revelation 2 pre/power amplifier Review
March 23, 2025 Comments Off on Constellation Revelation 2 pre/power amplifier Review
https://www.hifinews.com/content/constellation-revelation-2-prepower-amplifier
The minor cosmetic refresh to Constellation’s Revelation amplifiers does not reflect the transformation under the hood, where new, precision-engineered power supplies seemingly boost every facet of performance. Play any genre and this system excels, muscular and attacking one moment, insightful and fluid the next. It’s a premium sound worthy of the price, and a fine way to kick off the brand’s new era.
Fyne Audio ousts Q REVIEW
March 23, 2025 Comments Off on Fyne Audio ousts Q REVIEW
Okay, the D20R aren’t the newest speakers on the planet – they launched back in 2014 – but we have to get through a lot of products from across the hi-fi and headphones gamut. We’re glad we finally got hold of a pair of the D20R, though, because they are, to quote from our review, “charmers of the highest order”. Beautifully made and with a sonic character that appeals as much to the heart as it does to the head, they’re a nuanced and expressive set of floorstanders that we could have enjoyed for days on end. If you’re after something a little more premium than the Fyne towers above, the ProAc are capable of giving the high-end Spendor A7 speakers a run for their money.
Three LUXURY EXTRAS for your TECHNICS turntable
March 23, 2025 Comments Off on Three LUXURY EXTRAS for your TECHNICS turntable
Bowers & Wilkins DB2D Subwoofers Review
March 21, 2025 Comments Off on Bowers & Wilkins DB2D Subwoofers Review
Simply put: this is the best bass I’ve yet had in my room. Not the most. Not merely the tightest. No, it’s more than that. It’s like the juicy, whip-crack tight bass of the 801s, sure, but add in a sense of natural integration combined with a feeling of realism that I’ve not experienced before.
Back to the original premise of this project: creating a half-price 801 D4 Signature. I haven’t listened yet to the DB2Ds fronted by the 805 D4 Signatures. That’s going to have to wait until I get back from the Florida International Audio Expo in late February. And that means it’s time to get my passport and Metamucil ready for international travel from my home in Toronto, Canada.
Kinera Thorking $2,499 Review
March 21, 2025 Comments Off on Kinera Thorking $2,499 Review
The Kinera Thorking surprised me when I first put them in my ears. Given the brand’s recent track record, I expected a slightly fun, warm, or somewhat coloured sound. I listened to Loki in Canjam 2023 and wasn’t impressed much. But the Thorking is different, and I mean, very different.
The new Thorking has a reference-style tuning with a flat response from start to finish. This is a fascinating new tuning direction from Kinera, and it works perfectly with classical music. I would never believe a Kinera IEM for classical music until I heard it in person. Of course, that doesn’t mean it’s not an all-rounder. On the contrary, ThorKing can blend in with many genres. I agree with Kinera’s claim that the ThorKing is a mildly v-shaped IEM, as it prioritizes the treble a bit, and the mid-range is not pushed forward.
HumminGuru NOVA HG05
March 20, 2025 Comments Off on HumminGuru NOVA HG05
https://www.stereophile.com/content/spin-doctor-22-cleaning-lps-and-humminguru-nova-hg05
With any type of cleaning process, whether it’s for dishes, cars, or records, it’s always important to ask yourself where the dirt is going. The problem with my childhood blue cleaning fluid and brush method was that the dirt mixed with the fluid to create a kind of slurry, which I then pushed around the record with the brush until the fluid evaporated, leaving most of the dirt behind. A vacuum-type cleaning machine suspends the dirt in the fluid, then sucks the fluid away, taking the dissolved gunk with it and leaving the record dry and clean. This is the basic principle behind all vacuum-type record cleaners, whether they’re the string-and-nozzle type like the Keith Monks or the slot-and-tube type still made today by VPI, Nitty Gritty, and now a host of other companies.
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