Bowers & Wilkins DB3D Subwoofer $3,499 Review
March 21, 2024 Comments Off on Bowers & Wilkins DB3D Subwoofer $3,499 Review
https://www.soundandvision.com/content/bowers-wilkins-db3d-subwoofer-review
Flashback to 30 years ago, when I bought my first Bowers & Wilkins subwoofers—a pair of Acoustitune passive subs. From then onward, I have religiously checked out Coil’s track “Her Friends the Wolves” from the album Stolen and Contaminated Songs. When the track gets going — which takes a while — a dry, growling, “edge of the infrasonic threshold”-type bassline settles in. A lot of systems miss it altogether. The effortless rendering of the full bass palette of this classic track represents endgame-quality fidelity.
With music, one DB3D makes a great pairing for a 2.1 sub/sat system featuring a pair of the 705 S3 speakers. For even more impact, a pair of DB3Ds offer just the right amount of oomph when matched up with the 703 S3 towers I used for my two-channel music sessions
WOO AUDIO TUBE MINI $549 REVIEW
March 20, 2024 Comments Off on WOO AUDIO TUBE MINI $549 REVIEW
On the inside we next to the double tubes find Woo Audio’s Mighty-Drive technology. The result – according to Woo Audio – is the warm sound of vacuum tubes and the superpower of MOSFET amplification for an effortless sound that comes alive with full-sized headphones. There are three technologies working seamlessly in TUBE mini – a power management system for plug-and-play setup, a tube headphone amplifier, and a high-resolution lossless DAC; all in an impossibly small design.
Pro-Ject unveils Perspective Final Edition turntable
March 19, 2024 Comments Off on Pro-Ject unveils Perspective Final Edition turntable
https://www.hifichoice.com/content/pro-ject-unveils-perspective-final-edition-turntable
The new Perspective seeks to further develop its forebear’s stability, featuring a decoupled sub-chassis and three adjustable springs to prevent vibrations from reaching the needle and negatively impacting overall audio performance. Pro-Ject also rests the Perspective Final Edition on a trio of height-adjustable aluminium spikes designed to reduce the contact area and minimise vibration. In recognition of today’s user demands and advancements in Pro-Ject’s build techniques, this updated model additionally houses an electronic speed switch-controlled two-speed motor.
The Perspective Final Edition package includes a dust cover and Pro-Ject pre-fits a £365 Ortofon 2M Bronze cartridge to the 9in one-piece, carbon fibre tonearm. Buyers of the limited-edition Perspective Final Edition will also receive a personalised certificate of ownership and can contact Pro-Ject directly to request a personalised, serial-numbered plaque for their turntable.
JCAT Launches ULTIMO Power Supply Review
March 19, 2024 Comments Off on JCAT Launches ULTIMO Power Supply Review
Designed with the high-end audio system in mind, the ULTIMO is the ideal power solution for JCAT USB and network cards, the Master OCXO clock, as well as any other component requiring 5V or 12V PSU such as a network switch. Its advanced design ensures that these critical components receive the most stable and clean power, unlocking their full potential and delivering an audio experience that goes beyond hi-fi.
Avantgarde Acoustic UNO SD Hornspeaker $48,800 Review
March 18, 2024 Comments Off on Avantgarde Acoustic UNO SD Hornspeaker $48,800 Review
I’ve been reviewing high-end audio equipment for over 35 years and have been fortunate enough to hear many different types of speakers – large, small, dynamic, electrostatic, horned, bi-directional, omnidirectional… you name it. One of the luckiest I’ve ever felt was when reviewing the Avantgarde UNO SD speakers.
Yes, the Avantgarde UNO SDs are large, and they might not fit every room’s decor. Plus, one’s spouse or partner might need some convincing before these speakers become part of one’s system. But, if I were in the market for a new pair of speakers and could raise enough funds, I’d purchase the UNO SD (or a model higher up in Avantgarde’s line). I’d have no problem making the UNOI SD my new reference loudspeakers… that should say hornspeakers.
Schiit Audio Aegir 2 Review
March 18, 2024 Comments Off on Schiit Audio Aegir 2 Review
Overlapping with the Aegir review was our take on recent Atlantic and Rhino records 15th anniversary reissue of Jason Mraz’s We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things. The album offers up a diverse array of measuring sticks for auditory consumption, from slow acoustic rollers like the stripped down Lucky and I’m Yours to the full band funkiness of Butterfly. The latter particularly impressed me with its dynamic range and capabilities for start/stop sonic motion. The leading edge through the Aegirs was better than I had heard from any Schiit product to date, and coupled with a deep texture supplying ample heaps of measured sweetness, the setup matched my expectations for high end sonic retrieval at this price point and above.
STAX SR-L500 MK2 ELECTROSTATIC HEADPHONE $2,499 REVIEW
March 17, 2024 Comments Off on STAX SR-L500 MK2 ELECTROSTATIC HEADPHONE $2,499 REVIEW
The SRM-D10 11 is compact and quite portable. It is solid and heavy for its size. It must be magic that the engineers at STAX use to pack a small device with a battery, a high-quality DAC, and electronics that can produce enough voltage to drive any of the Pro versions of the STAX line of Earspeakers. The volume is full and loud at the 10 o’clock position on the dial. Turning the volume halfway was almost too loud. The quality of the audio produced by the DAC on this portable is detailed, warm, and lush. The soundstage and placement of instruments are wide and precise. If I was blindfolded and listened to this, I wouldn’t be able to tell you which unit it was. The run-time between charges is around 4.5 hours, I’ve been told, and you cannot use it while charging.
Richard Gray’s Power Company RGPC 1200 Custom $3000 Review
March 17, 2024 Comments Off on Richard Gray’s Power Company RGPC 1200 Custom $3000 Review
The rhythm section of Bill Evans’ piano, Paul Chambers’ upright acoustic bass plucks, and Jimmy Cobbs’ ride cymbal shimmers with life and sets the stage for what’s to come. Miles Davis’ understated trumpet takes over, front and center, in “So What.” With Cobbs keeping time on the left channel, and Evans on the right, it’s very organic and lifelike (Miles Davis, Kind of Blue. Vinyl. Columbia Records, August 17, 1959). John Coltrane’s saxophone solos next on the right, then Cannonball Adderley takes over on the left. With the Panamax, it sounds very good, but the imaging seems a touch tarnished by comparison—most notably on Miles’ trumpet solo. Like brass burnished with buffing compound, the RGPC 1200 adds a little polish, luster, and life to the listening session.
DIPTYQUE AUDIO 140 MARK II ISODYNAMIC LOUDSPEAKER $17,000 REVIEW
March 16, 2024 Comments Off on DIPTYQUE AUDIO 140 MARK II ISODYNAMIC LOUDSPEAKER $17,000 REVIEW
The presentation is Marcus Miller’s ‘Power,’ which is performed live. A toe-tapping bass track leads to lots of percussion, more guitar, and lots of brass. It’s a massive sound and requires a lot of effort for any speaker to handle all these instruments with credibility. Once again, the 140s were more than up to the task. It was in this song that another notable trait emerged. These speakers are so clear and so distortion-free, that adding to the equation their lightning-fast reflexes, one might think it isn’t loud. My wife stopped in the listening room and started to talk. It was at that moment that it became clear these speakers have a lot of capacity for SPL. I could not hear her voice at all.
HIFIMAN AUDIVINA HEADPHONE $1,999 REVIEW
March 16, 2024 Comments Off on HIFIMAN AUDIVINA HEADPHONE $1,999 REVIEW
Compared to other closed-back planar headphones that I have on hand like the Dan Clark Audio Aeon 2 Noire, the Stealth, and the Meze Lyric, the HIFIMAN Audivina headphones paint a more expansive sonic picture. Not quite as diffuse (which may not be the best word) as a proper open-back set of headphones, but noticeably bigger than closed. The closed-back headphones I mentioned above are some of my favorites of the breed and don’t sound overly closed-in by any means, but with each one of them, I can tell that there is a rough spatial limit to how big or wide the music gets when I listen. It’s not something that became readily apparent until I compared each of them directly with the Audivina, which exceeds all of them on that one characteristic. If you are a classical music lover, I think you will be particularly impressed with how the Audivina headphones reproduce everything from a smaller chamber ensemble to a full-on orchestra. The added dimension that these headphones imbue on the music makes it seem more like you are listening to good, capable speakers as opposed to headphones.
Audiophilepure 
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