Audeze LCD-5 headphones Review
December 9, 2023 Comments Off on Audeze LCD-5 headphones Review
https://www.stereophile.com/content/audeze-lcd-5-headphones
When it comes to headphones, I’m not an easy fit. Most headphones need to be set to the smallest/tightest setting to stay securely on my noggin. The LCD-5 fit my head and ears with what felt like a very good seal with a couple of notches left over.
One final, well-conceived detail: The cable-connection sockets are positioned farther back on the ear cups than on many other headphones, which helps keep the cables out of the way—farther from your hands and out of your face. The cable’s “Goldilocks” length worked well for me: long enough to let me roll a comfy office chair around, but not so long that the cable dragged on the floor or found its way under the chair wheels in the studio at the radio station.
PSB IMAGINE T54 TOWER SPEAKER $1,499 REVIEW
December 8, 2023 Comments Off on PSB IMAGINE T54 TOWER SPEAKER $1,499 REVIEW
These are well-engineered speakers, but buyers will need to do a bit of room matching and think about augmenting them with a sub. If being used for home theater duty, I think a sub would be a requirement. For more casual listening the speakers will perform well. Their frequency response, dynamic range, clean undistorted audio, and imaging skills are something I don’t always find in similar speakers. A lot of thought obviously went into the design and manufacture of the PSB T54 speakers.
Although the T54 doesn’t reach as deeply as some other speakers I’ve heard at the $1499 price, I haven’t heard other speakers do so many other things as right as the T54 speakers. Since the deepest low end (if you want it) can be solved with a good subwoofer, I think the T54 speakers represent a solid and competitive value. If you’re not considering using them for home theater, and you have a good match for a room, I have high praise for these speakers.
FIIO K11 $129 REVIEW
December 8, 2023 Comments Off on FIIO K11 $129 REVIEW
Flipping the K11 reveals a well-thought-out back panel for the price, housing a variety of inputs and outputs, including USB, optical, and coaxial, alongside 4.4mm, 6.35mm, and RCA jacks. This assortment of connections makes K11 ready to pair with a broad array of sources, from consoles to phones and computers. The details extend to practical considerations as well; the big and wide silicone anti-slip pad ensures the device stays firmly in place, while the adjustable RGB logo lighting on the top adds a customizable visual appeal or can be configured to provide visual feedback on the audio format being played.
Emotiva BasX TA2 Integrated Amplifier Review
December 7, 2023 Comments Off on Emotiva BasX TA2 Integrated Amplifier Review
https://www.hifinews.com/content/emotiva-basx-ta2-integrated-amplifier
The initial impression of the BasX TA2 being a more muscular version of the TA1 is reinforced by its milled aluminium front panel, as except for some extra real estate, the two are identical. Above the central power on/off button is a thin black strip containing a VFD display, plus input selection buttons and a 3.5mm headphone socket. On the right is a volume rotary, backlit blue to match the VFD illumination.
It looks rather spartan, but the volume knob doubles as a push/twist controller for delving into the BasX TA2’s menus, and here there’s a fair amount of tweaking to uncover. For example, Emotiva provides treble, bass and balance controls, as well as the option of setting the brightness of the VFD illumination, all the way down to off. You can also use the menus to autotune or seek FM radio stations and save them to the amp’s 15 memory slots.
YG Acoustics Hailey 3 $63,400 Review
December 5, 2023 Comments Off on YG Acoustics Hailey 3 $63,400 Review
Great as everything else is, these speakers are equally smooth throughout the frequency spectrum. Those of you that enjoy this aspect of single driver or panel speakers will appreciate how well the three drivers in the Hailey’s work together. No matter how loud or soft the Haleys are played, they deliver the electrical impulses presented to them with one voice.
If you really want to blast the system, you will need more than 15 watts per channel, and though the Haileys reveal a lot at low volume, they are glorious when being played loud. Whether you’re listening to Deep Purple’s Made in Japan, The 1812 Overture, or grooving on some Slowdive, these speakers will take you anywhere you want to go.
Ironically when YG hit the market 21 years ago, under their original ownership they claimed to be the “world’s greatest loudspeaker.” While I can’t make that claim about any one loudspeaker, I’d certainly say that today, YG is in that small top tier of the world’s finest speakers without hesitation.
FIIO FT5 REVIEW
December 4, 2023 Comments Off on FIIO FT5 REVIEW
The design of the new FiiO headphones is industrial, like the FT3, but it is understated and restrained. The full black aluminium design is classier and more premium-looking than the FT3, and the earcups look more original and authentic. FiiO has used a fan blade design for the earcups, which didn’t look nice on the FT3 but looks better on the FT5 in my opinion.
The build quality is strong, with no plastic parts on the FT5, which feels excellent. The earcups, grills, headband, and yokes are all aluminium and look and feel extra durable. The inner side of the headband and the suede earpads have a very soft and high-quality finish as well. Overall, this is a fantastic build quality for a $449 headphone.
HIFIMAN ARYA ORGANIC HEADPHONES $1299 REVIEW
December 3, 2023 Comments Off on HIFIMAN ARYA ORGANIC HEADPHONES $1299 REVIEW
Dr. Fang Bian, the founder and president of HIFIMAN continues to innovate and refine his products. As new technologies are developed, often those features will be added to current models of headphones, pushing them closer to the ideal sound signature each model is known for. Behind every brand of headphones, there is a personality that shapes what we are hearing. In the case of Dr. Bian, he found inspiration in visiting various concert halls and noting the unique characteristics of each one. Somehow that seems fitting for the spacious airy soundstage the HIFIMAN sound is known for. The Arya Organics with the addition of the Nanometer Thickness Diaphragm, have taken the Arya line up to another level while amazingly lowering the price from the previous generation. They embody the best qualities of planar magnetic drivers, and for me, personally, they are an astonishing evolution from my 8-year-old HE400S headphones.
PS Audio PowerPlant 15 Review
December 2, 2023 Comments Off on PS Audio PowerPlant 15 Review
Years later, TV manufacturers would incorporate automatic degauss coils in TV’s surrounding the CRT, thus negating the need for a TV installer, and allowing TV’s to be moved at will. Turn on a CRT TV or computer monitor and you’ll hear the distinctive high-pitched ‘whine’ for a few seconds while the TV powers on. That’s the built-in degauss coil at work. High-end CRT computer monitors even had a dedicated degauss button that would provide a degauss cycle without needing to power cycle the monitor. Ah, the good old days.
Ok, what does that have to do with audio? Plenty. Any metal item picks up transient magnetic fields when exposed to other magnetic fields. We’ve all rubbed a magnet against a paper clip and then used that newly magnetized paper clip to pick up other paper clips. Same thing happens in cables (except for the paper clip part…). The PowerPlant has a feature that is designed to remove transient magnetic fields from connected cables and power supplies via the CleanWave function. It’s a simple process that can be activated by a single press of a button on the remote. When activated, the PowerPlant will add a series very high frequencies to the main sine wave and will act as a degauss tool. The process runs for a few seconds and can be extended for longer intervals if desired.
LampizatOr Horizon DAC Review $49,000 World Premiere
December 2, 2023 Comments Off on LampizatOr Horizon DAC Review $49,000 World Premiere
https://www.enjoythemusic.com/superioraudio/equipment/0723/LampizatOr_Horizon_DAC_Review.htm
One of the first attributes that stood out for me was how extremely well this DAC portrays dynamic contrasts and their prodigious modulations. One of my near-consistent disappointments with the performance of many other well-thought-of DACs is how they tend to compress or foreshorten the gamut and fluency of rather large dynamic contrasts in music, ranging from the blaring cacophony at the opening of Prokofiev’s “Scythian Suite,” to things as viscerally startling as the opening of Pink Floyd’s “In the Flesh?” from The Wall, or the bomb detonation near the conclusion of “Late Home Tonight, Pt. 1,” from Roger Waters magnum opus Amused to Death. While I will acknowledge that that are many lesser systems that are otherwise unable to recreate some of these dynamic contrasts faithfully, in a system like mine, or any that would befit the installation of the world-class Horizon, it allows that extraordinary level of transmission and expansive energy to flow with an unmatched might, ease, and authority.
Audiophilepure 
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