Amphion Argon7LS Loudspeaker $7000 Review
June 15, 2024 Comments Off on Amphion Argon7LS Loudspeaker $7000 Review
https://www.soundstagehifi.com/index.php/equipment-reviews/1862-amphion-argon7ls-loudspeaker
Unsurprisingly, given the difference in size and driver complement between the two models, the Argon7LS floorstanders could play far louder and far deeper than the MG-10 minimonitors. When the Esoteric speakers were asked to play loudly, they didn’t misbehave in any egregious way, but they did compress the signal and, more problematically, shifted the frequency balance toward the treble. The Amphions simply got louder.
The MG-10 has average bass depth for a speaker of its size, but I’ve always been impressed with the cleanliness and articulation of that bass. When driven by the NAD, however, the Amphions matched the Esoterics in bass articulation and thoroughly trounced them in both depth and impact. Bass performance was closer when driven by the Graaf, with the Argon7LS speakers still leading on depth and impact, but slightly trailing the MG-10s on articulation. When driving the speakers with either amplifier, however, the MG-10s rendered Christian McBride’s bass on “Armando’s Rhumba” with a little more tonal specificity. Both speaker models energize the same bass modes in my room—that’s just physics—but the significantly greater bass capabilities of the Amphions meant they benefited more from equalization; the Esoterics simply can’t overload a room with bass.
Audiovector R 3 Arreté loudspeaker Review
June 14, 2024 Comments Off on Audiovector R 3 Arreté loudspeaker Review
https://www.stereophile.com/content/audiovector-r-3-arret%C3%A9-loudspeaker
Despite the similarities, the R 8 and R 3 Arretés are very different speakers. Start with the fact that the R 8 Arreté is much larger, has several additional drivers, and weighs three times as much. The R 8 is a complex speaker, which, as I wrote in my review, “sends energy out into the air via no fewer than nine sound-radiating openings, only four of them—the three midwoofers and the tweeter—firing forward. The others are the down-firing woofer (which radiates through those base slots to the back and sides), the rear-firing midrange driver (diffracted through those five horizontal grooves), the vent that allows the tweeter’s back wave to emerge from the rear, and the two aforementioned ports.” That’s a lot for a designer to integrate, though with the R 8, Ole did a superb job: As I wrote in the review, “what I heard from the R 8s was anything but complicated: It was pure and coherent and easily grasped.”
FiiO’s SR11 Desktop Streamer $99
June 13, 2024 Comments Off on FiiO’s SR11 Desktop Streamer $99
What we like about the SR11 is the promise of better sound quality than any smart phone connected wirelessly to your home system for under $100. FiiO has proven to be very good at developing affordable products that deliver a lot of performance for less and the SR11 could be a cost-effective way to add hi-res streaming to a soundbar, pair of active loudspeakers, and secondary system in an office or bedroom.
Qln Signature Loudspeakers $24,000 Review
June 13, 2024 Comments Off on Qln Signature Loudspeakers $24,000 Review
No, these speakers are about balance and blend. They disappear into the fabric of the music without drawing attention to themselves. For chamber music, jazz, piano, soloist, and small ensemble music, these speakers really are hard to beat. The Qln Signature 5 loudspeakers shine best when listening to music where clarity and preciseness are the order of the day. I find myself going back to jazz and “crooner” standards and falling in love all over again with these recordings. Some of my stand-out favorites with these speakers are the jazz/blues 5-piece combo albums featuring Itzhak Perlman on violin and André Previn on pianos on A Different Kind Of Blues, and It’s A Breeze.
T+A PSD 3100 HV Streaming DAC/ £14,900 Review
June 12, 2024 Comments Off on T+A PSD 3100 HV Streaming DAC/ £14,900 Review
https://www.hifinews.com/content/ta-psd-3100-hv-streaming-dacpreamp
On the other hand, I couldn’t choose between the PSD 3100 HV’s two DSD filters when listening to Christian Grøvlen’s recital of Bach’s ‘Chromatic Fantasia And Fugue… BWV 903’ [2L; DSD256]. Frankly, the performance here was so compelling that I was reluctant to interrupt it by picking up my smartphone… The rise and decay of the piano notes, the speed of Grøvlen’s finger-work, and the sense of the recording environment were all confidently delivered by T+A’s bespoke DAC.
This element of its performance – thrillingly revealing but not clinically so – is where the PSD 3100 HV partly earns its crust over more affordable competitors. There’s also that volume control. A minor point in the grand scheme of things, but I absolutely loved this preamp’s ability to find just the level I was looking for. Playing The Band’s ‘Up On Cripple Creek’ from their eponymous 1969 album [Capitol Records; 192kHz/24-bit], the smooth, lush tone begged a higher and higher volume, whereas with Megadeth’s ‘Tornado Of Souls’ [Rust In Peace, Capitol Records; 192kHz/24-bit], the PSD 3100 HV let me avoid the moment where the track’s serrated guitars and mediocre production usually start to bother B&W’s tweeters.
Triangle Borea BR08 Review
June 12, 2024 Comments Off on Triangle Borea BR08 Review
https://www.hifichoice.com/content/triangle-borea-br08
No less importantly, it demonstrates that the Triangle is usefully sensitive as the 50W of the Brio is more than enough to drive it to any level you might want to achieve in a normal room. The rest of testing takes place on the considerably more powerful (and expensive) Cambridge Audio Edge A, which delivers some commensurate gains to the performance, but the fundamental positive qualities of the Triangle remain unchanged throughout.
You can take this to mean that the BR08 won’t necessarily elevate every single system it’s connected to but a rather more positive view would be to see this as a fine speaker to upgrade a relatively affordable existing system.
Final Audio Reveals New D7000 Planar-Magnetic Headphones $3499 Review
June 12, 2024 Comments Off on Final Audio Reveals New D7000 Planar-Magnetic Headphones $3499 Review
The D7000 is designed to strike a balance between the detailed highs of planar-magnetic drivers and the dynamic lows typically found in other headphone types. Listeners should expect clear vocals, nuanced strings, and a smooth overall sound. Constructed from lightweight aluminum-magnesium alloy, the D7000 offers both durability and an aesthetically pleasing design.
SPL Phonitor SE $1199 Review
June 10, 2024 Comments Off on SPL Phonitor SE $1199 Review
https://www.whathifi.com/reviews/spl-phonitor-se
As the Mahler symphony builds we note the pleasing sense of space in the Phonitor’s presentation and its ability to avoid sounding cluttered. It helps that details are crisply rendered with little in the way of blur or vagueness when it comes to defining the leading edges of notes. This is particularly praiseworthy at low frequencies where the SPL delivers exceptional grip without sacrificing tunefulness.
That same bass quality works wonderfully with Massive Attack’s Heligoland set. Here, the SPL headphone amp delivers bass with considerable conviction, thumping it out with punch and power. Move up the frequency range and you will find that the midrange is crisp and clean while retaining the natural warmth of vocals. We are pleased to report that the Phonitor SE is the kind of product that you can listen to for hours on end without issue. For all its insight and resolution, it avoids sounding hard-edged and sterile. Feed it a poor or aggressive recording, we used Bruce Springsteen’s heartfelt Terry’s Song, and the SPL refuses to make a meal of things. It is highly revealing of the recording’s shortcomings but never goes out of its way to be rude.
Mola Mola Lupe irresistible vinyl amplification Review
June 10, 2024 Comments Off on Mola Mola Lupe irresistible vinyl amplification Review
Other musical selections Philip played demonstrated again the T66’s balanced sound and ability to reveal details. The sonic characteristics that Philip discerned in the T66 were also revealed in our measurements. The on- and off-axis frequency-response plots, from the bass through to the treble, are quite flat and consistent, which corresponds to that evenhandedness Philip heard—a neutral sound, in other words. The level of distortion the T66 induces across much of the audioband is laudably low even at a high output level (90dB, in our testing, at a distance of two meters under strict anechoic conditions, which is equivalent to more than 96dB at one meter in a room).
Comparing the T66 with his own reference loudspeakers, the Monitor Audio Gold 300 5G floorstanders ($9500/pair), which are also a three-way design with an AMT tweeter, Philip found that apart from their markedly different appearance, the two pairs had quite a different sound. Listening to “Hold On,” from the CD release of Tom Waits’s album Mule Variations, he noticed that the GoldenEar pair “delivered more weight from the upright bass, and their fuller, warmer demeanor made [the song] sound bigger.” But, as clean as the T66s were, the Gold 300s were a touch more revealing. Waits’s baritone is the focal point of his recordings. It is rough and well worn, and the Gold 300s better exposed its full hoarseness, delivering it “like a coarser-grit sandpaper,” Philip writes.
Still, the T66 and Gold 300 had a lot in common, which is unexpected given how different they look. In fact, listening to Tori Amos’s “Caught a Lite Sneeze,” from her Boys for Pele, on CD, Philip found the two pairs “incredibly similar” tonally, both being so well-balanced. “Where they differed was in the scale of presentation, which is where the GoldenEars distinguished themselves,” he writes. “This was particularly evident with the percussion, and was apparent from the opening drum sounds, which were more propulsive and powerful through the T66 speakers. They imparted a sense of impact that the Monitor Audios were unable to equal.” Philip’s main takeaway from this comparison is that the T66 offers a better value: “for $2300 less, the pair of T66s came close to matching the resolution of the Gold 300s, while producing far more bass.”
HiFi Rose RS150 Review
June 9, 2024 Comments Off on HiFi Rose RS150 Review
https://www.hifichoice.com/content/hifi-rose-rs150
So much more than just a beautifully designed component showing others the way to go, the RS150 back ups the stunning aesthetics with a performance to match. Regardless of whether it’s employed as a player or DAC the supreme levels of richness and detail not only make the slight softness on some material easier to over look, but also underline this as a supreme debut. We enthusiastically look forward to hearing what else the South Korean brand has up its sleeve in the future.
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