AudioQuest Dragon Interconnect $9500 Review
October 29, 2022 Comments Off on AudioQuest Dragon Interconnect $9500 Review
Last, and certainly not least, Dragon’s treble was simply stunning in its combination of openness and resolution on one hand, and smoothness and refinement on the other. One of my “go-to” evaluation tracks is “Ain’t Misbehavin’” performed by Bob James on the trio album Espresso (one of the best-sounding piano trio recordings I know of). On the intricate and subtle ride-cymbal work at the beginning of the bass solo, I heard a newfound delicacy, richness of detail, and treble purity. The treble was exquisitely detailed and finely filigreed, with no hint of hardness. The combination of high resolution and textural smoothness was extremely compelling, and greatly contributed to the musical involvement and overall ease of the presentation. If you audition Dragon, listen to how sibilance is less intrusive on an album like Diana Krall’s Turn Up the Quiet. The sibilance is still there, but it doesn’t have objectionable “ssss” component. This very fine resolution of treble detail was also apparent on “Beckus the Dandipratt” from The Arnold Overtures (Reference Recordings 176/24), particularly during a passage in which an unaccompanied snare drum is played at a barely perceptible volume. After installing Dragon, I could more clearly hear the inner detail and texture of the drum despite the vanishingly low signal level.
Technics SA-C600 $999 Review
October 29, 2022 Comments Off on Technics SA-C600 $999 Review
https://www.whathifi.com/reviews/technics-sa-c600
Mahler’s Symphony No.10 is a dense and demanding piece of classical music. The Technics does well, though to be fair if you’re after the last word in insight a well-chosen combination of separates will do better. Regardless, the SA-C600 captures the feel of the music convincingly, delivering a combination of drama and fluidity that grabs a firm hold of our attention. A claimed power output of 30 watts per channel (into 8 ohms) is pretty modest, but the SA-C600 exceeds expectations by sounding surprisingly authoritative and suitably large-scale.
The digital inputs maintain this high standard, provided the source is of the requisite quality, of course. It’s only when we feed a signal through the single line-level analogue input do we feel a tinge of disappointment, as it sounds a little more opaque and dynamically constrained than we’d hoped for. Oddly, the onboard moving magnet phono stage doesn’t exhibit these traits to any serious extent and sounds way better than is the norm from such built-in circuits. This phono stage is good enough for most price-compatible turntables, which is an unexpected but thoroughly pleasant surprise.
Triangle Antal 40th Anniversary Edition loudspeaker Review
October 28, 2022 Comments Off on Triangle Antal 40th Anniversary Edition loudspeaker Review
https://www.stereophile.com/content/triangle-antal-40th-anniversary-edition-loudspeaker
Every Triangle speaker, from the cheapest to the most expensive, is designed at the company’s workshop in Soissons, France; most are built there. Why not Asia? “That’s a loaded topic,” Decelle said. “But we decided to continue to build our speakers in France. We even repatriated some of our other building projects. There are two reasons for that. Building locally gives us a level of quality we can’t get offshore. In France, we have speaker builders that have been with us for over 30 years. It’s their career choice. They know what the quality of every piece should be, and they have access to state-of-the-art quality-control facilities. It’s they who determine if our speakers meet our standards acoustically and cosmetically before they leave the plant.
Music Hall mmf-1.3 turntable $350 Review
October 26, 2022 Comments Off on Music Hall mmf-1.3 turntable $350 Review
I mentioned that Music Hall was started back in 1985. The fact that they are still around with a complete line of turntables and accessories tells you something about the dedication of Roy Hall, the president of Music Hall, to continuously improve their line of offerings. Music Hall and their authorized dealers continue to provide you with outstanding customer service.
Even though this turntable is a simple plug and play unit with everything ready to go, I still recommend purchasing it from your local authorized dealer. It is nice to have hands-on advice in case you have questions about setting up the turntable. You still need to set the tracking force. Your dealer can also be a great resource if or when you need to replace or upgrade the phono cartridge. The prices are the same and this ensures that, if you have any problems, they can be addressed right away. There are Music Hall authorized dealers all over the United States, so it is not necessary for most consumers to purchase this product online.
Engström ARNE Tube Amplifier Review
October 26, 2022 Comments Off on Engström ARNE Tube Amplifier Review
https://www.hifinews.com/content/engstr%C3%B6m-arne-tube-amplifier
Ahead of those 300B power tubes, used in push/pull configuration, is a quartet of D3a driver/ phase-splitter triodes – again two for each channel – which are direct-coupled to the power section. The designer explains that ‘the driver stage has a symmetrical ± power supply so the DC level on the output of the driver is zero, making it possible to connect the driver stages directly to the grids of the power tubes which have individual cathode bias’.
The intent of this design, which is entirely in-house Engström thinking, is aimed at extending headroom and reducing distortion without compromising transient performance. Quite apart from the impressive output for a 300B amplifier of this kind, the ARNE promises real speaker-driving capability, without the need to seek out ultra-high-sensitivity ‘made for valves’ loudspeakers to make the most of usually tiny – often single-digit – power outputs. This is a world away from the ‘purist’, though not necessarily ‘pure’, single-ended single-300B amp
Icon Audio LA4 MKIII Signature Preamplifier $3295 Review
October 25, 2022 Comments Off on Icon Audio LA4 MKIII Signature Preamplifier $3295 Review
https://www.audiophilia.com/reviews/2022/8/20/icon-audio-la4-mkiii-preamplifier
The same for streaming. I have lots to say about streaming quality in upcoming reviews. But, when streaming thickly scored Brahms symphonies or the astringent scoring on Steely Dan’s Gaucho, the LA4 did the music proud. If system basics are in place in your well-balanced system and appropriately sized room, you won’t be wanting for more. There is an admirable separation of instruments, even on 1960s CD-quality classical recordings. Voices sound very beautiful—Elizabeth Schwarzkopf singing Strauss songs, for example. Because of the LA4’s clarity, the orchestral accompaniment was laid out perfectly with Schwarzkopf’s soaring soprano above the orchestra, her exquisite voice intact and more importantly, in place, even at a loud volume.
AudioQuest DragonFly Cobalt Review
October 25, 2022 Comments Off on AudioQuest DragonFly Cobalt Review
https://www.hifichoice.com/content/audioquest-dragonfly-cobalt
The DragonFly Cobalt might at first appear to be an odd addition to the range on paper, and if you need support for very hi-res PCM and DSD you will need to look elsewhere. In more real-world terms, though, this is a fantastic DAC that elevates the go-anywhere, work-anywhere abilities that the more affordable models do so well, providing an extra level of performance
Sennheiser Momentum 4 Wireless $349 Review
October 24, 2022 Comments Off on Sennheiser Momentum 4 Wireless $349 Review
https://www.whathifi.com/reviews/sennheiser-momentum-4-wireless
Play Waxahatchee’s Oxbow and immediately the cymbals crash over the top of the rightfully booming drum beat and scatty electronica with impact and purpose. As the song settles into its piano- and vocal-led melody, everything in the mix is explicit and precise in a soundstage that’s nicely layered and spacious, never feeling cramped or one-dimensional. There’s a nice feel and flow to the song as, being about the writer Katie Crutchfield finding sobriety, it musically treads a fine line between wistfulness and optimism. We only have to let the next track seep into our ears to be sure of the Sennheisers’ musical talent, which fervently laps up the boppy, country-infused instrumentation.
The Sony XM5 are comparatively richer, with a more prominent bass, though their added midrange clarity and transparency is what really pulls them away from the Sennheisers (and other competition at this level) and justifies their greater expense. The gap isn’t huge exactly, but the Sony’s detail-on-tap does make an instrumentally dense and texturally diverse piece like Oneohtrix Point Never’s Long Road Home unarguably more compelling, and is able to tug on the heartstrings a little harder when playing an intimate track like Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds’ grief-laden Girl In Amber. The Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S2’s analytical nature surfaces subtleties in similar class-leading fashion, but the livelier Sennheisers reply with greater get up and go.
2022 Golden Ear: Metaxas & Sins Tourbillon T-RX Reel-to-Reel Tape Deck
October 24, 2022 Comments Off on 2022 Golden Ear: Metaxas & Sins Tourbillon T-RX Reel-to-Reel Tape Deck
Over and above its astonishingly “cool” looks, the Tourbillon T-RX is a sonic wonder. I’ve heard a lot of tape decks over the years—from huge studio Ampexes and Studers to smaller-scale gems made by Nagra, ReVox, Otari, etc. I’ve also heard just about every iteration of Greg Beron’s marvelous United Home Audio Tascams, and (except for Greg’s latest, ultra-expensive SuperDeck), not a one of them outdoes the Tourbillon. It is the very quintessence of neutrality and completeness—those twin household audio gods that make ersatz sound like real.
Alongside the UHA SuperDeck, the Metaxas Tourbillon T-RX is the highest fidelity audio component I’ve auditioned, consistently making the musicians on well-recorded tapes into near-visible presences and music sound as you hear it in life. Like my other Golden Ears, the Metaxas & Sins Tourbillon T-RX will also be a nominee for TAS’ annual Product of the Year Awards—and this one would be a Product of the Year in any decade, past or present.
Shunyata Research Sigma V2 Cables $4000/1m Review
October 23, 2022 Comments Off on Shunyata Research Sigma V2 Cables $4000/1m Review
Shunyata has really improved its signal cables with the new v2. The performance advances in both the Sigma v2 interconnect and speaker cable over the already-very-good v1 are substantial, especially in areas such as overall resolution, dynamic agility, and soundstaging and imaging. The sonic improvements wrought by the Sigma v2 cables in my system are closer to what one would expect from a major electronics upgrade, rather than from new cables alone.
Building upon the original Sigma’s technologies and construction, Caelin Gabriel and his team at Shunyata have brought to market some truly fine signal cables that, while fairly expensive, are not priced anywhere near the upper end of the market. I highly recommend Sigma v2 cables, even if you can afford the more expensive stuff.
Audiophilepure 
You must be logged in to post a comment.