Fink Team KIM Standmount Loudspeaker Review
January 1, 2022 Comments Off on Fink Team KIM Standmount Loudspeaker Review
https://www.stereonet.com/au/reviews/fink-team-kim-standmount-loudspeaker-review
Karl-Heinz then tried using a higher resistance inductor and another resistor in series to change the speaker’s alignment even more. “We can switch between 0.5 ohm, 0.25 ohm, and nothing, so this can be used to tailor your speaker to different amplifier technologies. A modern transistor amp has a high damping factor, so you use the larger resistor setting, while more traditional amplifiers like Naim normally use a smaller resistor in series, so the middle position is correct. And the left option is for tube amps; this works well with push-pull designs and helps with the bass.”
I found the KIM to be unusually easy to position in my room. Standing about 30cm out from the boundary wall on its 6mm carpet-piercing spikes doing their thing, it integrated very well and didn’t boom in the bass unduly. I alternated between the high damping factor and middle positions as I switched between my Rotel Michi X-5 and Exposure 3510 amplifiers, fed from a Chord Electronics Hugo TT2 DAC.
AGD Tempo di GaN Stereo Amplifier $5500 Review
January 1, 2022 Comments Off on AGD Tempo di GaN Stereo Amplifier $5500 Review
http://www.enjoythemusic.com/magazine/equipment/1221/AGD_Tempo_di_GaN_Stereo_Amplifier_Review.htm
Actually, the name is “Tempo di GaN” so the “GaN” is easily identified as the Gallium Nitride FETs that are used in the amp. And yes, “di” is “of”. The duality comes into play with “Tempo” which in one sense is the rhythm of music or “rhythm of GaN” which is noticeably faster than with MOSFET transistors. The rise time or attack of the recorded music seems the same as the real-time in which it was performed. The music happens “right now!” And it happens without audible overshoot or irritation. It gives the music an immediacy and presence unlike MOSFETs or tube amplification. And a sense of dynamics that are not “off the charts” but pretty much “define the charts.”
All of which is to say that the proper execution of GaNFET technology is a very significant step toward experiencing recorded music as “live.” It doesn’t give us everything we need (yet?), but it seems to have conquered issues around pace, rhythm, and timing just as computer-regulated speed control has done for analog turntables and digital front ends. Resolution is as sharp as electrostatic speakers give us in the midrange and treble, and stays just as sharp into the low bass.
If you get the sense that I’m telling you GaNFET transistors are a game-changer, you’ve stumbled onto the second half of Alberto’s double entendre. “Tempo” is also “time” and yes, this is the era of GaNFET technology — not only for high-end audio, but other fields as well. There will always be lovers of tube technology, just as there are still lovers of sailboats, but if you are in the solid-state camp, either as a manufacturer or a listener, you need to be listening with GaNFETs.
Jadis Diapason Luxe Integrated Amplifier Review
December 31, 2021 Comments Off on Jadis Diapason Luxe Integrated Amplifier Review
https://www.hifinews.com/content/jadis-diapason-luxe-integrated-amplifier
The result is something that sounds especially inviting, appealing and beguiling – far more so than you’d expect from most similarly priced solid-state designs. The Diapason Luxe goes about reproducing music in a completely different way to most mainstream amplifiers, one that’s strongly appealing to a certain type of listener and/or music fan. On the other hand, it has conspicuous limitations that mean it is not for all. Perplexingly however, it often makes the listener forget these, to the extent that even ardent valve critics may be left grumpily admitting that it sounds ‘rather gorgeous’.
Meze Audio Liric Review
December 31, 2021 Comments Off on Meze Audio Liric Review
https://www.whathifi.com/us/reviews/meze-audio-liric
These headphones improve quite a lot during the first few days of use. Our initial impressions were of a detailed but tonally bland presentation that offered little in the way of expression. Given time, though, things get more interesting, with large gains in articulation and finesse.
Once settled, these headphones sound impressively clean and clear. They have a wonderfully agile presentation that responds to changes in the signal effortlessly. We start with Nick Cave and Warren Ellis’s Carnage set and the Liric deliver Cave’s trademark gravelly tones with all the presence and grit they deserve. These headphones communicate the nuances superbly, leaving the listener in little doubt as to what the intended emotional impact of the music is meant to be. There’s a lovely consistency from the expressive midrange frequencies upwards, and a pleasing degree of focus to the sound. The lows are almost as good, but sound a little soft-edged in relative terms.
Acoustic Signature Montana NEO turntable $30,995 Review
December 30, 2021 Comments Off on Acoustic Signature Montana NEO turntable $30,995 Review
https://www.stereophile.com/content/acoustic-signature-montana-neo-turntable
With the Etna, I heard more of the small, wide, not-particularly-deep West Hollywood 500 seater—I played there once!—than I heard through the A95. King and Taylor were reproduced with more three-dimensionality and solidity. The Etna put me in the first few rows in front of the stage. The comparison demonstrated that the Montana’s designers met their goal of producing a neutral, well-damped cartridge-carrier that lets through varied transducer personalities without limiting them in any way.
Conclusion
Though the arm/’table combo will set you back nearly $50,000, my experience was that every time I put a record on the platter, pressed “on”—even the push buttons delivered precise authority—and lowered the stylus into the lead-in groove, I had no doubt about where the money went, especially because, having set up the turntable myself, I hear the ‘table’s well-hidden, ingeniously designed, skillfully executed guts in every play.
MEZE AUDIO LIRIC REVIEW
December 28, 2021 Comments Off on MEZE AUDIO LIRIC REVIEW
Switching to the Elite from the Liric is a bigger shock. The Elite is the more neutral, fast and energetic brother of the Empyrean and as such the difference with the Liric is quite big. The Elite here is far more neutral and precise with a much higher level of technicalities. It has a much lower amount of bass, and lighter body overall. The Elite sounds wider as well and logically more open. The Liric is softer in delivery and that’s mostly audible in the mids, vocals and lower treble. Bass in the Liric has better sub rumble but both reach down very low. Vocals in the Elite are also more to the front like in the Liric, but they are thicker in the open back Elite. The Elite has a higher level of refinement and the micro details and note extension is better. Same goes for the clarity. As you can see the difference between the Elite and the Liric are more important than with the Empyrean, but hats only normal.
Vimberg Tonda D Review
December 27, 2021 Comments Off on Vimberg Tonda D Review
General impressions of the Tonda D show the speakers to have notably excellent imaging, resolution, detail retrieval, transient behavior, dynamic contrasts, and undiminished energy as one goes higher in the frequency range. The sound is smack dab in the middle area of balanced playback, with an ever-so-slight tilt towards the cool side of neutral in my particular setup. Much of that ever-so-slight tilt can be attributed to my personal preference for a smidge more lower midrange fullness, and because my listening room refuses to overload with bass (a good thing, IMO), where a smaller and more enclosed space would fill that particular cup a bit more completely. None of these preferences detracted from my enjoyment of the Tonda Ds’ excellent performance during their time here.
Audes ST3000 Review
December 27, 2021 Comments Off on Audes ST3000 Review
https://stereo-magazine.com/review/audes-st3000-review
In addition, the Audes developers have decided to balance (or symmetrize) the mains voltage. That means that, instead of 230 volts between both “poles” (phase and neutral) or between the phase (outer conductor) and the protective conductor, they have realized 115 volts each between the two poles and the protective conductor. Of course, that still means that there are 230 volts between both “poles”. To illustrate this, imagine it on an electrical socket on your wall. The secondary winding is thus divided into two halves, which have an (artificial) center tap that is connected to the ground contacts. This is also the place to which all interferences are diverted. That‘s all, but the effect is enormous.
Chord Electronics unveils Anni
December 26, 2021 Comments Off on Chord Electronics unveils Anni
https://www.hifichoice.com/content/chord-electronics-unveils-anni
It benefits from both 3.5mm and 6.35mm headphone outputs, so two can listen simultaneously, plus 4mm banana-type loudspeaker outputs and it claims to deliver 10W of Ultima amplification, controlled by a fascia-mounted volume control that also doubles as an input selector switch for Anni’s two line-level inputs. A two-stage gain control for loudspeakers provides additional flexibility with a wide range of desktop monitors.
Anni comes in the CNC-machined high-grade aluminium casework that’s common to all Chord products with the company’s trademark polychromatic control spheres governing the power and gain controls and complementing the fascia-mounted volume control/input selector.
Anni is powered by a 15V external power supply and benefits from a 12V DC output, capable of powering the Qutest DAC and Huei phono stage when used with the new Qutest range power adapter (supplied).
Available to buy now for £1,200, and on test in the January 2022 issue of HFC, you can find out more about Anni here.
Audiophilepure 
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