Auris Audio Headonia 300B Review
October 15, 2025 Comments Off on Auris Audio Headonia 300B Review
If you fancy air shipping this crate, then you might be in for a nasty surprise at the price. I had mine sent via sea, and it took about 2.5 months to go around the Cape Point from the UK to Singapore, and then Manila, and then finally to our remote island.
If you think sea cargo is a risk for such an expensive item, then you should have no fears, as it arrived in perfect condition. Auris did an excellent job in packaging the amplifier and the tubes with multiple layers of foam inside the crate to protect glass and metal from bumping, cracking, moisture, and dust.
Accessories-wise, the Headonia 300B comes with the USB-C remote control, the tubes in their respective PSVANE boxes, the detachable glass tube protector panel, power cord, and a warranty card/manual.
PS Audio PMG Signature Preamplifier $8999 Review
October 15, 2025 Comments Off on PS Audio PMG Signature Preamplifier $8999 Review
https://www.audiophilia.com/reviews/2025/8/19/ps-audio-pmg-signature-preamplifier
If this is the beginning of the new PS Audio PGM series, then I think they have already hit a home run with the PS Audio PMG Signature Preamplifier at USD 8999. I sense it will compete favorably and even beat many higher-priced preamplifiers. It is impeccably clean and quiet, but it retains its unique personality to my ears, which to me makes it special, just as the BHK Preamplifier did, but now at a new and higher level. And just like the BHK, which I kept for almost 10 years, I do think this is a keeper. I gambled, and I feel I won. No more to say. Very highly recommended.
TRUTHEAR PURE $90 Review
October 12, 2025 Comments Off on TRUTHEAR PURE $90 Review
The low-end on the TRUTHEAR PURE takes on a more neutral and restrained approach, never aiming for heavy slam or physical rumble. It still provides a steady presence, adding foundation without pulling focus.
Control is its strength, staying consistent across tracks without spilling over or sounding bloated. Rather than chasing power, it focuses on accuracy and balance, keeping basslines clean.
Quality outweighs quantity here, with drums and subbass notes coming through with enough body to be convincing. They don’t push for weight but instead keep a steady grip that makes them sound precise.
Can these PSVANE Summit Tubes beat my best NOS models?
October 12, 2025 Comments Off on Can these PSVANE Summit Tubes beat my best NOS models?
Charisma Audio™ Caprisse Bookshelf Loudspeakers Review$6200 Review
October 9, 2025 Comments Off on Charisma Audio™ Caprisse Bookshelf Loudspeakers Review$6200 Review
So you’re trying to build a time machine out of a 1973 AMC Pacer. You want to time travel back to the mid-70s to hear the glorious midrange sound of an original pair of Quad ESL-57 loudspeakers. I hear ya. I get it. I have audiophile dreams like this too.
Then again, maybe you don’t need to risk life, limb, and a whole lot of 88 mile-per-hour speeding tickets to get that midrange sound quality? Today, in the summer of 2025, a current-production bookshelf monitor exists that sounds remarkably similar to a vintage pair of ESL-57s. With decent tube amps driving them, Charisma Audio’s Caprisse bookshelf speakers can deliver the same sonic quality and breathtaking midrange purity as Quad’s legendary electrostats.
Down through the last 40 years, I’ve owned two pairs of Quad ESL-57s and three pairs of ESL-63s. The Caprisse reminds me—fondly—of a vintage pair of ESL-57s. It has lightning-fast transients, lifelike PRaT, and magic in the midrange. The genius of the Caprisse is that it doesn’t need a large room to create the jaw-dropping sound quality of an old-school electrostatic floorstander.
If your listening room is small to mid-sized, do yourself a real favour and audition these speakers. It’s far easier than trying to get a vintage Delorean up to 88 miles an hour.
Unison Research Reference monoblock power amplifier $49,998 Review
October 9, 2025 Comments Off on Unison Research Reference monoblock power amplifier $49,998 Review
https://www.stereophile.com/content/unison-research-reference-monoblock-power-amplifier
If an Italian sound exists, I gather it isn’t an engineering spec but a sensibility. Where most gear aims to get out of the way of the music, boutique hi-fi from Italy participates in it. It isn’t neutral in the strictest sense. For many, it’s more human.Sonically, the 845s occupy their own terrain. They don’t punch like KT150s or dazzle with immediacy. Instead, they bloom. They stretch space, thicken tone, and draw you in with an unhurried, dimensional ease. They flesh out the harmonic body of a note and let its decay hang in the air without collapsing the structure around it. The Unison Reference amplifiers make full use of that character.Are they worth the price? How attached are you to your second kidney?When everything settles and the mind calms, what’s left is music: vivid, beautiful, whole, and rendered with uncommon care. The Unison Reference amplifiers turn spending into savoring, and savor them I did.
Heaven 11 Spartan Amplifier Review
October 9, 2025 Comments Off on Heaven 11 Spartan Amplifier Review
Aurender AP20 reference all-in-one music server class D integrated amplifier Review
October 8, 2025 Comments Off on Aurender AP20 reference all-in-one music server class D integrated amplifier Review
The AKM 4497 is a circa 2016 32-bit two-channel DAC chip. I have fond memories of enjoying music from CD players and DACs of the early 2000 using AKM chips, and I have found those made by Burr Brown, Analog Devices, Wolfson, etc., all adopted by manufacturers at one time, promising. The ESS chips of late are a different breed as their design is so integrated that manufacturers often take advantage of it and create their consumer products with minimal additional original engineering. The result is various models from manufacturers all sounding similarly. There are exceptions, of course, such as in the case of the Audio Research DAC 9.
On the company’s choice of selecting the AKM 4497 chipset, it is noteworthy that an October 2020 fire at the AKM facility disrupted supplies of the AKM 4499EQ, the latest flagship. Aurender Director Harry Lee offered that, “When we developed the A-series (Analog outputs) about 10 years ago, we had narrowed down our choices to AKM and ESS DAC chips. The decision was primarily made due to sound signature of the AKM chips winning out with our development team. Because this essentially became part of our A-series house sound [on top of the disruption of the 4499EQ chip supply], we decided to stick with the AKM 4497 and push the envelope on getting the very most out of this brand of chip with each new iteration/model.”
Colibri Acoustic C2 horn hybrid compact loudspeakers $1,100/pair. Review
October 7, 2025 Comments Off on Colibri Acoustic C2 horn hybrid compact loudspeakers $1,100/pair. Review
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