HIFIMAN GOLDENWAVE SERENADE DAC/Headphone Amplifier
December 30, 2025 § Leave a comment
There is a reason I had chosen the HIFIMAN GOLDENWAVE SERENADE DAC/Headphone Amplifier as my solid-state reference DAC/Amplifier; it simply outperforms everything in its class and price range, it is only a quirk of fate that landed me with a DAC/Amplifier that costs over 20 times as much. As I said before, it will still get plenty of use reviewing mid-priced headphones that would be ill served by using a “price is no object” front end. Dynamic, musical, focused, and completely tonally balanced with the best chip-based DAC I have heard, the GOLDENWAVE SERENADE is probably the best value in a front end on the market, and as sneak preview, it is a strong contender for a Product of the Year Award, which I’ll be announcing later in the month.
DeVore Fidelity Gibbon Super Nine loudspeaker $9990 Review
December 30, 2025 § Leave a comment
https://www.stereophile.com/content/devore-fidelity-gibbon-super-nine-loudspeaker
The DeVore Fidelity Gibbon Super Nine joins the company of other DeVore Fidelity speakers that don’t require top-tier amplification but nevertheless thrive with it. Every speaker has a character of its own, but the best still manage to express the character of the partnering hardware—source components, those amplifiers—and each record. That might be the Super Nine’s most notable virtue.Or maybe its most notable virtue is its balance. The Super Nine’s treble is articulate and revealing but never bright or harsh. Its midrange is a clear, polished window. For so small a speaker, the bass goes deep, and there’s enough of it to satisfy with most kinds of music. A pair of Super Nines projects expansive, precisely layered images across a large soundstage. The music the Super Nines make is rich in tone and timbre. There was a time—and here the original Nine comes to mind—when DeVore speakers had a reputation for being laid-back. Not so the Super Nine. Highly recommended.
Violectric HPA V324 Review
December 29, 2025 § Leave a comment
https://www.headfonia.com/violectric-hpa-v324-review/
Now we get to the good stuff – the nice VU meters! They’re nice to look at as they dance in tune with the music, but they also serve an actual purpose. On the HPA V324 they measure the incoming signal. Some power amps have output power meters and many folks quickly realize that their amp is coasting at under 1W so the meters pretty much stay in place.
With the Violectric amp, we first need to adjust the input sensitivity of these meters. On the back panel, we see the DIP switches, which can reduce the input sensitivity of the meters. Your DAC tech spec should show how hot the output signal is. 4Vrms is roughly 15dBU, so flip the appropriate switch up to get an accurate measurement.
If you’re unsure, download a 0dB noise file, play it on Foobar2000, or some other player that bypasses the OS mixer and flip the switch so that the needle stays at roughly 0dBU.
The back panel also houses a couple of curiosities. There’s a tuning knob for the VU meter brightness as well as the inputs and outputs. Violectric is advertising that the HPA V324 is also a preamp, so we get outputs and a button which toggles the outputs between true attenuated preamp duty and loop-outs if you want to connect something else in a daisy-chain, like an integrated amp.
EAT F-Dur Turntable & F-Note Tonearm Review
December 29, 2025 § Leave a comment
https://www.stereophile.com/content/eat-f-dur-turntable-f-note-tonearm
I connected the Allnic phono stage to Jo—the cartridge mounted on the EAT player. On Quarteto Em Cy’s close four-part sibling harmonies, the EAT F-Dur turntable lacked the exceptional separation and razor-sharp definition of the Thorens/Korf/Ortofon trio. But the EAT killed the Thorens combo for sheer presence: Voices carried more weight, the soundstage swelled and filled out, and the presentation felt richer. The EAT was unmistakably modern, displaying all the sonic virtues with authority.For decades, Robertinho Silva stood as one of Brazil’s premier session drummers, lending his talents to albums by Milton Nascimento, Wayne Shorter, Egberto Gismonti, and many others. His 1981 debut album radiates Tropicalia-infused psychedelia, with drums recorded in stereo and panned hard left and right, evoking that distinctive ethereality of 1970’s ECM. On the Thorens combo, the soundstage was wide, the timbres rich. The EAT stage was more recessed, and there was less immediacy and drive. But again what I heard was fuller, weightier, and more 3D. On the other hand, transients and fine details seemed slightly softer.
Arendal Sound 1528 Tower 8 loudspeaker $9500 Review
December 28, 2025 § Leave a comment
https://www.stereophile.com/content/arendal-sound-1528-tower-8-loudspeaker
The Arendal Towers will, in my judgment, perform their best in a comfortably large but not huge room. In a more open space, common in many homes today, the bass might come across as a little lighter than you might expect from eight serious woofers (four per side) working together. (If they do, just turn down the HF and midrange controls and turn up the volume to compensate.) Even in my large room, the bottom end was consistently clean and well-controlled. The Arendals’ rich, realistic detailing across the board was possibly the best I’ve experienced in my listening room, though also the largest, heaviest, and most expensive. If the size and the price of the Arendal Sound 1528 Towers don’t faze you, they’re well worth serious consideration
Audiophilepure 
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