Audiophilepure

The M33’s Dirac Live is a sort of “Lite” version that measures and corrects only up to 500 Hz, which nonetheless covers most of the heavy lifting that any such system can offer. (Above the “transition frequency” where room modes cease to exert much influence— typically a few hundred Hz—equalization becomes much more of a crap- shoot that’s highly dependent on speaker radiation patterns, placement, and room surfaces and furnishings.) M33 owners can upgrade to full-bandwidth Dirac Live Full Frequency for an up-charge of $99 via a card supplied with the unit.

I ran the M33’s Dirac using the supplied “puck” micro- phone, conveniently via my iPad Mini 5 and Dirac’s relatively new iOS app, with no difficulty. It’s an elegant system, but since Dirac has been amply covered in these pages by myself and others I will not rehearse the process here fully, other than to point out that the M33’s iteration permits storage and recall of up to five different correction “runs,” for different speakers, placements, or seating positions. My measurement run for a single-listener setup required nine mic positions in concentric rings around the primary seating area, with the whole process taking 15 minutes. Unlike most receiver-bound correction systems, Dirac Live permits the user to adjust the target curve, shaping response to the listener’s room, speakers, or preference, though—unless one upgrades to Full Frequency—only over the bottom four-plus octaves

https://www.soundstagehifi.com/index.php/2-uncategorised/1559-bryston-b135-cubed-integrated-amplifier

As quiet as the B135 SST² is—it’s still one of the quietest integrateds I’ve heard—the B135³ seemed quieter still. The difference was subtle, but with “Get Behind the Mule,” from Waits’s Mule Variations, it was as though the head of the drum was stretched more tightly across the frame, sounding a bit more taut. The sound of a foot tapping out the beat was also more readily resolved through the B135³. Similarly, with Tori Amos’s “Caught a Lite Sneeze,” I thought the stage was even better resolved through the newer Bryston, with even greater fluidity in the rhythm of the music.

These aren’t the kinds of differences that will make B135 SST² owners run out and sell their amps—the gap in performance was no gulf. However, if I had the choice of buying one or the other and sound was the only factor, I’d opt for the B135³. As I switched back and forth between them, it was sometimes hard to pinpoint exactly what difference I was hearing—yet I consistently heard an overall smoothness to the sound of the B135³ that was incredibly easy on my ears. When I reviewed my listening notes, I found the nouns ease and easiness sprinkled throughout. Evidently, that was the consistent impression I was left with.