Audiophilepure

https://www.enjoythemusic.com/superioraudio/equipment/0626/Nagra_PREAMP_II_S_Review.htm

One might assume that because this Nagra preamp was powered by tubes, it should have sounded tube-like. Not so. Even when I squinted my ears to hear these characteristics from the Preamp II-S, I could not detect even a hint of “tube sound.” Its presentation sounded neither like a tube nor a solid-state preamp. The Preamp II-S sounded like an outstanding preamp. Period.

I suppose there was one trait of the Preamp II-S that made it sound a bit more tube-like, but this was a positive: it was the II-S’s ability to maintain a dynamic distance between sounds. When two instruments or voices were located in the same place in the soundstage, not only could this preamp separate the two sounds, but it also made their volume differences much more audible. Its dynamic distance gave rise to an almost indescribable ability to hear “behind” each sound. I’ve also heard this trait in some very high-quality solid-state components, but it’s more common in tube-powered equipment.

Near the end of the review period, I swapped out the Nagra Preamp II-S for the other in-house linestages, those that I listed earlier in the review. These linestages were all very high-quality components, but when I returned to the Preamp II-S, it seemed to have all the qualities of these other components, but enhanced their traits significantly. These refinements were true regardless of which trait I was considering.

Silence Please recently partnered with Adidas Originals to create a 10-foot custom speaker installation for their Spring Street flagship.

The horn alone is almost 5 ft across at the mouth and a little over 2.5 ft deep. Inside it is a 12” coaxial driver, so the midrange and high frequencies come from the same horn and stay on the same acoustic axis.

The profile was designed around roughly 140 Hz horn geometry. In horn design, that number matters because low frequency is physical — the lower you want a horn to load, the larger the mouth and path length need to become.

Behind the horn is a sealed bass section with two 21” drivers, bringing the full assembly to almost 10 ft tall once the horn, cabinet, and mounting structure come together.

The real challenge was not just making a large speaker. It was fitting the largest working horn-loaded system Silence Please could make fit into a pre-existing architectural opening and it all had to sound amazing!

Now permanently installed at adidas Originals 1135 Spring Street. Pass by for a listen.

https://www.stereophile.com/content/bennyaudio-odyssey-turntable

The proliferation of ultrahigh-quality, ultra-expensive turntables presents a dilemma for those who wish to invest tens of thousands of dollars in vinyl playback. In my listening room, the BennyAudio Odyssey made a compelling case for itself. It’s a divine, sense-expanding machine that delivers total tonal saturation, translating the emotion of a record as if it were purpose-built for the task (which it was). Designer Tomasz Franielczyk may be new to the industry, but he has caught up fast, stepping into the big leagues with a winner.

https://www.hifinews.com/content/nagra-preamp-ii-s-preamplifier

If ever a product dismissed the hoary notion that hi-fi components are or should be genre-biased, it’s this beauty. The very first word that came into my mind was ‘neutrality’, and the second was ‘quietness’. I was reminded of the sonic resemblance to the HD Preamp [HFN Nov ’18] and thus had to marvel at how close the PREAMP II-S is to its dearer siblings. While it’s true that you get more sophisticated circuitry and possibly other features by moving up a level, the main sonic benefits I could recall were slightly more slam down below, perhaps thanks to the HD’s and Reference’s massive power supplies, and a whiff of grandeur. Otherwise, this is clearly related to its hugely expensive stablemates.

That, of course, mattered most when listening to the loud and angry punk of The Stooges, or the glam punk of the New York Dolls, but for both the most telling element was how Nagra’s PREAMP II-S dealt with Iggy Pop and David Johansen’s snarls. Their textures and tics came through with such detail and clarity that I’m obliged to add a third word to this Swiss brand’s lexicon: ‘transparency’. This tube preamp is so open sounding – again, it’s that quietness and the huge dynamic swings which both contribute – that I could swear I was hearing a deeper soundstage as well. This even carried over to the lean Julie London recordings, where space mattered more

https://www.theaudiobeat.com/equipment/wilson_audio_sabrina_v.htm

Cabling made enough difference that prospective buyers might want to borrow a few different brands for experimentation. For example, the Linn Silver interconnects that sound great with my Falcon Gold Badge speakers were too insistent, too energetic in the treble range for long-term use with the Wilsons. My Belden-wire-based interconnects were a better choice for the Sabrina Vs. Because the speakers present a low-impedance load in music’s power range, bass response and solidity benefitted from larger-gauge speaker cables. I used Nordost Flatline copper for most listening sessions, because it delivered strong bass response with a smoother top end. And even though the Wilsons had nothing to do with this, it was frustrating to discover that adding a new Ethernet router was a bad choice, with extra noise and hash from digital. The Sabrina Vs are not overly fussy, but they definitely are revealing, and you may need to take some time finding your perfect combination of ancillary equipment.

A final consideration is dialing in the listening angle. Treble response from the CSC tweeter is low in distortion, but I did need to do some placement work to make it sound its best. Using the WASP method, I had no trouble placing the speaker in my listening room, getting good midrange and bass response, coupled with fine soundstaging and imaging. But when listening to the speaker on axis, with the tweeter facing my listening position, the treble was a bit sharp and peaky, so I ended up having the speaker fire straight into the room, with no toe-in and the grilles on. This resulted in the smoothest treble response, and I would encourage owners to take some time and fine-tune the amount of treble that suits your taste. To be completely fair, the treble sounded better and better over time, so some of this may be a result of the copper capacitors needing more run-in time.