Mytek HiFi Brooklyn AMP+ power amplifier $2495 Review
May 8, 2021 Comments Off on Mytek HiFi Brooklyn AMP+ power amplifier $2495 Review
https://www.stereophile.com/content/mytek-hifi-brooklyn-amp-power-amplifier
Mytek keeps making little boxes that do big things, which makes me wonder what Jurewicz might do with bigger boxes. The company’s forthcoming monoblocks will be built in full-size chassis, part of Mytek’s new Empire series. “AMP+ has newer, faster MOSFETs for a more squared wave,” Jurewicz told me, “but it’s not yet 100% what could be accomplished. For a better squarewave, you need newer transistors called GaN-FETs. It’s a game changer for class-D. In the next few years, we will see examples of class-D proving to be the best sounding amplifier technology with the use of GaN-FETs.”
Salk Sound SS9.5 speaker $9,995 Review
May 8, 2021 Comments Off on Salk Sound SS9.5 speaker $9,995 Review
Just over seven years ago I reviewed the Salk Sound Soundscape Speakers for Dagogo. I recall that they were built with what were generally considered to be some of the most accurate drivers available, chiefly the RAAL ribbon tweeter and Accuton ceramic midrange. A couple of months ago I sold the Vapor Audio Joule White speakers that I owned following review in 2016. These were of a similar ilk, with larger RAAL ribbons and Accuton ceramic midrange drivers. Owning those speakers, I was certainly on a quest for resolution!
SVS SB-2000 PRO SUBWOOFER REVIEW
May 7, 2021 Comments Off on SVS SB-2000 PRO SUBWOOFER REVIEW
SVS SB-2000 Pro subwoofer
There is still a continuum between ‘bass reinforcement’ subwoofers and ‘improved midband’ designs (at least, there is at the SB-2000 Pro’s level; those subs that are the size, weight, and price of a reasonably powerful car engine can effectively meet both demands). The SB-2000 Pro tends more toward the former; adding depth, weight and authority to the bass. And, like the provision of the app, this bass depth shows just how good a modern subwoofer can be, even in the context of audio nerdism. For while ‘depth, weight and authority’ used to be audiophile code for ‘boomy, flabby and overpowering’ on the SB-2000 Pro it holds no double meanings; it does add depth, weight and authority to the sound, especially the sound of most stand-mounts and many smaller floorstanders.
PS Audio Stellar Strata Integrated Amp Review
May 7, 2021 Comments Off on PS Audio Stellar Strata Integrated Amp Review
https://www.hifinews.com/content/ps-audio-stellar-strata-integrated-amp
The amp saved its best ’til last, however, with the SACD of Lyn Stanley’s wonderfully-recorded Live At Studio A [ATM 3019]. A jazzy redux of Bruce Springsteen’s 1985 boogie ‘Pink Cadillac’ was conveyed with the intimacy intended, right from the opening ‘1, 2, 3, 4…’. The feel of studio space was well articulated, while brushed cymbals, double-bass and tinkled piano keys provided a feather-soft bed for Stanley’s idiosyncratic vocal delivery.
In the hands of a lesser amp, this recording can easily lose its charm, which isn’t so much the notes being played as the way they’re delivered. Here it sounded effortless.
Doshi Audio Evolution Monoblock power amplifier Review
May 6, 2021 Comments Off on Doshi Audio Evolution Monoblock power amplifier Review
https://www.stereophile.com/content/doshi-audio-evolution-monoblock-power-amplifier
Back then, I was using the dCS Vivaldi DAC; because it had a volume control and its single-ended and balanced outputs sounded quite similar, I was happy to connect it to the Doshis with single-ended cabling. Since then, however, dCS’s Rossini DAC (footnote 6) has replaced the Vivaldi in my system. The Rossini, too, has a volume control and single-ended outputs, and can be connected directly to the monoblocks without a preamp in between. I’ve found, however, that feeding its output to the balanced-only D’Agostino Momentum HD preamplifier produces larger and weightier images, more and better-controlled bass, heightened color contrasts, and a greater sense of texture. So, I prefer to use the Rossini with the Momentum HD. But since the Momentum HD preamp only has balanced (XLR) connectors, I asked Doshi how I should proceed.
Shunyata Research Everest 8000 power conditioner $8000 Review
May 5, 2021 Comments Off on Shunyata Research Everest 8000 power conditioner $8000 Review
https://www.stereophile.com/content/shunyata-research-everest-8000-power-conditioner
In a high-quality audio system, a reduction in noise can manifest in various ways, some of them indirect. Often, one notices an increase in inner detail and an improvement in precision. Perhaps a note’s decay extends further, or, as with two oboes playing together, the identity of the individual instruments can be heard through more of the decay. I expected much the same with the Shunyata system—and indeed that’s what I heard with the first few albums I played, all recordings of live, large-scale orchestral performances. Such recordings are inherently noisy, and yet I heard improvements of this kind.
SONUS FABER OLYMPICA NOVA II LOUDSPEAKER REVIEW
May 5, 2021 Comments Off on SONUS FABER OLYMPICA NOVA II LOUDSPEAKER REVIEW
If you’re buying the smallest floor-standing speaker in the Olympica Nova lineup, you’re probably not looking for the highest amount of bass output. The Nova II can go cleanly down to 40 Hz, and for much of the music I played, I found it to be enough. With the mighty McIntosh MC611 monoblock amplifiers (600 watts) driving the Olympica Nova II speakers, there was plenty of weight in the lower registers even when playing a demanding track like Cousin John by Marcus Miller. If you wanted more low-end extension, you could always go with the bigger brother options of the Nova III or Nova V, or simply augment the low end with a subwoofer or two.
Wilson Audio Specialties Chronosonic XVX loudspeaker $329,000 Review
May 4, 2021 Comments Off on Wilson Audio Specialties Chronosonic XVX loudspeaker $329,000 Review
https://www.stereophile.com/content/wilson-audio-specialties-chronosonic-xvx-loudspeaker
Those other Wilson speakers didn’t have the smoothest frequency response. Coloration was low, but not the best. All of the Wilsons I’ve owned, though, have had a combination of strengths including an uncolored low end, visceral wallop, wide, effortless dynamics, and—especially—a grand, 3D spatial picture that delivers all the width, depth, and especially height that’s included on a recording. All my previous Wilsons have largely disappeared and made my room evaporate, leaving an exciting, 3D space that—again, on excellent recordings—put me in the venue as no flat-baffle design has managed, though some of those did pretty well.
Allnic Audio L-8500 OTL/OCL Preamplifier Review
May 4, 2021 Comments Off on Allnic Audio L-8500 OTL/OCL Preamplifier Review
https://www.audiophilia.com/reviews/2021/2/18/epcvdco6oljh7fo5hk67c1mwrltx2o
I recently received a care package of wonderful ESOTERIC SACD remasters from American Sound in Toronto, incl. a famous Boston/DG recording of Má vlast by Smetana conducted by Rafael Kubelík. It was during the many replays of this set of tone poems when I realized that I had fallen in love with the OTL/OCL’s replication of instruments. Vinyl gives the search for accurate timbre a huge helping hand, digital much less so. The 8500 spun the bits into liquid gold. Accurate, sure, but with with timbres so full of life and passion that its sound became, to use Allnic’s word, ‘addictive’. Frigging catnip for my ears. The OTL/OCL topology was winning me over. Although missing the very last 10% of the DHT’s manipulating magic or the vistas set free by the 7000, I kept throwing the L-8500 OTL/OCL into the mix. And, when replaced by the L-7000, I’d be sitting away from the system and the 8500’s sound would keep popping into my head. It felt like an illicit affair.
Audiophilepure 
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