Nordost QRT QPoint and QRT QSource Resonance Synchronizer $2499 Review
January 5, 2021 Comments Off on Nordost QRT QPoint and QRT QSource Resonance Synchronizer $2499 Review
Nordost QRT QPoint and QRT QSource Resonance Synchronizer
If I was sold on the QPoints, it was also intriguing to explore the capabilities of the QSource. Thanks to the importunings of the North American dCS representative John Quick, I finally dipped a toe into the digital streaming waters by procuring a Roon Labs server. It turns out that you can jettison the flimsy wall wart that accompanies it and substitute the QSource, which in essence allows you to run the Roon off a linear power supply. This turned out to be a nifty upgrade. While I enjoyed opening the portal to a wealth of music by entering the streaming world, it never really sounded all that competitive with the dCS transport. I don’t think that the QSource can completely cover the gap, but it offered a substantial improvement in image density, resolution, and hall ambience. There really was no comparison between it and the wall wart, something that was immediately apparent on a Martha Argerich recording of a live performance at the Lugano Festival or Cat Stevens’ classic Tea For the Tillerman. Argerich’s piano just sounded so much more formidable and the hall more spacious with the QSource powering the Roon.
D’Agostino Progression Integrated Integrated Amplifier £18,500 Review
January 4, 2021 Comments Off on D’Agostino Progression Integrated Integrated Amplifier £18,500 Review
https://www.hifinews.com/content/dagostino-progression-integrated-integrated-amplifier
Running them side by side, the Progression Integrated’s amplifier section is undoubtedly less bold, less forceful than the costlier Momentum Stereo. But the differences were so minute as to cause a bit of head scratching. I had to keep reminding myself of the Law of Diminishing Returns, acknowledging that the Progression customer is not the same as the Momentum client.
It was the subtlety of George Benson’s guitar work on The Other Side Of Abbey Road [A&M Records 82839 3028 2] that showed how two amplifiers from the same designer can sound different, yet share common ground.
Sorry about this, folks, but an analogy from the world of wine best illustrates this: the Progression Integrated is to the Momentum what ‘second growth’ wines are to Premier Cru. For someone like me, who can’t afford £800-a-bottle reds, there are, blessedly, plenty of astounding second growths. So, for you teetotallers: the Progression Integrated is to the Momentum what Le Volte is to Ornellaia. And that spells ‘Bargain’.
Helius Omega Tonearm and Alexia Turntable Review
January 4, 2021 Comments Off on Helius Omega Tonearm and Alexia Turntable Review
When it comes to matching phono pickups he has some decidedly unusual (and rather confusingly explained) ideas regarding effective mass, but the bottom line is that the Omega is “best suited to medium-to-stiff cantilevers” typical of moving coils. Downward force is applied by the main counterweight, designed to be as close to the bearing housing as possible, with three minor weights for fine tuning (you’ll need to supply the gauge). Height adjustment is via the usual collar-clamp and set-screw in the base plate; uncalibrated antiskating adjustment is provided, which means you set it by ear or with test records. Dan Meinwald, whose EAR-USA imports Helius products, prefers to leave antiskating unengaged; I tried it both ways with equally good results, which is to say I heard no mistracking that I could attribute to bias issues. The Omega’s cueing is among the most accurate I’ve come across. The captive cables are very short, terminating in a pair of enclosed RCA jacks that can be attached to the base, after which the user supplies his own interconnects to the preamplifier. The Omega is offered in four versions: Standard, under review here, with Tungsten bearings and copper wiring, retailing for $3695; Standard with silver wire for $3895; Silver Ruby with ruby bearings for $5225; and a 12-inch Silver Ruby for $5295.
VPI HW-40 40th Anniversary Edition turntable
January 3, 2021 Comments Off on VPI HW-40 40th Anniversary Edition turntable
This is the first VPI turntable I’ve reviewed that provides a high degree of isolation from the surface upon which it rests. Despite the cones, feet, inserts, bladders, and what have you that VPI has used over the years, this is the first one where, if you tap (or bang!) on the platform, nothing gets through to the stylus. According to VPI, two years of work went into producing this level of performance using a combination of mass loading, mechanical stiffening, selective damping, and a combination of elastomers.
In and of itself, the top plate is still somewhat lively, but compared to my memory of the Classic Direct, the HW-40 is better damped, letting through only a subdued, quick-to-settle “pop” when the top plate is struck. Bettinger told me that the outer frame is well-isolated, too. I was able to corroborate that: Tapping on it produces nothing through the speakers.
Volti Audio Razz Loudspeaker $4999 Review
January 3, 2021 Comments Off on Volti Audio Razz Loudspeaker $4999 Review
It is one thing to spotlight all the technical wonders of a high-end loudspeaker, and quite another to lose oneself for hours on end listening to it for the pure pleasure of doing so. In the last week of my review audition, Razz showed me its truest sonic intentions: forget the reviewer-speak, just play music!
Greg Roberts has succeeded in building a smaller, less expensive speaker for the Volti Audio product line. Razz does indeed carry the Volti sonic signature, and that is a very good thing. Audiophiles looking for a speaker in the $5k price range—especially those with small to medium sized rooms—should definitely investigate this lively, lovable, and livable, loudspeaker.
Sonus faber Olympica Nova III Loudspeaker $13,500 Review
January 2, 2021 Comments Off on Sonus faber Olympica Nova III Loudspeaker $13,500 Review
http://www.theabsolutesound.com/articles/sonus-faber-olympica-nova-iii-loudspeaker/
For her debut compact disc Fantasy, violinist Tessa Lark had the good fortune to be recorded by veteran engineer/producer Judith Sherman. Several of the works on the CD are unaccompanied, including a pair of Telemann Fantasias and Lark’s own Appalachian Fantasy. The tonal shadings created by the soloist on her 1683 Stradivarius are reproduced with realistic immediacy through the Sonus faber speakers—bow grabbing string, the resonance of the instrument’s hollow body, minute changes in bow pressure, the room adding body to the sound issuing from the violin. String quartets, solo wind instruments, and keyboard recitals are enthralling, utterly believable in tone and timbre—these loudspeakers are a chamber music lover’s dream. And aficionados of great singing will find the most distinctive voice rendered with every ounce of its character intact.
AURENDER A30 CACHING MUSIC SERVER/CD RIPPER/STREAMER
January 2, 2021 Comments Off on AURENDER A30 CACHING MUSIC SERVER/CD RIPPER/STREAMER
http://www.hifiplus.com/articles/aurender-a30-caching-music-servercd-ripperstreamer/
Moving over to Tidal and their MQA Master files I selected Jan Lisiecki and the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra performing Mendelssohn’s Piano Concerto No.1 in G Minor, Op. 25, MWV O7 – 1. Molto allegro con fuoco. [2019 Best of Tidal Masters].Growing up in a home where my father is a professional piano player it was exciting to hear a piano recording sound so authentic. Fronting the orchestra, the piano had the right attack and decay. The tone was near live and the space between notes in the allegro was just that small space to show off the recording’s quality (and the pianists’ considerable skill!). The strings, horns and woodwinds played their support role with live energy and tonal accuracy. Over the years I would have needed an SACD or vinyl album in the house to enjoy this level of connection with a recording. To experience this connection via streaming was truly magical and illustrates how far audio has come over my lifetime.
JBL HDI-3600 Loudspeaker $3,800 Review
January 1, 2021 Comments Off on JBL HDI-3600 Loudspeaker $3,800 Review
https://www.soundandvision.com/content/jbl-hdi-3600-loudspeaker-review
Easing into something a bit more subtle and quiet, I streamed harpist Mary Lattimore’s “Til a Mermaid Drags You Under” (16/44.1 FLAC, Tidal), a track from her latest release, Silver Ladders. The song’s dry, cascading layers of harp, mixed with reverb-heavy guitar (from Slowdive’s Neil Halstead), were conveyed with impressive clarity by the JBLs, and there was a notable sense of spatial depth. When the song’s bass synth drones are introduced about halfway through, the sound becomes anchored with a massive foundation that serves to enlarge both the horizontal and vertical scale. The HDI-3600 towers rendered this perfectly, disappearing into an endless-seeming soundstage that somehow reminded me of sitting in a planetarium.
Sony WF-SP800N Review
January 1, 2021 Comments Off on Sony WF-SP800N Review
https://www.whathifi.com/us/reviews/sony-wf-sp800n
At the top of the frequency range, the Sonys are never less than crisp. In the wrong circumstances, it’s a trait that could possibly manifest itself as thinness, but here the WF-SP800N summon just about as much top-end attack as is acceptable.
Through the midrange, they load Beck’s vocal with information – he often sounds lazy and half-hearted when delivering a vocal, but through the Sonys the subtlety and nuance in his technique is revealed. As a result, he sounds more engaged, and is more engaging, than is usually the case through a pair of reasonably affordable true wireless earbuds.
Audiophilepure 
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