Kinki Studio EX-M1+ Integrated Amplifier $2898 Review
December 25, 2020 Comments Off on Kinki Studio EX-M1+ Integrated Amplifier $2898 Review
When I listened to the EX-M1+ through its home-theater bypass, using it as a power amp and my Oppo UDP-205 as a preamp-DAC, the Kinki retained its ultraclean, powerful sound, but lost just a touch of the weight that gives music its remarkable “jump.” With only the UDP-205 directly driving the EX-M1+’s power-amp section, the bass beat of Yello’s “Waba Duba” was slightly lighter, depriving this track of a little of its infectious rhythm — but aural images remained clean and precise on an extremely wide soundstage. When I switched back to one of the Kinki’s variable unbalanced inputs and used its preamp stage, the sound was indistinguishable from the variable balanced input I’d previously been using.
Make this one-plus my plus-one
Kinki Studio’s EX-M1+ is a straightforward, all-analog integrated amplifier whose reasonable price and high power rating might make you think it would produce merely adequate sound. But I found it to provide a stunningly big helping of audiophile sound quality for the price.
DALI IO 6 Wireless Noise Cancelling Headphone REVIEW
December 25, 2020 Comments Off on DALI IO 6 Wireless Noise Cancelling Headphone REVIEW
The trade offs are what one usually finds with Bluetooth headphones: dynamics and resolution, though very good for a wireless headset, do suffer compared to a wired rig of comparable price. There’s always a slight fuzziness to imagine, a slight looseness and lack of impact to the bass and a general lack of resolution when compared to wired operation. The real test is when you turn on the active noise-cancellation, something modern headphones have improved on, but which remains a pain point for many headphones. I’m happy to report such is not the case for the Dali IO 6. There was no weird sensation of pressure on my ears as with many noise-cancelling headphones, and neither was there a complete destruction of tonality. There may have been a very slight bit more edge to the upper mid-range, but even this was extraordinarily small, and not bothersome to my fussy ears. What makes for a great home headphone makes for a great travel headphone, and the active noise-cancellation works great and means you can travel while enjoying excellent fidelity with these if you wish.
MELLOW ACOUSTICS FRONTRO HYBRID ELECTROSTATIC LOUDSPEAKER £9,500 REVIEW
December 24, 2020 Comments Off on MELLOW ACOUSTICS FRONTRO HYBRID ELECTROSTATIC LOUDSPEAKER £9,500 REVIEW
Mellow Acoustics FrontRo hybrid electrostatic loudspeaker
“Ultimately, this is a speaker for those who play music in rooms that don’t like loudspeakers! Electrostatics tend to thrive in large rooms, and the FrontRo is the exception. In small to mid-sized rooms where electrostatics usually struggle, the Mellow Acoustics FrontRo delivers a fine standard of performance, especially with speech. I’ve concentrated on vocals in part because the FrontRo shows how poor many loudspeakers are at reproducing the human voice, but it’s not simply designed for speech replay; a loudspeaker that gets the human voice right tends to get music right, and unless you are a fan of trouser-flapping, filling-loosening organ music or genres that include the word ‘dub’ played in barn-sized rooms, this is the antidote to rectangular wooden boxes and the limits they impose on sound.
Degritter record cleaner $2990 Review
December 24, 2020 Comments Off on Degritter record cleaner $2990 Review
There are two buttons; either will turn the machine on. The left-front button adjusts drying time, which you can set to whatever time you find necessary to get your records dry. The right button rotates to navigate the sophisticated menu system; push it to choose a setting. There are three cleaning-time presets: quick (2:15), medium (3:45), and heavy (6:45). (Dirtier records need longer cleaning; drying time is set separately.) The right button also allows you to adjust fan power and water level as well as certain “housekeeping” functions I won’t go into here.
The machine comes with a bottle of surfactant; you can use your own fluid, which is strongly discouraged by Audiodesksysteme. Proceed with caution and avoid highly acidic and highly alkaline solutions. Also avoid solutions that foam, or you might end up in an I Love Lucy sketch. Should a malfunction occur, the right-hand button alerts you with a code that identifies the problem. Some problems are user-fixable.
To prevent excess cavitation-produced heat from damaging records, the OS automatically adds 3 minutes of cooling time when a sensor detects temperatures above 95°. The ultrasonic generator stops working, too.
Audio Physic Avanti 35 review
December 23, 2020 Comments Off on Audio Physic Avanti 35 review
https://www.whathifi.com/us/reviews/audio-physic-avanti-35
Cost is certainly a big factor in our criticism. Looking back on our review of the last-generation model, we mention weaknesses in terms of rhythmic communication and dynamic expression, but on balance thought the speakers recommendable for an audition at their price.
At a third of the cost more, we don’t think the 35’s sonic gains are enough. They certainly haven’t resulted in a more balanced sounding product. While the new Avanti remain superbly made and cleverly engineered, somewhere along the line they’ve become more about information rather than music. And that’s something we struggle to get behind.
Linear Tube Audio Z40 Integrated Amplifier Review
December 23, 2020 Comments Off on Linear Tube Audio Z40 Integrated Amplifier Review
I played the Cars as loudly as I could bear but could hear no compression from my 87.5dB-sensitive KEFs. More impressive, this self-professed solid-state guy who’s a sucker for immaculate-sounding, high-power amps found the Z40 as generally enjoyable as my reference Hegel H590 integrated ($11,000). The only performance parameter in which the Z40 came up short against the solid-state Hegel was in bottom-end power and control. While David Robinson’s drumming had none of the softness or bloom that it might through a traditional tube amp, I think that most of the solid-state integrateds I’ve reviewed in recent years — most of them far more expensive than the Z40 — edge out the Z40 in terms of outright slam.
But a recording from 1978 — even in a high-resolution remastering such as this one of the Cars’ “Just What I Needed” — isn’t the sternest test of a tube amp’s linearity and transparency. So I opted for a torture test: “Brothers in Arms,” from the stupendous score for Mad Max: Fury Road, composed and performed by Dutch DJ Thomas Holkenborg, aka Junkie XL (16/44.1 FLAC, WaterTower Music/Qobuz). This track is an entropic melding of wailing strings, thunderous drums, and distorted electric guitars, all coalescing into rock-operatic madness that makes a lot more sense if you’ve seen George Miller’s visionary film. The Z40 more than held its own up to reasonably high volumes with this demanding cut, allowing me to make out all the cacophony laid out before me. Every aspect of the performance was highly resolved — and, even better, I could hear no bowing of the LTA’s frequency response at either end of the audioband.
Gryphon Essence Mono power amplifier $45,980/pair Review
December 22, 2020 Comments Off on Gryphon Essence Mono power amplifier $45,980/pair Review
https://www.stereophile.com/content/gryphon-essence-mono-power-amplifier
Next, I tried Gryphon’s BlackSpikes. I found the sound somewhat fuller and more fleshed out in the lower midrange, with a concomitant boost in color saturation. With more there there, the perception of air and depth increased. Although the change was not huge, anyone who can afford these amps would benefit from shelling out an extra $700 for the BlackSpikes.
My entrancement was momentarily shattered when I began to explore other kinds of music. Enter Chris Bell, who is working on a video that explores the journey of Art Dudley’s former Altec Flamenco loudspeakers to their new home. Because Chris was passing through Port Townsend and was eager to take a listen—and because I always benefit from hearing music I don’t usually play—I invited him to cue up some of his favorite tracks. Due to COVID-19, we sat masked at opposite ends of the couch, where neither of us could fully appreciate the Essence’s superb depiction of spatial relationships.
Kimber Kable Naked Interconnects $12,700 Review
December 22, 2020 Comments Off on Kimber Kable Naked Interconnects $12,700 Review
“Another thing you experience while you’re dog-paddling au naturale is a sense of vulnerability. You are exposed to any of the creatures lurking in the depths of the water or to any unwelcome advances by your fellow swimmers. In this case, you, the listener, are not the vulnerable one, but your system. Some cabling is good at smoothing over the rough edges of sound reproduction, but not the Nakeds. If you want to hear the characteristics of your equipment, these are the ones for you. Luckily, I have been able to choose equipment that lacks any sort of hard edge or sounds too “detailed.” Such equipment might not be a good fit. As a reviewer, I am regularly swapping out components for review. With the Naked interconnects in place, I was able to immediately detect any differences. In one case, a simple swap of two small-signal tubes made a huge difference in the sound of the system. They are that revealing.
Air Tight ATM-300R Power Amplifier $16,995 Review
December 21, 2020 Comments Off on Air Tight ATM-300R Power Amplifier $16,995 Review
Air Tight ATM-300R Power Amplifier
“The Air Tight ATM-300R wowed me with countless hours of listening pleasure. It consistently brought to life the full sonic promise of the 300B, and fully justified its reference appellation. Its performance rests on four major sonic pillars working in synergy: velvety textures, remarkable timbre fidelity, superb soundstage transparency and image focus, and a satisfying bass foundation. It gives me great pleasure to crown the ATM-300R as the new king of low-power amplification. I’ve yet to audition a more musically convincing low-power amplifier at any price point. Simply put: an awesome display of the power of the first watt!”
KEF LS50 Meta Loudspeakers $1499 Review
December 21, 2020 Comments Off on KEF LS50 Meta Loudspeakers $1499 Review
https://www.soundstagehifi.com/index.php/equipment-reviews/1502-kef-ls50-meta-loudspeakers
After I’d listened to more music through the LS50 Metas and found nothing that contradicted what I’ve said above, I brought in my original LS50s for some comparisons. “I’ve Got to See You Again,” streamed from Norah Jones’s Come Away with Me (24/192 FLAC, Blue Note/Qobuz), let me suss out the differences pretty well. Through the Metas, Jones’s piano, which begins this track, sounded a little farther back on the stage, and her keystrokes were a tiny bit cleaner — not a big difference, but it became obvious after repeated comparisons. Then there was the violin — Jenny Scheinman plays it throughout this track, but it’s most audible just after 2:20, when it was more prominent through the LS50s. But that prominence came with a hint of stridency the Metas didn’t have; overall, this track sounded better through the Metas.
I heard the biggest differences in the reproduction of Jones’s voice, which is front and center on every track of Come Away with Me. It sounded almost the same through the two speaker pairs, but Jones’s sibilants — they’re how her voice was recorded — were more emphasized through the LS50s. This got me thinking that the original LS50 has a bit more lift in certain parts of the treble. Through the Metas, her voice also sounded cleaner, less fuzzy, and its image was placed more solidly in the center of the stage. This tighter vocal image appeared on a soundstage that floated completely free of the Metas’ cabinets — the original LS50s’ cabinets don’t “disappear” quite as completely. I never heard sounds coming directly from the LS50s’ cabinets, but when I listened intently, I could occasionally sense the cabinets’ precise positions. But things like bass and high-frequency extension, as well as scale and output, were exactly the same through both sets of speakers — though I did think that the kick drum in “I’ve Got to See You Again,” even if it had the same weight and the same low-end extension, sounded slightly cleaner through the Metas.
Audiophilepure 
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