Voodoo: How D’Angelo Created a Masterpiece
August 19, 2025 Comments Off on Voodoo: How D’Angelo Created a Masterpiece
Unison Research Triode 25 BE tube amplifier Review
August 18, 2025 Comments Off on Unison Research Triode 25 BE tube amplifier Review
https://www.hifinews.com/content/unison-research-triode-25-be-tube-amplifier
such is the Triode 25 BE’s performance, you can leave your music library playing at random, through analogue or digital inputs, and not hear anything disagreeable. Ed Rush and Optical’s ‘City 17’ [Travel The Galaxy; Virus Recordings VRS007] sounded effortless in the bass, this club-friendly track pushing forward, before The Doors’ ‘Soul Kitchen’ [The Doors 50th Anniversary Ed., Rhino/Elektra; 192kHz/24-bit], with its insouciant keyboard intro, seeped into the room, the sound as sweet as honey. And these are just two tracks from a list of many in my notes – I could listen to this amp for hours.
Shanling M3 Plus $469 Review
August 18, 2025 Comments Off on Shanling M3 Plus $469 Review
On the back, Shanling keeps it minimal with the Hi-Res certifications and branding etched under the glass surface. Fit and finish throughout is excellent. The panel gaps are tight, machining is precise, and there are no assembly issues. Nada.
The front is dominated by a new 4.7-inch Sharp display. It’s laminated, bright, and vibrant. While the resolution is not impressive on paper, it looks crisp in real life for music apps and album art. The much-improved brightness is immediately noticeable and makes a big difference. It’s like 40% brighter than the M3 Ultra.
Evolution Acoustics Model One bookshelf speakers $3,950 Review
August 17, 2025 Comments Off on Evolution Acoustics Model One bookshelf speakers $3,950 Review
The EXACT constant voltage series crossover is a tour de force in engineering. Far from a conventional dividing network, the EXACT filter circuit elevates performance to the outer limits of sonic possibilities, delivering much higher emotional content, not by added tonal warmth or artifacts, but by allowing the signal to be fully rendered, keeping it pure and completely faithful to the artistry of the original event. This dramatic improvement is accomplished by isolating all the mechanical distortion nodes of each of the drivers and suppressing their influence on the overall sound, generating ruler flat frequency response, with incredibly low distortion. The electrical performance of the system is made more linear, yielding much tighter impedance deviations, or smaller phase shifts. This combines to create a loudspeaker that is more accurate, both sonically and electrically, resulting in much greater realism in both tonal reproduction and sound stage presentation.
Schiit Audio Gungnir 2 Balanced Multiform™ DAC – Balanced Perfection
August 16, 2025 Comments Off on Schiit Audio Gungnir 2 Balanced Multiform™ DAC – Balanced Perfection
Just a final extra note: this article was originally slated to run on June 30th, but as fate would have it, the above-mentioned firmware update was launched on the 30th, so I delayed it a week so that I could install the update and talk about it. The update process was simple enough; I went to the Apple App Center and updated the Forkbeard App, at which point a small arrow appeared on the Gungnir 2 section of the App. I then ran the update several times until the arrow went away, at which point it was necessary to uninstall and redownload the App, and the Volume control and EQ showed up in the App window. The EQ can be accessed by touching the three plus signs icon (“+++”), and there is a pull-down menu with “Flat”, “Loudness”, and “EQ” selectable. For those not familiar with what “Loudness” is for, essentially, since Bass has a tactile component to it, as volume is lowered, Bass drops off at a greater rate than other frequencies, so Loudness is meant to compensate for this. Having your Loudness handled in the digital domain means you don’t have the phase distortion normally associated with analog EQs and Tone Controls. To operate the Parametric EQ, there are five dots on a frequency graph, and you can adjust by putting your finger on the dot and moving it around. Again, for those who don’t know what “Parametric” means, it means that you have full control of the frequency of each band as well as amplitude. The Volume control, of course, means that you can use the Gungnir 2 with a straight power amp rather than having to have an integrated preamp/preamplifier. All in all, a very cool update.
VPI Forever Model One Record Player $5850 Review
August 16, 2025 Comments Off on VPI Forever Model One Record Player $5850 Review
https://www.stereophile.com/content/vpi-forever-model-one-record-player
he Forever One features VPI’s new three-point suspension. Drawing on earlier suspended designs, VPI assembles the F1’s suspension from precision CNC-machined aluminum parts. The suspension’s heart is a 0.5″ thick 6061 aluminum alloy slab that acts as a floating subchassis, isolated by three inverted Sorbothane stanchions—not springs. This subchassis/Sorbothane combination holds three leveling screws, which attach to the 0.625″–thick upper aluminum plate and aluminum armboard. An inverted stainless steel bearing fits into the floating subchassis, effectively isolating the platter and armboard together so that they can work together, separate from the solid oak frame. A nonmagnetic stainless steel spindle is affixed within the platter bearing.
Chord Electronics Alto $4320 Review
August 13, 2025 Comments Off on Chord Electronics Alto $4320 Review
https://www.whathifi.com/hi-fi/headphone-amplifiers/chord-electronics-alto
On the whole, the Chord does well, though we do find its outer limits soon enough to confirm that it works best in a nearfield context.
When we’re sitting close to speakers, say less than 2m, the Alto sounds suitably bold and powerful, delivering the sound with all the conviction we hear through its headphone outputs.
However, in larger spaces it doesn’t really have the scale, dynamic clout or low-end authority to truly satisfy, particularly when driving less sensitive designs such as the ATC SCM50 in our 3 x 7 x 5m (hwd) test room.
How does the Alto perform as a preamp? It turns out very well. There is little to complain about the insight it offers into recordings or the even-handed way it deals with each genre of music. The soundstaging isn’t the most spacious, and there is a lack of ‘air’ compared to our much pricier reference preamp, the Burmester 088.
But, judged by price standards, it is still up with the best of them when it comes to honesty, resolution and musical cohesion. Our only word of caution is that having just two inputs could be a major limitation for many.
Schiit Audio Gungnir 2 Balanced Multiform™ DAC $1,599 Review
August 13, 2025 Comments Off on Schiit Audio Gungnir 2 Balanced Multiform™ DAC $1,599 Review
As one would expect from a state-of-the-art DAC, the Gungnir2 is genre agnostic, working well with any form of music; the timbre and tonal balance are correct, imaging is laser perfect, the soundstage is palpable and realistic, and streaming music seems to perform as well as local storage.
The reality of the situation is that I intend to use the Gungnir2 as my reference DAC for as long as I continue to have it in my possession, which will probably be until I am able to perform the Lyr3 review. I can easily recommend the Gungnir2 to anyone who is looking for an end-game DAC and isn’t burdened with a ton of DSD tracks. Two thumbs up.
Audiophilepure 
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