Focal Chora 826 Three-Way Floorstanding Loudspeaker Review
February 12, 2020 Comments Off on Focal Chora 826 Three-Way Floorstanding Loudspeaker Review
https://hometheaterreview.com/focal-chora-826-three-way-floorstanding-loudspeaker-reviewed/
“Each Chora 826 sports one pair of binding posts, so bi-wiring isn’t accommodated. Overall, I really love the quality of the binding posts, as they’re easy to loosen and tighten and look quite lovely. If I have one concern, it’s that tightly fitted black and red caps will need to be removed if you intend to use banana plugs (as I always do), and these caps do put up a good bit of a fight. I had to end up resorting to needle-nosed pliers to extract them, and it felt a bit like pulling a tooth. By the time I had them out, the caps were more than a bit mangled.
From there, though, setup is a breeze. Due to the front-ported design of the speaker, you don’t have to be quite as concerned with distance from rear boundaries. In my relatively small two-channel listening room, this is a blessing. Being able to position a pair of speakers six inches from the wall rather than eighteen definitely leaves me with more breathing room and affords a wider soundstage, since there’s more distance between me and the speakers.”

Sonus Faber Electa Amator III review
February 10, 2020 Comments Off on Sonus Faber Electa Amator III review
https://www.whathifi.com/us/reviews/sonus-faber-electa-amator-iii
“A carefully calibrated crossover, packed with high-quality parts such as ClarityCap capacitors and Jantzen inductors, links the two drivers. The crossover frequency is an entirely conventional 2.5kHz. Connection to the speaker is via two pairs of rather lovely multi-way speaker terminals. These are beautifully made and thoughtfully shaped to make handling easier.
Being a Sonus Faber speaker, we’re not surprised to find that the cabinet is made of solid walnut rather than the usual veneered MDF. The 25mm thick panels use a damped, sandwich construction to help rigidity and resonance behaviour, and once the 30mm thick Carrera marble base and thin brass plate are added, the result is an impressively sturdy structure. High quality, soft leather covers both of the front and back panels, which feels lovely to the touch.”


Fiio M15 Flagship Music player Review
February 9, 2020 Comments Off on Fiio M15 Flagship Music player Review
https://www.headfonia.com/fiio-m15/
“The DAP is pretty to me, though that of course depends on your personal preference. On top you have the perfectly finished headphone and LO outputs as well as the volume dial. The positioning of the volume wheel is a bit weird depending on what you’re used to. Where we very often see the volume dial on the right, Fiio has placed it on the left. It’s special, but once you’re used to it, no problem.
All the M15’s button can be found on the left side. They’re rather plastic like but the design is nice and they fit perfectly in the case. On the right side? Nothing! On the bottom you’ll find the USB-C connector and the MicroSD slot. Almost forgot, the M15 has one button you can program yourself. Extra points!”

Paradigm Persona 9H Loudspeaker £34,000 Review
February 8, 2020 Comments Off on Paradigm Persona 9H Loudspeaker £34,000 Review
https://www.hifinews.com/content/paradigm-persona-9h-loudspeaker
“That said, the speakers can be sweet and light on their feet with Copland’s own recording of ‘Billy The Kid’ [Copland Conducts Copland; Sony Classical SS 89041] and then deploy their immense power and speed with Frankie Goes To Hollywood’s ‘Welcome To The Pleasuredome’ from the Rage Hard compilation [ZTT 177SACD]. It’s a track I have used often, both as a stern test and an absolute riot, but I don’t think I have ever heard it as clean and hard-hitting as it did via these Paradigm flagships, even with my phone’s VU SPL meter suggesting we were peaking at around 105dB some 4m from the speakers.
Scale back the musical forces, or at least the complexity, and the Persona 9H ‘sound’ showed itself well-suited to the cleanly-recorded interplay of the Oscar Peterson Trio’s A Jazz Portrait Of Frank Sinatra set [Verve 0602498625750], with subtle drumming from Ed Thigpen, Ray Brown’s bass with great snap and resonance, and of course Peterson’s delicate touch on the keyboard much in evidence. It was one of those times when you fire up one track just to have a listen, and then find yourself still gripped when the album finishes.”


Chord Poly Review
February 8, 2020 Comments Off on Chord Poly Review
https://www.whathifi.com/us/chord/poly/review
“Playing Bon Iver’s 666ʇ, they deliver the opening two-chime notes and glitchy guitar attacks with greater clarity and texture, pursuing the harmonics of the distorted instruments with greater resolve.
The stepping-stone pattern, which rides underneath as Bon Iver stacks his dense synth-washed canvas layer-by-layer, has a closer-knit correlation with everything else.
And when it’s time for his warped, auto-tuned chop to come in, it’s placed centre-stage with a level of articulacy and dynamic discernment the Cambridge can’t quite match. That insight extends to the low end, with heft anchoring the tuneful bassline.”

ELAC Vela BS 403 speakers Review
February 6, 2020 Comments Off on ELAC Vela BS 403 speakers Review
http://av2day.com/2020/01/elac-vela-bs-403-speakers-outstanding-tweeter-good-sound/
The speakers were versatile in that both listening positions provided very satisfying experiences, but I felt that the equilateral triangle method provided a more intimate experience with the singer placed just in front of the listener and the musicians spread out behind the speakers.
Compared with the resident ATC SCM50 floorstanders, the soundstage and images were noticeably smaller and the BS 403’s bass could not reach to subterranean levels. This was to be expected given the size of the ELAC speakers.
However, the bass that was present was rhythmic and lively. Imaging was solid and stable and the sheer transparency of the tweeter resulted in a very detailed sound. Overall, the sound quality was more on the neutral side of the spectrum and the star component was the JET 5 tweeter which created high notes that soared effortlessly into the blackness.

ROSSON AUDIO DESIGN RAD-0 FLAGSHIP HEADPHONES REVIEW
February 5, 2020 Comments Off on ROSSON AUDIO DESIGN RAD-0 FLAGSHIP HEADPHONES REVIEW
“Meanwhile, James Hetfield’s vocals were meaty, upfront and especially transparent; conversely, Kirk Hammett’s guitar snarled with a clarity and intensity that left me with a huge smile on my face! Now on to the bass – all I could remember thinking was “WOW”! Robert Trujillo’s bass notes hit hard and fast and were both impactful and taught. These headphones can do bass with the very best out there and will have your head rocking up and down in short order. Their ability to cast a wider and deep soundscape really dazzled me grabbing my attention from the outset and never letting it go”

VITUS MP-201 MASTERPIECE D/A CONVERTER £24,000 REVIEW
February 5, 2020 Comments Off on VITUS MP-201 MASTERPIECE D/A CONVERTER £24,000 REVIEW
http://www.hifiplus.com/articles/vitus-mp-201-masterpiece-da-converter/
” Yes, the Vitus MP-201 is a masterpiece product as the name states but it can only work within the limitations of the system it sits at the heart of and this means that its likely destinations are high-end systems, or in other words, expensive systems assembled by those fortunate enough to be able to afford them. You are going to need to make sure that every detail has been thought through. This means from the router onwards. You really need to give the conductor the right tools and there are no short cuts. I have heard so many systems that cost more than a house that failed to deliver anything other than a loud and rather tiring facsimile of music. Brimmed full of the most outrageous detail but totally lacking in soul or humanity. Digital-based music can still be like this. It has always been that way since Digital began to show its (then) ugly face to the world through recordings on vinyl. I read the reviews and rushed out and bought this early stuff and ended up hating it, for years in fact. Early CD too was shockingly bad. But, where we are now is light years away from those days. What hasn’t changed is that realising the potential out of any system includes the painstaking business of considering the infrastructure that surrounds the electronics themselves.”


ABYSS DIANA V2 REVIEW
February 4, 2020 Comments Off on ABYSS DIANA V2 REVIEW
https://www.headfonia.com/abyss-diana-v2-review/
“Every pair of Diana V2 headphones is machined, finished and assembled by hand in the New York facilities of Abyss Headphones. When you order your pair from Abyss you can also select the termination of your cable. Options are 6.3 mm or 3.5 mm unbalanced, 4 Pin XLR, 4.4 mm balanced or 2.5 mm balanced. One set of Diana V2 headphones retails for 2,995$ US.
For everyone who wants to tickle even more performance out of their Diana V2, Abyss offers an upgrade cable by JPS Labs for the V2, called The Superconductor HP. Retail prices of the Superconductor HP begin at 1,400 USD. We will also find out what improvements it brings over the stock cable later.”

Audio-Technica ATH-AWKT And ATH-AWAS Headphones Review
February 4, 2020 Comments Off on Audio-Technica ATH-AWKT And ATH-AWAS Headphones Review
“The pads were soft on my head and the headphone was light and noticeable on the recording was inner detail and the beauty of the piano body with excellent inner detail retrieval. The sound was exceptional, and when I switched from the Mytek to the Auris Headonia, I noticed even more musicality coming from the body of instruments. The Mytek was exceptional but the Headonia was able to dig deeper, while both offered exceptional tonality of the piano and layering was exceptional with both amplifiers. The Auris, with the Marantz SA10, was three times more than the Mytek but differences were noticeable from the Mytek Brooklyn Bridge. I continued to be impressed with the AWKT’s ability to let me notice differences but still, both of the Amplifier/DAC combinations sounded exceptional.
Bass reproduction on the AWKT was good and offered excellent texture while digging into instruments with bass and the AT always felt balanced in the presentation. The sound was transparent and a little more on the bright side than the less expensive sister the ATH-AWAS which had a tendency to be more of a warmer sound both musical but with different sound signatures”

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