FOCAL STELLIA REFERENCE REVIEW
June 10, 2019 Comments Off on FOCAL STELLIA REFERENCE REVIEW
“Focal continues to grow as a company with their commitment to the personal audio market. The last several years have brought Focal speaker technology to the headphone community with exceptionally capable products that are world-class designs which sound exceptional. The Stellia with its beautiful cognac finish design is a stellar looking headphone that offers exceptional musicality and is magical in delivery of the music.
The cable is an improvement over the Elegia cable that I had reviewed and built to a price point. Many users will find aftermarket cables bring more clarity and less microphonics to the party. I used the Black Dragon and noticed more inner detail and clarity and a step up over the stock cable.”
SVS SB-3000 Subwoofer Review
June 10, 2019 Comments Off on SVS SB-3000 Subwoofer Review
“The SVS SB-3000 is a powerful subwoofer that excels in terms of form, functionality, and performance. With its compact size, sealed box construction, and single driver design, this sub can fit in tight locations. The wireless mobile device control delivers a level of convenience not normally found at this price point. Lastly, the SB-3000 has sophisticated DSP processing with a powerful amplifier coupled to a newly designed driver, which provides the backbone of its performance.
All of these essential qualities combine to create a seriously sophisticated audio device, one that can render subtle differences in bass inflection, but with the capacity to slam hard with a fast and tight signature that worked well with my main speakers, and demonstrated high performance with both movies and music alike. While dual subwoofers will always outperform a single subwoofer installation, a single SB-3000 is a remarkable performer even in isolation, assuming your room is symmetrical enough and not overly large.”
Transparent Music Link Reference interconnect & Music Wave Reference speaker cable Review
June 9, 2019 Comments Off on Transparent Music Link Reference interconnect & Music Wave Reference speaker cable Review
“The Transparent Audio Music Wave Reference speaker cable looks substantial—to say the least. The main cable run, again clad in black mesh, is 1″ in diameter. The network casing is a hefty 11″ by 3″ by 2″, from which protrude a pair of 1!0-long flexible wires attached to the thickest and most substantial spade lugs I’ve ever seen. If your speaker or amplifier manufacturer has used nonstandard binding posts, you’ll have one bear of a time trying to spread the forks of these connectors. I don’t know what to suggest here, since it’s obvious that these are extremely-high-quality connectors, but I did need to mention it. If you use stand-mounted speakers, the network box is left dangling from its short wires—not to worry, Transparent will provide you with a Velcro harness to attach the box to your speaker stands, providing strain relief. ”
Turntable Transrotor ALTO TMD Review
June 9, 2019 Comments Off on Turntable Transrotor ALTO TMD Review
“A wide hole was milled into the bottom side of the platter, where a large TMD (Transrotor Magnet Drive) bearing fits. Jochen Räke once talked about development of this bearing in an interview that he gave our magazine. It is a bearing with a magnetic clutch, consisting of three main parts – a spindle with a base, a low pulley to which torque is transferred from the motor and the upper, high part, which is actually a sub-platter. Around the spindle with a ceramic ball there is a milled space for oil.
The upper part of the bearing consists of two parts, separated from each other by a magnetic field generated by many small neodymium magnets. The idea is to separate these two elements from each other, and thus to reduce the vibrations transmitted by the drive belt from the motor. The belt is placed over the lower part and the platter rests on the top one.
Motor | Alto TMD is a design with a separate motor, placed next to the turntable. One can use such solution only in mass-loaders. Therefore, the motor features a solid, heavy cylinder housing. A small, aluminum spindle is mounted on the motor axis, and puts a rubber drive belt over it. The motor is placed on the side – Transrotor suggests placing it on the left side, but I would suggest to start your test by placing it on the line connecting the motor column and the platter’s axis.”
Magico A3 speakers $12.000 review
June 8, 2019 Comments Off on Magico A3 speakers $12.000 review
“This is also one of the Magico A3’s main advantages. With the most advanced technology in an era of proficient speaker manufacturing, Magico is capable of creating a speaker with the least amount of colouration; they impose no sonic signature of their own.
The Magico A3s are capable of portraying all kinds of music from various genres in their purest form. It delivers to the listener all the emotional triggers which are hidden within the compositions. This is only possible when the music’s message is being transmitted in an unaltered way. ”
Naim DAC-V1 Review
June 7, 2019 Comments Off on Naim DAC-V1 Review
“On the 24/96 Qobuz version of Kenyan-born J.S. Ondara’s Tales Of America the V1’s genealogical timing shone through with musical, yet metronomic precision in the drum work of Griffin Goldsmith and the basslines of Sebastian Steinberg and Jon Flower. The timbral bloom off Gabe Noel’s and Evgeny Tonkha’s cellos had the Naim not only capture the dimensional cues of their bow and fret work, it allowed for a constant demonstration of the DAC’s textural retrieval qualifications as well. Ondara’s voice, with all its comparisons to that of Tracy Chapman, shines through on its own merit via the V1 with the subtle – of what I can only assume are Nairobi – inflections of his birth place flavoring his lyrics on acoustically-dense tracks like “American Dream” and the a cappella “Turkish Bandana,” which is resonant with spatial reflections loaded back onto his voice beautifully capturing the studio space of the recording.”
Chord Electronics Hugo M Scaler Review
June 7, 2019 Comments Off on Chord Electronics Hugo M Scaler Review
”
Moreover, you could get a much better tone and timbre when you power a Chromecast Audio (now discontinued) via a battery and connect it to the Hugo M Scaler. There’s something so beautiful about saying “Hey Google, play Spotify on M Scaler.”Using the Chromecast Audio on the Hugo M Scaler made me realize the importance of having a higher quality streamer and server such as the Innuos ZENith Mk.II. That’s where you’ll lower noise floor, bring out the details, and mold out the music in a more convincing way.”
Novafidelity X14 Review
June 6, 2019 Comments Off on Novafidelity X14 Review
“Connecting to the 3.5mm headphone socket, the X14 starts out respectably with Nils Frahm’s Sunson – a 16/44.1 stream via Qobuz once again – but as the track continues it lacks some control as the headphone stage appears to be trying to manage too many elements and struggles to drive the Grado SR125 headphone (HFC 389) as effectively.
Conclusion
The X14 has to be praised for the degree of functionality it manages to squeeze into such a compact and elegant chassis. Its well thought out and practical approach will see it attract those looking to take the first steps into network audio, and it makes a great starter or second-room music hub that’s easy to enjoy. LD ”
Audio Hungary Qualiton A50i Integrated Amplifier Review
June 6, 2019 Comments Off on Audio Hungary Qualiton A50i Integrated Amplifier Review
“To put the Qualiton A50i to the test in more of a brute-force way, I cued up “Back in Black” from AC/DC’s album of the same name. While some would argue that tube amps are for more refined music, my tastes are broad, and I never know what the mood brings, so any amplifier in my system needs to stand up to whatever the occasion brings.
Thankfully, the A50i delivered. The amp maintained the grit and energy of Brian Johnson’s raspy voice, and struggled not in the slightest with the song’s driving bass. There was no indication of distortion, but I did notice some loss of energy at the very bottom end, which had more to do with the QLN Signature 3’s 42Hz low frequency response, not the A50i’s 30Hz -3dB point.”
Balanced Audio Technology VK-56SE power amplifier $8495 Review
June 5, 2019 Comments Off on Balanced Audio Technology VK-56SE power amplifier $8495 Review
“The BAT VK-56SE had a fine talent for pumping bass out of Harbeth’s M30.2s, but no one would mistake it for a solid-state amp. With the M30.2s, the VK-56SE’s midrange was exceedingly lush and overtly textured. But with Harbeth’s smaller P3ESR speakers it sounded distinctly not lush. Driving the mini-Harbeths, the BAT sounded more precisely focused, more like solid-state. Consequently, it made the P3ESRs “disappear” even more than they usually do. Björk’s Gling-Gló was depicted with a surprising, bright clarity and a breathy, wide-open effortlessness. The soundstage was big in every direction. Björk was now better described and easier to “see.” I noticed less electronic-ness in the space between her and her voice mike. In my room, the BAT amp sounded its absolute best with the little Harbeth P3ESRs. But . . .
When I removed the VK-56SE and connected the P3ESRs to First Watt’s astute, 25Wpc SIT-3 solid-state amplifier ($4000), which I reviewed in February 2019, I noticed, first, a slight loss in apparent woofer grip, which I perceived as a reduction in image contrast. Punch and drive were also reduced. However, these losses were accompanied by a radical increase in the density of small-scale information. The SIT-3 made trumpets, drums, guitars, and human voices sound more complex—more fully expressed, and microscopically textured. Both amplifiers sounded extremely good with the extremely good Harbeth P3ESRs, but I think I favored the BAT’s extra oomph and push.
Audiophilepure 
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