Focal’s $3K Stellia headphones
May 4, 2019 Comments Off on Focal’s $3K Stellia headphones
“Trumpet player Erik Truffaz’s electronica-tinged jazz is highly textured, and the ultradeep bass beats coursing through his Bending New Corners album all but massaged my eardrums. The bass goes really low, but it never felt overdone — the control down there is exceptional. Reggae had plenty of drive over the Stellia.
Sadly, I didn’t have Focal’s Utopia headphones on hand for a direct comparison, so I popped on a set of Audeze LCD-MX4 headphones and the tonal balance cooled down, and I missed Stellia’s richer tone. Though the MX4 is an open-back design, the sound felt more canned than it did on the Stellias. The Focal is a very open sounding closed-back design.
Stellia is so easy to drive it sounded fine with my iPhone 8, played over the Apple Lightning-to-3.5mm dongle. It’s hardly an ideal setup, but for travel it’s perfectly serviceable. It is after all, a very large headphone, so transporting Stellia isn’t for the faint of heart. Home listening with a Mytek Brooklyn amp kicked Stellia’s sound quality up a few notches.”
MOON by Simaudio 390 $5,300 Review
May 3, 2019 Comments Off on MOON by Simaudio 390 $5,300 Review
“Easy as the 390 is to use, it never compromises sound quality for convenience. With TIDAL and Simaudio’s MiND app ready, a world of music is instantly available at your disposal. Through the 390 and MiND, even basic 16/44 CD quality provides a lush soundstage with a natural sound that checks off nearly box one would want from a great DAC. Dense, detailed, warm/musical, and enjoyable at every note. With sound this good in this price range, one might even feel guilty about somehow getting away with the steal of the century. Each successive track compels me to linger a little longer rather than skip around.
With the ease of the 390/MiND combo and TIDAL’s vast collection, there is much more music to be had. The MQA Master of “The Angel of Doubt” from the latest Punch Brothers album All Ashore starts rather subdued, but eventually builds into a bluegrass vocal rap that shows off both the diverse talent of Chris Thile & Co. and just how well the 390 can translate a more subtle track like this. The opening gentle mandolin plucking, whispered vocals, and silent spaces provide the perfect contrast to the more forceful vocal tongue twisting ending. On this track, the 390 provides plenty of low-end authority with the acoustic bass while allowing the vocals to remain clear and separate over the top.”
Chord Electronics Qutest DAC Z $1895 Review
May 3, 2019 Comments Off on Chord Electronics Qutest DAC Z $1895 Review
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The Qutest spent most of its time tethered to my near-field desktop rig, which uses the latest-generation MacPro “titanium trashcan” desktop computer for its front end. The Qutest includes options for four different filters. First there’s the “incisive neutral” filter that according to Chord “has an ultra linear frequency response…includes a 16FS to 256FS WTA2 filter.” Qutest’s second filter is “warm” which according to Chord, “is designed to introduce a little warmth to recordings…with a 16FS WTA1 filter only.” The third filter set, “incisive neutral HF roll-off,” is similar to the first one except that it includes a high-frequency filter past 20kHz. The last filter in Qutest’s stable is “warm HR roll-off,” which is similar to the second option but with the addition of a high-frequency filter above 20kHz.”
Alexus Audio 845SE Single-Ended mono amplifiers $16,995 Review
May 2, 2019 Comments Off on Alexus Audio 845SE Single-Ended mono amplifiers $16,995 Review
“The highlight for me might be One For All’s rendition of “John Coltrane,” with its sweet ride cymbal ring, bass bloom, sonorous trumpet and brooding sax which really lit up the groove. The piano body was warm and well integrated with the other instruments. Taps on the center of a cymbal held a strong place in space.
Lastly, I spun the newly-pressed and recently received “No Filter” by Jerome Sabbagh and Greg Tuohey. This is the second of Jerome’s Kickstarters I’ve backed and I can say it’s always a thrill to spin a newly-minted pressing from a project one has so closely followed. The density of the music hits you first – it’s thick and meaty, like a nice sauce, with rich textures and overtones and replete with rewarding musicianship…. but all was not all roses – overall too dark and dense for my taste with this particular mix of components. The 845SE’s show warts and all, they give you what you give them.”
Wilson Audio Specialties Yvette loudspeaker $25,500 Review
May 1, 2019 Comments Off on Wilson Audio Specialties Yvette loudspeaker $25,500 Review
“Logic would suggest that, when I realized what the Yvettes were doing, I was listening to a simply recorded, live performance of acoustic music. Instead, it was a 1964 Norman Granz production, Oscar Peterson Trio + One, with trumpeter Clark Terry (LP, Mercury SR 60975). I was shirking my reviewer duties and just enjoying the music when I casually became aware of being in the recording space with the players. A few seconds later, the significance of this hit me. I’ve heard this album through umpteen different speakers, and my listening experiences with all of them varied widely except in one regard: My listening perspective was always of watching the session from somewhere in the control room, gazing out over the mixing board and through the window at the musicians playing in the studio proper. This time I was on the other side of the glass, hanging out with the musicians.”
QUAD PA-ONE+ TRIODE TUBE DAC/HEADPHONE AMPLIFIER $1,299 REVIEW
April 30, 2019 Comments Off on QUAD PA-ONE+ TRIODE TUBE DAC/HEADPHONE AMPLIFIER $1,299 REVIEW
“The Quad PA-ONE+ and ERA-1 have excellent synergy providing realistic timbre and tonal balance, a large three-dimensional soundstage, wide dynamic range, and great musicality. Listening to Billy Joel’s “The Ballad Of Billy The Kid” (Piano Man – DSD) the piano was rich and energetic and the orchestra was full expansive with good instrument placement and imaging. The drums were tight and impactful and the bass showed exemplary resolution. There was real depth to the soundstage placing the instruments at a distance with Billy up front and his vocals warm and musical.
Moving on to “The Firebird Suite” (Robert Shaw & the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra – Stravinsky: The Firebird; Borodin: Music from Prince Igor – 16/44.1 kHz) there was great air around the soloists, and the tonality was pitch perfect making it easy to pick out the similar sounding woodwinds and brass. The tympanis were fast and articulate and the detail during the crescendos exhibited great resolution from the DAC playing standard resolution tracks.”
Verity Audio Monsalvat Amp-60 power amplifier $58,000 Review
April 30, 2019 Comments Off on Verity Audio Monsalvat Amp-60 power amplifier $58,000 Review
“Of all the power amplifiers I’ve heard, whether in my own systems or at audio shows, the one whose midrange continues to linger in my mind is Verity Audio’s Monsalvat Amp-60. I’ve packed up a lot of great gear in my time, but next to my loaner dCS Vivaldi DAC, now on its way home to the UK after bringing me joy for well over a year, the sound I’ve most regretted saying goodbye to is the Amp-60’s.
At first, I thought I’d describe the Monsalvat Amp-60’s smooth, glowing, naturally warm sound as “dew-kissed”—but to some, that metaphor might imply a hyper-liquidity that I did not hear. Better to describe its midrange as velvet smooth. Imagine yourself blindfolded and led to a series of objects that you can identify only by touch. With each new texture your fingers encounter, your sense of wonder increases: the surface of a ceramic dinner plate, the warm chassis of an amplifier, a piece of cardboard, a cloak of finest velvet. As you luxuriate in the feel of those textures, you can begin to imagine how the Amp-60 sounds.
CHORD ELECTRONICS ÉTUDE STEREO POWER AMPLIFIER REVIEW
April 29, 2019 Comments Off on CHORD ELECTRONICS ÉTUDE STEREO POWER AMPLIFIER REVIEW
“Finally, there’s an important aspect of the Étude that has almost nothing to do with the technology; namely, the trinity of Blu, DAVE, and Étude that I’m going to call the ‘Power Chord’. Unfortunately, due to the rarity of all three (they sell out faster than Chord Electronics can make them), I did not have all three Chord Electronics products to hand at the same time, but they match in terms of equal degrees of technological advancement and styling, and from memory I’m fairly sure they match in terms of sound and performance, too. I’m hoping to put the three together later in the year to find out for sure, but I have a feeling this might be one of those ‘stick a fork in me, I’m done!’ type systems where – aside from the choice of cable and loudspeakers, the system is a complete given.”
MrSpeakers Ether 2 Review
April 29, 2019 Comments Off on MrSpeakers Ether 2 Review
“Comparing the Ether 2 with the Hifiman HE1000v2 headphones both are superb, but the HE1000v2 produces a more spacious and three-dimensional soundstage. The Ether 2’s tone is more fleshed out and solid, while the HE1000v2 reveals superior detail in the quieter parts of the music. I’m more aware of the acoustics of the room the musicians were playing in over the HE1000v2, and treble detail sparkles more. The Ether 2 brings the instruments in closer, so the sound is more intimate than what I’m getting from the HE1000v2. These two headphones present different sonic perspectives, the Ether 2 digs deeper, the music has more weight, and feels more fully developed; the HE1000v2 is more transparent and livelier.”
KEF LSX wireless loudspeaker system $1099 Review
April 29, 2019 Comments Off on KEF LSX wireless loudspeaker system $1099 Review
“The best-sounding album I played during my first week with the LSX system was jazz guitarist Mary Halvorson’s Meltframe (16/44.1 FLAC, Firehouse 12/Tidal). The quality and character of timbre of Halvorson’s guitar convinced me that, after many experiments, I’d nailed the Desktop EQ/DSP settings in the Control app’s Expert section. On my desktop stage, the speakers’ octave-to-octave energy balance let instruments and humans sound quite natural. The vibrating body of Halvorson’s guitar took up residence behind my desk. My enjoyment of Meltframe put to rest any lingering questions I had about the LSX’s sound.
Fine detail and sharply focused images were the most conspicuous aspects of the LSX system’s sound. Soprano Dorothee Mields singing John Dowland’s “From Silent Night,” accompanied by viola da gambist Hille Perl and lutenist Lee Santana, from In Darkness Let Me Dwell (16/44.1 FLAC, Deutsche Harmonia Mundi/Tidal), sounded sweet, tuneful, and exceedingly spacious. All I could ask for was more strong energy in the mid-bass and a greater sense of macrodynamics. Lack of force and dynamic expression were the LSX system’s prime failings
Audiophilepure 
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