Living Voice • Vox Palladian/Palladian Basso Loudspeaker System Review
April 4, 2019 Comments Off on Living Voice • Vox Palladian/Palladian Basso Loudspeaker System Review
“Despite the price, despite the sheer quality of the finish and the scale of the finished system, don’t confuse these speakers with some luxury exercise in cost-no-object consumption. These speakers are all — and only — about performance. In a market where an increasing number of products appear more concerned with their role as male jewelry than they do with their achievements in musical communication (the audio equivalents of tote bags with logos from the likes of Chanel or Dolce & Gabbana that are so big that they overlap the available surface), the Living Voice Vox-series speakers are a singular — and singularly successful — exception to that trend. If the general public struggles with brand recognition much beyond Bang & Olufsen or its spiritual descendent Devialet, if the likes of Wilson Audio are flying well below the popular radar, then where does that place the Vox Palladians? The simple fact is that nobody will buy them to impress their non-audio friends. You don’t buy them to impress your fashion-conscious audio buddies either. You don’t buy them to convince yourself that you are younger than you feel, and you certainly don’t buy them to impress your interior designer/decorator, who really isn’t going to understand the positional demands they dictate. You buy the Vox Palladians (assuming you can afford to) for one reason and one reason only — to be transported by music. Arguably more than any other speaker system I’ve tested, they stand or fall by that measure alone — and stand they most definitely do.”
EarSonics EM64 Review
April 4, 2019 Comments Off on EarSonics EM64 Review
“Visual customisation is limited because of 3D-printing. Clear is the only shell colour available. But, you do get to choose between 17 faceplate colours and all sorts of graphical engravings. I opted for Translucent Black with the S-EM9’s ES logo engraved on the left, and Trans Military Green with EM64 engraved on the right. I think those designs were realised very well. Unfortunately, like most 3D-printed monitors, the shells are riddled by patches of cloudiness and print lines. It is a consequence of the tech, but there is definitely room for improvement. Regardless, fit is outstanding with an even seal throughout, long-lasting comfort and excellent isolation. Lacquerwork is brilliant too, as the IEMs feel flawlessly smooth.”
Audiophile IKEA Hack, Sound Diffuser Under $20
April 4, 2019 Comments Off on Audiophile IKEA Hack, Sound Diffuser Under $20
Revel PerformaBe Series F228Be Floorstanding Speaker Review
April 2, 2019 Comments Off on Revel PerformaBe Series F228Be Floorstanding Speaker Review
“Revel describes DCC as “a plasma electrolytic oxidation process that uses a plasma discharge to create a coarse ceramic coating on both sides of the aluminum core. The deep ceramic layers sandwiching the aluminum core provide constrained layer damping that push cone breakup modes outside of the passband allowing the driver to maintain ideal pistonic motion throughout its range.” The DCC cones are coupled with an improved motor structure for greater efficiency, dynamic range, and power handling, with reduced distortion and compression. Last but not least, the crossovers in the PerformaBe series are high-order crossovers that utilize all film capacitors and air core inductors in the midrange and tweeter circuits.”
EFFECT AUDIO LEONIDAS II OCTA REVIEW
April 2, 2019 Comments Off on EFFECT AUDIO LEONIDAS II OCTA REVIEW
“Mids are more transparent and open. Vocals seem to have a touch more air in them, making them slightly more emotionally grabbing. Instruments stand out from a darker background, but are highlighted precisely to stand out clear.
The biggest changes have been made to technical parameters. The sound stage stretches wider and deeper and puts the scene more in front of you. Imaging has stepped up noticeably and the resolution is incredible. Layering and instrumental separation are superb.”
BOULDER AMPLIFIERS 1110 PRE-AMPLIFIER AND 1160 AMPLIFIER REVIEW
April 1, 2019 Comments Off on BOULDER AMPLIFIERS 1110 PRE-AMPLIFIER AND 1160 AMPLIFIER REVIEW
“Thirty-four years of engineering focus has given Boulder time to learn more efficient and effective ways to construct its gear, with build quality that routinely functions for a decade plus of set-it-and-forget-it life spans, better heat dissipation, plus ARM Chip inclusion for web capabilities as well as advanced power management and circuit protection. I have not found any area that has not been considered for improvement. And, the music! Absolutely musical! I could not detect any colour being inserted by the Boulder siblings. They did not offer a warm, cool, or shaded tonal signature. Everything was by the book, whatever was the disc, LP, or streaming bits. That is what I want from a solid state, state of the art system. ”
Tweet Share SHOOTOUT: RECORD CLEANING MACHINES
April 1, 2019 Comments Off on Tweet Share SHOOTOUT: RECORD CLEANING MACHINES
“Back to the comparison between Okki Nokki and Consonance record cleaning machines – they differ in size, they have a different visual appeal, are similarly priced, but one is much louder than the other. Ultimately, they do the same job.With the quality included accessories, a full range of replacement parts readily available online, comprehensive instruction manuals, and potentially higher quality internal components, there’s a good reason why Okki Nokki has become a popular choice.Greg Osborn has informed me that spare parts are also readily available from Consonance too, which is good news.”
Aurender N10 Music Server $7,999 Review
March 31, 2019 Comments Off on Aurender N10 Music Server $7,999 Review
“The $7,999 USD N10 is more expensive than most laptops or PCs, and it is not light physically either, tipping the scales at almost 30 pounds with a chunky, but graceful aesthetic, excellent metal/rubber o-ring isolation feet, clearly designed button-operating layout and a very large (nine-inch diagonal), white-on-black AMOLED display that is easily legible (artist and song title anyway) from the listening position (it can also be set to mimic VU meters). It is equipped with enough digital ins and outs to keep binary purists pleased with BNC, coaxial, optical AES/EBU and USB 2.0 outputs (dedicated low-noise circuitry employed) and a Gigabyte ethernet port bookended by two USB 2.0 data ports for input. Format compatibility covers everything from ALAC, AIFF, DSD64/128 (DFF, DSF) and FLAC to MP3 and M4A among others, with SPDIF digital audio handled up to 24-bit/192kHz PCM and DSD64 and USB digital audio accepting 32-bit/384kHz PCM and DSD128 files.”
FLUX LAB ACOUSTICS ATLAS REVIEW
March 31, 2019 Comments Off on FLUX LAB ACOUSTICS ATLAS REVIEW
“First things first: the Atlas is a high-end unit and that means excellent linearity and a perfect balance. The Atlas is a neutrally tuned source but Flux Lab Acoustics managed to keep the delivery musical as well. In balanced mode you even get a slightly smooth delivery but you can’t possibly call the Atlas a warm sounding unit. Instead you get really excellent clarity and a very clean sound and all that combined with excellent prat and a high level of detail.
Atlas’ sound stage is wide, the delivery spacious with excellent separation and the layering in really good. I do have tube amps performing better in the depth/layering regard but of all my solid state amps, this surely must be one of the very best. Together with the slightly smooth delivery I mentioned earlier, the Atlas has the perfect amount of air in its presentations. It hits the perfect balance between musicality, realism and precision and it’s not something I easily find or see as well executed in other ss amps.”
HiFiMan Jade II Electrostatic Headphone System Full $2499 Review
March 30, 2019 Comments Off on HiFiMan Jade II Electrostatic Headphone System Full $2499 Review
“Finally, I’d like to comment on soundstage. This may seem like a strange thing to discuss when evaluating headphones because we’ve all come to expect any imaging produced by a pair of headphones to be inside of our heads. I expected no more or no less when I first donned this pair of Jade II’s and to be honest, I was not disappointed. The soundstage was indeed in my head just as I expected. But, after giving them a hundred hours of break-in, I was flabbergasted to find that these phones actually image in a much more speaker-like manner than any headphone set that I had ever experienced before! For the first time the image was outside of my head and in front of me. I realize that it’s an illusion, but it is a very satisfying one! If one keeps one’s head relatively still, the soundstage that one hears is stable with great image specificity and a wide deep presentation. You’ll not be fooled into thinking that you are listening to stereo speakers, But it will be such a breath of fresh air after living with ordinary headphones, that you won’t really care.”
Audiophilepure 
You must be logged in to post a comment.