SHANLING M5S $429 Review
January 26, 2019 Comments Off on SHANLING M5S $429 Review
“Shanling did an excellent job with this DAP! The pricing is fantastic for the quality received and it is punching way above the list price. The battery life is very good and the UI is not problematic at all for me. It offers slight customization in what icon folders will be front and center on the home page and also feels fantastic in the hand in terms of build quality.
The only lacking aspect is the relatively basic EQ system which is just not good enough for the very good fidelity offered from the system’s hardware. I hope they can improve that in future products. Beyond that, the M5s is a fantastic midtier DAP. I will certainly be recommending it to enthusiasts looking for something in the $500 range.”
CH Precision I1 Universal Integrated Amplifier $38,000 Review
January 26, 2019 Comments Off on CH Precision I1 Universal Integrated Amplifier $38,000 Review
“Even if the two phono- stages had sounded identical, there’d be strong advantages to using the I1’s phono card. I’ve already described the support for a variety of EQ curves, but since even the standard RIAA EQ takes place in the digital domain, it is far more accurate than the analog implementations of other phonostages. You’ll also spend far less for this $4500 board than for an external phonostage of equal caliber, and you’ll save the cost—both monetary and sonic—of yet another set of interconnects. Lastly, the I1 board has tons of gain. This is a phonostage that allows you to take full advantage of low-output MC cartridges, such as the Lyra Etna SL that Jacob Heilbrunn has raved about (see his review in Issue 266). The conclusion is that unless you’re willing to shell out for a truly extraordinary stand-alone phonostage, there are solid sonic and functional reasons to use the I1’s board.”
EgglestonWorks Kiva Loudspeakers $15,500 Reviews
January 25, 2019 Comments Off on EgglestonWorks Kiva Loudspeakers $15,500 Reviews
“I didn’t have that problem with the EgglestonWorks Kivas. To begin with, I found these speakers just plain listenable. Although Jim Thompson moved them around a bit in my room to optimize their sound, the Kivas never actually sounded bad anywhere. Yes, things got better as we dialed them in, but we never experienced an “Oh, no” moment when we wondered if these speakers would ever work in my room. Contrary to what some audiophiles would have you believe, a pair of good speakers doesn’t typically sound downright bad everywhere in your room except in one pair of spots, where they sound good only if your head is locked in one point-size sweet spot in aural space.
The Kiva’s listenability began with its tweeter. As I listened to “Little Paradise,” from Eliane Elias’s Dance of Time (16-bit/44.1kHz FLAC, Concord Jazz/Tidal), I immediately concluded that the Kivas’ big soft-dome tweeter were striking a nice balance of detail and tonal friendliness. The piano had enough sparkle to tickle the ear, but it never sounded strident or too hot — at all. This recording is slightly warm sounding to begin with, so perhaps this wasn’t the best test of upper-frequency balance, but still — the sound was just beautiful in my room, and required no effort on my part to enjoy it.”
Revel Performa F228Be loudspeaker $10,000 Review
January 24, 2019 Comments Off on Revel Performa F228Be loudspeaker $10,000 Review
As for comparisons with other loudspeakers, the one I recall sounding most similar to the F228Be is the Kii Audio Three, which offered comparably transparent and nonresonant sound. With the stand-mounted Kii’s I couldn’t load the room with bass as I could with the floorstanding Revels, but that shouldn’t surprise. Fading memory prevents me from comparing the Performa F228Be to the Ultima Studio2; I refer you to the article, “Blind Listening at Harman International,” for some relevant insight. On hand, of course, were my reference B&W 802 D3s, which at $22,000/pair cost far more than the Performa F228Be’s. The B&W’s bass is bigger and equally as tight, and its upper bass endows it with a bit of authority the F228Be lacked. On the other hand, the Revel seemed notably more smooth and linear throughout the rest of the audioband, and didn’t suffer from the B&W’s upper-midrange reticence. And when I put ear to tweeter, the hiss I heard through the B&W was louder, and tipped more to the upper treble.
Conclusions
Overall, I’m thrilled with the sound of Revel’s Performa F228Be’s in my listening room. Across the audioband and at any listening level, they offered remarkably transparent reproduction of music in the tonal, time, and spatial domains, and my ears, brain, and mind simply loved them. I haven’t heard every speaker in the world, but I think that with the Performa F228Be Revel has planted a flag in the ground at the $10,000/pair meridian that challenges all other manufacturers—and themselves—to justify charging any significantly higher price for a domestic loudspeaker.”
AURALIC VEGA G2 STREAMING DAC WITH LEO GX CLOCK
January 24, 2019 Comments Off on AURALIC VEGA G2 STREAMING DAC WITH LEO GX CLOCK
”
Lightning DS is one of AURALiC’s USPs; it looks great thanks to clear graphics and decently sized album art and, so long as your iPad isn’t an antique, works really nicely as well. This is where you set up the VEGA G2; you can do pretty much everything you need to, which is handy because there’s slightly more set up required than with a Naim or Linn. The data from your music library needs to be imported into the streamer, which a case of picking the server or NAS that it’s stored on from the list that appears and Lightning DS then goes through the titles so it can display them properly. You can also access Tidal and Qobuz from Lightning DS, the latter being a relatively rare but welcome feature especially if your musical tastes are broader than those catered for by Tidal. The only drawback with Lightning DS is that it’s iOS only; there are third party apps for Android, however.
While everything is shown on the app, a lot of information is also displayed on the four inch high resolution screen, including album artwork, volume level, and track title… but there is no way of pausing playback without the app, unless you use the ‘any remote control’ option with the smart-IR control function in the system menu. ”
B&W Zeppelin Wireless review
January 23, 2019 Comments Off on B&W Zeppelin Wireless review
“The Zeppelin Wireless keeps the range’s legacy alive, combining a highly accomplished sound with greater functionality and a seamless design.
Pricier speakers might have more to offer when it comes to timing, drive and overall authority, but at £500, the Zeppelin Wireless remains a fine performer.”
Schiit Lyr 3 Desktop Headamp Review
January 22, 2019 Comments Off on Schiit Lyr 3 Desktop Headamp Review
“Now the truth is: some people like solid-state, modern technology, while others prefer old world tube charm. And the Lyr 3 gives you that charm, only more so. I’ll explain: given the qualities which we, as audiophiles, desire from our listening experiences for the most, we return time and again to the roots of audio technology – the vacuum tube; perhaps in hope of reviving or bestowing a bit more of the guttural, living essence upon recordings from the past. And by that I mean either revealing more actual musical information in those recordings or adding sufficient distortion products that the ear is copasetic with and believes is real, yet in either case you feel more like you are there!
Well, Schiit’s Lyr 3 picks up where the Jotunheim leaves off, offering the same modular and upgradeable capability, super build and sound quality, but with the center of the amplification circuit being a vacuum tube – a 6N8S NOS (New Old Stock) valve. That and a wealth of modifications, improvements, and redesigning of the older (now discontinued) Lyr 2, which featured two vacuum tubes instead of one have brought this sister headamp up to an even higher level of musical fidelity. In fact, the Lyr 3’s unique current-mode, non-inverting tube/BJT hybrid topology eliminates the need for interstage coupling capacitors between sections of the pre-amp. Instead, the two disparate devices work seamlessly together, with no input or output capacitors, no interstage capacitors, and an overbuilt five-pole bias servo to smoothly supply instantaneous and unfettered power to all stages of the amplification and DAC circuits.”
Bryston 28B³ Monoblock Power Amplifiers $11,995 (each) Review
January 20, 2019 Comments Off on Bryston 28B³ Monoblock Power Amplifiers $11,995 (each) Review
“The 28B³ is an excellent sounding amplifier. As the wattage specification may indicate, there was more than enough power to drive my inefficient MartinLogan Summit X electrostatic-hybrid Loudspeakers, which are also a very difficult load—their impedance drops to 0.5 ohms at 20 kHz. It is a pleasure to have large amounts of power which enables the amplifiers to grab firm control of the loudspeaker and present no signs of strain at louder volumes. There was always plenty of power on reserve.
The tonal balance of the 28B³ is very neutral. The low frequencies, the midrange and the high frequencies are evenly balanced in volume level. The bass is powerful, very deep, and very well articulated. The midrange is clear and very sweet at the same time. The high frequencies are also sweet and easy to listen to. You can listen to these amplifiers for long periods of time with absolutely no listening fatigue.”
McIntosh C2600 Tubed Preamplifier Review
January 19, 2019 Comments Off on McIntosh C2600 Tubed Preamplifier Review
“McIntosh’s proprietary HXD Circuitry for the built-in headphone amplifier put me in mind of SPL’s Phonitor X and its Matrix system, which is similar to McIntosh’s in that it is about experiencing headphone playback more as though listening – in the 3D-presentation sense – to a pair of stereo loudspeakers. Imbued with a wide and high sound stage that, like well-placed loudspeakers in a room, created a sense of extreme breadth in playback that like the Phonitor X, reminded me that headphone amplifiers not utilizing this type of circuitry can sound spatially smaller in comparison. The C2600’s headphone output can have HXD turned either on or off, so if this isn’t your cup of tea, you can get a more familiar headphone listening experience without it enabled. Utilizing a number of headphones of various impedance loads (from the Sennheiser 820 HD @300 Ohms, to the LCD-4z @15 Ohms) there was never any intimation of lack of drive or dynamics from the C2600. Resolution was outstanding without ever straying into etched, or sharp and pointy territory.”
Audiophilepure 
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