CROSSZONE CZ-1 $2500 REVIEW
December 28, 2018 Comments Off on CROSSZONE CZ-1 $2500 REVIEW
“The first are two little air vents at the top and bottom of each cup baffle. These vents act in the same manner as speaker ports (rear or front) with the vent on the base tuning the woofer and the top vent for the 40mm crossfeed driver. Put your finger over each and the level of bass and air will be affected changing the sound also. It also lowers the level of isolation from background noise.
The second are those silk/velour triangular pads used on the CZ-1. They are fairly porous in nature as are most velour pads in my experience. They do a good job with high-frequency background isolation but less so with mid to low frequency such as air con hum. Though not quite as open as proper open-back design the CZ-1 is still a headphone for indoors and quite listening sessions.”
B&W 606 Review
December 28, 2018 Comments Off on B&W 606 Review
“We waited a long time to hear the new B&W 600 Series in our test rooms, but after a few days in the company of the B&W 606 speakers, all is forgiven.
A great size and price for anyone with more than a passing interest in music, the 606s will breathe new life into your favourite tracks. They’re upbeat and energetic, deliver punchy, solid bass and offer class-leading levels of detail and dynamics. The new mid-priced speakers to beat? They might just be. We can’t wait to hear the rest of the range.”
CYRUS AUDIO ONE HD INTEGRATED AMPLIFIER
December 27, 2018 Comments Off on CYRUS AUDIO ONE HD INTEGRATED AMPLIFIER
” Overall, I like the sound of the Cyrus Audio One HD. It may not be the last word in pace and timing, but it more than makes up for that in precision, accuracy, and bass depth. The Speaker Impedance Detection circuit is a great move, too. Partnered properly (not too difficult, the amp can deliver up to 78A peak current into a loudspeaker, it makes a closer link between amp and speaker, and gets rid of many of those grumblings directed at Class D. At no time did I reach for the remote handset, either. In short, this might be the amp of tomorrow, today.”
SVS PC-4000 subwoofer review
December 26, 2018 Comments Off on SVS PC-4000 subwoofer review
“Its output is taut, and it hits hard but doesn’t linger, which makes it great for kinetic film soundtracks. The Omaha Beach landing from Saving Private Ryan (UHD Blu-ray) lets the PC-4000 strut its stuff, underscoring the explosions with perfectly timed impact but picking up smaller details like machine-gunfire and adding a visceral low-end presence.
I have auditioned SVS’s PB-4000 ported sub and for me, the cylindrical version delivers an almost identical experience but has the benefit of not being the size of a fridge-freezer. In fact, if space is an issue then the PC-4000 might be the ideal solution. And considering the state-of-the-art subwoofery inside, it isn’t that expensive either.”
Acoustic Preference Gracioso 2.0 LE/ST speakers review
December 26, 2018 Comments Off on Acoustic Preference Gracioso 2.0 LE/ST speakers review
“I’m certain you’ve already deciphered from the review of how these speakers cannot be manufactured in large volumes. Acoustic Preference never targeted a massive consumer market. Their customer base consists of the people with a selective taste for something distinctive, vibrant to behold proudly for the years to come.
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Cambridge Audio Edge A Integrated Amplifier Review
December 25, 2018 Comments Off on Cambridge Audio Edge A Integrated Amplifier Review
“As an afterthought, I suppose anyone purchasing a $5,000 two-channel amp will probably already own a headphone amp of commensurate quality. If not, the Edge A has you covered. I tried all three of my available cans—long-standard studio Sony and excellent NAD and HiFiMan pairs—with great success: sound quality was about as high as I’ve heard from any of them, and in all three cases there was plenty of level. Another afterthought: the Edge A’s Bluetooth feature worked as expected, but since I lack a Bluetooth aptX source, wireless quality was dramatically inferior, though that’s no fault of Cambridge’s amp.”
AVM Ovation SD 6.2 Preamplifier-DAC-Streamer $9990
December 24, 2018 Comments Off on AVM Ovation SD 6.2 Preamplifier-DAC-Streamer $9990
‘As I listened more, I began to concentrate less on the performance of the SD 6.2 within specific frequency bands. For instance, when I tried to focus on what the AVM was doing in the bass, I realized I was assessing more the sound of the speakers than of the electronics. This became obvious when I swapped out the EgglestonWorks Kivas, which are fairly large, three-way floorstanders, for Monitor Audio’s smallish, two-way, Studio stand-mounts, then swapped the Kivas back in again. My takeaway from all of that was that the Ovation SD 6.2 had no problem of bass lightness or heavy-handedness. Its sound seemed perfectly neutral, feeding each pair of speakers exactly what it needed to produce excellent bass within that model’s capabilities.
Eventually, as I began to focus more on soundstaging, I came to find out that this largely depended on how the SD 6.2 handled high-frequency subtleties. Basically, the AVM’s reproduction of the treble was so delicate and precise that its re-creations of the subtle cues of the acoustics of live venues were stunningly realistic. Concert recordings took on a more holographic nature in terms of soundstage depth, and my perception of the AVM’s ability to reproduce the ambience that placed me at the center of a soundfield — as opposed to looking in at it from a distance, from the outside — also increased.”
Cambridge Audio Edge A Integrated Amplifier $5,000 Review
December 23, 2018 Comments Off on Cambridge Audio Edge A Integrated Amplifier $5,000 Review
“As an afterthought, I suppose anyone purchasing a $5,000 two-channel amp will probably already own a headphone amp of commensurate quality. If not, the Edge A has you covered. I tried all three of my available cans—long-standard studio Sony and excellent NAD and HiFiMan pairs—with great success: sound quality was about as high as I’ve heard from any of them, and in all three cases there was plenty of level. Another afterthought: the Edge A’s Bluetooth feature worked as expected, but since I lack a Bluetooth aptX source, wireless quality was dramatically inferior, though that’s no fault of Cambridge’s amp.”
MCINTOSH MA7200 INTEGRATED AMPLIFIER REVIEW
December 21, 2018 Comments Off on MCINTOSH MA7200 INTEGRATED AMPLIFIER REVIEW
“A McIntosh review is almost academic. People know what they want from McIntosh, and the MA7200 is going to deliver on that. But, in a way, McIntosh needs to be reappraised in the light of modern audio. As a complete package, without recourse to any other device (so no visual mis-matches between amp and disc player) the amp stands up as a fine audio option. This is more than some blue VU meters (although familiarity has made me rethink of them as ‘cool’) and a beefy build quality. It is an amplifier that I might not have considered through sheer weight of my own snobbery, and yet I came back from listening feeling very impressed by the MA7200 as the complete package. A hefty amplifier that is capable of great things and a lot more than just brute force, the MA7200 doesn’t just look the part, it sounds the part!”
ANSUZ X SERIES CABLES AND POWER CONDITIONER
December 21, 2018 § 1 Comment
“The top-of-the-tree cables always get the praise (and the flak) because they offer cost-no-object performance for cost-no-object systems. The trouble is, so many times in audio, if you see the cost… you’ll object! The best isn’t easy to do, but it is a lot harder to climb down from the mountain top and make something that works, and works well in context. That is exactly what X-Series does. It brings a lot of the sound of top Ansuz cable to the distinctly attainable level. What it sacrifices in the process is often no real sacrifice because it will be used in the context of good – but also attainably-priced – audio electronics. That, in a very real way, is a lot harder to do, because there are often more ideosyncrasies in more attainably expensive equipment. X-Series is extremely well balanced for its market.”
Audiophilepure 
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