Fiio Q5 Review
April 12, 2018 Comments Off on Fiio Q5 Review
“The Bluetooth feature is undoubtedly a highlight of the Q5, one of the first devices I’ve seen to implement this method of connectivity and easily the best sounding. Once powered on, holding the play/pause button on the left side enters BT mode, signified by a blue pulsar light. The Q5 pairs just like any BT device and delivered impressive range similar to an over-ear headphone and hugely improved over Fiio’s BTR1. I experienced no cut-outs at all, phone in hand, Q5 pocketed, even within the city at peak hour. What surprises most is the quality of that audio. Where I had previously assumed Bluetooth to be the most limiting factor of wireless gear, the Q5 disproves a lot of my beliefs, demonstrating that there is hope after all.”
McIntosh MA252 tube/solid-state integrated amplifier Review
April 12, 2018 Comments Off on McIntosh MA252 tube/solid-state integrated amplifier Review
‘The McIntosh MA252 offers an alluring combination of tube romanticism and solid-state resolution and authority. Any shortcomings are relatively minor and mainly found at the extremes of its frequency range. It also has a slight midrange emphasis that is pleasing on pop and jazz vocals, combined with an overall smoothness that is flattering to instruments like horns and violins in particular and CDs in general. Still, this integrated also plays vinyl with aplomb — using its own very capable MM phono stage — and avoids any sogginess or congestion that can result from having too much of a good thing.”
ABYSS AB-1266 PHI HEADPHONES $4495 REVIEW
April 11, 2018 Comments Off on ABYSS AB-1266 PHI HEADPHONES $4495 REVIEW
” This new version of headphones have really come a long way! The world famous Abyss bass is still there, deep, powerful and masterfully detailed and in the end offers some of the very best presentation of the lowest octaves in a recording that you’ll ever hear from a pair of headphones! The stand-up bass portrayal really put the musician literally right there in my minds’ eye. But the two biggest areas for improvement of the new Phi headphones over their predecessor was in the treble region and overall transparency.”
DACs: everything you need to know
April 11, 2018 Comments Off on DACs: everything you need to know
“Finally, there are the DACs that are designed to work as part of a bigger home audio system. These will usually have even more inputs – particularly more niche sockets such as AES/EBU – and, potentially, more features too. They’ll support the full range of high-resolution music formats, for example, or offer Bluetooth connectivity for streaming wirelessly from your smartphone or tablet.”
FELIKS AUDIO EUFORIA HEADPHONE AMPLIFIER REVIEW
April 10, 2018 Comments Off on FELIKS AUDIO EUFORIA HEADPHONE AMPLIFIER REVIEW
“A really good OTL design makes your transducers sound like they are direct-coupled to the music, and that is precisely what the Feliks Audio Euforia does to your headphones. For some, I can see that being too much of a good thing; and they will want an amplifier with more guts, more drive, more volume, and more distortion. OK, at the limits, it goes for refinement rather than edginess, and this might not be my first choice for thrashing out old Guided By Voices albums. On the other hand, the sound of the system with the Euforia in place is so sophisticated and dynamic, I might not want to put those old GBV albums on the playlist; it won’t make ‘Hardcore UFOs’ from Bee Thousand[Scat] sound awful, but the lo-fi quality of the album is not enhanced by being played with refinement. And that’s what the Euforia does so well – make music sound refined. ”
MAGICO S3 MK II FLOORSTANDING LOUDSPEAKER REVIEW
April 9, 2018 Comments Off on MAGICO S3 MK II FLOORSTANDING LOUDSPEAKER REVIEW
“In a way, this last paragraph highlights one of the problems with trying to describe sound in word form. It’s easy to give the wrong impression. A surface reading of a review of the Magico S3 Mk II might conclude that this is a good, if analytical loudspeaker with a dry-sounding bass. This would be entirely wrong, but also entirely understandable given the nature of the way the sound of the Magico is invariably described. What’s missing from this picture is the way you relate to this sound. It’s honest and accurate and able to play loud, but these points alone don’t do the loudspeaker justice. There is something deeper at work when you listen to the Magico S3 Mk II. You find the lack of character in a loudspeaker really begins to hit home after a few minutes of listening, and this happens in an entirely positive way. It’s not just about the great dynamic range or the three-dimensional, well-wide-of-the-speakers soundstage, it’s about being something of a musical intuition pump. The S3 Mk II invites you to listen deeper. Not in an analytical way (although you can certainly do that with these loudspeakers) but like the music is being presented to you shiny and new. Your inner musicologist is set free as a result”
Totem Acoustic Signature One Loudspeakers $2650 Review
April 9, 2018 Comments Off on Totem Acoustic Signature One Loudspeakers $2650 Review
“The Signature One was fast on its feet no matter the listening level. While at the very lowest volumes it lost some of its sparkle (as do most speakers), at reasonable late-night, don’t-wake-the-family levels these condo-friendly speakers projected satisfying levels of dynamics. Then, when I jacked up the juice, the Totems woke right up and came alive. As I raised the volume, the bass tightened up and the highs gained presence, and that didn’t stop even as I pushed the speakers further, up past my usual comfort level for a stand-mounted two-way. The Totems are ideal for a small room, but I wouldn’t hesitate to use them in larger spaces.’
NAIM ND5 XS 2, NDX 2, ND 555 STREAMERS REVIEW
April 9, 2018 Comments Off on NAIM ND5 XS 2, NDX 2, ND 555 STREAMERS REVIEW
“We then moved from the NDX 2 to the ND 555 in the same system, this time moving over to Lyle Lovett. Once more, there was a greater sense of physical presence of singer and musicians, with at once more separation and – not as paradoxically as it sounds – more cohesion between the players in the band. After this we played a number of tracks (not just alt-country) through the ND 555, and it retained a sense of richness and organic depth to the sound, but not at the expense of the pace of the music (understandably, given the company it hails from). This was just a slice of how these players perform and the sound of the system wasn’t giving the kind of stereophony or bottom end definition I would necessarily seek on any of the tracks, but it did show up the good-better-best differences well. One for more investigation, I suspect.”
Klipsch Heritage HP-3 Headphones $1199 Review
April 8, 2018 Comments Off on Klipsch Heritage HP-3 Headphones $1199 Review
“While Brent described the Klipsch HP-3s as being “very competitive” for the price if used only in a home setting, he emphasized their versatility: “Unlike with so many headphones, there’s simply no reason not to like the HP-3s — no troublesome sonic colorations, no discomfort, and nothing to worry about in choosing partnering gear. . . . If you want a great set of audiophile headphones you can easily carry with you and use with any source device you happen to have in your bag, the HP-3s, in my opinion, have no serious competition.”
Chord Poly Review
April 8, 2018 Comments Off on Chord Poly Review
“Can you see where we’re headed? The Chord Mojo-Poly is battery powered. It can play music from a microSD card. Instead of playback control coming from a touch screen, our wifi-direct-connected smartphone does the talking. iPhone users wanting to dig into offline Spotify or Tidal content get the bonus benefit of Airplay. In other words, Mojo-Poly is a DAP without a screen or customised (read: functionally hamstrung) operating system, its control revolving around the smartphone, no USB cable required.”
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