NAD C 338 Hybrid Digital Wireless Streaming DAC-Integrated Amplifier $649 Review
October 22, 2017 Comments Off on NAD C 338 Hybrid Digital Wireless Streaming DAC-Integrated Amplifier $649 Review
“I found myself making much more use of my Google Play Music subscription than ever — the C 338 made it so easy and satisfying. I heard Norwegian trumpeter Tine Thing Helseth, and recognized in her recording of concertos by Albinoni, Haydn, Hummel, and Neruda (256kbps MP3, Simax Classics/Google Play Music) her light touch, with just enough air to fill the hall without ever seeming forced, that I’d heard from her in concert at the 2015 Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music. The C 338 communicated the essence of her style in the Haydn with graceful interplay between the soloist and the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra (in this concerto led by Terje Tønnesen). In the first-movement cadenza, it reproduced Helseth’s wide dynamic range and clarity of tone. Of course, only so much can be done with compressed streaming services, but the C 338 provided as good an experience as I’ve enjoyed with high-bitrate MP3s.”
KEF R900 FLOORSTANDING LOUDSPEAKER REVIEW
October 22, 2017 Comments Off on KEF R900 FLOORSTANDING LOUDSPEAKER REVIEW
“Mids, and especially vocals, are pushed ever so slightly forward in the presentation. Highs are very well extended, but don’t push too far forward into the mix to be overbearing. They assist with excellent detail reproduction, and are well controlled. With the right placement, the imaging these boxes can produce is superb. They will reveal the flaws in recordings, and will reproduce artefacts in lesser digital files – low bitrate MP3s, beware.”
PS AUDIO BHK SIGNATURE 300 MONO AMPLIFIERS $14,998 Review
October 22, 2017 Comments Off on PS AUDIO BHK SIGNATURE 300 MONO AMPLIFIERS $14,998 Review
As for power conditioning, PS Audio naturally recommend a P10 conditioner just for the amps. Worse, they tell me that one P10 per mono is optimal. Yikes! I use a P5 for my front end and find it an important contributor to my rig’s sound. I never power my amps from it since I found it whitewashed the bass out of my Spectrons and anyway, PS Audio suggest the P5 would not quite cut it powering these monos. I do routinely use a two socket Audience Adept Response for my mono amps, and it has proved excellent with every amp I’ve tried. However, I am hard pushed to tell if it has any real benefits with the BHK 300s which seem to sound very similar plugged into it or not, particularly with the Wireworlds. What this tells you about the reaction of these amps to other conditioners, I can’t say, but it does suggest the PS Audio BHK 300s are able to deal with the vagaries of typical house wiring quite well”
Von Schweikert Audio Unifield 2 Mk III Loudspeakers $10,000 Review
October 21, 2017 Comments Off on Von Schweikert Audio Unifield 2 Mk III Loudspeakers $10,000 Review
“Lastly, I feel that there is still more to tease out of the 2s performance-wise. For starters, I plan to investigate the bi-wire option as soon as I can get my hands on a pair of bi-wired cables. Second, a little gremlin in the back of my head keeps telling me that the 2s might sound better driven by a tube amp than my unapologetically solid-state Bryston 4B3. If I can get my hands on a glass furnace anytime soon, I promise to report back to you with my findings. Finally, and this is a bit of a criticism, given their weight and unique shape, not to mention their price, the 2s really deserve a custom-designed, heavy weight stand. Something like the custom-built beauties from Sound Anchor would probably do the trick nicely. For ten thousand smackers, purchasers should not have to bother choosing the right stand: one should be provided for them, at least IMHO”
Audeze LCD-X $1,700 Review
October 21, 2017 Comments Off on Audeze LCD-X $1,700 Review
“The Audeze LCD-X headphones are a performance marvel. They sound amazingly spacious, transparent, accurate, fast, detailed, and downright intoxicating. Go listen at your local retailer and prepare to be seduced into buying a pair of your own. Great headphones eliminate interference from flawed room acoustics (yes, we all have them), allowing music to be heard exactly as the artists, producers, and recording engineers intended. The LCD-X delivers on this promise and then some, especially when driven by a dedicated high-quality amplifier and used with high-resolution source material. This is definitely the LCD-X’s ideal use case, since this headphone will almost always underperform to its potential when paired solely with portable devices.”
JEFF ROWLAND DESIGN GROUP CAPRI S2 PREAMPLIFIER REVIEW
October 20, 2017 Comments Off on JEFF ROWLAND DESIGN GROUP CAPRI S2 PREAMPLIFIER REVIEW
“It’s worth noting that this Jeff Rowland does not sound like it has a switch mode power supply, as there’s no graininess or brightness at all. In fact, it couldn’t be smoother, it’s the most polished SMPS device I’ve encountered. And this does the Capri S2 a lot of favours when bringing out the tonal richness of everything you play. It’s not just classical sopranos who benefit; Tom Waits’ ‘In Shades’ [Heart Attack & Vine, Ayslum] also has great depth to the guitar and organ, and the burble of the dining audience is clearly separated from the music, a result in part of the impressive low level resolution on offer. This is a very quiet preamp indeed, which means that very little fails to get to its outputs. This in turn means there’s plenty of dynamic range available in the resulting sound.”
SONOMA ACOUSTICS MODEL ONE $5,000 –REVIEW
October 20, 2017 Comments Off on SONOMA ACOUSTICS MODEL ONE $5,000 –REVIEW
“I very much enjoyed my time with the Model One electrostatic system. The folks at Sonoma Acoustics really hit the nail on the head with their first offering! While I would have preferred a tad more bass presence and the ability to use these headphones on another electrostatic amplifier (like my Cavalli Audio Liquid Lightning 2), the overall performance to price ratio was still very much justified. ”
AURALIC ALTAIR WIRELESS STREAMING DAC REVIEW
October 19, 2017 Comments Off on AURALIC ALTAIR WIRELESS STREAMING DAC REVIEW
“Does your setup include excellent headphones? Probably not for you then, if you are only buying for headphones. If you want an all around, all purpose can do almost anything source, then you need not look further, the Altair scores a massive 9/10 for Value. It dishes out almost anything you need and has a good price when considering just what it can do. Hi-res files, DSD, Wifi, Ethernet-enabled, BT input, three outputs, intended as a streaming device, can pull via an HDD or a home network server as well? Hell of a product and also one of the sexiest sources I’ve had in-house in a long time. Well done, Auralic.”
SVS SB16-Ultra Subwoofer $1,999 Review
October 19, 2017 Comments Off on SVS SB16-Ultra Subwoofer $1,999 Review
“After living with the SB16-Ultra for some time now and using it in a variety of different hifi systems, I happily report excellent results in all circumstances. Whether you are working with a pair of minimonitors, your favorite panels, or massive floorstanders, the SB16-Ultra delivers stunning bass performance. With 1500 watts of power on tap, you’ll most likely bottom out your main speakers way before you push the sub too far. We certainly couldn’t no matter how loud the cannons blasted, the buildings blew up or the beats dropped.”
Audeze LCDi4 Review
October 18, 2017 Comments Off on Audeze LCDi4 Review
“These LCDi4 results were cross-checked with Audeze open-backed, on-ear Sine DX. Again, the Roon DSP brings forth a fuller, richer low-end without the cardboard boxed in vocals – the latter only heard for the first time after disengaging the Sine DX-specific DSP.”
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