EARSONICS ES-2 AND ES-3 REVIEW
December 2, 2016 Comments Off on EARSONICS ES-2 AND ES-3 REVIEW
” I think our French friends have made a nice push to mid-fi market of IEM’s. The ES-2 was the obvious surprise with that veiled and dark sound but if you match it with a reference DAP with a brighter sound I think you will get a great musical result, and I insist that it has a better tone overall than ES-3. If you’re treble sensitive like me, you can go for it.”
PSB SubSeries 450 Subwoofer $1,499 Review
December 1, 2016 Comments Off on PSB SubSeries 450 Subwoofer $1,499 Review
” That logo reveal should almost overpower a room with acoustical energy, but this just wasn’t the case with the 450. While it did produce some output, it seemed to run out of gas in the very deep bass, at least compared with each of my reference subs (playing individually). There was sound, to be sure, but little punch for this kind of low-bass content, and some direct A/B comparisons really highlighted the 450’s limitation in this regard. When the logo slammed on the screen, it did so with a whimper, not a bang. Furthermore, I couldn’t feel the sonic impact of Buzz’s afterburners.
CAYIN I5 DAP $499 REVIEW
December 1, 2016 Comments Off on CAYIN I5 DAP $499 REVIEW
“This section is going to be very comprehensive as there is so much to say about the new i5 DAP. The i5 is made out of CNC aerospace aluminum and it has a carbon fiber back plate as we often find on many DAPs. The materials used are top notch and the build quality couldn’t be better. The only thing I am not 100% satisfied with is the leather case, the case itself is very nice but the i5 sits very loose in it and it’ll even fall out wen help upside down.”
Legacy Audio Signature SE Loudspeaker Review
November 30, 2016 Comments Off on Legacy Audio Signature SE Loudspeaker Review
“The dual AMT ribbon combination is quite sensible. Even with amps that tend to be (overly) clear with high frequencies, the AMT works well, although its whole potential is of course only unleashed with the right amp as a partner. The Spectral DMA-100 worked great with the Signature, but was outperformed by the Air Tight tube mono amps. With these amps the Signature produced a clarity and an ease of musical performance which I have never experienced before. The effort put towards choosing an amp really pays off.”
FiiO X1 music player $99.99 Review
November 30, 2016 Comments Off on FiiO X1 music player $99.99 Review
“I started listening to the X1 2nd Gen with a pair of Koss Porta Pro on-ear headphones ($29, £27), and really liked what I heard, the sound was distinctly clearer than what I was getting from my iPhone 6S playing lossless Tidal streaming files. Continuing with a set of 1More Triple Driver in-ear headphones the second-gen X1’s transparency advantages over the ‘6S were even more apparent, though the ‘6S had a fuller, but muddier sound.”
NUFORCE HEM8 FLAGSHIP IN-EAR REVIEW
November 30, 2016 Comments Off on NUFORCE HEM8 FLAGSHIP IN-EAR REVIEW
“Her voice was as detailed and upfront as ever. The HEM8’s have a magical ability to portray female vocals and they were certainly up to the task with Norah’s singing. Out of my iPhone 6, the HEM8s sounded sublime with this record, but when I plugged them into the uDAC5, things did improve noticeably. The clarity and transparency improved and I could hear even more of the most inner workings of this recording. As well, the sound staging opened up almost immediately. This led me to conclude that the uDAC5 was a definite upgrade to my standard iDevice and again, considering the price point, a no brainer for me. When I compared the sound of this combination to other $500 IEMs I’ve heard or have on hand, I just kept coming back to the HEM8s!”
Ayre Acoustics • KX-5 Twenty Preamplifier and VX-5 Twenty Stereo Amplifier – Review
November 28, 2016 Comments Off on Ayre Acoustics • KX-5 Twenty Preamplifier and VX-5 Twenty Stereo Amplifier – Review
” I’ve been making my way through a collection of jazz LPs I received more than a year ago, and it has been a true musical revelation — an exploration of free, soul and spiritual jazz, along with reacquaintance with classics from Davis, Coltrane, Rollins, and others. While all of the music is undeniably jazz, it is still very diverse, made by small, large and very large ensembles and representing a wide of range of playing styles and recording qualities. The Ayre separates not only respected the music in the grooves, but did right by it, due to their evenhanded tonality, high-frequency extension and overall timbral realism”
OBRAVO AUDIO EAMT-2C REVIEW
November 28, 2016 Comments Off on OBRAVO AUDIO EAMT-2C REVIEW
Vocal presence is elevated and to the fore for both male and female vocals and it suffers from zero sibilance. Texture and detail, particularly in female vocals are very impressive with just the right level of attack and decay. It is neither too sharp nor too soft and sounding incredibly refined. Vocals on the EAMT-2C are so open and almost euphoric in a sense that other flagship IEMs such almost dull, soft and lifeless and that is saying something. For those that think this means bright or very intimate, I can tell you that is very wide of the mark. Think Stax, think effortless and you will hit closer to home with the EAMT-2C midrange presentation”
AUDIO PHYSIC CARDEAS 30 LJE RE $45,000 – REVIEW
November 27, 2016 Comments Off on AUDIO PHYSIC CARDEAS 30 LJE RE $45,000 – REVIEW
” I certainly don’t mean to imply that the Berning monoblocks are the only amplifiers that will bring the APs fully to life with all stripes of music. I’m sure that there are dozens of others that will do so—and they won’t necessarily cost $30k (though such an expenditure doesn’t necessarily strike me as out of line when you’ve spent $45,995 for speakers). You just need to be aware that the excellent amps you already own may not be right for the Cardeas 30 LJEs. These loudspeakers are not the most benign load in the world and, more importantly, they are exceptionally revealing of what comes before them in the audio chain. They will not suffer fools, or even some very fine components that might shine in another setting.”
Soulines Kubrick DCX Turntable $4,000 Review
November 26, 2016 Comments Off on Soulines Kubrick DCX Turntable $4,000 Review
“Plain and simple, the Soulines Kubrick DCX is a fantastic table in every way. It’s beautifully designed, mechanically and aesthetically. It’s proven easy to set up and has been playing records around the clock since we unboxed it a few months ago, providing hundreds of hours of flawless performance. We’ll report back in six months or so to give you a long-term perspective, but for now, it’s proved fantastic.”
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