Hafler Transnova 9500 power amplifier Review
August 23, 2016 Comments Off on Hafler Transnova 9500 power amplifier Review
” The Sonic Frontiers was sweet and open through the midrange, with plenty of detail, but there was a definition and immediacy to the sound of the Hafler which I definitely preferred. It did not sound etched or artificial, but very open and detailed. The Hafler also had a sock in the low end which the Sonic Frontiers could not match. The Sonic Frontiers did edge out the Hafler slightly in warmth, fullness, ambience retrieval, and overall depth—but not by much. And not enough on these loudspeakers, in my judgment, to make up for the Hafler’s superior grip and overall control.”
AUNE X7S REVIEW
August 22, 2016 Comments Off on AUNE X7S REVIEW
” I can’t imagine a situation where you’d need to raise the gain, but you can. I set the X7s to 0dB and stayed there. Because its input appears limited to low-to-medium voltages, gain serves only to boost initial signals before hitting IMD walls at extreme volumes. Whatever the case, the X7s’s output is more powerful than a number of 1000$+ amps.”
PARASOUND HALO 2.1 CHANNEL INTEGRATED AMPLIFIER REVIEW
August 21, 2016 Comments Off on PARASOUND HALO 2.1 CHANNEL INTEGRATED AMPLIFIER REVIEW
” Am I biased towards Parasound Halo products? Yes, unquestionably, proudly. I own several pieces. Halo gear is reliable, well made and superbly engineered and can’t be beat for value. You’d be hard-pressed to find anyone who doesn’t like the Halo Integrated – the sound, the features, and the pedigree. With an excellent DAC and an amplifier that has enough punch to handle any dynamics one would want. I’m scratching my head wondering what’s lacking.”
Grado RS1e Headphone Review
August 20, 2016 Comments Off on Grado RS1e Headphone Review
“I listened to the RS1e at home on my desktop with a Woo Audio WA7 tube headphone amplifier, and on the go with my Astell & Kern Jr music player. Noah Wall’s Down Home Blues (192-kHz/ 24-bit) brought out the best in the RS1e: That spacious soundstage, freewheeling dynamics, and vivid clarity down to the quietest details of the recording were all more effortlessly revealed than what I heard from my 10-year-old original Grado RS1. The family resemblance was obvious, but the RS1 had a fuller, fleshier tonal balance, while the RS1e’s clarity outpaced the elder model.”
ROCKPORT TECHNOLOGIES LYRA LOUDSPEAKER
August 19, 2016 Comments Off on ROCKPORT TECHNOLOGIES LYRA LOUDSPEAKER
“What I concluded was that the Rockport Technologies Lyra is surely among the finest loudspeakers on earth; it’s certainly the most extraordinary I’ve heard under circumstances where my exposure was sufficient to have that kind of opinion. Every musical genre—and between my files and the material provided by the other visitors, the musical waterfront was covered—was rendered with complete fealty to scale, tonal color, and dynamics. The sense of occasion, with both live performances and studio recordings, was remarkably consistent and contributed mightily to a tendency to forget that this was canned sound. The openness and transparency, the presentation of natural detail, and the stunning delineation of space all spoke to a complete lack of mechanical distortion.
Puro Sound Lab BT2200 Wireless On-Ear Headphones Reviewed
August 19, 2016 Comments Off on Puro Sound Lab BT2200 Wireless On-Ear Headphones Reviewed
” Performance-wise, the BT2200 serves up a generally well-balanced sound that doesn’t over-emphasize the highs or the lows. I would classify the high end as being a little laidback: I didn’t hear harshness or brightness in the highs of Chris Cornell’s “Seasons,” Junior Kimbrough’s “Junior’s Place,” or Peter Gabriel’s “Sky Blue,” but the high frequencies also fell back a bit in the mix, lacking the clarity, crispness, and openness that I get from my much more expensive reference”
STAX SR-L700 HEADPHONE $1400 REVIEW
August 18, 2016 Comments Off on STAX SR-L700 HEADPHONE $1400 REVIEW
“If you require a full-sized headphone that delivers a high degree of isolation, none of the Stax open-enclosure designs are going to work for you. But currently none of the other models I’ve mentioned that are in contention for “best” headphone are closed-enclosure designs. As of right now, if isolation is your top priority, you may either have to opt for a custom in-ear monitor or compromise with a headphone that’s not quite as spatially open, harmonically uncolored, or detailed as the Stax SR-L700.
GOLDENEAR TECHNOLOGY SUPERSUB XXL SUBWOOFER $1999 REVIEW
August 18, 2016 Comments Off on GOLDENEAR TECHNOLOGY SUPERSUB XXL SUBWOOFER $1999 REVIEW
“Some of this can surely be ascribed to the XXL’s effortless ability to help widen the soundstage. The best way that I can describe this effect is to suggest that the combination of deep notes and concert-hall air and ambiance that a sub like the XXL supplies adds a degree of verisimilitude that a single pair of loudspeakers cannot, no matter how low or how powerful the bass coming out of those speakers is. The stone cold truth is that a pair of subwoofers will add a vital ingredient to the sonic stew that is simply impossible to capture otherwise.”
AudioQuest DragonFly Red & DragonFly Black Review
August 17, 2016 Comments Off on AudioQuest DragonFly Red & DragonFly Black Review
‘Combining elements of rock and rap, Rage Against The Machine is one of the best bands of all time and features some of the best pure musicians of all time. Listening to Rage’s debut album through the Sennheisers and DragonFly Red, the Red had awesome control over the entire frequency spectrum. On “Killing In The Name” and “Take The Power Back,” the extremely powerful bass, guitar crunch, and drum kick had visceral impact and a certain clarity of which the iPhone alone could only dream. Listening through the headphone output of the iPhone 6 Plus provides a listening experience I’d rather not have again. Rage requires the Red. Period.”
Constellation Audio Inspiration Stereo 1.0 Amplifier $11,000 Review
August 17, 2016 Comments Off on Constellation Audio Inspiration Stereo 1.0 Amplifier $11,000 Review
” Spending time with Constellation Audio’s Inspiration Stereo 1.0 amplifier has been a rewarding and educational experience: rewarding because it’s one of the better two-channel amplifiers I’ve heard; educational because I grew to understand and appreciate Constellation’s approach in trickling down technology to its more affordable models. Priced at $11,000, the Stereo 1.0 shares most of its circuitry and parts with Constellation models costing four to nine times as much. This undeniably makes it Constellation’s best value in a power amp. But in the high end, it’s not always just about value — it’s also about absolute performance, and the Stereo 1.0 has nailed that too. It achieves levels of transparency, power, control, tonal color, and dimensionality well beyond those implied by its price and specifications. I believe that Constellation Audio has created something special in the Inspiration Stereo 1.0. I’ll be sad to see it go. Highly recommended.”
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