Cayin iDAC-6 and iHA-6 Review
June 21, 2016 Comments Off on Cayin iDAC-6 and iHA-6 Review
” Actual D/A conversion itself is handled by a pair of 32-bit AKM AK4490 “Verita” chips operating in dual-mono mode. AKM’s flagship AK4490 is a fairly recent design, having just been launched within the past couple of years, and has turned up in some rather interesting gear—upscale kit such as Lindemann’s Musicbook 15, the top dog AK380 DAP from Astell&Kern, and the new Esoteric N-05 DAC/streamer. It also appears in the less extreme Teac UD-503 which is priced identically to the Cayin offering.”
DENON AH-MM400 HEADPHONES REVIEW
June 21, 2016 Comments Off on DENON AH-MM400 HEADPHONES REVIEW
” There was an odd problem, though. The headphones have a removable 3.5 mm cable, which plugs into the source on one end and the left earphone on the other. Sometimes after plugging it in, sound would only come out of one headphone until the cord was pulled out slightly. It usually cured itself, and was impossible to replicate. Checking some online comments revealed I wasn’t the only one to experience this problem. There are two cords in the box, and one has a plastic inline remote that sadly feels cheap in comparison to the headphones. In an unrelated issue, I also found the headphones uncomfortable to wear with glasses, forcing me to put the arms above the earphones.”
PEAR AUDIO BLUE KID THOMAS TURNTABLE REVIEW
June 21, 2016 Comments Off on PEAR AUDIO BLUE KID THOMAS TURNTABLE REVIEW
” Regardless of which cartridge was mounted on the tonearm, music never ventured into aggression, never lost drive, and never lost macro-dynamic impact. The soundstage was always wide and deep with the degree of saturation dependent of the cartridge installed at the time. The noise floor remained subjectively low—a trait not often found to this degree on sub-$10,000 ’tables. With either cartridge, it didn’t matter if the music played was jazz, classic rock, heavy metal, hip-hop, folk, blues, or classical. Whether solo piano or orchestral crescendos, the ’table performed with the same fundamental sonic character.”
Dynaudio Emit M10 REVIEW
June 20, 2016 Comments Off on Dynaudio Emit M10 REVIEW
“The Emit M10s unfurled a wall-to-wall soundstage with great depth as I played Brian Eno’s new album, “The Ship.” The first track is a rambling, ambient trip, with a churning low bass foundation that I could hardly believe was coming from speakers as small as these. I was so totally sucked into Eno’s slow-motion vortex of sound and texture that I forgot that I was listening to the Emit M10s; I was lost in the music.”
YAMAHA A-S801 INTEGRATED AMPLIFIER AND YBA-11 BLUETOOTH WIRELESS ADAPTER
June 20, 2016 Comments Off on YAMAHA A-S801 INTEGRATED AMPLIFIER AND YBA-11 BLUETOOTH WIRELESS ADAPTER
” Finally, I challenged the A-S801 with full orchestra, playing Manfred Honeck and the Pittsburgh Symphony’s recording of a favorite piece: Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 [Reference Recordings/NativeDSD]. (If you’re unfamiliar with NativeDSD.com, its rapidly growing catalog specializes in downloads of high-resolution music recorded in DSD and DXD formats, including DSD256.) The opening bars nearly blew me off the couch, since I had forgotten to reduce the listening level after playing Just a Little Lovin’. But even at that level, there was no strain to the sound. The DSD128 indicator light on the A-S801’s front panel came on verifying that the A-S801’s DAC was indeed playing that extra-high-resolution format, and the orchestral sound was gloriously natural—tons of detail, harmonically rich, with distinct but continuous dynamic levels.”
AUDEZE SINE PORTABLE HEADPHONES REVIEW
June 19, 2016 Comments Off on AUDEZE SINE PORTABLE HEADPHONES REVIEW
” Rush’s 2112 is a unique classic rock recording that offers outstanding spaciousness and complexity. It’s not just a guitar, bass guitar, drums and vocals and when played through the SINE headphones its brilliance really shines through. Many on-ear headphones struggle with this recording and sound too closed in and lose a lot of the details that really make this album special; but this is certainly not the case with Audeze’s SINEs. Geddy’s vocals were equally brilliant and the raw energy of his voice shone throughout the record. As well, Robert Plant’s equally energetic vocals were spot on and the vocal range was a very strong suit for the SINE headphones; throw in the brilliance of Jimmy Page’s guitar work and raw thump and power of John Bonham’s drum work, I would wholeheartedly recommend these headphones for you rock fans out there!”
Mola Mola Kaluga Mono Amplifiers $16,500 Review
June 19, 2016 Comments Off on Mola Mola Kaluga Mono Amplifiers $16,500 Review
” During the months I listened to the Kaluga, and regardless of the preamplifier used — at first my Ayre Acoustics KX-R Twenty, then Mola Mola’s Makua, and finally Ayre’s Codex in variable output mode — I experienced an ease that I’d hoped for but could not assume I would hear. This ease not only defied the conventional wisdom regarding the limitations of class-D sound, but embodied the sense of musical reality often attributed to and associated most closely with class-A amplification.”
AudioQuest DragonFly digital converter/headphone amplifiers Review
June 19, 2016 Comments Off on AudioQuest DragonFly digital converter/headphone amplifiers Review
” I also listened to the ‘Black and ‘Red plugged into my iPhone 6S. Again the sound impressed with some of the same headphones mentioned above. Then I tried a few in-ear headphones, starting with the Klipsch Reference X6i and Cardas A8, comparing the iPhone 6S’ headphone jack with the sound of the Red. The difference in sound quality wasn’t nearly as significant as it was with full-size headphones.”
Beyerdynamic T1 Headphone Review
June 18, 2016 Comments Off on Beyerdynamic T1 Headphone Review
” The old and new T1s are high-impedance (600-ohm) designs, so they won’t sound their best with smartphones and run-of-the-mill port- able devices. Even so, I had good results with Chord’s mighty little Mojo USB digital converter/headphone amp. At home, the solid-state Oppo HA-1 amp was a good match. My old reliable NAD C316BEE stereo integrated amp was just a few notches down in fully exploiting the T1’s ultimate potential, but it still wasn’t at all bad. The magic really happened, though, when I paired the T1 with my Woo Audio WA6SE all-tube headphone amp. Its sweetened tonality made everything go down easy. The imaging opened wide, and bass heft filled out. As with all the best headphones, the T1’s character changes with each amp; they clue you in to sound in ways that lesser ’phones gloss over.”
NUPRIME IDA-8 INTEGRATED AMPLIFIER $995 REVIEW
June 17, 2016 Comments Off on NUPRIME IDA-8 INTEGRATED AMPLIFIER $995 REVIEW
“In my experience, the downsides to the IDA-8 were few. Upon occasion, the upper treble thinned out a touch, but not much. Can fans might well miss a headphone input option. The only moments I felt something was missing occurred when the sound of the digitally converted analog signal softened ever so slightly due to A-to-D processing; the effect is quite subtle and hard to describe, but once in a while, it seemed some of the raw impact on my LPs was lost. I want to stress that the instances when I noticed this were few and far between and never detracted from my musical enjoyment. Perhaps digital devotees would not register this. The tradeoff here, I would say, is the IDA-8’s consistently lovely and uncannily liquid presentation.”
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