Westone UM Pro 10 REVIEW
November 18, 2015 Comments Off on Westone UM Pro 10 REVIEW
“Power levels are excellent. The Westone UM Pro 10 can therefore be used with all types of audio source without volume levels sounding too weak. However, there is a certain level of distortion. In fact, this rears its head even before you reach moderate volume levels. This marked presence of distortion is a real problem when using these headphones in places with a lot of background noise, even if Westone’s passive s”
ATC SCM 40A Speakers Review $12,999
November 18, 2015 Comments Off on ATC SCM 40A Speakers Review $12,999
” While I noted that the new tweeter is more precisely controlled, in the listening seat you’ll not hear a buttoned down precision, so much as a lighter and more elegant touch, surprisingly reaching down into the upper midrange. It is most certainly not bright. The treble was sweeter, more relaxed and a more delicate presentation than my Vifa sourced tweeter. Oddly, I’d call that more accurate. They are, to my ears, an order better than previous models.”
Magnusaudio AMP REVIEW
November 18, 2015 Comments Off on Magnusaudio AMP REVIEW
” Comparing the two class A champs netted two quite distinct flavours. The Magnus played what seemed like a virtual stand-in for the EJ Sarmento-rebooted James Bongiorno Son of Ampzilla II. I obviously couldn’t isolate whether this was down to shared versus dissimilar transistors types. Here the play pen was about BJT versus Mosfet. Did this difference merely reiterate their core signatures which anyone intimately familiar with either device would recognize? Regardless, the MA-260 focused down on the more compact, with sharper crisper edging and a cooler more bluish colour temp. The XA30.8 was the spatially more expansive and generous, its focus not locked down as hard, its outlines softer and the overall hue more honey and warm. Purely by outcome, I thought of the Magnus as endowed with more 3rd-order THD than the Pass. Shifting harmonic distribution from 2nd to 3rd-order preponderance usually nets exactly this offset. Whether here it was the actual cause is wholly academic. The task is to describe sonic flavours in terms experienced listeners can relate to. If you’ve more versed in basic tube types, the MA-260 played to pentode-run EL84 precedents like Trafomatic Audio’s Kaivalya monos, the XA30.8 more to 845 triode specimens.”
TAD Compact Evolution 1 $24,000 – Review
November 17, 2015 Comments Off on TAD Compact Evolution 1 $24,000 – Review
” The TAD CE 1s are a superb set of speakers and I positively hated to send them back. If there was some way I could have found to keep them myself, and the associated electronics, without winding up either in divorce court or in jail, I would have done so. The level and quality of bass that came out of those stand-mounted speakers would have, by itself, been an impressive achievement. Combine that with the sublimely rendered midrange and treble from custom made concentric drivers using cutting edge materials and you have something very, very special indeed.”
Schiit Ragnarok stereo amplifier Audiophiliac Component of the Year
November 17, 2015 Comments Off on Schiit Ragnarok stereo amplifier Audiophiliac Component of the Year
” For my listening tests I first hooked up Ragnarok to my Magnepan .7 flat panel speakers, precisely because they are far and away the best speakers I’ve heard for the money, but they’re a brutal load for amplifiers, and most AV receivers and budget integrated amps never come close to making the .7 speakers sing. The Ragnarok fully exploited these speakers potential.”
ROGERS FIDELITY PA-1A PHONO PREAMPLIFIER REVIEW
November 17, 2015 Comments Off on ROGERS FIDELITY PA-1A PHONO PREAMPLIFIER REVIEW
“When comparing with my reference BAT phonostage, the Rogers Fidelity was close in performance with barely noticeable limitation on its treble delivery. The VKP12SE Superpak has a better sense of airiness and soundstage comparatively. This may not be a fair comparison as the price gap between the two phonostages was widen by more than half. However Rogers Fidelity deserves its ride with the giants and it could probably fair well among some of them.”
Audience ClairAudient 1+1 V2 and V2+ loudspeakers Review
November 17, 2015 Comments Off on Audience ClairAudient 1+1 V2 and V2+ loudspeakers Review
“All the versions of the Audience ClairAudient 1+1 are worthy of whatever associated gear or cables; you can afford to pair with them. The ability of the ClairAudient 1+1 to produce a reach-out-and-touch-someone soundstage, to my astonishment, is even better with V2 and V2+. It was already the best I’d heard in my house for under $17,000. I would say that the V2+ speakers are the reigning king of this much-desired attribute of high-end speakers.”
Fiio X7 Review
November 16, 2015 Comments Off on Fiio X7 Review
” Next up was the 300 ohm HD600s, and they required 85-90/120. Did they sound as good as out of the micro iDSD? Well actually once volume matched – yep, they actually sounded every bit as dynamic as they did out of the iDSD. In fact I really loved them out of the X7. They were getting close to the limit of the X7’s capability though, and with Classical I was pretty close to 100/120 to get the listening level I prefer. So loud listeners are likely to need a little more than the X7 can deliver.”
Cary Audio DMC-600 Special Edition Digital Music Center $7995 Review
November 16, 2015 Comments Off on Cary Audio DMC-600 Special Edition Digital Music Center $7995 Review
” As a DSD planet player, I cannot be critical of the Cary as it performed flawlessly and, to me, wonderfully as, unfortunately, I do not have any substantive experience with DSD before my time with the DMC-600. Nonetheless, the heart of it all: the DAC, sent a wonderfully, impactful, crisp yet smooth signal throughout my listening experience. ”
CARVER ALS LINE SOURCE LOUDSPEAKER SYSTEM $14,950 (including subwoofer) REVIEW
November 16, 2015 Comments Off on CARVER ALS LINE SOURCE LOUDSPEAKER SYSTEM $14,950 (including subwoofer) REVIEW
” While the ALS did very well on every type of material, the vocal reproduction, both solo and choral, proved to be a particular strength, if one had to choose a single genre from all that these speakers reproduce so well. Reference Recordings’ A Gaelic Blessing (from the Rutter Requiem CD) was a marvel. And the solo vocalist on another CD in which I was playing was just gorgeous and truthful, too. My wife Paige’s reaction was, “ I really like her voice.” Indeed, and very much the real voice it was. This reaction was typical of people encountering the ALS for the first time. They noticed how good the music sounded without being distracted by how the speaker worked. To me, this seems to truly define naturalness.”
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