WILSON AUDIO SABRINA LOUDSPEAKER $15,900 – Review
November 5, 2015 Comments Off on WILSON AUDIO SABRINA LOUDSPEAKER $15,900 – Review
” I’d be remiss for failing to mention a subplot to this story—it’s what happens when a speaker and room meet, fall in love, and live happily ever after. I can’t recall another floorstander that performed as well in my room as the Sabrina, including standouts such as the TAD Evolution 1, the Kharma Elegance S7 Signature, the Magico V2, and even Wilson’s own Sophia 3. Call it pure serendipity—and the careful setup ministrations of Wilson Audio’s all-knowing Peter McGrath—but the Sabrina simply became one with the environment.”
Klipsch RP-150M speakers – REVIEW
November 4, 2015 Comments Off on Klipsch RP-150M speakers – REVIEW
” Returning to the C 316BEE amp, the increased power allowed the RP-150M to rock a lot harder, it’s a powerful-sounding little speaker, the bass prowess on electronica wizard Amon Tobin’s “Bricolage” album was tremendous, but definition was a little sloppy when I cranked the volume way up”
Matrix Quattro II DAC -Review
November 4, 2015 Comments Off on Matrix Quattro II DAC -Review
” Using the internal headphone amp really depends on your headphones, it is plenty powerful enough to drive most headphones, from sensitive in-ears to full size headphones. However I find the sound to be a little dull and lifeless, maybe I have been spoiled by the full and musical sound of my Feliks Audio Espressivo valve amp. My Fischer Audio FA-003ti sound a little off when played out of this amp, but my GMP 400 do fair better, with their excellent clarity you get very neutral and balanced sound from the Quattro.”
SimAudio MOON Neo 430HA – Review
November 4, 2015 Comments Off on SimAudio MOON Neo 430HA – Review
“Great components and stellar build quality always count for a lot and it’s tough, if not impossible, to get an amazing performance if these boxes aren’t checked. But after months of extensive listening and comparison, the 430HA is indeed special, musical and effortlessly real. This component lives in a zone, price-wise, that isn’t mega high end, but is still a substantial investment. However, it offers mega performance – it offers refinement rarely available at this price. As much fun as the 430HA is with first class headphones”
ASTELL & KERN T8IE IEM REVIEW
November 3, 2015 Comments Off on ASTELL & KERN T8IE IEM REVIEW
“Overall the AK T8iE gives off a mildly U-shaped tonal balance that is enjoyable and pleasant to listen with various music genres. If you direct your attention away from the basic tonality and focus on the technicalities of the sound, one would be pleased that the strong suits of a Tesla driver are once again presented to put a grin on your face. The soundstaging is spacious with great width and height, the sound never feels restricted and cramped like most earphones did. The imaging presented with great solidification that one need not stress out to pinpoint instruments playing across its wide staging.”
Musical Fidelity Nu-Vista 800 integrated amplifier Review
November 2, 2015 Comments Off on Musical Fidelity Nu-Vista 800 integrated amplifier Review
” After matching levels between my two different Nu-Vista 800 setups—with a line-level source driving its balanced inputs, and with the outputs of my darTZeel preamp driving its single-ended inputs—switching between them revealed, in the latter, a very slight diminution in bass definition (but not extension), and a barely perceptible softening of high-frequency transients (so slight as to probably not be noticeable to most listeners). While the latter would be beneficial to an overanalytical component that made transients too sharp and defined on top and overdamped on the bottom, they weren’t at all what the Nu-Vista 800 needed. Therefore, I did all of my listening to digital recordings through the Nu-Vista 800’s balanced input, with the DAC’s analog outputs directly feeding the amplifier”
MAGICO Q7 MK II LOUDSPEAKER $229,000 REVIEW
November 1, 2015 Comments Off on MAGICO Q7 MK II LOUDSPEAKER $229,000 REVIEW
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The new tweeter is a marvel, with electrostat-like speed and clarity, and none of the hardness typically associated with dome tweeters. It reaches down into the finest details, from cymbals being gently struck to the harmonics of a violin, infusing these instruments with vibrant presence without sounding artificial. The Mk II’s top end is much more refined and sophisticated, with greater delicacy and nuance. Moreover, the treble sounds better integrated with the midrange, although I had not noticed a discontinuity before. I think that’s because the tweeter doesn’t call attention to itself; the treble just sounds like part of the musical fabric rather than a separate component.
Noble Audio Kaiser 10U in-ear headphones – Review
October 31, 2015 Comments Off on Noble Audio Kaiser 10U in-ear headphones – Review
“The downside to extreme resolution headphones like the Kaiser 10U is they let you hear more of the harshness and crud in many of today’s highly compressed recordings. The IE800 was much better in that regard, I could listen to more music without cringing than I could with the Kaiser 10U. The best recordings sound better than ever, but the crappy ones sound worse with the Kaiser 10U! That might be a deal breaker for potential buyers who mostly listen to mainstream pop or rock, but most jazz, classical, electronica and acoustic music benefited from the Kaiser 10U extraordinary sound quality.”
Schiit Magni 2U & Modi 2U – Review
October 31, 2015 Comments Off on Schiit Magni 2U & Modi 2U – Review
” Low frequencies are exquisitely portrayed with more heft, balance and texture than previously noted. The pairing with the new HiFiMAN HE-400S was just one example of this where the perceived bass-shy frequency range came to life with added details and presence. Though with the HE-400S being tuned the way it is, not even the Schiit stack could bring levels of impact to bass-head levels.”
Sony NW-Z2 Walkman Review
October 30, 2015 Comments Off on Sony NW-Z2 Walkman Review
” The Sony has been used with the standard playback app with a mixture of lossless and high res FLAC files and some DSD. Testing has mainly been carried out via Noble 6 in-ear earphones but the Oppo PM-3 has also been used as well as variety of less expensive earphones here on test. Additional testing has been carried out using Tidal and Spotify with content streamed from the cloud and downloaded onto the device. As a means of providing an interesting benchmark for the Sony in the absence of another high end DAP being available here for testing, my standard travel rig of a Google Nexus 5 and the Oppo HA-2 connected by OTG cable was used as a comparison”
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