Apple iPod Touch (6th gen) 128GB Review
October 22, 2015 Comments Off on Apple iPod Touch (6th gen) 128GB Review
The claimed battery life is, again, 40 hours of music playback, eight hours of videos. We clock up the hours over the course of four days and are still left with 15 per cent of juice remaining.
Pioneer’s new HD audio player Review
October 22, 2015 Comments Off on Pioneer’s new HD audio player Review
A Pioneer spokesperson described the new music player as “for those who feel smartphones aren’t offering satisfying sound quality”. And the XDP does seem likely to surpass the average top-of-the-range smartphone in this regard, thanks to support for numerous audio formats including lossless FLAC, MQA, ALAC and DSD audio up to 11.2MHz. The metal body also houses two circuit boards, which the company says will help “eliminate the effects of digital noise” by keeping the audio components on one and the regular processor on the other.
Chord Mojo DAC & Headphone Amp $599 Review
October 22, 2015 Comments Off on Chord Mojo DAC & Headphone Amp $599 Review
Now to be clear, the existence of the Mojo does not prevent me from lusting after the Naim NDX, Nagra DAC or even have me seeking to recycle the Hugo but it does in reality redefine what digital under £1,000 is capable of doing. How so? Simply put, the Mojo is a window into the music, nothing more, nothing less. During the very positive review of the Oppo HA-2, I ascribed character and traits to it. I found it a little tonally dark and quite forceful in the way it makes music. I rather like this – it reminds me of how my Naim system works but nonetheless it represents a deviation – however small – from absolute accuracy.
HSU RESEARCH VTF-3 MK5 HP POWERED SUBWOOFER REVIEW
October 21, 2015 Comments Off on HSU RESEARCH VTF-3 MK5 HP POWERED SUBWOOFER REVIEW
” Certainly Hsu’s subs don’t have quite the finesse and subtlety in the bass that can be had from the $5,000+ products that are out there. But that would be much too tall an order for a subwoofer you can have for less than $800.”
AKG K553
October 21, 2015 Comments Off on AKG K553
There are times and in certain genres where I felt like more quantity was needed, sadly the K553 doesn’t respond to Bass Boosting as much as I hoped. True, it does not lose a ton of quality from +1dB to +5dB on the low end added in, but it doesn’t physically react with more quantity very much at all as well: I could hardly hear and feel a much alteration in quantity or thickness when boosting from +1dB to +5dB. It isn’t until I reach +6dB that a serious change happened and things muddied up quite a lot, casting a shadow and haze over the entire mid range in a negative sense of the word.
IBASSO D14 BUSHMASTER REVIEW
October 21, 2015 Comments Off on IBASSO D14 BUSHMASTER REVIEW
The tonality of the D14 is real treat for a portable amp at this price range or perhaps even higher. I would class the D14 as having actually a neutral and speedy tonality which favors clarity over any overly lush or wet signature. Detail freaks will enjoy the D14. Having said that the tuning is just on the right side of smooth with a very spacious and open sounding, much more so than the DX90. There is also bit more presence, sparkle and detail up top and a slightly more controlled and realistic bass response than the DX90. My favorite aspect of the D14 though was its clean and clear midrange with an excellent vocal presence that remained sibilant free and very natural sounding indeed.
HiFiMan HE1000 Headphones
October 20, 2015 Comments Off on HiFiMan HE1000 Headphones
In my first listens to the HE1000s after breaking them in, I heard a generally neutral sound with just a trace of treble emphasis and an extremely convincing, realistic reproduction of space — but I could say much the same of the HE560s. Only in direct comparisons with other headphones did the HE1000s demonstrate their superiority. Using the Aurender Flow to drive the HiFiMans, I spent a lot of time comparing the HE1000s to two other high-end, open-back, planar-magnetic models I had on hand: HiFiMan’s HE560 ($899) and Audeze’s LCD-X ($1699).
Focal Sopra No2 Loudspeakers Review
October 19, 2015 Comments Off on Focal Sopra No2 Loudspeakers Review
The somewhat more vibrant sound quality of Morrison’s most recent release, Duets: Re-working the Catalogue (16/44.1 FLAC, RCA), didn’t need the Sopra No2’s assistance to sound alive. In fact, “Some Peace of Mind,” with Bobby Womack, and a few other tracks are a tad bright, which I thought might give the No2’s tweeter some trouble — already, I could tell that the speaker’s very top end was a touch hot, a voicing characteristic of other Focal speakers I’ve heard. These days, my reference for neutrality is KEF’s Reference 1 ($7499/pair), and the No2 was a bit more lively in the extreme highs. Yet despite being tipped up, the No2’s top end sounded as clean and clear as the best metal-dome tweeters I’ve heard, which could be why I didn’t find its prominent highs as bothersome as speakers whose raised highs make them sound bright, even edgy.
AMI Musik DS5 converter and headphone amplifier
October 19, 2015 Comments Off on AMI Musik DS5 converter and headphone amplifier
What I can tell you, is that speaking of the DSD files, if the masters are of good quality, the listening experience is always very pleasant. They tend, if I may say, to the analogue warmth. The behavior of the DSD with this format has been good and it has maintained the tonal character said before for the DAC and for the DSD files.
Woo Audio 234 SET Monoblocks headphone amplifier $16,000 Review
October 18, 2015 Comments Off on Woo Audio 234 SET Monoblocks headphone amplifier $16,000 Review
” I’m hoping by now you know I’m completely smitten with the Woo Audio 234 MONOs. But the question still remains: are they the world’s best headphone amplifier? Until I hear something more amazing, they certainly are to me. $16,000 is absolutely crazy money for a headphone amplifier, but it’s all relative. If you love headphones, have multiple pairs that you cherish and a world-class source or two to provide music, there’s no other way to play the game.
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