$4K Focal Utopia Headphones interview – Video

June 16, 2016 Comments Off on $4K Focal Utopia Headphones interview – Video

Gryphon Pantheon Loudspeakers Review

June 16, 2016 Comments Off on Gryphon Pantheon Loudspeakers Review

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“After getting the lay of the Gryphon land to spin more complex fare, the next quality which arose were dynamics. Here I’m emphatically not discussing macrodynamic excesses. With this level of clarity and projection power, there’s no need to caveman it on the throttle. There’s no need to overcome “intelligibility drag” until the curtains finally raise. They’re up already at subdued levels. I’m instead referring to the rippling of amplitude in the realm of melodic emphasis, of small accents in a beat’s delivery. Rather than a solid albeit congealed mass of loudness, such keen microdynamics are twitchier. There’s more flickering. By being dynamically interesting at standard volumes, the urge to crank it dissolves. It feels not merely primitive but a sign of compensation that attempts to remedy a lack of distinctiveness and involvement elsewhere. Perhaps it’s most sensible and meaningful to call this conjunction of qualities—microdynamic astuteness, focus and energetic projection for in-room presence—the ability to communicate. Unlike with poorly recorded dialogue during a television show that requires constant effort to not miss words, hence meaning and subtext, getting the complete message is easy. This must be down to Gryphon’s obsession with the time domain based on the complex filter math of their mentor ”

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UNIQUE MELODY MAESTRO REVIEW

June 16, 2016 Comments Off on UNIQUE MELODY MAESTRO REVIEW

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” The bass is typically balanced armature sounding in a lot of respects due to its speed, punch and lack of absolute rumble, it is boosted just enough to handle some bassier genres and also meet demands of a lot of folk. It is also just soft enough to make it pleasant on the ears without going over board like the InEar SD-4 which is very much categorised by a soft and spongey bass. Compared to more neutral products such as Hidition’s Viento-R it has a bit more bloom but is still way too polite to even draw a comparisons to Jh Audio’s Roxanne on the lowest bass setting! I would say therefore it is nearer to the Hidition in quantity, but still noticeably warmer. While it does not pull off the rumble of a dynamic driver (or Campfire armatures) it does have a great equality through all aspects of the bass, not rolling off too soon or being overly thick in the mid bass.”

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Napster is coming back! – Video

June 16, 2016 Comments Off on Napster is coming back! – Video

Focal Utopia Headphone $4,000 Review

June 15, 2016 Comments Off on Focal Utopia Headphone $4,000 Review

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” n an unusual twist of fate, perhaps the polarizing section of the spectrum may be the mids for the Utopia, if an area was to be poked or prodded long enough. Impressions from the two areas most hotly loved or hated (bass and treble) feel very right, unique and exceptional to this reviewers ears, as is the overall detail, presence and imaging. Detail in the mids is among the highest in the land, outpacing planars like the LCD-X (less grain) and the Oppo PM-1 (more transparency). Even though Focal’s mid-tier Elear shares some of the same shaping and design elements, the switch from Aluminum-Magnesium to Beryllium creates a superior, more responsive sound by comparison. There is a full-body open sound to the center that is truly high fidelity at its core. Some might still prefer the sonic tapestry of the Audeze house sound and its information rich tones throughout the midband, but it’s very hard to argue with the added dimensionality of the Utopia. Like the solid low end, the mids never sound too far forward or even hint at a letter shape other than “B” for balanced.”

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Bang and Olufsen BeoPlay H8 Review – Video

June 15, 2016 Comments Off on Bang and Olufsen BeoPlay H8 Review – Video

LEAR NATROSOUND NS-U1- REVIEW

June 15, 2016 Comments Off on LEAR NATROSOUND NS-U1- REVIEW

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” Regardless of the cable, having NS on is simply a choice. You can listen to it off and then turn it on when you so desire, with immediate effect and easy access. When off these are no different to simply listing to a 6mm CCAW neodymium magnet, dynamic driven earphone and that could be your thing but if you want to actually take advantage of the acoustic crossfeed and involve the second 6mm driver you will want to turn NS on.”

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Is MQA the Future of HD Music?

June 15, 2016 Comments Off on Is MQA the Future of HD Music?

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“MQA will make your current DAC obsolete. Yes, I know that sucks. You might start to hate MQA. But hold on, aren’t you sick and tired of buying Dark Side of The Moon again and again and again? You bet your ruby-tipped stylus you are. So here’s the deal: Tidal has promised, in the very near future, to begin streaming MQA-encoded files to your MQA-aware and MQA-compatible DAC at the highest resolution it can support–which can be exactly the same format and bitrate as the first-gen digital master–yet the file will take up only one-tenth of the bandwidth of the comparable and original 256X DSD master file. Because MQA folds the high-resolution information into the noise floor of a 44.1/16 or 48/16 file and then unfolds it at its destination, it saves a ton of bandwidth and storage space. While storage space may not matter much to end users anymore, it matters a lot to the server farms that store and supply the streaming services’ data. And the final result will sound better…”

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Pioneer XDP-100R Review

June 14, 2016 Comments Off on Pioneer XDP-100R Review

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” This provided us with some MQA samples, along with the same tracks in 24-bit/352kHz FLAC for a bit of A-B testing. To give you an idea of the difference in file size, a 410MB 24/352 FLAC file is reduced to 50MB in MQA, so making it quicker to download or easier to stream.”

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Sonus Faber Venere S Loudspeakers Review

June 13, 2016 Comments Off on Sonus Faber Venere S Loudspeakers Review

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“The Venere Signature sounded different. When I put on “Brothers in Arms,” one of the standout tracks from Junkie XL’s (aka Tom Holkenborg) sublime original score for Mad Max: Fury Road (16/44.1 FLAC, WaterTower Music), I was blown away by the dynamics I heard from these shapely towers: they rocked, and rocked hard. As the phalanx of massive drums that provide this track’s foundation unleashed volley after volley, I was not only struck by the Veneres’ tight-fisted bass control — it never overpowered my room — but also by the quality of the drumstrokes. There was texture aplenty, with authentic-sounding impact and slam instead of a weightier, punchier, but ultimately falser facsimile.”

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