Focal Diva Utopia Review
January 1, 2025 Comments Off on Focal Diva Utopia Review
https://www.whathifi.com/reviews/focal-diva-utopia
Elsewhere there isn’t much to complain about. We are getting a wonderfully clean and clear presentation with Florence Welch’s powerful vocals coming through with conviction. Instruments and voices are rendered with convincing texture and a good degree of natural warmth. It’s a tidy and controlled presentation with a decent if not explosive sense of rhythmic drive.
We’re happy to report that the Diva’s performance stays pleasingly consistent whether we use the built-in streaming module, the stereo analogue input or the optical connection. We rarely come across a product where the performance of each of these inputs is so balanced.
Bel Canto Pre5 Preamplifier and REF501S Amplifier Review
January 1, 2025 Comments Off on Bel Canto Pre5 Preamplifier and REF501S Amplifier Review
I had a chance to try briefly the Pre5 headphone feature and found it to be a decent performer, which should delight the headphone users out there. Therefore, without reservation, I could say that the Pre5 and REF501S were competent performers all around. Towards the end of the review, I swapped out the REF501S with its predecessor, the REF500S. The comparison revealed slightly different sonic characteristics between the two amplifiers. It seemed that the REF501S traded a slightly warm and laid-back presentation of the REF500S for better transparency and a slightly more intimate soundstage. To be clear, this comparison did not reveal that one was better than the other. In my opinion, the two amplifiers exhibited about equal level of performance; they are just slightly different in their musical presentations.
Estelon X Diamond Mk II loudspeaker $89,000 Review
December 31, 2024 Comments Off on Estelon X Diamond Mk II loudspeaker $89,000 Review
https://www.stereophile.com/content/estelon-x-diamond-mk-ii-loudspeaker
Balanced, engaging, and multifaceted, the Estelons took me through many moods. I felt not just in sync with the music but blessedly affected by it too. It’s true that sonically, in my room, the X Diamond Mk IIs were a notch past the midpoint between earthy and analytical. They have a slightly more pronounced mid-treble region than my Focal Scalas do. That means that they paired well with the Aurender A20 and the Grimm Audio MU1, and not as successfully with the otherwise excellent Eversolo DMP-A8 (which doesn’t sound sharp or strident per se but can’t boast perfect fluidity either). The A20 and the MU1 are both a touch mellower, less forward, more “analog” perhaps. That suits the Estelons.
In a historic account of a love triangle that I read recently, the femme fatale seduced her lover with a suggestive dance. The sentence that stood out was “When she danced, the concealed was revealed.” That’s also a very fitting description of the X Diamond Mk IIs. For speakers at this price level, you’d expect impeccable beauty inside and out, visually and sonically, and that’s what you get with these comely Estonians. They ooze detail and resolution and naturalness, unveiling what remains hidden—or is sloppily sketched—through lesser contenders. It’s hard to think of higher praise
Hifiman Susvara Unveiled $8,000 Review
December 31, 2024 Comments Off on Hifiman Susvara Unveiled $8,000 Review
So yeah, the Susvara Unveiled can be driven by many amplifiers, but they will all make the Susvara U. sound differently. In that regards the Unveiled is a transparent headphone. It’s also clear that the better amps, or should I say technically stronger amps, really make the Unveiled shine. When using a lower resolution DAC or bad files, you will immediately hear that so make sure your full setup is up to the task.
Vevor Digital Ultrasonic Record Cleaner
December 31, 2024 Comments Off on Vevor Digital Ultrasonic Record Cleaner
Lorenzo Audio Labs LM1 Loudspeakers $200,000 Review
December 30, 2024 Comments Off on Lorenzo Audio Labs LM1 Loudspeakers $200,000 Review
The LM1s are world-class cost-no-object loudspeakers in every way. The LM1s embody an achievement in design, engineering, craftmanship, and most of all, sonic performance. Lorenzo Audio Labs set a high benchmark for all others to be measured against. Sonically speaking in my system, the LM1 are as good as it gets. My twenty-five plus years audio search for reference loudspeakers is over. Regardless of cost, I told Visintainer that I’m keeping the review pair and wrote him a check. Hats off to Miguel Lorenzo Castro for creating this masterpiece.
| dCS | Wilson | Boulder |
December 30, 2024 Comments Off on | dCS | Wilson | Boulder |
https://www.monoandstereo.com/schnerzinger-dcs-wilson-boulder-hrs/
Schnerzinger cable installation in an upper-echelon high-end audio system featuring dCS, Wilson Audio, Boulder, Dan D’Agostino, HRS, and more.
Hegel H400 Streaming Integrated Amplifier Review
December 30, 2024 Comments Off on Hegel H400 Streaming Integrated Amplifier Review
European Audio Team Fortissimo S Turntable and F-Note Tonearm Review
December 29, 2024 Comments Off on European Audio Team Fortissimo S Turntable and F-Note Tonearm Review
https://audiophilepure.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post-new.php
Then there’s the Fortissimo S, from European Audio Team. It’s a Bentley Continental GT: sleek and elegant in its own boxy way, but also larger than life. Hugely powerful, but undeniably elegant. Fat tires, squat to the road with unlimited torque, but so comfortable and silent that you don’t even know it’s running.
That said, visuals out of the way, from a sound-quality perspective, both the VPI and the EAT radiate neutrality and control, sounding more alike than they do different. The Fortissimo S edges out the VPI in its control of transients and isolation from vibration. A knuckle rap on my well-damped equipment rack elicits a clear thump from the VPI and absolute silence from the EAT. Those magnetic feet really do the trick.
Audiophilepure 
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