Hegel Music Systems H600 Integrated Amplifier-DAC $12,500 Review
August 14, 2023 Comments Off on Hegel Music Systems H600 Integrated Amplifier-DAC $12,500 Review
That the H600, with more than twice the power of the B1352, should handle high-volume playback with greater ease is to be expected, of course. What surprised me was the Hegel’s superior resolution and jet-black background at low volumes. As quiet as the Bryston was, the Hegel proved to be quieter still. This allowed tonal texture and delineation to emerge even at low volumes, as amply demonstrated by Angela Hewitt’s piano in the Chopin nocturnes. If you’ve got a big room or highly inefficient speakers (or both), you need power, and in this case, the scale is decidedly tipped in the Hegel’s favor. But even at low volumes, as I’ve mentioned, the H600 still pulls ahead.
Conclusion
The Hegel H600 is an exceptional integrated amplifier. Using the Bryston BDA-2 DAC I was able to compare the H600 and B135 strictly as integrated amplifiers and found the former superior—effortless and pristine at any volume. Remarkably, Hegel includes with this outstanding amplifier a topflight DAC that can easily rival external DACs costing thousands of dollars. This is the finest integrated amplifier-DAC combination I’ve heard in my time as a reviewer. At $12,500, the H600 isn’t cheap, but I suspect it would cost at least as much, probably more, to find another combination of integrated amplifier and DAC, whether as one or two units, that could outperform it.
QUAD ERA 1 Planar Magnetic Open Back Headphone Review
August 14, 2023 Comments Off on QUAD ERA 1 Planar Magnetic Open Back Headphone Review
Marantz Model 40n $2499 Review
August 13, 2023 Comments Off on Marantz Model 40n $2499 Review
https://www.whathifi.com/reviews/marantz-model-40n-review
It’s the same story regardless of which source you’re using – vinyl, hi-res streams or whether listening through headphones – the 40n offers an undemanding listen. This isn’t an analytical beast and we’re fine with that, but we wish it was more willing to dig up textures and nuance, to marshall rhythms with more precision and accuracy to really captivate us. Dynamically, we wish it worked a bit harder to relay the inherent drama and tension within a piece of music.
Obel’s ethereal vocals and that cello in The Cursed should tear at your heart; it doesn’t here. The Model 40n plays it safe, smoothing off the edges of Eminem’s biting lyrics to appeal to a wider variety of listeners. Rival systems such as the Evo and Uniti do a better job of engrossing us in the music; they’re simply more insightful, musically engaging and dynamically exciting by degrees.
Linn 360 Floorstanding Loudspeaker £55,000 Review
August 13, 2023 Comments Off on Linn 360 Floorstanding Loudspeaker £55,000 Review
Linn’s engineers are never happy; they are always improving things. And some audiophiles are never happy too, but for different reasons. There are going to be a lot of detractors. Those who spent decades building up top-end Linn systems will find the uprated price of admission hard to swallow. There will be those who think Linn should be trawling its past rather than building its future, and they will want an Isobarik because they always want an Isobarik. And there will be those with verysiloed thinking who can’t see past the LP12. Note that none of these ‘negatives’ relate to the product itself, except maybe that exposed midrange dome is a magnet for little fingers. But having sat and listened to the 360, there’s not much to dislike.
Hello – Adele (Tannoy Prestige Turnberry GR)
August 13, 2023 Comments Off on Hello – Adele (Tannoy Prestige Turnberry GR)
Rega Planar 10 Turntable and Aphelion 2 Cartridge $6345 Review
August 12, 2023 Comments Off on Rega Planar 10 Turntable and Aphelion 2 Cartridge $6345 Review
Rega has delivered a superb flagship vinyl spinner that competes closely with the very finest at its price point. Indeed, for a deck of this caliber, the price makes it something of a bargain. For 50 years, Gandy and his team have been steadily refining their distinct design and engineering principles, and the Planar 10 is a fully developed realization of their priorities. It’s incredibly simple to set up, beautifully made, and aesthetically pleasing. Combined with its captivating sound, those characteristics make it easy to recommend the Planar 10, without reservation. Few decks are capable of expressing the mood and atmosphere of music to this degree and I really enjoyed that particular quality in the Planar 10. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m heading back to that late-night bar in Rio. There’s a leggy Brazilian still waiting for me with a caipirinha
SOFTEARS STUDIO 4 REVIEW
August 12, 2023 Comments Off on SOFTEARS STUDIO 4 REVIEW
The mids have nice refinement and texture, along with a pleasant natural timbre. The positioning and detail are also impressive. With all that being said, the layering performance isn’t the best to my ears, and sometimes you hear congestion in the mid-range. It seems as though the vocals and instruments are confined to a limited space and cannot freely move beyond it. The source device can affect this trait to some degree, but you hear it occasionally. Of course, I don’t expect a sub-500$ to sound exceptionally spacious, but you just be aware.
Acoustic Signature Ascona Mk.2 turntable, TA-9000 tonearm $17,995 Review
August 11, 2023 Comments Off on Acoustic Signature Ascona Mk.2 turntable, TA-9000 tonearm $17,995 Review
Acoustic Signature’s top tonearm model is available in lengths of 9″ or 12″; I chose the 9″ version of this very handsome design ($17,995). The arm pivots, horizontally and vertically, on preloaded precision ball bearings produced in the US by Timken and adjusted in-house by a bearing specialist.
Much of the arm’s cost is due to its innovative armtube. Gunther Frohnhöfer claims that you can go “stiff and light” with carbon fiber, with the disadvantage of undamped resonances within the audioband, or opt for die-cast aluminum or magnesium tubes, which are relatively stiff, but heavy and also not well damped. Frohnhöfer’s solution to the problem of producing a lightweight, extremely stiff, well-damped armtube was to use two concentric aluminum tubes, both with conical exteriors. The tubes are bound together with more than 700 branch-like connecting pads, arranged in a spiral around the inner tube—an incredibly complex construction.
Audiophilepure 
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