Quad II Review
July 16, 2023 Comments Off on Quad II Review
https://www.hifinews.com/content/quad-valves-reinvented
Factor out nostalgia. Forget the miracle of Quad Making Valve Amps In The 21st Century. Look at the Quad units in terms of a current pre/power tube combination. Then look at the opposition. Now factor in gorgeous styling, superb build quality, perfect ergonomics, ample grunt, genuine heritage and the kind of sound which allows valve enthusiasts to show two fingers to transistor users. Suddenly, you sense a virtue found in Quad products made prior to the 405: unparalleled cost-to-performance ratio.
The preamp sounds like what I’d expect of a £2500 unit. The power amps? The best current all-tube rig I can think of below £3500, which is what you’d pay for the heartwarming Audio Research VT50. Eyes closed, then, and this system says to me, ‘£6000’. Which is what the old management wanted just for the Celebration Quad II alone. At £3995 for the QC-twentyfour and the Quad ll-forty, the waiting list is already thrice around the block.
McIntosh MA252 Hybrid Drive Integrated
July 16, 2023 Comments Off on McIntosh MA252 Hybrid Drive Integrated
Audio-Technica AT-LP2022 Fully Manual Belt-Drive 60th Anniversary TurntableReview
July 15, 2023 Comments Off on Audio-Technica AT-LP2022 Fully Manual Belt-Drive 60th Anniversary TurntableReview
The turntable is quite something; it just sits there, waiting for you, almost daring you to choose the best album for it to play. Its aesthetics are original and its tonearm/cart implementation working in unison to align themselves for our listening pleasure is an achievement on its own.
Back in the day having a Les Paul guitar or a Marshall amp said something about your style, your taste in music, and how you’d like to be perceived. And back in the day, I, like many other teens who went to gigs and watch cover bands, wished we had the money to buy that gear—it meant something. It feels like now at almost 50 years old it was my time to play in the band. The AT-LP2022 60th Anniversary Turntable is a commemorative component of years of work and achievement. It’s good to know it’s in good hands and I highly recommend you get yourself one if they’re still out there.
HIFIMAN HE1000 STEALTH $2,999 REVIEW
July 15, 2023 Comments Off on HIFIMAN HE1000 STEALTH $2,999 REVIEW
With the open cups, the HE1000 Stealth is not a headphone to use on-the-go. At home or at the office you best use it in a silent environment as a lot of sounds leaks in and out. No surprise there. What I do like about the HE1000 Stealth is that you can use it for many different things. I even use it for conference calls and watching tv straight from my laptop. The Stealth is fairly easy to drive (Impedance 32Ω & Sensitivity 93dB ) and though it performs best with an amplifier (more on this later), you really can plug it in to anything and enjoy it. It’s not one of those high-end setup, music only kind of headphones.
MartinLogan Neolith $120,000 REVIEW
July 15, 2023 Comments Off on MartinLogan Neolith $120,000 REVIEW
Naim Audio NSC 222 Streaming Preamplifier $8999 Review
July 14, 2023 Comments Off on Naim Audio NSC 222 Streaming Preamplifier $8999 Review
https://www.audiophilia.com/reviews/2023/5/3/dl8b6p1p0nk9xi7nywkbshspjq1kl1
My streaming (and CD) test track to end all tracks, “Dead Already” from Thomas Newman’s score to American Beauty, had life and super energy on the Personas, less so on the smaller Founder bookshelves. I was somewhat surprised considering comparison to my several super high-end frames of reference, the 222 had more air around all the whizzing and buzzing instruments; very impressive and immersive. Also, the bass from the recording via the 222 was monstrous and incredibly deep. Same on two of my favourite “electronic” albums (I’m so late to the party!), Boards of Canada Music Has The Right To Children (Trip Hop and mesmerically beautiful) and the raucous, fun debut album from Tranquility Bass, Let The Freak Flag Fly.
PMC Twenty5.26i Loudspeaker $15,950 Review
July 14, 2023 Comments Off on PMC Twenty5.26i Loudspeaker $15,950 Review
https://www.soundstageultra.com/index.php/equipment-menu/1187-pmc-twenty5-26i-loudspeaker
A somewhat surprising loudspeaker, then—having experienced earlier transmission-line designs from IMF Electronics and TDL Electronics, I was expecting to hear incredibly extended but potentially boomy bass. But PMC has refined its transmission-line designs to the point where they sound extremely controlled and tight. The Twenty5.26i goes low but with zero overhang; bass is very clean, all the way down.
Despite its size, this loudspeaker was extremely flexible in terms of placement. It wasn’t sensitive to room boundaries, and never boomed. On the contrary, it had an extremely articulate and controlled bass response. My only gripe was that the low end was somewhat dry. Just occasionally, I found myself wishing for a little more upper- or mid-bass fullness so that tom drums hit a little harder and pianos sounded a little more sonorous.
A Guide to High-End Room Construction & Acoustic Treatment | Robert Harley’s Listening Room
July 14, 2023 Comments Off on A Guide to High-End Room Construction & Acoustic Treatment | Robert Harley’s Listening Room
RAAL REQUISITE SR-1B $3,750 REVIEW
July 13, 2023 Comments Off on RAAL REQUISITE SR-1B $3,750 REVIEW
When ordering the SR-1b on Raal’s site, there is a special option called “ProPac”. When you choose this, the SR-1b includes Raal’s foam-lined, waterproof flight case. If you opt for any of the other versions, the SR-1b and TI-1b will come in a normal, yet high level box, which also has the foam cut out. The hard case options ups the price to $3,750 USD.
If you plan on traveling with this headphone, I absolutely recommend this option. The SR-1b, even though robust, isn’t the kind of headphone to just throw inside your bag. I don’t think I ever will take the SR-1b outside of my office, so I have gone for the normal packaging.
All-in-all RAAL delivers a nice box in all cases, and the headphone interface, cables, and OBs are perfectly safe in it as you can see in the pictures.
Gryphon Heaven
July 13, 2023 Comments Off on Gryphon Heaven
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