Audiophilepure

https://www.theaudiobeat.com/equipment/degritter_mk_ii.htm

One final revealing bit: I have three old Pete Seeger records on the Smithsonian Folkways label that I picked up somewhere, one of which had what looked like small whitish dots on both sides — not more than a couple dozen, but enough to be easily seen. These looked like droplets of paint but were possibly bits of paper from their sleeves. I couldn’t chip them off with my thumbnail, and even soaking the records in distilled water and alcohol didn’t loosen the spots so they could be removed. So I decided to clean the record with both the Audio Desk System Pro X and Degritter Mk II to see if either of them could do the trick. Even on its longest cycle, the Pro X didn’t remove or loosen any of the dots on either side of the record. I expected the same from the Degritter Mk II, but I was surprised that when I inspected the record after cleaning and drying, about three quarters of the dots were gone, and the rest could be lightly rubbed off the surface. I then ran the record through the Degritter Mk II a second time, and it looked and sounded great.

Specifications don’t usually make music. But here, they explain exactly why the improvements are so immediate. With rock-solid voltage, vanishingly low impedance, and a pure waveform, the P20 gives your components the conditions they need to perform without compromise. Another bonus that most reviews don’t mention is the Ethernet interface! This really unlocks a ton of potential and automation ideas. I have built some automations into my home that allow me to control the outlets. I have written a custom Roon plugin via the API to turn on the triggers or some outlets for amplifiers so that they only run when music is being played. Pretty neat!

In the end, that’s the essence of the PS Audio PowerPlant 20. It isn’t a flashy addition to the rack. It’s the cornerstone, the silent partner that lets everything else sing at its full potential. 

https://www.enjoythemusic.com/magazine/viewpoint/1025/Not_Even_The_Audiophile_Earth_Is_Flat.htm

Impressive or not, real or not, even a theoretically perfect system, with dead-flat, distortion-free electronics, will still end up being played through speakers in an acoustic environment that may not be perfect. And even if the speakers, themselves,  are brilliant designs that tested perfectly flat in an anechoic chamber, that makes far less difference than you might imagine: You’re not going to be playing them in an anechoic chamber, but in your own listening room, at home or elsewhere. And that room is going to have its own characteristics that will affect the sound of the speakers and the entire system, creating something other than what any outside testing might indicate.

https://www.headfonia.com/fosi-audio-zp3-review/

So, how’s the Fosi ZP3 performing? Honestly, much, much better than I ever anticipated, and I’d even dare to say that it is – with the V3 mono – one of the most impressive pre-amplifier I got up to this date.

Straight out of the box, and paired with the SMSL DO400, the ZP3 delivered straight, colorless, end-to-end pre-amplification. A render equally neutral, clean, and transparent, that manages to enhance the source’s sound signature which, in the case of SMSL, was already incredibly detail resolving, reflecting the source and the track, without any coloration.

https://www.soundstagehifi.com/index.php/equipment-reviews/2014-anthem-mca-225-gen-2-stereo-power-amplifier

Turning to music composed several centuries earlier, I then listened to Josquin Masses (CD, Gimell CDGIM 051), an album by The Tallis Scholars, a British vocal ensemble focused on sacred vocal music. On the entrancing “Missa Hercules Dux Ferrarie,” I could pick out each voice distinctly—from the trio of sopranos on the left to the pair of baritones on the right. The deep baritone that opens the “Gloria” sounded as if it were emanating from the end of a long hallway. The soprano vocals, in contrast, sounded as if they were ascending to a great height, as though sung beneath the domed ceiling of a grand cathedral. These impressions closely reflect the geometry of the space in which this album was recorded, the long and tall Merton College Chapel at Oxford University. My Gold 300 5G speakers are capable of delivering a high level of detail, and that’s exactly what I heard through the MCA 225. It left no sonic footprint of its own, which is perhaps its most praiseworthy attribute.

During my audition period with the MCA 225, I received the Arendal Sound 1528 Monitor 8 speakers for review. I’ve been eager to hear these big standmounts since I learned I’d be writing about them, so I decided to connect them to the MCA 225 rather than wait to finish its audition and then connect them to my Bryston-based system.

Mazzy Star’s So Tonight That I Might See (CD, Capitol Records CDP 598253) opens with “Fade into You,” a breezy tune with a lively cadence centered on Hope Sandoval’s ethereal voice. The added vocal reverb creates a sense of spaciousness in this recording, an emptiness that befits the mood of the song. Here again, the MCA 225’s low noise floor made it easy to hear everything across the soundstage and to easily tease sonic images apart.