Mytek Brooklyn Bridge Review

August 19, 2022 Comments Off on Mytek Brooklyn Bridge Review

https://www.hifichoice.com/content/mytek-brooklyn-bridge

While it’s unlikely that the main reason people will be buying the Bridge is for it’s prowess with vinyl, it seems rude not to at least put the phono stage to the test. Consequently, the Michell Gyro SE turntable is cued up with both Ortofon Rondo Red MC and 2M Black MM cartridges ready to mount in turn and a pristine copy of Chris Rea’s One Fine Day is given a spin. Despite expecting the unit to struggle with a low-output MC, the sound emanating from the speaker is sumptuous. Even better, switching to MM is a revelation, the album being delivered with all of its top-end sweetness intact. What’s more, bass lines are again punchy and taut.

Finally, it’s the turn of the headphone section. Putting it through its paces with a selection of different models, including the HiFiMan Sundara and Focal’s ultra-revealing Spirit Pro, proves no less impressive than what’s come before with the Bridge comfortably driving both the Spirit Pro and Sundara without any obvious issue. Differences between the in-phase and anti-phase sockets are subtle and more down to preference than outright superiority, but the overall sound is rich, detailed and difficult to fault.

JBL L75ms $1500 Review

August 19, 2022 Comments Off on JBL L75ms $1500 Review

https://www.whathifi.com/us/reviews/jbl-l75ms

JBL has a habit of making fun, party-starting speakers, and this one is no different. Listening to Beyonce’s Break My Soul, we’re treated to an upbeat, energetic rendition. There is, of course, plenty of bottom end, so kick drums can’t be missed (sometimes to a fault), and are given a real live stadium feel. Basslines have weight and texture and are almost inevitably on the warm and smooth side. 

For a change of pace we give R.E.M.’s Man On The Moon a spin (a Tidal Masters played over AirPlay 2) and the JBL just about joins us, albeit preferring to keep the pace higher than it really should be – not quite managing to convey the relaxed, almost lazy feel of the track. We still enjoy what we hear; guitars jangle along jauntily and there’s plenty of scale and breadth to the sound, but the Naim Mu-so 2, for example, offers a more natural, realistic presentation.

DS Audio ES 001 Eccentricity Detection Stabilizer

August 19, 2022 Comments Off on DS Audio ES 001 Eccentricity Detection Stabilizer

Perlisten S4b Loudspeaker £7200 Review

August 18, 2022 Comments Off on Perlisten S4b Loudspeaker £7200 Review

https://www.hifinews.com/content/perlisten-s4b-loudspeaker

If you’re partial to electronic music where effects are thrown across the soundstage, then you’ll appreciate this speaker pairing’s ability to lock in step for such acrobatics. With ‘100’ by Jon Hopkins [Contact Note; Linn Records; 96kHz/24-bit] it was a delight to follow the synthesiser effects as they moved smoothly between the speakers.

Not that such production techniques are new-fangled, as proven by the woozy breakdown of Led Zeppelin’s ‘Whole Lotta Love’ [Led Zeppelin II; Atlantic; 96kHz/24-bit]. Coming after two minutes of hard-hitting blues rock framing Robert Plant’s triumphant vocals, this near-psychedelic section felt like it was from another planet. Perlisten’s small(ish) cabinets concocted a wall of sound bigger than you might expect, casting Plant’s wails high and wide. Then Jimmy Page let rip on his Les Paul and I was grinning from ear to ear.

Parasound HINT 6 Integrated Amplifier $3,200 Review

August 18, 2022 Comments Off on Parasound HINT 6 Integrated Amplifier $3,200 Review

I listen to a lot of classical recordings and the HINT 6 really surprised me with how well it dealt with complicated orchestral pieces; instruments had excellent separation and I found myself often lost in how vivid the combination was. Voices were never lost in the mix and very easy to place.

The midrange resolution was also rather superb; Maggies excel with the human voice and the HINT 6 did not disappoint; texture, timbre, and so much presence with most recordings.

I also own a pair of vintage Klipsch Heresy II’s and I wanted to see if the HINT 6 had the headroom to drive them with rock, heavy metal, and other complex electronic pieces that can really load the room.

AUDIOLAB OMNIA ALL-IN-ONE: CD PLAYER, STREAMER, AMP, BLUETOOTH, DAC, ETC

August 18, 2022 Comments Off on AUDIOLAB OMNIA ALL-IN-ONE: CD PLAYER, STREAMER, AMP, BLUETOOTH, DAC, ETC

Mark Levinson No. 5909 $999 Review

August 17, 2022 Comments Off on Mark Levinson No. 5909 $999 Review

https://www.whathifi.com/us/reviews/mark-levinson-no-5909

The vivacious production of Toto’s Rosanna gives the Mark Levinsons a sonic canvas on which to truly showboat – those drums biting, vocals rich, and guitar lines and keyboards infectiously musical. They lap it up as enthusiastically as a dog eats spilled ice cream. No part of the frequency spectrum is given undue priority, and that, coupled with the headphones’ attention to detail and brisk nature, makes the No. 5909 utterly compelling to listen to in a way lesser wireless headphones are not.

https://ef8ca10228763ee9e177b90d27ba453c.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-38/html/container.html

They aren’t just concerned with having a good time, either, as impressively shrewd when delivering the subtle dynamics and lingering harmonics of Ludovico Einaudi’s piano playing, and when asked to convey the woodwind textures and hit the climactic heights throughout The Hobbit: The Unexpected Journey soundtrack.

HiFi Rose RA180 Integrated Amplifier Review

August 17, 2022 Comments Off on HiFi Rose RA180 Integrated Amplifier Review

https://www.hifinews.com/content/hifi-rose-ra180-integrated-amplifier

The high-pass crossover function allows you to filter the output of one of each amplifier pair – there are two amplifier modules per channel in the RA180 – above 600Hz-6kHz. You might choose to use this function to limit the bandwidth of the amplifier feeding the treble arm of a bi-amped speaker, for example, or set it to the top 6kHz filter before driving a supertweeter.

A typical stereo amplifier features four loudspeaker terminals. The RA180? Sixteen, which is astonishing even if you consider the A/B speaker option (note that’s an ‘either’, not an ‘and’, option, as you cannot enable the A and B pair at the same time). As previously mentioned, there are not two but four identical amplifier modules in the RA180 for a claimed total of 4x200W. But you’ll only use the four together when utilising one of its specialised speaker modes, either to bi-amp a pair of speakers (two amplifiers per channel) or bridging each pair into a higher-powered stereo configuration, where the claimed output becomes a whopping 2x400W.

FiiO M11 Plus ESS DAP $700  Review

August 17, 2022 Comments Off on FiiO M11 Plus ESS DAP $700  Review

7Hz x Crinacle Salnotes Dioko Planar Magnetic IEM $99 Review

August 16, 2022 Comments Off on 7Hz x Crinacle Salnotes Dioko Planar Magnetic IEM $99 Review

At first listen, I heard an overall neutral IEM with a gentle lift in the treble and bass, a signature some may call “u-shaped.”

The Dioko’s sound reminded me a lot of the Timeless (which I constantly compared during my evaluation), albeit with a slightly smoother lower treble and a cleaner midrange. That said, while the former has excellent detail and resolution for the price point, the latter is better in both departments.