TOPPING EX5 $350 REVIEW
August 23, 2021 Comments Off on TOPPING EX5 $350 REVIEW
The EX5 reproduces the treble range skilfully, the treble feels accurate, transients are fast and snappy. Just like the rest of the spectrum, the treble range feels dynamic and agile. Detail-retrieval is excellent here as well. This range boosts the perceived clarity of the signature and the EX5 reaches the top octave without getting harsh. The treble carries good detail and definition while presenting the harmonics brilliantly. The EX5 shows great balance throughout the spectrum. The extension is just as good as it is at the lowest notes. Overall, the EX5 has excellent tonality and it stays true to the mastering.


Audiovector R 8 Arreté loudspeaker $69,995 Review
August 23, 2021 Comments Off on Audiovector R 8 Arreté loudspeaker $69,995 Review
https://www.stereophile.com/content/audiovector-r-8-arret%C3%A9-loudspeaker
This was a subtle thing, and it’s not unnatural. Setting aside the fact that the vocal was probably recorded in an isolation room, and that studio effects could be added, the degree of resonance or room sound is determined by where the mikes are placed. Salvant is close-miked while the piano is miked—well, I’m not sure how or where, but well outside the piano case, so there’s more room sound on the piano.
Still, I wondered: What would happen if the piano and the voice were in the same acoustic? This album is a mix of live (recorded at NYC’s Village Vanguard) and studio tracks (Sear Sound Studios), so I didn’t have to go far for a live comparison. I put on Salvant and Fortner’s account of Bernstein and Sondheim’s “Somewhere,” from West Side Story, another track I turn to often in reviews.

STAX SR-009S SIGNATURE ELECTROSTATIC AND SRM-D50 DRIVER AND DAC REVIEW
August 22, 2021 Comments Off on STAX SR-009S SIGNATURE ELECTROSTATIC AND SRM-D50 DRIVER AND DAC REVIEW
Fyne Audio F701 Review
August 22, 2021 Comments Off on Fyne Audio F701 Review
https://www.whathifi.com/us/reviews/fyne-audio-f701
The Fyne Audio F701 are truly entertaining performers, if installed with care. They sound big, bold and enthusiastic in a way that eludes much of the high-end competition. Most rivals concentrate on refinement and detail resolution whereas the Fynes sound like they just want to have fun.
Fed the likes of Seven Nation Army by The White Stripes, these speakers sound right at home as they pound out that distinctive plump bassline with real verve and grip. There’s an impressive degree of punch and power low down, but just as pleasingly, that is coupled to a strong sense of articulation too.

GRYPHON AUDIO DESIGNS ETHOS CD PLAYER REVIEW
August 20, 2021 Comments Off on GRYPHON AUDIO DESIGNS ETHOS CD PLAYER REVIEW
Gryphon Audio Designs Ethos CD player
Then you put on something you know really well. I’m at once proud and not proud to say that first disc was Back In Blackby AC/DC [Atlantic]. This is one of those albums I had on LP, cassette and CD (the LP got destroyed by playing on cheap equipment and was stolen by a junkie friend of an ex-girlfriend, the tape got mangled in a car cassette player and the CD has led a comparatively sheltered life by way of comparison). From the opening peel of ‘Hells Bells’ through to the title track, Ethos played these early 1980s arena rock tracks with the sort of force and intensity that makes you reach for the volume control and wish you were young enough to headbang without all the crepitus. The guitars on this disc can often sound ‘toppy’ and compressed, but here although you can still hear the compression, you realise its both deliberate and a pedal effect before the amp’s own distortion rather than laid on afterwards. As a consequence, it causes an equalisation of plectrum strike and makes for those intense power chords the Young brothers used to such good effect.

MCINTOSH XRT2.1K AND JL AUDIO GOTHAM V2
August 20, 2021 Comments Off on MCINTOSH XRT2.1K AND JL AUDIO GOTHAM V2
https://www.monoandstereo.com/2021/07/mcintosh-xrt21k-and-jl-audio-gotham-v2.html
Along with two of our Gotham® v2 subwoofers, this incredible home system features a pair of McIntosh Laboratory Inc. XRT2.1K loudspeakers featuring a whopping 81 drivers each, a set of MC2KW amplifiers, a C1100 tube preamplifier and a MX170 surround processor. Additionally, the system includes two Pioneer DJ CDJ3000 Media Players and a DJM-V10 mixer.”


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