Volumio Primo music player/streamer Review
February 2, 2021 Comments Off on Volumio Primo music player/streamer Review
https://www.stereophile.com/content/volumio-primo-music-playerstreamer
Volumio seems to rely on the library’s file structure for organization, but it provides no library-management tools, and the documentation says nothing about how it expects a library to be configured. I have set up most of the directories and files in my library by date added and not by artist, work, etc. Other programs, like JRiver and Roon, are okay with this: They use flexible, sophisticated metadata tagging. Volumio’s system, however it works, didn’t play as well with my library. Search often returned incongruous results, and the standard views, such as Albums, Genres, Artists, Playlists, and Favorites, failed to display cover art for a substantial part of my collection. (Why didn’t it discover all the cover art in my library?) Maybe this wouldn’t happen if I were a more scrupulous curator, but it has not been a problem with other servers I’ve used. Also, Volumio seems unable to search by file format, and it cannot tell me a file’s sampling/ bit rate until after I start playing it.

Pass Labs INT-25 – CLASS A Review
February 2, 2021 Comments Off on Pass Labs INT-25 – CLASS A Review
HiFiman HE-R10P Closed-Back Planar Magnetic Headphones Review
February 1, 2021 Comments Off on HiFiman HE-R10P Closed-Back Planar Magnetic Headphones Review
https://www.audiophilia.com/reviews/2020/11/30/hifiman
Now down to business. I found that the HE-R10P offered an overall smooth and warm airy sound with superb clarity, deep bass, and the illusion of a soundstage much more spacious than I expected from closed-back headphones. There was an intimacy with (say) singers and small ensembles; singers were close up in front sometimes making you feel that they were sitting in your lap. Even after long listening sessions while lying on my back on a couch or the floor even (after all there is no `sweet spot’ with headphones), the comfort level of wearing them was enduring. And they made me appreciate lyrics more than I usually do.


PS AUDIO STELLAR STRATA INTEGRATED AMPLIFIER $2,999 REVIEW
February 1, 2021 Comments Off on PS AUDIO STELLAR STRATA INTEGRATED AMPLIFIER $2,999 REVIEW
“I found the Strata to be quite robust operationally. In digital playback, it never failed to swiftly lock-in and play the digital signals fed through it. Using its USB input, high-resolution PCM signals up to 384 kHz and DSD signals up to 5.6 MHz (DSD128) were processed reliably. Even in streaming mode (Bridge), I found that the Strata worked well, although a bit sluggish in buffering tracks in comparison to a specialty streaming device like the Auralic Aries G1. This might be attributed to the smaller buffer capacity of the Strata’s Bridge as compared to the Aries G1. The PS Audio Connect streaming app was quite easy to use and it had an appealing interface. It had only basic streaming control functions, but it was quite sufficient for streaming control of the Strata”



How Coltrane Broke “My Favorite Things”
February 1, 2021 Comments Off on How Coltrane Broke “My Favorite Things”
WILSON AUDIO TUNETOTS WITH TUNETOT STANDS £11,500 REVIEW
January 31, 2021 Comments Off on WILSON AUDIO TUNETOTS WITH TUNETOT STANDS £11,500 REVIEW
Wilson Audio TuneTots with TuneTot stands
To wrap up, I believe what the Wilson Audio team has done here is quite special. Have a small space like a flat in London or New York? Otherwise limited on space? Or just have a nice home office and want audiophile sound like your larger listening room? This is a really superb solution. It’s really hard to fault these stands. They improve the mids and highs, are built like a tank and look elegant with the monitors and the isolation bases. And Daryl informs me that the posts on the stands come in all the standard TuneTot colours.

iFi NEO iDSD DAC $699 REVIEW
January 31, 2021 Comments Off on iFi NEO iDSD DAC $699 REVIEW
Surprisingly, not really. For some reason I can’t explain, for the first two weeks I couldn’t get Qobuz to play above 96kHz. But then, suddenly I saw some known 192kHz tracks displaying 192 instead of 96, and it hasn’t been an issue since. No real issues with Tidal at all. In fact, the only concern so far has been when playing on shuffle off my hard drive or Tidal, whenever the format or resolution changes, there is a slight click audible. I’m sure will get resolved soon, as I haven’t heard that as an issue in my system with any other software or hardware in several years.
End result of all this was that having the NEO iDSD in my system was beneficial in all key areas. Sound quality was definitely a step up from my previous DACs, and in ways that I hadn’t taken as areas the older iDAC2 was deficient in. My system could be simplified; removing an active $1900 preamp and a $350 DAC while replacing them with one $699 device and improving sound quality substantially was my kind of deal. Now all I need to do is replace my notebook with a fanless, quiet mini PC or dedicated music streamer and my digital source will be set for a while. Not only is the NEO iDSD highly recommended, I’m actually spending my own money on it and buying the review sample.


Audionet Humboldt Amplifier Review
January 31, 2021 Comments Off on Audionet Humboldt Amplifier Review
Spendor D7.2 £4,500 Review
January 30, 2021 Comments Off on Spendor D7.2 £4,500 Review
https://www.hifichoice.com/content/spendor-d72
All the modifications have brought about a subtle but worthwhile improvement to the performance, without throwing out Spendor’s trademark civilised sound. What we hear is more of the music and less of the cabinet and drivers. The previous model was already pleasingly neutral and open, but the D7.2 goes much further. It’s as if Philip Swift and his team have zeroed in on the weaker aspects of the older speaker and sorted them in a focused and surgical way. The result is a crisp, open and even-sounding loudspeaker that’s now impressively engaging and surprisingly dynamic – especially for a floorstander of this price.
When it comes to tonality, the original wasn’t the most transparent but was well integrated from bottom to top and pleasingly warm. The new model doesn’t wander far from this path, but does sound fractionally lighter and brighter; there’s a little extra sparkle right across the frequency range. The Yamaha DX7 synthesiser on Sade’s The Sweetest Taboo sounds more atmospheric, with a sense that you’re able to hear the harmonics a little better. There’s more space around vocals and a lighter and more spry sound to the cymbals. This is all subtle, but makes for a more lifelike sound – despite remaining smooth and sophisticated.


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