MartinLogan Motion 20i Review

March 7, 2021 Comments Off on MartinLogan Motion 20i Review

https://www.hifichoice.com/content/martinlogan-motion-20i

The bass extension is impressive for such a relatively small floorstander. MartinLogan claims to deliver a frequency response down to 46Hz, but this seems comfortably bettered in my room. It integrates well with the rest of the frequency range and ensures that the deep electronic notes of Beck’s Uneventful Days are something you feel as much as hear and there is a reasonable level of control and definition as well. This is undoubtedly helped by careful speaker placement in my room and positioning the Motion 20i closer to a rear wall reduces this coherence somewhat. It’s never going to be described as an urgent-sounding loudspeaker, but equally it doesn’t sound particularly languid or slow.

Campfire 2020 Ara, Andromeda & Solaris IEM impressions

March 7, 2021 Comments Off on Campfire 2020 Ara, Andromeda & Solaris IEM impressions

Sonus faber Sonetto V Speakers Review

March 6, 2021 Comments Off on Sonus faber Sonetto V Speakers Review

REVIEW: The Sonus faber Sonetto V Speakers

To be fair to the Sonettos, I left the past behind, making my way back to the current day, musically speaking. Bottom line, there was nothing I threw at the Sonettos that I felt they couldn’t do justice too. Getting in a party mood with “Oppa is Just My Style,” the Sonettos prove they can play loud when the need arises. Even at eviction notice levels, these speakers did not distort, bottom the woofer cones, or exhibit soundstage collapse. Staying at party SPLs, the deep bass line in Girls Day’s “Look at Me” had a few people looking for the subwoofer. And just before you think I’ve gone way too KPop on you, the new AC/DC single “Shot in the Dark” was just released, so a final infusion of heavy guitars (at high volume, of course) ticks the last box. This is a great pair of speakers that can play whatever you enjoy without excuse.

Supravox Vouvray Integrated Amplifier Review

March 6, 2021 Comments Off on Supravox Vouvray Integrated Amplifier Review

https://www.hifinews.com/content/supravox-vouvray-integrated-amplifier

Mind you, raising the volume significantly isn’t a quick process if you use the remote control as there is no acceleration to the volume knob’s fairly sedate rotational pace. Yet give the chunky knob a few seconds to reach 12 o’clock or beyond and you are rewarded with wildly swinging VU meters and sound that packs serious enough power for ASBO level SPLs with all but the most insensitive speakers.

With even modestly efficient speakers the Vouvray is more than happy to indulge party-level sound pressures and it didn’t hold back on the dancefloor when I spun up the anthemic ‘We Come 1’ from Faithless’s seminal Outrospective [Cheeky 74321 86555244/16]. If an amp can make me leap off the chair to thrust a pointed finger in the air and belt out the chorus like I am at Glastonbury, it’s a good ‘un in my opinion. Job done, Supravox

iFi Audio iDSD Diablo $900 Review

March 6, 2021 Comments Off on iFi Audio iDSD Diablo $900 Review

Wilson Audio • Chronosonic XVX Loudspeakers and Subsonic Subwoofers $329,000 Review

March 5, 2021 Comments Off on Wilson Audio • Chronosonic XVX Loudspeakers and Subsonic Subwoofers $329,000 Review

http://www.theaudiobeat.com/equipment/wilson_audio_chronosonic_xvx_subsonic.htm


About the fine-tuning. As with other Wilson speakers, a step in the setup of the XVXes is measurement of the listening position, both in distance from the speakers as well as the floor. This is done to determine the correct settings for the various modules, in order to achieve exact time alignment at the listening position. But there’s also an important procedure that tailors the speakers to the amplifier with which they will be used. While previous Wilson models other than the WAMM used predetermined steps for time alignment of the drivers, the Gantry and Micrometer of the XVX allow infinite small incremental adjustments to correct not just for listening position but also the unique time smear of the partnering amplifier. Wilson Audio determines this through measurement of the amplifier, and those data are provided to the person setting up the speakers. Daryl Wilson admits that there are some similarities among the amplifiers he has measured, especially ones with similar topologies, but, as he put it, “Every manufacturer has its secret sauce.”

Grimm Audio MU1 Music Library/Server Review

March 5, 2021 Comments Off on Grimm Audio MU1 Music Library/Server Review

https://www.hifinews.com/content/grimm-audio-mu1-music-libraryserver

It may seem counter-intuitive that a downsampled version should sound better, but it’s testament to the quality and undoubted innovation of the code and clock that ultimately feeds the MU1’s balanced AES3 digital output.

Hearing it makes clear just what the engineers were trying to achieve. That the design has managed so much more, not only justifies the existence of the MU1 as a digital source, but also proves that a DAC is only as ‘good’ as its partnering digital front-end.

The best audio format, ever

March 5, 2021 Comments Off on The best audio format, ever

Pass Laboratories XP-32 line preamplifier Review

March 4, 2021 Comments Off on Pass Laboratories XP-32 line preamplifier Review

https://www.stereophile.com/content/pass-laboratories-xp-32-line-preamplifier

I had two high-performance preamplifiers on hand with which to compare the Pass XP-32: the MBL N11 ($14,600) and the Benchmark LA4 ($2599) that had so impressed Kal Rubinson when he reviewed it in January 2020.

First up was the MBL, with sound pressure levels matched within 0.5dB at the listening position. (The N11 was set to its unity gain condition, which limits the maximum gain and which reviewer Jason Victor Serinus had preferred.) With the MBL N31 DAC in front of the preamplifier and the Parasound monoblocks behind it, the back-to-front soundstage on my Mozart Piano Quartet recording was as apparent as it had been on the XP-32, with as much image depth. The tonal balance, however, was a tad warmer and the presentation of acoustic objects within the soundstage was a little more—and how I hate using this word—palpable. For example, toward the end of the Joni Mitchell track, a high tenor voice appears in the center of the stage, floating slightly behind and slightly above Joni The MBL pushed this voice a little farther back than it had been with the Pass Labs, as well as a touch higher. A close-run thing, but like I said, more palpable.

Purifi SPK5 Review

March 4, 2021 Comments Off on Purifi SPK5 Review