NAD Masters M33 Integrated Amplifier-DAC $4999 Review
October 27, 2020 Comments Off on NAD Masters M33 Integrated Amplifier-DAC $4999 Review
“When the Masters M33 arrived, I connected it to my home network with an Ethernet link, updated its firmware, and from that point on it worked without incident for the entire review process. After moving it back and forth between my two systems a few times, I found it easier to access my network with the Wi-Fi connection. I had no problem setting up and using the Masters M33, so intuitive and simple is its interface.
I used the M33 mainly with Qobuz as a streaming service, with either Roon or BluOS to manage playback. I also used its digital and analog inputs: the MM phono input with my Pro-Ject X1 turntable, and my Oppo Digital UDP-205 4K UHD universal BD player through its balanced (XLR) analog outputs. Although I primarily used a MacBook Pro computer to control the M33, I also installed and used the BluOS app on my Apple iPhone 6S and Samsung Galaxy S9 smartphones.”
Gryphon Audio Designs Essence Stereo Amplifier $22,990 Review
October 26, 2020 Comments Off on Gryphon Audio Designs Essence Stereo Amplifier $22,990 Review
“Having definitely answered, at least for my own purposes, the question “Is 50Wpc enough?,” I moved on to more typical audiophile fare to assess other aspects of the Essence’s sound. I went straight to what I’m sure has appeared in the recent Qobuz playlists of many audiophiles: Lido Pimienta’s Miss Colombia (16/44.1 FLAC, Anti-/Qobuz) and its first track, “Para Transcriber (Sol).” The Gryphon painted this track with vivid colors, impressive depth of soundstage, and with all its minute details intact. There was a magnificent amount of space around Pimienta’s voice at the beginning, with soundstage depth for miles, and enough ambience retrieval to make my listening room completely transform into another acoustic environment. Pimienta’s voice was also smooth and tonally perfect — the Essence reproduced this track with finesse and fidelity.
Focal Diablo Utopia Colour Evo Loudspeakers $16,990 Review
October 26, 2020 Comments Off on Focal Diablo Utopia Colour Evo Loudspeakers $16,990 Review
“No matter how you cut it, $16,990 is a lot of money for a pair of minimonitors. Throw in the matching, semi-obligatory stands and you’re looking at an investment of $19,970 to coax Focal’s Diablo Utopia Colour Evos into your life. Yet there’s no denying that, 12 years after the launch of the original Utopia platform, it remains a hugely competent and satisfying communicator of music. Its fantastic tweeter boasts all the extension and refinement you could ever want, and Focal has voiced the all-important midrange to perfection: it’s vivacious and lifelike, and the speaker imposes on it no colorations of its own. You also get healthy servings of Focal’s signature industrial design and excellent build quality. And while it doesn’t provide much in the way of weight and slam at the lower limits of the audioband, the Diablo Utopia Colour Evo’s frequency response remains linear and composed even at unreasonably high volumes — across the board, this speaker is unflappable.”
JBL L-100 Classic REVIEW
October 25, 2020 Comments Off on JBL L-100 Classic REVIEW
One other forgotten aspect is the ability to play at a reasonably convincing level. When the other speakers have long run out of dynamic capability, the L-100 Classics still have plenty of headroom left. Oddly, while they are slightly grainy in comparison to a few other speakers, this does not increase at higher levels. I’d venture to guess that some of the insight gained in studio monitor and sound reinforcement has trickled down to these speakers. If you want a pair of real rock and roll speakers, these will do quite nicely.
At the end of the day, the JBL L-100 Classics remind me a lot of that great American amplifier, the McIntosh MC275. It’s not the last word in any of the standard audiophile qualifiers, but I dare you to have a bad day listening to one. The same goes for the L-100 Classics. I dare you to have a bad time listening to your favorite music, no matter what generation it’s from when you’re rocking a pair of L-100 Classics.”
RIAA Midyear Report: Vinyl Revenues Exceed Those of CDs— First Time Since 1982
October 25, 2020 Comments Off on RIAA Midyear Report: Vinyl Revenues Exceed Those of CDs— First Time Since 1982
“However, for the first half of 2020, revenues from “physical products” was $376 million at estimated retail value, or down 23% year-over-year, no doubt due in great part to retail and venue shutdown measures related to Covid-19. Vinyl revenues increased in Q1 over the same period last year, but decreased in Q2, no doubt pandemic related. However, and here’s the good news (for some of us): 1H 2020 revenues from vinyl sales resulted in a net overall increase of 4% or a total of $232 million dollars, or 62% of total physical revenues, marking the first time vinyl exceeded CDs for such a period since the 1980s, though it still only accounted for 4% of total music recorded music revenues. The once promising digital download market revenues dropped precipitously from $451 million 1H 2019 to $351 million 1H 2020. Still ahead of vinyl revenues for the first half, but again dropping.”
Nordost Frey 2 Speaker Cables $3069 Review
October 22, 2020 Comments Off on Nordost Frey 2 Speaker Cables $3069 Review
Continuing with the generalities in the loom’s broadest sense, I enjoyed the detail the cables revealed in recordings of all types. If you have quality equipment, the cables will neither detract nor amplify elements, but offer a musical hand in keeping with the accompanying designer’s topology. My Jeff Rowland Continuum S2 is Class D, but Jeff Rowland Class D. Smooth as butter. A too revealing cable can give a clinical soundstage game away easily. With the Frey 2, the sweetness that is an important and sometimes elusive character trait of Rowland’s superior circuit remains; the same when the Frey 2 loom was attached to the Icon ST 40 MkIV Integrated Amplifier. When in Ultralinear mode, the cables did not get in the way of a clear soundstage and powerful dynamics yet allowed the Triode circuit’s nature, beautiful and uncoloured, to shine on my favorite, intimate repertoire. ”
Picture 794
KEF’s New LS50 Collection Review
October 22, 2020 Comments Off on KEF’s New LS50 Collection Review
“To me, this limitation isn’t a major issue in this scenario, but purists should be aware of this digital signal processing. Speaking of DSP, it’s probably crazy to assume high rate DSD and 384 kHz PCM would stay I their native rates anyway because speakers like this use DSP that doesn’t operate at such high rates. In other words, even if the interspeaker connection was native (384/DSD256), the music would go through resampling for digital signal processing anyway. Thus, it’s a non-issue and I’m happy to read KEF released this information publicly. I love transparency. ”
Audiophilepure 
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