Sonus faber Olympica Nova V Loudspeaker £14,900 Review
May 16, 2020 Comments Off on Sonus faber Olympica Nova V Loudspeaker £14,900 Review
“Elsewhere in the spectrum EPDR is very well controlled, with a narrow dip to 2.0ohm/35Hz and to 2.6ohm/826Hz. So the Nova V isn’t as hard to drive as it may first appear. Forward frequency responses measured on the tweeter axis [Graph 1] show a rising output above 4kHz, which strongly suggests the speaker should be auditioned a little off-axis for the most neutral tonal balance. Response errors reflect this up-tilted treble at ±4.8dB and ±4.4dB, respectively, but with careful alignment it should be possible to reduce this to ±3dB or so. Pair matching error over the same 300Hz-20kHz range is disappointing at ±1.7dB but this is largely due to a minor narrowband disparity at 2.1kHz. Without this the figure would have been a respectable ±1.0dB. Diffraction-corrected nearfield measurement showed the bass extension to be 43Hz (–6dB re. 200Hz). The cumulative spectral decay waterfall [Graph 2] is free of resonances in the upper treble but shows three modes associated with the response peaks at 1.2kHz, 2.3kHz and 3.8kHz”
Advance Paris WTX MicroStream € 149 network player
May 16, 2020 Comments Off on Advance Paris WTX MicroStream € 149 network player
Chord Electronics Hugo TT2
May 15, 2020 Comments Off on Chord Electronics Hugo TT2
“There is a lot more ground to cover on the Hugo TT2, not least how it pairs with the TToby. I have the TToby hooked up to the Hifiman headphone amp adapter for use with the HE6 and I will try to cover that also.
I love how the HE6 and the Abyss Diana Phi sound with that huge power amp behind them both. The XLR balanced output of the Hugo TT2 might be a bit too much for these two so I need to be a bit cautious about the power obsession angle. Going unbalanced has already shown promising performance with the Susvara so there may not be a need for the additional power.
The Bluetooth angle is also worth looking into as we have a ton of wireless devices lying around this year including some good streamers. And of course, we need to compare, not just the DAC but also the headphone amp. We do have some worth competitors this year including the dCS Bartok so stay tuned for our full review down the line!”
Audeze LCD-1 Headphones Review
May 15, 2020 Comments Off on Audeze LCD-1 Headphones Review
“, the LCD-1s elicited the sort of reaction that often has me reaching for tissues to mop up the tears. Yeah, I still go dewy-eyed when music transcends the listening-for-review-purposes and gets to me, when I should be listening for stuff like bass control or stage depth. Both Kyu and Julie sang within my cranium, true, but the breathiness of the latter and the clear enunciation of the former were perfectly preserved and ‘non-intrusive’.
What is Kessler on about? How can something be in one’s skull and not be intrusive? Well, I heard both a lack of artifice and enough outside-of-the-head sound to preclude any distraction. Better was a sweetness that somehow rendered tolerable the massed violins on the Majestic Strings’ Strings For Many Moods [Tape-Mates TMS-131 3¾ips tape] over its agonising three hours.
As the above suggests, I love these headphones. My only complaint? They don’t have active noise reduction, which would make them my perfect travel cans.”
MOONDROP STARFIELD $109 REVIEW
May 15, 2020 Comments Off on MOONDROP STARFIELD $109 REVIEW
“This IEM has a smooth feeling on the low end, lacking a strong sense of dynamic and physical impact (strike and wince factor). The IEM is non-fatiguing for me after hours of usage and it doesn’t require much amplification to max out its low-end potential.
Opt for source/amp quality and not power with this one. It really sounds quite good through the Hiby R6 portable music player and with just a little EQ and throttling of the low end, you can boost up the bass quantity a bit.
Directly out of my Sony ZX1 Compact’s 3.5mm output, the experience is lackluster and much better when I pair the Sony with the Xduoo XDA5+, either via 3.5mm standard amping, or the digital output option.”
AudioQuest Niagara 1200 Low-Z Power | Noise-Dissipation System Review
May 14, 2020 Comments Off on AudioQuest Niagara 1200 Low-Z Power | Noise-Dissipation System Review
“I’ve been a huge fan of power conditioners since a salesman plugged in an early MIT (I forget the model, but is was 5K in the early ‘90s) and it transformed the system I was auditioning in a Queen St, Toronto store—an area known for crap power. Night and day. Of course, some conditioners I’ve heard, especially those not considering an amplifier’s high current needs, choked the life out of the sound. Happily, the AudioQuest Niagara Series has a wonderful consistency. Source or amplification, your gear is going to be treated with kid gloves.
If you have the cash, getting the new 3000 or the superb 5000 would elevate your system even further, but if not, the 1200 at $995 is a bargain. It’ll give you a serious taste of how Powell’s wonderful designs improve a system. Very highly recommended.
Jadis Orchestra Black integrated amplifier $3995 Review
May 14, 2020 Comments Off on Jadis Orchestra Black integrated amplifier $3995 Review
“While listening to the Benjamin Britten/Peter Pears/ London Symphony Orchestra version of Elgar’s Dream of Gerontius (2 LPs, London OSA 1293), something about the Jadis amp’s playback characteristics drew my attention to the harp, a key instrument in the work’s introduction. Each plucked note had pretty good—not top-shelf, but perfectly satisfying—physicality of attack, but even better decays: maybe a slight bit too much overhang, but in a pleasant, musically consonant way. And the physicality of those notes: Wow! Every one was gorgeous, every one a mini event.”
MartinLogan Motion 35XTi Loudspeakers Review
May 13, 2020 Comments Off on MartinLogan Motion 35XTi Loudspeakers Review
“The Dynamo 800X is what tips the scales even more in MartinLogan’s favor. At $2250 for the three-piece system, this is crazy good. I can’t think of too many speakers for this amount of money that I’d rather own. They certainly don’t reach 24 Hz. They don’t have room correction or Bluetooth or wireless capabilities, nor can they be operated with my iPhone. I can only wonder what would have happened if I had told Devin to send me the big 1600X subwoofer cuz I gotta have MORE BASS. With the 35XTi, it’s still just a $3400 investment.
I’m not sure if the MartinLogan Motion 35XTi monitors and Dynamo 800X subwoofer have turned me into a 2.1 kind of audiophile. I still prefer the simplicity of two-channel audio. But if someone asks me for a recommendation for an affordable yet killer pair of satellites and sub, I’m simply going to send them the link to this review. Superb!”
Audio Research REF160S Tube Power Amplifier £19,998 Review
May 13, 2020 Comments Off on Audio Research REF160S Tube Power Amplifier £19,998 Review
“Initially, I didn’t even bother to check whether I was in Triode or Ultralinear mode, the power differences between the two never an issue for me as I’m no headbanger. I couldn’t wait to hear the thing but impatience is an ugly trait, and switch-on involved the usual waiting for the unit to settle down and come out of its mute condition. I was chomping at the bit. Those two minutes or so seemed an eternity…
It was worth it, for what issued forth was so extreme a jump in performance that I immediately thought about selling my wine cellar so I could acquire a REF160S of my own. As there had been so many changes to my system since I reviewed the monoblocks, I threw out the notion of using the same LPs and CDs in an attempt at repeating precisely the same test. Instead, I trusted my ears (and hundreds of hours with the rest of the system) to decipher the charms and merits of the REF160S. And it started with the bass.”
Audiophilepure 
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