Audiophilepure

MEZE AUDIO RAI PENTA $1099 REVIEW

November 27, 2019 Comments Off on MEZE AUDIO RAI PENTA $1099 REVIEW

https://www.headphone.guru/rai-penta-by-meze-audio-review/

“The Rai Penta has a low impedance of 20Ω which allows them to sound beautiful with just about every portable source out on the market today without hissing or noise filling the black spaces in your music tracks. According to Meze, these drivers are meticulously tuned to provide a super high-resolution response with a frequency range of 4Hz to 45kHz. Visually and physically beautiful, these were a pleasure to get to test.

The MMCX cable they come with is a high-quality silver-plated copper cable consisting of four wires, each with 20 strands of pure silver Litz. The included cable is terminated in a 3.5mm plug and the connectors are very well made to provide a lifetime of listening pleasure. As an aside, Meze also offers a balanced 2.5mm and balanced 4.4mm cable as an option.”

dCS Bartok DAC/headphone amp

November 26, 2019 Comments Off on dCS Bartok DAC/headphone amp

Focal Kanta No3 Loudspeaker £9000 Review

November 26, 2019 Comments Off on Focal Kanta No3 Loudspeaker £9000 Review

https://www.hifinews.com/content/focal-kanta-no3-loudspeaker

“Other vaguely contemporaneous rock tracks flowed out from the Kanta No3 loudspeakers as my enjoyment of what they could do grew. The driving rhythm section of Genesis surged through the title track from Abacab [Virgin CBRCD 102], with all those keyboard stabs swirling and jangling through the mix. Meanwhile, the slow burn of Steely Dan’s ‘Babylon Sisters’ [from Gaucho; MCA 0602498605103] was wide open and slinky, with a lovely focus on the instruments and the backing vocals in particular.

This big, focused and layered sound was also very well-suited to the lush production values of a spot of yacht rock – well actually, perhaps the ur-yacht track, Toto’s ‘Africa’ from Toto IV [CBS 450088 2]. Forget the noticeable whiff of cheese and give up on trying to work out what on earth the lyrics are banging on about. Through the Kanta No3 the smiles begin with that opening percussion, grow with the great thump of bass, and continue throughout the taut gutsy sound, the synth fills beautifully clear, as are the vocals and those lyrics. Oh well, you can’t win them all!”

Icon Audio Stereo 40 MkIV Review

November 26, 2019 Comments Off on Icon Audio Stereo 40 MkIV Review

https://www.hifichoicemag.com/content/icon-audio-stereo-40-mkiv

“

Rhythmically it’s good too – living up to all the predictable, time-honoured clichés about ‘the magic of valves’. Music just chugs along in a carefree way and there’s no sense of it sounding forced or mechanical. Instead, you’re struck by the sense of musical occasion; Rush’s Lakeside Park is a simple late-seventies rock recording, but the Icon Audio makes it sing. It’s not famously open or dynamic, yet this amplifier just gets into the groove and lets the music’s natural rhythm flood out. Your mind wanders from considerations of hi-fi and instead gets preoccupied with the music itself – which is just as it should be. It’s odd in a way because it doesn’t sound especially fast – it’s not as if you’re wowed by its transient speed – and yet you still feel yourself getting pulled into the groove.”

Von Schweikert Audio Ultra 9 Loudspeaker $200,000 Review

November 25, 2019 Comments Off on Von Schweikert Audio Ultra 9 Loudspeaker $200,000 Review

http://www.theabsolutesound.com/articles/von-schweikert-audio-ultra-9-loudspeaker/

“As music lovers and audiophiles, we live in an astonishingly exciting time. Today we are able to select from so many truly affordable speakers, electronics, and source products, all capable of producing more accurate and engaging sound than was possible from even the very best and most costly products in the early 1970s—the period that marks the start of what has become the high-end audio world we know today, as well as the start of my own audiophile quest. In addition to the number and excellence of affordable products, there have never before been so many luxury-class products capable of expanding the boundaries of what can be accomplished in the reconstruction of a live performance.

The trailblazing work that VSA is doing under the direction of its current chief designer, Leif Swanson, and CEO Damon Von Schweikert, building upon the groundbreaking work of the company founder, Albert Von Schweikert, epitomizes what can be done to recreate an authentic musical experience in the home. A product like the Ultra 9 elevates listening to music to the level of an enormously enjoyable event. At every turn, from its remarkably inert and voiceless enclosure, to its fabulously coherent drivers, to its distinct, serene, and transparent dividing network, to its extraordinary ambience, and speaker array with its unparalleled room-integration capabilities, we see how the Ultra 9 can deliver this exceptional musical expressiveness, with such heightened transparency and vanishingly low self-generated noise.”

Easy does it room treatment ideas for audiophiles

November 25, 2019 Comments Off on Easy does it room treatment ideas for audiophiles

MRSPEAKERS VOCE ELECTROSTATIC HEADPHONES $2,999 Review

November 24, 2019 Comments Off on MRSPEAKERS VOCE ELECTROSTATIC HEADPHONES $2,999 Review

http://www.hifiplus.com/articles/mrspeakers-voce-electrostatic-headphones/

“From the moment I connected the VOCE to my electrostatic energiser (that is stat-speak for an electrostatic headphone amplifier), I was struck by the sheer transparency and lucidity of its sound and by the incredible amount of musical information it was able to extract from favourite recordings. Even more impressive was the manner in which it managed to combine breath-taking clarity with exemplary smoothness and control. Some electrostatic headphones exhibit heightened levels of treble sheen, overshoot, or glare, but the VOCE exhibited none of these typical electrostatic flaws. “

$329,000 Loudspeakers – How Do They Sound?

November 24, 2019 Comments Off on $329,000 Loudspeakers – How Do They Sound?

https://audiobacon.net/2019/11/16/how-do-329000-speakers-sound-like/

“As far as dynamics, the Chronosonic XVX is deeply scary. Especially when it comes to orchestral pieces. It has no issues with the simultaneous mixing of calm of woodwinds and the aggression of percussions. It’s able to soothe and punch without a hint of confusion or strain. “Lesser” speakers are more disjoint and could do one or the other – but rarely at the same time. Especially at this magnitude.
In regards to the Chronosonic XVX, the careful distribution of power with the music is simply astounding. Instruments are distinct and modular in how they extrude and breathe. They carry the appropriate amount of weight, air, and presence. In contrast, relatively inexpensive speakers allocate a generic amount of density across the recording.”