SME Model 8 $10,835 Review
July 20, 2025 Comments Off on SME Model 8 $10,835 Review
https://www.whathifi.com/hi-fi/turntables/sme-model-8
Billie Eilish’s Happier Than Ever set reinforces our impressions. The Model 8 sounds insightful and composed. It can track low-level instrumental strands with ease, yet still keep a firm grip of the whole. Basslines are remarkably powerful and weighty, while lacking little in terms of articulation, though Eilish’s distinctive voice comes through with impressive clarity.
Yet, the deck doesn’t quite manage to convey the ebb and flow of the music quite as explicitly as we would like, and emotionally, we are left a little cold by the lyrics. We can make out everything Eilish is saying, but we’re not sure we quite believe her.
FX-AUDIO- R07PLUS Headphone Amplifier Review
July 20, 2025 Comments Off on FX-AUDIO- R07PLUS Headphone Amplifier Review
My first serious listening tests with the FX-AUDIO- R07PLUS Headphone Amplifier was using the Dan Clark Audio NOIRE XO Headphone which are denoted in that review, though more impressively was the performance of the R07PLUS with the HIFIMAN SUSVARA which was able to allow me to hear the subtle differences in resolution, tonality, and dynamics of different headphone cables.
So for this review I decided to use a selection of headphones including my reference headphone the Dan Clark Audio E3 Closed Back Planar Magnetic Headphone, for a couple of headphone priced closer to the R07PLUS I’ll be using the HIFIMAN DEVA PRO Open Back Planar Magnetic Headphone, the Dan Clark Audio AEON Flow Open-Open Back Planar Magnetic Headphone, and the Grado Prestige Series SR325x Open Air Dynamic Headphone, and for extreme testing I’ll use the Dan Clark Audio EXPANSE Open Back Planar Magnetic Headphone, and the Noble Audio
Shanling M3 Plus $499 Review
July 19, 2025 Comments Off on Shanling M3 Plus $499 Review
I would love it if the screen protector were factory-installed, because I had to install it myself. Of course, I butchered it, leaving some dust and bubbles underneath.
The packaging also included a perfectly fitting, magnetized door and purple leather case; unfortunately, it doesn’t match the mocha color on the M3 Plus body. It would be nice if it were available in dark brown or black
FX-Audio L07 Integrated Amplifier and DS07 DAC/Preamplifier Review
July 19, 2025 Comments Off on FX-Audio L07 Integrated Amplifier and DS07 DAC/Preamplifier Review
While the FX-Audio L07 and DS07 both appeared to me to be designed predominantly for desktop installations, I don’t really have a dedicated desktop setup in my home that receives any consistent use. So I took the acid-test approach and inserted them both into my usual digital source system that features a pair of KLH Model Five loudspeakers that are occasionally interchanged with the Magneplanar LRS panels, a pair of Vera-Fi Audio Caldera 10 subwoofers, a Naiu Labs Ella power amplifier, PS Audio’s Gain Cell preamplifier, an Aurender A1000 music server/DAC/streamer, and an S.M.S.L VMV D2R DAC. With cables and power conditioning, the system tops out at over $30k; you can click on my name in the header above to see the full contents of both audio systems in my suite of dedicated upstairs rooms. With the combined MSRP of $398 for the FX-Audio equipment, the L07 and DS07 inserted in that setup accounted for one one-hundredth of one percent of the total system value. If this equipment came from anyone other than Mark Schifter, I’d think my approach to this evaluation was completely nuts!
Esoteric F-01 Class A Amplifier Review
July 19, 2025 Comments Off on Esoteric F-01 Class A Amplifier Review
Rotel Michi Q5 CD player/DAC
July 18, 2025 Comments Off on Rotel Michi Q5 CD player/DAC
https://www.hifinews.com/content/rotel-michi-q5-cd-playerdac
Most of the time the Michi Q5 just drew me into the music with its confident, no-fuss sound, an example being its handling of Debussy’s 12 Etudes, played by Mitsuko Uchida and recorded in 1989 by Grammy-winning producer Wilhelm Hellweg for the Philips Classics label [422 412-2]. ‘No.1 (Pour Les Cinq Doigts)’ kicks off a series of pieces of virtuoso playing – the equivalent of a prog rock guitar solo, circa 1915 – and is a flurry of notes, weights and resonances. The Q5 delivered it with all its flourishes and dynamic contrasts intact, and when Uchida’s key presses became faint, it was easy to imagine the lone piano in the recording space.
Transrotor Massimo Nero turntable Review
July 18, 2025 Comments Off on Transrotor Massimo Nero turntable Review
https://www.hifinews.com/content/transrotor-massimo-nero-turntable
Back in the 1990s, when big idler drive turntables like the Garrard 301 experienced a resurgence, it was common to read of listeners getting up to check they weren’t ‘running fast’, such was their dynamic delivery. The magnetic/belt-drive Massimo Nero has the opposite effect. There’s no faulting its pitch stability [see PM’s Lab Report], but its delivery can sometimes feel a little sedate. Jah Wobble’s bassline on ‘The Sun Does Rise’, from the EP of the same name [Island Records 42285 40371], had all the clarity, eyeball-rattling depth and impact I could have hoped for, but seemed to be picking its way carefully and thoughtfully in rhythmic terms, rather than romping along joyously.
New Quad 33 + 303 bi-amp with AudioMaster LS3/5A
July 18, 2025 Comments Off on New Quad 33 + 303 bi-amp with AudioMaster LS3/5A
Audiophilepure 
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