Master & Dynamic MW65 Active Noise-Cancelling Wireless Over-Ear Headphones Review
May 14, 2019 Comments Off on Master & Dynamic MW65 Active Noise-Cancelling Wireless Over-Ear Headphones Review
“I flew down to Palm Springs in February and looked on with envy at passengers with comfy, over ear ANC headphones. We had none in for review and my old Bose set broke some time ago. So, I organized a couple of reviews of top models in time for Audiophilia’s trip to High End Munich 2019 (we’re live blogging May 9-12). I could write the reviews and then test them in the noisiest environment I know, Air Canada’s Q400 and its two howling Pratt & Whitney turboprops. The plane is used for the 10 minute flight from Victoria to Vancouver, where the big jets fly. As we are flying on the date this review is published, I had to test the M65s in alternate noisy environments. I’ll post an M65/Q400 follow up in Comments, for those interested.
I contacted three manufacturers, two of which I knew had highly regarded models debuting this year, and one, Sony, who never got back to me. I didn’t bother with Bose. They’ve been done to death and the result is always the same, great ANC, but sound is usually below those of similarly priced models. Ditto for the current Bose QC35s ($349). The Sennheiser PXC 550s ($349.95) arrived the day after my request (thanks Katie Kailus) and the review will appear in June. ”
REVEL PERFORMA M126BE STAND-MOUNT LOUDSPEAKER REVIEW
May 14, 2019 Comments Off on REVEL PERFORMA M126BE STAND-MOUNT LOUDSPEAKER REVIEW
“The other half of the ‘not what you do’… equation is to be found in the crossover; the M126Be has a ‘high order’ (actually, fourth-order) slopes provided by film-only capacitors and air core inductors. This is a well-regarded approach to keeping distortion at a minimum and transparency good and high. The mid/bass driver has an aluminium cone of the sort Revel describes as a ‘deep ceramic composite’ and is finished in the same white as the tweeter waveguide. The colour contrast gives it and the PerformaBe floorstander a distinctive look that sets them apart from the crowd, but you can’t help wondering if they got the idea from their colleagues at JBL who have used white woofers for decades. Little is said about the box itself, which presumably means it’s fairly conventional in construction but distinguishes itself with a curved top section finished in metallic black with the brand embossed in relief using a process called electroforming. The finishing overall is to an exceptional standard. On the back panel there is a reflex port and a single pair of cable terminals. Bi-wiring seems to be on the wane these days; it’s hard to say whether that’s because of fashion or the limited aesthetic appeal of cables in an increasingly wireless world, but I for one am all for it. ”
WELLS AUDIO HEADTRIP II HEADPHONE AMPLIFIER $7,000 REVIEW
May 13, 2019 Comments Off on WELLS AUDIO HEADTRIP II HEADPHONE AMPLIFIER $7,000 REVIEW
“The original Headtrip had two blue LED’s by the Right and Left outputs to indicate power was on. A few clients complained that the lights were bright and distracting so they were removed and replaced with a green lit power button that is more subtle but still indicates the unit is on. The original had dual 3-pin XLR’s for balanced out while the new version has one 4-pin balanced XLR output. What has not changed is the units power output of 50 WPC at 8 Ohms, 25 WPC at 32 Ohms and 1.8 WPC at 600 Ohms. It is a powerful amplifier and yet in listening to it, you discover a vanishingly low noise floor. The Headtrip II also has the ability to display all the nuances of the recording including the most subtle and delicate passages and details. No matter what headphones you own, the Headtrip II will drive them with aplomb.”
IBASSO DX220 $899 REVIEW
May 13, 2019 Comments Off on IBASSO DX220 $899 REVIEW
“The DX200/AMP1 sound has this slight bloom of warmth in the lower mids, nothing extreme but enough to create a little softness in the tone of the DX200. The DX220 timbre is more neutral to my ear, not as soft and not as warm but nothing I would describe as overly analytical or cold sounding.
The control on the treble presence on the AMP1 MK2 is excellent and partly why the DX220 sounds a little more neutral in timbre compared to the AMP1 first gen. It injects a little more odd-harmonic presence in the DX220 instrumental and vocal timbre so notes sound a touch cleaner and more articulate.
The accuracy and details levels seem to have gone up a notch even if the overall lower-midrange instrumental body drops down marginally.”
Metaxas and Sins Worldwide premiere of T-REX
May 13, 2019 Comments Off on Metaxas and Sins Worldwide premiere of T-REX
Revel Performa F228Be Loudspeaker £10,000 Review
May 11, 2019 Comments Off on Revel Performa F228Be Loudspeaker £10,000 Review
“Let the Revels begin: these wonderfully enjoyable speakers are able to conjure realistic scale and impact while conveying all the detail and flow of whatever’s being played. With effortless dynamics, fine integration and the ability to create excellent 3D soundstage images, they deserve very serious auditioning if you’re in the market at this level – and show a clean pair of heels to some more expensive rivals, too. ”
A Measured Approach to Room Acoustics
May 11, 2019 Comments Off on A Measured Approach to Room Acoustics
“I also chose a couple of inexpensive off-the-shelf products for the new room. In the front corners I installed two Auralex SonoLite bass traps (24”W x 24”H x 3”D), which have a noise-reduction coefficient (NCR) rating of 1.15. I know I’ll likely need larger bass traps for lower frequencies, but this pair of SonoLites would give me a start — and anyway, from there I’d want measurements to guide my choices of any additional bass treatments. For the shallow sidewalls, I bought four RoomSonic wall panels, each 48”H x 24”W x 1”D, faced with fabric and comprised of mineral wool. This type of product is a classic choice for broadband absorption, and looks great to boot.”
FIIO M9 DAP REVIEW
May 10, 2019 Comments Off on FIIO M9 DAP REVIEW
“Using FiiO Link is easy and FiiO is promising even more integrated support. To start, make sure your smartphone has FiiO Music installed and the Bluetooth is enabled. Then on the M9 or other FiiO link supported device, enable Bluetooth and hit the switch on “Bluetooth decoding amp mode” and then turn Bluetooth on again. Open the FiiO Music app, hit the gears Settings icon and enable FiiO Link. Then on the smartphone’s FiiO Music app, also go down to FiiO Link, enable that and hit Client. And you’re good to go. This needs to be done every single time and so is painful at the moment but FiiO says they are working on making it more seamless. The experience of using FiiO Link with the M9 DAP is mind-boggling with it still in a beta phase. It feels like you are untethered from having the headphone wire going to your device as you go to change your song since you are now using your DAP remotely. The speed is great and delays are rare. You can effectively do almost all the functions of the M9 as you would normally using the app, from searching for songs, browsing your playlist, changing the volume and even favoriting. Album art gets downloaded only when you click into the song and what is shown is lower quality to save on size of caching, but is good enough as is.”
Audiophilepure 
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