Schiit Freya + Preamplifier $899 Review
July 11, 2019 Comments Off on Schiit Freya + Preamplifier $899 Review
“Schiit have taken their already well-received Freya preamp and have incorporated modifications that fans of the company have eagerly asked for. With a remote control set to the potentiometer and near distortion-free tuning, the Freya plus represents a newly improved preamplifier that would work well in any audiophile’s set-up. The chassis feels and looks incredibly sleek and with the new fasterlessness design fits well with Schiit’s ‘Made in America’ product range. Nestled at the top of their price-performance curves, Schiit does not disappoint with this new amplifier which adds a delightful tuning yet flexible approach when dealing between existing source components. It will be interesting to see if there is enough demand for this product to survive Schiit’s ‘Thunderdome’ concept. For this reason, I would strongly urge readers to try this product for those seeking a smart preamplifier solution to their audiophile needs.”
SVS Prime Pinnacle Loudspeaker $1,600 Review
July 11, 2019 Comments Off on SVS Prime Pinnacle Loudspeaker $1,600 Review
“While moving the SVS towers closer to or further from the wall increased and decreased overall bottom-octaves balance by obvious degrees, it did so with somewhat less tendency to emphasize the “boom” octave centered around 80 Hz or so than I’ve experienced from some other tower speakers. I posit that the Prime Pinnacle tower’s three woofers, each at a different height from the floor, mitigates the floor-bounce (or “Allison effect”) of low- frequency first reflection from the floor inducing a peak-dip-peak as it rejoins the direct radiation—first subtractively, out of phase, and then additively, in phase, and so on. More accurately, this must create a series of closely spaced floor-bounce response ripples, but the overall effect seems to be to smooth 50-150 Hz response a good bit, even when fairly close to a wall. This is a welcome additional benefit, and quite possibly another factor in the slim multi-woofer tower trend.”
PRO-JECT RPM 5 CARBON TURNTABLE / SUMIKO AMETHYST CARTRIDGE $1595 REVIEW
July 11, 2019 Comments Off on PRO-JECT RPM 5 CARBON TURNTABLE / SUMIKO AMETHYST CARTRIDGE $1595 REVIEW
“This chart shows the frequency response and channel separation measurements of the RPM 5 Carbon/Sumiko Amethyst combination. While the response remains flat for most of the bass and midrange frequencies, this cartridge runs about 2 dB hot at 20 Hz before flattening out by 50 Hz. The response remains linear until 3 kHz where we begin to progress to a 2 dB dip centered at 5 kHz. At this point, the Left and Right channels diverge whereby the Left trace gets to a 2 DB peak from 12 kHz – 16 kHz before arriving at a 1 dB dip at 20 kHz while the Right trace gets to its 2 dB peak at 16 kHz before meeting up with the Left channel again at 20 kHz. The channel separation components seem to stay pretty close to each other through most of the range.”
LOUDSPEAKERS WILSON AUDIO TUNE TOT STAND-MOUNT £10,998 REVIEW
July 10, 2019 Comments Off on LOUDSPEAKERS WILSON AUDIO TUNE TOT STAND-MOUNT £10,998 REVIEW
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Obviously the caveats are going to be well understood by anybody in the market for these Wilsons. But once you have come to terms with that I reckon you will be surprised at how good they are with horns and orchestral pieces. There is no sense that the music is being squeezed out of such a small box. No unwanted edge or tonal nasties from the cabinet. Even drums are enormously coherent and totally understandable as are pianos, often a real contentious proposition for such small speakers. This is due to the superb way they cope with the leading edge, or attack of instruments and voices. Vocals and solo acoustic guitar can be mesmerising. Don’t expect to feel your chest cavity resonate along with the Timpani though.
These tiny Wilsons completely live up to the reputation of quality, long established by the company. They are a niche product in so many ways. Designed to allow you access to very high quality music in situations where few speakers even begin to work. They take full musical advantage of all the great things that a small speaker can provide. Speed, lightness of bass touch, out of the box sound staging, and the ability to start and stop very, very quickly… these are all strong points of the Tune Tot and are vital to good music making. They have exceptional pace and pinpoint timing if your installation is precise and tonally they never stop surprising, even at surprisingly low levels.”
VALVET A4e Monoblock amplifier $9,890 Review
July 10, 2019 Comments Off on VALVET A4e Monoblock amplifier $9,890 Review
“The Valvet A4e Mono-Blocks mated with my highly efficient (98dB!) Tekton Double Impacts wonderfully. Even with a solid state preamp in the mix, the music felt very relaxed, rich and sounded, in a word, lush. Each note was delivered with panache over the brute force of other power amplifiers and in a way that subtly coaxes and charms the listener to continue their musical journey rather than submit to over-arched and brutally dynamic intensity. These Valvet a4e’s are the real deal… get where I’m coming from?”
RHA CL-2 First Planar Magnetic In -ear Headphones
July 10, 2019 Comments Off on RHA CL-2 First Planar Magnetic In -ear Headphones
The audiophile heaven!
July 10, 2019 Comments Off on The audiophile heaven!
“Another audiophile dream listening room with drool-worthy system setup that includes Nagra HD Preamp, Nagra HD Amps, Kronos Pro turntable with phono, DarTZeel NHB-468 power amplifier and NHB-18NSa preamplifier, Raidho D5.1 speakers…”
FiiO M7 Digital Audio Player $199 Review
July 9, 2019 Comments Off on FiiO M7 Digital Audio Player $199 Review
“A discriminating DAP buyer, given the means, could easily spend two, three, or more times the Fiio M7’s price, yet only modestly outpace its sonic performance. I found the M7 to be an outstanding value that had a quick and intuitive user-friendly interface and sonically valued detail and transparency. In A/B comparisons to DAPs three times its price, the M7’s presentation was perhaps a bit too forward and bright, but compared to DAPs of equal or slightly higher price, Fiio’s M7 proved a sonic heavyweight to be reckoned with. For an example of the open transparency I came to associate with the M7, listen to the Gary Bartz’s opening saxophone on “Love Ballad” from the 1977 jazz-fusion classic Music Is My Sanctuary [Capitol]. The effortless detail and space around Gary’s saxophone immediately let you know the M7 is worth every penny. For $199 you are going to have a tough time finding better bang for your buck.”
Primare Prisma I15 Integrated Amplifier/Dac $1,999 Review
July 9, 2019 Comments Off on Primare Prisma I15 Integrated Amplifier/Dac $1,999 Review
“Leaving to one side the late French maître’s insistent and occasionally heavy-handed Catholic mysticism and bird- song obsessions, Messiaen’s cornucopia of colorful sonic delights is nearly boundless. Listening to a performance of Eclairs sur l’Au Delà (Lightning over the Hereafter) , a late orchestral work, I was stunned by its ninth section, an astonishing, rhythmically free representation of forest birdsong that may well be the best musical representation of a naturalistic soundscape ever composed. The tumbling, teetering jumble of high woodwinds—flutes, piccolos, clarinets—demanded clarity, treble finesse, and top-octave air in great quantities, and the Prisma I15’s digital-to-analog and amplifying processes delivered these unrestricted for one of those literally hair-raising listening moments.
Audiophilepure 
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