PS Audio P20 and P15 AC Regenerators $7499 Review
February 13, 2019 Comments Off on PS Audio P20 and P15 AC Regenerators $7499 Review
“The effect of all this effort to deliver clean AC power was not subtle. Every aspect of the sound is touched, elevated, and refined. Everything we seek in great sound, dimension, depth and space, color, dynamics, transparency, and detail are boosted in seeming equal parts. Without the P series in the chain, the sound I have lived with, while enjoyable, now can be characterized as “you don’t know what you are missing until you know what you’ve been missing.” Like moving from an adequate camera to a professional caliber camera in the hands of a great photographer, the sound-picture really pops, where before laid a bit flat in retrospect. I’m wracking my brain trying to pick one aspect of the sound that benefited most, but since AC power is the life blood of all aspects of reproduced sound, it makes sense as to why it is so difficult to pick just one, or even two qualities that jump out. It really depended greatly on what ever recording I was listening to as to what the dominant strengths or characteristics of the recordings were. Some recordings such as Stanley Clark’s East Riverside Drive, with its pounding bass on “I’m home Africa,” a track played through every component I have ever reviewed, the low end gained definition and greater focus, becoming a more discrete part of the sound. Mid range heavy recordings, such as those by Johnny Hartman and John Coltrane, reveals subtle inflections and denser color of both Hartman’s honey toned baritone and Coltrane’s flying, lyrical alto runs.”
Lark Studio LSXC $1699 Review
February 13, 2019 Comments Off on Lark Studio LSXC $1699 Review
The PW Saladin cleans up the signature of the LSXC and takes a touch of warmth out of the timber replacing it with a little more treble sparkle and clarity. The sound still has relatively the same tuning bias but you do get a much better level of dynamic range, a more open sound and significantly better width in the soundstage.
Personally, I might dabble a bit more with some other cables including some 8-wire silver options to see if I can get a little more out of the LSXC staging-wise for the main review. What you need to know for now this is a smooth and warm sounding monitor with a forgiving presentation rather than a reference tuning.”
Shozy Pola First Look
February 12, 2019 Comments Off on Shozy Pola First Look
“Sonically, the innards of the POLA have gone through multiple revisions too. Shozy worked with various driver setups, 2, 3 and 4-BA to complement the ES tweeters. However, ultimately BA drivers proved challenging to implement due to a mismatch between their sensitivity and the insensitive ES tweeters that require a step-up transformer. The BA drivers required heavy damping which compromised efficiency and fidelity. Ultimately, Shozy settled on a massive 13mm graphene dynamic driver that matches the character of the ES driver, that Shozy claims to effectively provide excellent end to end extension free of obtrusive peaks and troughs. The POLA is stated to carry a slightly darker sound with pronounced vocals and a focus on dynamics.”
PlusSound X8 Silver+Gold Review
February 12, 2019 Comments Off on PlusSound X8 Silver+Gold Review
“The plusSound X8 Silver + Gold has a bold, powerful quality. Clarity and dynamics are off the charts. The vividness of vocals and instruments is awe-inspiring. They jump forward, becoming bigger and brighter. Bass notes feel enormous, rumbling like a volcano and erupting like an atom bomb. Treble is oh so airy. It extends up the frequency range with crystalline purity. Quickness of attack and heroic aggression means you’re unlikely to fall asleep with boredom. Resolution is at an all-time high, rendering sharp and precise, conveying all manner of textural richness. The soundstage is the largest I’ve heard, creating grand space and clean atmosphere around the elements.”
CAYIN IHA-6 HEADPHONE AMP, IDAC-6 DAC, AND IDAP-6 DIGITAL AUDIO PLAYER REVIEW
February 11, 2019 Comments Off on CAYIN IHA-6 HEADPHONE AMP, IDAC-6 DAC, AND IDAP-6 DIGITAL AUDIO PLAYER REVIEW
“The iDAP-6 proved convenient, fun, and reasonably straightforward to use, once I made sure I had the unit configured to output higher res DSD128 files correctly. Sonically, I compared the iDAP-6 to the Lenovo/Windows/jRiver media server I normally use and found the iDAP-6 was in most respects competitive with the server, although the server perhaps enjoyed a narrow edge in terms of resolution of very low-level sonic details and an ever-so-slightly lower noise floors. On the other hand, the iDAP-6 was arguably more convenient to use and had that lovely AMOLED display to boot.”
AKG N5005 EARPHONES REVIEW
February 11, 2019 Comments Off on AKG N5005 EARPHONES REVIEW
“There are two observations about using the N5005. First, make damn sure you are using the right tips, and don’t be afraid of making the jump to Comply or even experimenting well beyond the norm. With most earphones the difference between tips is a comfort issue, but here it’s the difference between a reasonably OK sounding earphone and ‘wow, that is the best earphone I have ever heard.’ Secondly, although the N5005 is more than efficient enough to be driven by the output of any phone that still has a headphone socket, don’t do it. This earphone demands quality, and quantity when it comes to amps. It’s deceptively demanding.
Observe those two conditions and you are left with one of the best non-custom earphones money can buy. With the right seal from the correct tips, the bass is deep, authoritative, stentorian, and yet incredibly well controlled. And that’s without the bass boost. OK, so without the boost, the N5005 is more about clean depth and texture, and with the boost in place it’s more about weight and slam, but for most audio enthusiasts, the Reference filter has more than enough weight and also has the perfect balance.”
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What’s the best Noise Cancelling Headphone?
February 11, 2019 Comments Off on What’s the best Noise Cancelling Headphone?
Meze Empyrean: the world’s best headphone in 2019?
February 10, 2019 Comments Off on Meze Empyrean: the world’s best headphone in 2019?
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