Tidal Launches MQA-Ready iOS App
March 20, 2019 Comments Off on Tidal Launches MQA-Ready iOS App
“The music streaming service TIDAL today launched an iOS app that supports the playback of high-resolution MQA-encoded music on the iPhone and other Apple devices
Master-quality titles are available for streaming and downloading through TIDAL Masters with a TIDAL HiFi subscription, which costs $25.99/month through the App Store or $19.99/month via tidal.com.
Audeze LCD-4z Planar Magentic Headphone $3995 Review
March 20, 2019 Comments Off on Audeze LCD-4z Planar Magentic Headphone $3995 Review
“In many respects, the Audeze LCD-4z comes surprisingly close to the performance of the best electrostats in fine-detail retrieval, transparency, coherence, openness, and clarity. It should appeal to those who want top-tier performance in an easier-to-drive and more comfortable package than the in LCD-4. While its price tag may be a bit daunting, when compared to reference headphones, as well as loudspeaker systems costing many times more, the LCD-4z is arguably something of a bargain. If you want the best, make sure you audition the LCD-4z”
Grado PS1000e Review
March 19, 2019 Comments Off on Grado PS1000e Review
https://www.whathifi.com/reviews/grado-ps1000e
“Don’t be tempted to skimp on partnering equipment. While Grado provides a 6.3mm to 3.5mm adaptor to allow the PS1000es to be connected to a smartphone, we wouldn’t recommend it. While you’ll get a decent sound – those headphones are usefully sensitive at just short of 100dB for a milliwatt signal – you really won’t get a sense of just how good these Grados are.”
Focal Elegia Review
March 19, 2019 Comments Off on Focal Elegia Review
“This enveloping design lends itself to an immersive sound. Play something with a wide soundfield and you feel in the middle of the music. Effects at either end of the presentation are clearly coming from a wide left or wide right position, making for a big, spacious sound. Massive Attack’s Angel is a classic bass test track but also interesting for its placement of sounds deep in the mix, with distant drum parts and effects. The Focals deliver those instruments faithfully, picking up the position of parts with impressive accuracy.
Paradigm Defiance X15 Subwoofer Review
March 18, 2019 Comments Off on Paradigm Defiance X15 Subwoofer Review
“media room, not for increased output, but rather to fill in some unavoidable dips at around 45Hz (with a sub on one side of my system) and 80Hz (with a sub on the other) caused by the geometry of my listening space. Given that I knew I would only be receiving one Defiance X15 for review, I disabled one of my reference subs beforehand and spent some time listening with only one sub, so as not to create an unfair comparison. In the end, I positioned the X15 on the left side of my system, if only due to the fact that it’s too wide to fit in the subwoofer spot on the right side. It is, after all, nearly three inches wider than my reference SVS PB-4000, which is itself snug as a bug on that side of the room.
Despite the wealth of connectivity, the tried-and-true unbalanced LFE input worked for my purposes. I ran one of the subwoofer outs from the Marantz AV8805 to it, and ran ARC via the app. Other speakers in the system consisted of a pair of GoldenEar Triton One.R towers, a GoldenEar Reference center, and a pair of Triton Sevens as surrounds. Crossovers were set at 80Hz, except the Reference Center, for which the crossover point was set at 100Hz.”
Shure KSE1200SYS electrostatic in-ear headphone system Review
March 18, 2019 Comments Off on Shure KSE1200SYS electrostatic in-ear headphone system Review
“A problem with armature-based IEMs, such as my Ultimate Ears 18 Pros, is that their vibrating reeds start to run out of excursion with high levels of low-frequency tones, producing “doubling” (second-harmonic distortion). This was not the case with either the KSE1500 or KSE1200SYS earpieces, which played the low-frequency, 1/3-octave warble tones on my Editor’s Choice (CD, Stereophile STPH016-2) cleanly and with full weight down to 32Hz, provided the sleeves were making good seals with my ear canals. The combination of low-frequency clarity and weight in “Happiness Is Easy,” from Talk Talk’s The Colour of Spring (DSD64 file ripped from SACD, EMI 591452), made the sparse interjections from Danny Thompson’s double bass and Alan Gorrie’s electric bass sound suitably forceful. No, in terms of low-frequency weight, the in-ear Shures still couldn’t match my long-term headphone reference, Audeze’s LCD-Xes, driven in balanced mode by Ayre Acoustics’ EX-8 integrated amplifier. However, the over-ear LCD-Xes weigh my head down after the first couple of hours; the lightweight Shures remained comfortable throughout far longer listening sessions.”
Audiophilepure 
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