Acoustic Signature Double X Turntable $5495 World Premiere Review
September 29, 2018 Comments Off on Acoustic Signature Double X Turntable $5495 World Premiere Review
“Enter the Acoustic Signature Double X. Its faults are few and minor. Play a recording and you will only hear the information contained in the recording as interpreted by the cartridge. I hate to tell you, but there is indeed a correlation between price and performance. Can you spend a lot less and still hear music? You already know the answer. As for me, could I settle for less musical verity? The answer is hell no! I would never stop wondering. Like the Peggy Lee song, “Is that all there is”. The Double X is the vehicle to bring all the escapist enjoyment your musical heart desires. It is made with all the Teutonic precision that allows Mega Cartridges of any price to perform for you.”
AURIS AUDIO NIRVANA HEAD PHONE AMP REVIEW
September 29, 2018 Comments Off on AURIS AUDIO NIRVANA HEAD PHONE AMP REVIEW
“The Auris Audio Nirvana is one of those amps that performs great with every single headphone you throw at it. It seems to bring out the best of every headphone and especially the balanced output for me is really special.
As said, the Auris Nirvana is the perfect mix of Auris’ previous models and it combines the best of both amps to bring you to Nirvana, a place of perfect peace and happiness. Apart from the fact that it’s maybe too powerful there absolutely isn’t a single thing I don’t like about the amplifier. It again looks stunning and the separate power supply gives it an extra classy look. It sounds like you’re in heaven with a dynamic, wide and very well layered sound with a good amount of warmth and tube smoothness. The Nirvana gets sound (and looks) just right and it simply is impossible not to like.”
AURALiC VEGA G2 DAC REVIEW
September 28, 2018 Comments Off on AURALiC VEGA G2 DAC REVIEW
“Using the Streaming input, I called on Roon’s back-end DSP to upsample all files to DSD512. The Nucelus+ was handled the extra processing without issue but to achieve glitch-free performance, I had to select the Parallelize Sigma-Delta Modulator setting in Roon that enables the use of multiple CPU cores on the Nuclues+.
Being somewhat a purist when it comes to digital playback, I don’t often employ this kind of file modification when listening but upsampling everything to DSD512 sounded very nice and I suspect that many users will enjoy this feature. I heard a little more presence to the midrange as well as a slight increase in the prominence of the bass. The soundstage came on as even larger in terms of front to back measurement with the extra depth coming from a slightly more forward presentation. I felt that converting the PCM and (lower-rated) DSD files to DSD512 lent a more pleasing bloom to the overall sound.”
WESTONE ES80 $1899 REVIEW
September 27, 2018 Comments Off on WESTONE ES80 $1899 REVIEW
“It is early days in my testing of the Phantom so my observations are not as studied as a full review. What I can say is that the Phantom is more of a musical and organic tuning than a neutral reference tuning.
It has a bass to lower-mids bias that is thick and meaty with excellent texturing and a timbre that is natural to warm sounding. Lower pitched instruments have an excellent presence and weight and more elevated sounding than the linear and neutral positioning of the ES80.”
LEGACY AUDIO FOUNDATION SUBWOOFER $3,850 REVIEW
September 27, 2018 Comments Off on LEGACY AUDIO FOUNDATION SUBWOOFER $3,850 REVIEW
“This sub melded beautifully with the satellites. This meant that I was able to get seamless and musical bass in proportion with the rest of the frequency ranges.
Though I wrote about some specific movies and music in my review above, the real proof came during day-to-day use of the sub. This sub even enhanced “TV” watching including documentaries and sporting events. It proved itself each and every day and once dialed-in, it was easy to forget about it and just enjoy all that I heard.”
Mission QX-2 review
September 26, 2018 Comments Off on Mission QX-2 review
“They’re happy playing at both high and low volume levels. That might sound odd, but plenty of speakers lose too much of their liveliness at low volumes or harden up if pushed hard. These Missions avoid both shortcomings to an unusual degree”
NAD’s Bluetooth Viso HP70 Review
September 26, 2018 Comments Off on NAD’s Bluetooth Viso HP70 Review
“‘So I came away with mixed feelings about the NAD Viso HP70, mostly because the sound was just too rich for my taste — I prefer the HP50’s leaner and clearer presentation, and it’s significantly less expensive. As for the HP70’s Bluetooth and noise-canceling, they worked well, no problems there. Too bad I didn’t have a Bose QuietComfort QC35 II noise-canceling Bluetooth headphone on hand for comparison; it’s the one to beat for noise abatement. ”
Final Sonorous X Closed Back Headphones Review
September 25, 2018 Comments Off on Final Sonorous X Closed Back Headphones Review
“Though the headamps and the DAPS used here were not perfect or totally neutral, their shortcomings were detectable with the X. I listened through them as well as to them to truly hear these outstanding headphones. A collection of SD chips forming the Maria Callas Opera Recordings in 96kHz/24-bit, produced in cost-is-no-object fashion by Astell&Kern, are a learning experience. Nothing is fake, compressed, expanded, or screwed with. On the Astell & Kern A&ultima SP1000, or fed into my E.A.R. DAC 4 to the E.A.R. HP4 headphone amp, the final Sonorous X was unabashedly a window on the performance, i.e., utter perfection. Callas was the authentic Callas, singing from the first act of Carmen, as real and breathtaking as ever heard. The symphony played just behind her, filling the soundstage. The chorus was behind and above the orchestra.”
Shazam Is Now Completely Ad-Free (Thanks to Apple)
September 25, 2018 Comments Off on Shazam Is Now Completely Ad-Free (Thanks to Apple)
‘Apple Music vice president Oliver Schusser commented positively on the acquisition saying, “with a shared love of music and innovation, we are thrilled to bring our teams together to provide users even more great ways to discover, experience and enjoy music.”
Shazam helps its users identify over 20 million songs per day, so that’s a lot of ad revenue that Apple is giving up in favor of a different strategy. Shazam will be ad-free on both iPhone and Android, though Android users have access to Google’s superior Sound Search.”
Astell & Kern A&ultima SP1000M review
September 24, 2018 Comments Off on Astell & Kern A&ultima SP1000M review
“A product launch event is never the best time to draw serious conclusions on a new product, especially a high-end device such as this, but our first impressions are certainly positive. Lighter and smaller can only be better for most of us when it comes to portable devices and if Astell & Kern can deliver the level of performance we’re used to, we could be in for a treat. But with that £1999/$2400 price tag, it of course needs to sound very good indeed.”
Audiophilepure 
You must be logged in to post a comment.