Parasound HINT 6 Review
December 18, 2018 Comments Off on Parasound HINT 6 Review
“Listening to an old favourite CD of mine, Haydn Symphony No 77, Christopher Hogwood and the Academy of Ancient Music, the difference between the three oversampling/upscaling options is not small. Starting with the minimum oversampling rate, which reads as 88.2 kHz on the DAVE, I get a pleasant presentation, fluid and coherent, but not the deepest of soundstages. Changing to the maximum oversampling immediately improves imaging and increases soundstage depth, while creating much greater space between the instruments in the orchestra. It’s almost as if you have pressed a button marked ‘3D’. There is also a sense of what happens when you move back five rows in a concert hall, a hint of the concentration of the intensity and colour of the sound being slightly diluted. On this period instrument recording, I miss a bit of weight in the bass; it is true that period cellos and basses make less grunt than the modern equivalents, but it is noticeable nonetheless. Contrasting the Blu with my Esoteric K-05 CD player, used as a transport only, playing through the DAVE via a Chord cable, the latter seems to have more grunt and there is more of a sense of the bass driving the harmony and the music than with the Blu Mk2. It doesn’t, however, have the effortless sense of space that the Blu Mk2 has, or indeed the litheness of its approach to making music. ”
Empire Ears Phantom $1799 Review
December 18, 2018 Comments Off on Empire Ears Phantom $1799 Review
“This may be one of the more controversial aspects of the Phantom while simultaneously being its greatest asset; this earphone is smooth and almost redefines perceptions of naturalness, a statement I say with both positive and negative connotations. In direct comparison to other high-end IEMs, and likely most listener’s impression upon first listen, the Phantom can come across as overly full and a little boxy. It takes some time to appreciate the goal Nic, Dean and Jack were trying to achieve. After a brief adjustment and acclimatization to focussing on the midrange as opposed to bass and treble, it becomes clear that the Phantom’s speciality is its very complete notes.
To clarify, vocals and instruments are fleshed out and filled with detail, there isn’t a hint of over-articulation, thinness of artificial enhancement. In accordance, timbre is excellent, among the best I’ve encountered, and the Phantom is almost impossibly coherent and natural. Tone is undoubtedly on the warmer side and, in this sense, the Phantom produces an overly homogenous image that is not always faithful to the original recording but instead to what one would experience in a live setting. Still, the Phantom is not over-tuned to the extent that it introduces chestiness, muffle or bass spill, and separation is aided by a touch of lower-midrange attenuation.”
CH Precision I1 Integrated Amplifier Review
December 17, 2018 Comments Off on CH Precision I1 Integrated Amplifier Review
“Not an integrated amplifier for everyone – but what integrated is? – the CH Precision I1 integrated amplifier is an integrated for those looking for the most practical éntre to the ultra high-end of high fidelity that also allows for practically every configuration for most any end user’s needs. A true Swiss Army knife in high-fidelity. It is designed and built to exacting technical and mechanical standards with a modular approach to both digital and analog options engineered into its very DNA. It is constructed with a deep understanding to future-proofing your considerable investment for many years to come and to be able to slide into multiple sonic roles within the CH universe of hi-fi with minimal button pushing or module and cable swap outs. It is not a warm, romantic-sounding reproducer of music, nor is it an analytical, cold relayer of absolutes. Instead it lands in the middle with a ruthless bent to resolution and transparency. It ingratiates itself to the listener as more cerebral than emotional in its tenor, but it performs such a delicate balancing act between those two that I often found myself simultaneously wearing my heart on my sleeve during listening sessions for its holistic, cohesive musicality while keenly being able to dissect the minutiae of each instrument or vocal thread wending through every track I played back on it. It is an amp with few peers at any price point, not only sonically, but for build quality and available options. The I1 integrated could very well be the last integrated amplifier you would ever want to buy”
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Sonus faber Sonetto III Loudspeakers Review
December 17, 2018 Comments Off on Sonus faber Sonetto III Loudspeakers Review
“Turning up the volume, Peter Washington’s bass notes provided a nice vibration to the room. Quiet passages in the song were inky black. The piano sounded so alive and natural, with overtones just seeming to be suspended in midair. I know it’s a cliché, but the Sonettos made it seem more like I was in the studio listening to Bennett and Krall lay down this track than listening through a pair of speakers”
VPI Avenger Reference Turntable Review
December 16, 2018 Comments Off on VPI Avenger Reference Turntable Review
Elac Navis ARB 51 Active wireless speakers
December 16, 2018 Comments Off on Elac Navis ARB 51 Active wireless speakers
FINAL D8000 REVIEW
December 16, 2018 Comments Off on FINAL D8000 REVIEW
“The D8000 low-end is quite unlike most summit-fi planar headphones I am used to hearing. It is not razor flat, nor does it have the same amount of sub-bass roll off like the Ether and LCD-4. This is an elevated bass signature from 50Hz right up to 200Hz carrying with it both warmth and power.
There is just enough roll-off from 50Hz down to 20Hz to prevent it from becoming “all about the bass” so it remains strong but not booming to the point where nothing else shines through. There is plenty of texture and details and the layering is very nicely balanced also. Not too much “thud and boom” nor does it sound one-dimensional either. There is a slight wetness to the low-end so it is not quite as quick paced or as well defined as the TOTL Susvara.”
obuz announces US pricing plan
December 15, 2018 Comments Off on obuz announces US pricing plan
“There seems to be a sense of spiritual angst among the audiophile faithful who stream their digital audio via cloud-based music services and its cause seems to be the continuing delay of the French high-resolution music service Qobuz from entering the North American market.”
CH PRECISION I1 INTEGRATED AMPLIFIER £29,500 REVIEW
December 15, 2018 Comments Off on CH PRECISION I1 INTEGRATED AMPLIFIER £29,500 REVIEW
“The CH Precision I1 has a tough job to do. It needs to be awesome enough to justify its price and position both in the CH Precision line-up and against the rarified air of some of the best ever integrated amplifiers in the price-no-object class. But it also has to be good enough to showcase what the bigger fish in the CH Precision pond are capable of, but not so good as to outshine those bigger fish. Of these tasks, only the last is a realistic goal, because the separates CH Precision components are an order of magnitude better than both the I1 and any of its rivals. But the I1 does all the other tasks, too. This is one of the best integrated amplifiers (and I still hate that term for this design) you can buy.”
Audiophilepure 
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