Focal Diva Utopia Wireless Streaming Active Loudspeaker $39,999 Review
March 24, 2025 Comments Off on Focal Diva Utopia Wireless Streaming Active Loudspeaker $39,999 Review
https://www.stereophile.com/content/focal-diva-utopia-wireless-streaming-active-loudspeaker
The analog connection between the preamp and primary speaker did not induce any hum or hash that I could hear, ears close to the speaker and volume cranked up beyond comfortable listening level.
Listeners who like vinyl as well as streaming won’t have to compromise with the Diva Utopia system, except in that the only analog connection isn’t balanced. The same goes for someone with a large collection of CDs they haven’t ripped to a server, as long as their CD player has a TosLink output. The only downside is all those connections, running cables from wherever the turntable or CD player resides to the rear of the primary speaker. In the setup described above, I used a 6′ cable from my phono preamp to the rear of the primary speaker, which in my setup was the right one.
Porsche GT3RS – Upgraded Audio System
March 24, 2025 Comments Off on Porsche GT3RS – Upgraded Audio System
Ron’s Audio System in Beverly Hills
March 24, 2025 Comments Off on Ron’s Audio System in Beverly Hills
Constellation Revelation 2 pre/power amplifier Review
March 23, 2025 Comments Off on Constellation Revelation 2 pre/power amplifier Review
https://www.hifinews.com/content/constellation-revelation-2-prepower-amplifier
The minor cosmetic refresh to Constellation’s Revelation amplifiers does not reflect the transformation under the hood, where new, precision-engineered power supplies seemingly boost every facet of performance. Play any genre and this system excels, muscular and attacking one moment, insightful and fluid the next. It’s a premium sound worthy of the price, and a fine way to kick off the brand’s new era.
Fyne Audio ousts Q REVIEW
March 23, 2025 Comments Off on Fyne Audio ousts Q REVIEW
Okay, the D20R aren’t the newest speakers on the planet – they launched back in 2014 – but we have to get through a lot of products from across the hi-fi and headphones gamut. We’re glad we finally got hold of a pair of the D20R, though, because they are, to quote from our review, “charmers of the highest order”. Beautifully made and with a sonic character that appeals as much to the heart as it does to the head, they’re a nuanced and expressive set of floorstanders that we could have enjoyed for days on end. If you’re after something a little more premium than the Fyne towers above, the ProAc are capable of giving the high-end Spendor A7 speakers a run for their money.
Three LUXURY EXTRAS for your TECHNICS turntable
March 23, 2025 Comments Off on Three LUXURY EXTRAS for your TECHNICS turntable
Bowers & Wilkins DB2D Subwoofers Review
March 21, 2025 Comments Off on Bowers & Wilkins DB2D Subwoofers Review
Simply put: this is the best bass I’ve yet had in my room. Not the most. Not merely the tightest. No, it’s more than that. It’s like the juicy, whip-crack tight bass of the 801s, sure, but add in a sense of natural integration combined with a feeling of realism that I’ve not experienced before.
Back to the original premise of this project: creating a half-price 801 D4 Signature. I haven’t listened yet to the DB2Ds fronted by the 805 D4 Signatures. That’s going to have to wait until I get back from the Florida International Audio Expo in late February. And that means it’s time to get my passport and Metamucil ready for international travel from my home in Toronto, Canada.
Kinera Thorking $2,499 Review
March 21, 2025 Comments Off on Kinera Thorking $2,499 Review
The Kinera Thorking surprised me when I first put them in my ears. Given the brand’s recent track record, I expected a slightly fun, warm, or somewhat coloured sound. I listened to Loki in Canjam 2023 and wasn’t impressed much. But the Thorking is different, and I mean, very different.
The new Thorking has a reference-style tuning with a flat response from start to finish. This is a fascinating new tuning direction from Kinera, and it works perfectly with classical music. I would never believe a Kinera IEM for classical music until I heard it in person. Of course, that doesn’t mean it’s not an all-rounder. On the contrary, ThorKing can blend in with many genres. I agree with Kinera’s claim that the ThorKing is a mildly v-shaped IEM, as it prioritizes the treble a bit, and the mid-range is not pushed forward.
Focal Diva Utopia Wireless Streaming Active Loudspeaker $39,999 Review
March 20, 2025 Comments Off on Focal Diva Utopia Wireless Streaming Active Loudspeaker $39,999 Review
https://www.stereophile.com/content/focal-diva-utopia-wireless-streaming-active-loudspeaker
I ended up with the speakers about a quarter of the way out into my large living room. Their rears were about 4½’ from the back wall, their centers about 80″ apart. My ears were about 90″ from the center point between the fronts of the speakers. I toed them in a bit, but not so much that they fired directly at my ears. In that configuration, they presented a balanced if somewhat bass-forward sound and threw a wide, tall, 3D stereo image.
Listening to each speaker in turn, I was struck with how alike they sounded, indicating not just excellent frequency-response matching but also that their placement in the room wasn’t messing with the sound much. Also striking: True mono content sat dead center, not spread unnaturally wide and flat (footnote 7).
These speakers put out a lot of sound. They’ll do best in a large room, allowing for some distance to the listening seat. Given the somewhat omnidirectional projection of bass (the radiation pattern is actually more wide-cardioid, since there are no ports or radiators on the backs of the speakers, but the woofers fire to the side and true bass is everywhere once the room is energized; footnote 8), I’d keep them some distance away from the back and sidewalls.
Audiophilepure 
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