Welcome to Audiophilia. We publish honest and accurate reviews of high end audio equipment and music.
All in Star Component Award
This review has been some time coming. I’ve always been a fan of Rega products — we’ve been reviewing and listening to Roy Gandy’s kit for many years but getting a review sample has been like capturing a golden unicorn. Our Canadian distributor was out of stock. Always out. ‘I’ll get back to you’. We were not getting the run around — the distributor is a wonderful guy and always accommodating. Simply, a very popular item.
After reviewing the outstanding Master & Dynamic MH40 Headphones at a price of $399, little did I know that soon after I would be amazed yet again by this savvy and forward-looking New York City company.
Wireworld Cable Technology is a Florida, USA company that makes audio cables (digital, analog, power, speaker, headphone) and at various levels and prices. President David Salz has been passionately designing cables for decades. For about three years now, I have been using their original Wireworld Platinum Starlight USB (A/B) cable as my reference for connecting my music server to my DAC.
I usually bump into Mojo Audio’s Ben Zwickel at the industry party the night before the Rocky Mountain Audio Fest in Denver. It’s becoming a tradition. Zwickel gets us as many drink tickets as allowed then the rest of the evening is wine, more wine, dinner, and then even more wine, interspersed with stories of the year’s audio adventures. Let’s just say he’s ‘energized’.
While completing my review of the Sprout integrated amp by PS Audio in February 2015, I had a friendly chat with Mat Weisfeld, President of VPI, who mentioned that VPI Industries uses the Sprout to test their ‘Budget Reference’ but high-end entry-evel turntable, the Scout Jr.
A few things have revolutionized the music business in the past decade — Apple's iTunes, mobile audio on smart phones with the headphone boom, followed this year by streaming audio. What was missing in the lifestyle mix was a quality delivery system for the home. One that worked easily, sounded great and was reasonably priced. Sure, Bose had a big lead. ‘Good’ sound for the masses but at a high price. The high price paid for the marketing, which was quite effective.
Bel Canto, Minnesota’s manufacturer of quality hifi equipment has kicked its already wonderful digital line up a notch with ‘Black’. Black is a deceptively simple digital/amplification solution for your high end needs — described by Bel Canto as: ‘elegant simplicity. Three boxes. Two connections. One coveted musical result.’
Recently, while reviewing the Sprout by PS Audio, I borrowed a pair of Alta Audio’s new small Solo speakers to match with it, and discovered that they were a remarkable fit. Since then, I continued to be very impressed with the Solos as entry-level but audiophile quality speakers. I thought a review was in order.
I felt compelled to write a brief addition to this mini review that we posted in 2013. My 23 year old nephew has been bitten hard by the audiophile bug. His budget was set and Christmas money was saved, and he asked for a suggestion to jump into the high end. He loves vinyl. It was an easy choice. With his budget, the Pro-Ject Debut Carbon Turntable immediately came to mind.
There was a time that I could not get enough of monitor speakers. I lived with ProAc’s very best for a few years, the Response One SC and the Tablette Signature. I truly loved both speakers and had a flirtation with Canada’s very good answer to them, the Totem Model 1s. About 15 years ago, as Audiophilia morphed into something new on the new internet, I had to make a 180 degree shift and, at the time, was none too happy about it.
I first discovered the Bergmann Audio turntables during an event at a local dealer. Before I heard a note, I fell in love with the look of these Danish Bauhaus beauties. All straight lines, simple design and an air bearing, tangential tracking arm that looked as elegant as the turntable to which it was attached. Since many air bearing arms and tangential trackers have been a nuisance to setup and maintain, having two difficult technologies in one arm and looking awfully easy to use, I was doubly intrigued.
PS Audio recently released (March 2014) a new DAC to replace their already top-notch, high-end PerfectWave DAC (PWD), which I reviewed about a year ago, with a follow up review using it with the PerfectWave Bridge which enables using an ethernet cable to stream the digital files from computer to DAC instead of USB. The PWD, using ethernet, has become my reference DAC ever since. So, when I heard about this new one, I licked my chops at a chance to try it out on my system and review it.
Good things are supposed to come in threes, but sometimes, one or two of the three decide not to play nicely. This is especially true with unruly members of a ‘family’ of loudspeakers. Most speaker manufacturers, if well funded and have a good designer, will attempt to produce a line or family of speakers. The most vested among them will produce several families, at various price points. This makes good financial sense but is far more difficult than you would imagine, especially the ‘baby step’ from monitor to floor stander.
DACs have made a huge comeback. With the advent of music servers and computer file delivery, a good quality DAC with USB support is now the most invited piece of kit to the cool audiophile party. In truth, DACs have never gone away.
Chario was a company hitherto unknown to me. I happened upon their speakers during the 2012 Toronto Audio Show (TAVES). They looked amazing in beautifully finished wood and artisinal cabinetry and even under show conditions, sounded quite wonderful. A review pair was requested.
Conrad Mas, the guru of turntable design and creative force behind Avid HiFi emailed me about a year and a half ago to tell me about his new, “amazing” phono-preamplifier, the Pulsare. Normally, when manufacturers contact me about their new, best in the world gizmo, I’m very skeptical.
Focal asks on its website whether the Grande Utopias are the best speakers in the world. It’s an almost impossible question to answer given audiophiles’ tastes, style, etc, but in other ways, it’s almost a simple question. I figured out my answer quite quickly, so resplendent are these extremely expensive monoliths from France.
I don’t believe in trickle down economics. Ronald Reagan and the 80s saw to that. Robert Suchy of German company Clearaudio obviously does. And his form of the free market works. I have been listening intently to Clearaudio products for many years. I reviewed a few for Audiophilia. They have always made outstanding analogue products, from fairly inexpensive to technological, pricey marvels.
Dieter Burmester has been a force in the high-end audio business since 1977, but North America has experienced his particular brand of brilliance for only the past few years. I first heard about Herr Burmester and his glittering equipment through the pages of The Absolute Sound – hp raved about digital and power gear alike. The look of the equipment was intriguing and certainly espoused an expensive aura; if the look was commensurate with sound, then winners had arrived from the Federal Republic of Germany.
I’ve been listening to JM Lab products for many years, primarily at shows and at a few Canadian dealers. They always seem to be on show. They look magnificent, feature top quality components and are in the upper echelon of high end pricing. Interestingly, they have never been among my favorites. Sure, all the models, from stand mounted monitors to the aptly titled Grande Utopia sound grand, indeed, but to my ears they miss some of the clinical nature of other similarly priced loudspeakers.
