Welcome to Audiophilia. We publish honest and accurate reviews of high end audio equipment and music.
The key technology Allnic Audio’s owner/designer Kang Su Park calls ‘Zero Loss’ is used in all his cables and power cords including the previously reviewed ZL-5000 Power Cable and the subject of this review, the Mu-7R RCA Cable.
Cables can be difficult to nail down in review, specifically their ‘sound’ and the effect on the overall sonic picture. Much like the ZL-5000, which totally exceeded my expectations, I treat cables as a component, nothing less.
Do you ever type a streaming query in Roon for a classical work and are overwhelmed by the choices? Rather than clicking on any old recording or the first one you see, Audiophilia will make things a little easier for you and do the heavy listening.
These choices are for streaming only. Is the best in streaming also the best vinyl recording and performance? That’s for another article.
A few criteria:
Recording must be on both Qobuz and Tidal HiFi.
It does not have to be HiRes or MQA.
No more than ten recommendations in no particular order, then my top three for streaming in order of preference.
Do you ever type a streaming query in Roon for a classical work and are overwhelmed by the choices? Rather than clicking on any old recording or the first one you see, Audiophilia will make things a little easier for you and do the heavy listening.
These choices are for streaming only. Is the best in streaming also the best vinyl recording and performance? That’s for another article.
A few criteria:
Recording must be on both Qobuz and Tidal HiFi.
It does not have to be HiRes or MQA.
No more than ten recommendations in no particular order, then my top three for streaming in order of preference.
Diamonds are formed of carbon (C) atoms that have been placed under extremely high temperatures and pressures that exist naturally very deep beneath the earth’s surface. This natural process from carbon to diamond takes an incredibly long time—about 2 billion years.
Although widely prized for their beauty as jewelry and treasured since BC, they possess other qualities such as extraordinary hardness that are ideal for various industrial applications including audio, such as diamond styli for phono cartridges. They also, under normal everyday conditions, will last forever. Fortunately, scientists can mimic the process in the laboratory, ‘growing’ diamonds in a matter of weeks. These lab-grown diamonds have essentially the same chemical, physical, and optical properties as the natural ones—but still are expensive.
Do you ever type a streaming query in Roon for a classical work and are overwhelmed by the choices? Rather than clicking on any old recording or the first one you see, Audiophilia will make things a little easier for you and do the heavy listening.
These choices are for streaming only. Is the best in streaming also the best vinyl recording and performance? That’s for another article.
A few criteria:
Recording must be on both Qobuz and Tidal HiFi.
It does not have to be HiRes or MQA.
No more than ten recommendations in no particular order, then my top three for streaming in order of preference.
How does a medieval Bavarian town of 70,000 have an orchestra this good?
It doesn’t hurt that one of the great maestros, Herbert Blomstedt (92 this month), is on the podium. Blomstedt is the Honorary Conductor of the Bamberger Symphoniker. For the past few years, Blomstedt has been busy conducting in Berlin, Dresden, a few miles south of Bamberg in Munich, and other major musical centres. So, good for Bamberg that they keep enticing the great man back to what is a provincial German town.
The orchestra, formed shortly after the war in 1946, was originally made up of Czech expatriates. Many believe Bohemian style cultivates a unique sound to this day. I’m not sure about that. The players sound to me of international standard and must be living an idyllic life in a beautiful Bavarian town where they make music and teach. Nice, if you can get it.
The wonderful Toronto Symphony Orchestra is in another Golden Age, built from near bankruptcy 20 years ago by a talented backroom team, superb hires and a brilliant orchestral trainer in Peter Oundjian. Oundjian hired almost half the orchestra present on this recording. He was an inspired choice at the time when it was more of an Iron Age than Golden in The Big Smoke.
Replacing Oundjian is the recently appointed Spaniard Gustavo Gimeno. He was a Concertgebouw section percussionist who jumped into conducting quite late and is enjoying a very fast upward trajectory via Luxembourg and now the plum TSO gig.
Renée Fleming is a glorious singer of lieder, showcased here in a 2019 CD release of Romantic and late Romantic art songs. Works by Brahms, Schumann and Mahler are included, with the latter represented by his ‘Rückert-Lieder’ in the orchestral version. The Brahms and Schumann songs are accompanied by pianist Hartmut Höll. His playing, and the Münchner Philharmoniker conducted by the very musical Christian Thielemann are spectacular.
In conjunction with a stellar recording by Decca—I’m hard pressed to think of a recent recording with a better piano tone—Fleming in mainstream repertoire is pretty hard to beat.
Just as Rossini had accomplished with his brilliant String Sonatas twenty years earlier, Mendelssohn, too, was absurdly young when writing his wonderful String Symphonies (1821–3).
The repertoire was hitherto unknown to me. The music is charming and belies the youthful years in which they were composed.
There are 12 string symphonies, and record label cpo (based in my old stomping grounds of Osnabrück, Germany) has spread them over three volumes. I’m late to the party with Vol. 3. No matter when the music is performed and recorded so brilliantly. And I have no reason to think the other two volumes are at least as good. So, fans of Mendelssohn and beautiful string music, grab Vol. 1, 2 or all three.
What is all the buzz about Qobuz?
In a nutshell: Think Tidal—but for the connoisseur.
Qobuz is a subscription based digital music provider/streaming service that is quickly gaining attention by offering lossless streaming of high-resolution (Hi-Res) 24 bit FLAC audiophile quality music files up to 24/192 PCM in addition to CD 16/44.1 resolution (and MP3). Yes: flawless lossless streaming of even native 24/192 FLAC files. Crucially, their files are curated carefully and thoughtfully from the best original sources they can get their hands on. And they have over two million 24 bit Hi-Res files; already twice as many as Tidal’s MQA collection (more about MQA below). A Qobuz mantra is, ‘Qobuz: quality sound, always’. And they mean it. As such, Qobuz maintains a large and diverse selection of music in many genres; even their classical selection is given close attention.
Many of the albums include the names of musicians, the producers, and the lyrics, and they publish weekly interactive online articles. Qobuz also allows you to import native Hi-Res music FLAC files onto a desktop computer for offline listening (they are unique in allowing/enabling that) and to purchase Hi-Res downloads. For example, at an audio show (where the internet might be too slow or unpredictable), a company can download onto a desktop a library of native Hi-Res Qobuz files to use instead of streaming them over the internet. As an exhibitor, I’d think that was cool. You can also download a Hi-Res library on your iPhone/iPad and play music while traveling (one just has to login on a web browser and download).
Before reading this post, please check back to the full review of the Vinnie Rossi L2 Signature Preamplifier. It’ll give you a better understanding of this DAC module review. It may be fun to read the Phono Stage module review, too. It’s the other plugin available for this fully functional and brilliant preamplifier.
The Phono and DAC modules’ MSRP is $3495 each. They are both plug and play. Unscrew the four screws, remove the plate, install the module. Click, rescrew, done.
It would be instructive before reading my thoughts about the L2 phono stage module to read the full line stage review of the Vinnie Rossi L2 Signature Preamplifier.
Skinny audio seems to be all the rage these days. Fewer boxes, smaller boxes, fewer cables and a much lighter lifestyle footprint. While this trend can look the part and put a few more dollars in your pocket, the sound trade offs can be quite powerful. It’s why flying cars never took off, pardon the pun. Jacks of all trades and masters of none. I’m much more of a do-one-thing-well kind of guy.
Vinnie Rossi, designer and manufacturer of the tremendous L2 Signature Preamplifier ($16,995) has given the high end community a sub 20K benchmark line stage to propel reference components to the next level. It pushed my Jeff Rowland amplifier, Mytek Manhattan DAC II, Antipodes CORE Music Server and Sutherland Engineering DUO Phono Preamplifier into rarefied air. As such, it was a crying shame when I took it out of my system.
Oh my, what do we have here? A full featured preamplifier from Holden, Massachusetts’ Vinnie Rossi, replete with live easy modules for digital and vinyl. And it’s not only a standard tube preamp, but one of the few starring the grail of sonic tubes, the 300B. Gold plated and a matched pair, no less.
As a good friend in the industry continues to say to me, ’there’s always room for a full featured preamp’. Full featured, yes, but the L2 Signature is far more than that. It is full figured. And that’s not the half of it with this tank-like, but sexy behemoth from the pen of designer Vinnie Rossi.
I’d like to thank Hummingbird Media and Katie Kailus in particular for getting me a set of PXC 550s so quickly. This enabled me to do a shootout of sorts with Master & Dynamic’s new MW65 wireless set and to use the Sennheisers in the ultimate torture test, flying on Air Canada’s Q400 from Victoria to Vancouver sitting between two howling Pratt and Whitney turboprops. They’d give a headache a headache. The short puddle jump was the opening flight before the much quieter Airbus A350-900 took us to Munich for High End 2019. I was grateful for the review product and its practicalities for travel.
The PXC 550 Wireless is Sennheiser’s playmaker in the sub $500 active noise cancellation (ANC), over ear headphone market. And the market is filling up. As I mentioned, Master & Dynamic, known for ultra refined headphones finally mastered the somewhat black art of ANC, enough they felt comfortable releasing the new MW65 ($499). The PXC is priced well below the M&D and equal to models from Sony and Bose. The MSRP is $349.95.
2019 has been a banner year for both Audiophilia and the improvement of my reference system. Audiophilia has added two fine writers and experienced significant growth in worldwide readership and advertising sponsors. I feel we have accomplished this through timely updates and excellence and honesty in audio reportage. There are no shortcuts at the magazine. And through the generosity and kindness of some audio legacy stakeholders we have known and highly respected for a long time, a couple of us here at the magazine have received a few long-term loan components to enhance our daily listening experience. For that, we are transparently grateful.
Reading previous reviews and articles will give you a better insight as to the whys and wherefores of our choices of these wonderful components. Try my 2014 review of the Bergmann Audio Magne Turntable ($14,000 incl. tone arm) and review of Alta Audio’s FRM2 Celesta Loudspeakers ($15,000). A look at Contributing Editor Karl Sigman’s latest VPI and Grado reviews will also offer context.
If you are an erstwhile reader of Audiophilia, you’ll know we have given highly positive reviews of several headphones from New York based Master & Dynamic. Although not yet adopted by some of the ‘cool kids’ as they have Beats, Master & Dynamic have shunned the bass booming, teenage friendly designs favoured by some and produced gorgeous headphones and earbuds with very refined sound and exquisite fit and finish. And like Beats, the audio educated of the cool kids can buy them at the Apple Store. CEO and Founder Jonathan Levine has also mastered a brilliant online strategy.
Audiophilia began by reviewing the M40 Headphones and following the improvement of Bluetooth and the wireless explosion, we reviewed the equally beautiful M60 Wireless Headphones. Those, and the MW65 ANC Wireless Headphones ($499) under review, project a feeling of refinement both outside the ear and the sound within.
Two years ago I reviewed the Grado Labs Statement v2 Cartridge ($3500), at that time the highest priced Grado cartridge—the top of their Statement Series. Reviewed using my VPI Industries Prime Turntable, I was so impressed, it has remained as my reference since—it further pulled me into vinyl. After that review, I concluded that besides speakers (which are in general large and heavy), phono cartridges (always tiny and light) are examples of a component that can significantly change the sound quality of an audio system in a way that is immediately noticeable.
The $6,000 Grado Labs Aeon Phono Cartridge debuted this year. The Aeon and its sibling, Epoch ($12,000), are two products in a new, higher-end ‘Lineage Series’. The Epoch, which was the first released, and with a very hefty price tag, has been highly praised. Grado Labs now promotes both these cartridges as their flagship models. On the Grado website it is stated that the Epoch and Aeon feature a unique system that has the lowest effective moving mass of any cartridge.
As soon as most vinylphiles see a trapezoidal nugget in wood, stone or metal with some delicate Japanese Kanji, our moving coil hearts skip a beat. I’m a Phasemation guy—Japanese made, but no Kanji. Just a beautiful hunk of Duralumin. How many of us have lusted after a Koetsu Jade Platinum or Blue Lace? Hand made gems of the very best audiophile jewelry. And the heart of a fine analog front end.
The Kiseki Purple Heart NS (New Style) is the modified version of the Japanese cartridge that made the turntable rounds thirty years ago. These new models are made by hand and in small numbers. They originally sold for $3499 but can now be purchased for $3199.
Quality phono stages are all the rage. Records are now so popular with audiophiles, vinyl returners and the general population, a quality phono stage is aspirational in any fine analog set up. Dealers and vinylphiles have been shouting this from the rooftops for years. Audiophilia has reviewed five in the past twelve months. All first class, with outstanding fit and finish, varying designs, and with quality sounds unique to themselves. A wide array of prices but all significant investments. Ah, the cost, always the elephant in the listening room.
Dan Wright of Modwright Instruments took all this to heart when designing his new PH 9.0 Tube Phono Stage ($2900). Modwright is known for the beauty of its design aesthetic and the quality its parts. So, producing a quality phono stage, especially based upon the Modwright Instruments $7900 PH 150 Phono Stage may not seem too much of a stretch. But competing with excellent phono stages $4000 and up with one priced at $2900 is a more difficult proposition.
John Stratton is the hardworking owner/designer of Vancouver High End analogue start up, Pure Fidelity (PF). He made a splash last year with his very well received initial opus, the Eclipse Turntable. It takes guts to dive into audiophile waters as a start up. If you are not in for the long haul with creative ideas, solid engineering and tireless work energy, don’t bother.
Stratton had a busy winter. The Harmony Turntable is the result of eight months of research with a new design; the Harmony has a larger plinth than his Eclipse with a larger sub platter, sitting within an 18lb machined, 6061 aluminum isolation platform and retaining the exquisite finishes. The aluminum platform is a very clever, effective idea and has the same profile as the ‘table.
