AudioKeyREVIEWS ! HIGH FIDELITY PERSONAL AUDIO & STEREO MAGAZINESEPTEMBER 2022 I5 AUDIONET WATT T HE D ESERT I SLAND I NTEGRATED ! TRILOGY H1 ENERGIZER HPA\E SCANSONIC MB1 B SPEAKER & 10B SUB DENAFRIPS TERMINATOR II ZMF ATRIUM HEADPHONES HEADAMP GS-X MINI HPA
Music is art, art is music.
INSIDE THIS ISSUE… 1684024 80
audiokeyreviews.comCopyright AudioKeyReviews 2022 1361281169886804024155464142 HI-FI REVIEWS EDITOR'S DENAFRIPSLETTERTERMINATOR II AUDIONET WATT INTEGRATED DR. IRINA KUZMINSKY - MUSICAL MUSINGS INTERVIEW - RICHARD SCHRAM, PARASOUND SCANSONIC MB2.5 B - PREVIEW ZMF ATRIUM HEADPHONES HEADAMP GS-X MINI HPA GESHELLI AUDIO HPA &DAC RAIN JORDAN - JOAN OF AUDIO ROGER SKOFF - AUDIO AURICLE COMPONENT REVIEWS (IN VIDEO) INTERVIEWSTABLEMUSICOF CONTENTS
SCANSONIC MB1 B & 10 B AUDIO HUNGARY QUALITON PHONO-PRE TRILOGY H1 ENERGIZER HPA\E PREVIEW RECOMMENDED COMPONENTS - UP TO $1500 MAGICAL SYNERGIES COMING REVIEWSNEXTONTHE WEB Front Inside Cover: Georgia O'keeffe Red Amaryllis 2 Back Inside Cover: Edward Weston The Other Art. It is my belief that the artist and the musician are not only creatives, but they access heart and soul and experience, perhaps, in the selfsame ways. My own love for art and music are inseparable. And so art, music, and those things which facilitate the music, shall share theses pages. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR - SEND HERE 188182158146168174190 REVIEWSMUSIC audiokeyreviews.comCopyright AudioKeyReviews 2022 AUDIO REVIEWSVIDEO
INSIDE THIS ISSUE… 15898 146
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EDITOR’s CHAIR W hat can I say? It’s been nearly a full year of AudioKeyREVIEWS! Magazine. At the start, ‘Skeptical’, ‘Are You Serious’, and I were hanging out quite regularly. ‘Are You Serious', however, left the group after the first three issues. I guess by that time it was well understood that I was, indeed, serious. ‘Skeptical’ went missing at the half-year mark, when 11+ million views had accumulated and people, two hundred and fifty thousand, had decided to read the magazine, spending on average three minutes and fifty-seven seconds. In truth, I didn’t know if that was a good thing or how good a thing it was. Then a lot of people chimed in to tell me that it was, indeed, a good thing. Soon ‘Not Bad, Man’ and ‘You’re Doing It (Peter)’ and I were kickin’ it and hanging out. They’ve been pretty good company during the long days of putting together each magazine issue. Though there were those days when ‘Are You Serious’ seemed ready to inch back in. The many kindred spirits—friends, family, writers, editors, manufacturers, distributors, and others—via their belief and assurance, their help and wisdom proved time and again that I was on the right path. ‘Are You Serious’ slinked silently away and has not been heard or seen since. It’s not been easy by any stretch and there are always those folks who just don’t want to be bothered. I’ve put in enough years on this earth, however, to realize that even a ‘no’ or avoidance or quiet disdain can bring purpose and guidance. One cannot but thank those who might unwittingly point one in the direction of one’s purpose, though they seek to do no such thing. And to them I say, thank you. There are some great new things happening and about to happen at
AudioKeyReviews SorangingbemagazinebeotherthesignofinterestingwillgivenourtoMagazine—theaudiokeyreviews.com,Media—AudioKeyREVIEWS!beginningsofwhichwillstartbemadeveryclearintheNovemberissue,BestoftheYearissue.Sufficetosaythattheviews,reads,subscribers,etc.therebesomeexpandinggoingonandinveryways!IhopethatyouenjoytheSeptemberissueAudioKeyREVIEWS!Magazine.AndpleaseupbothtoreceiveAudioKeyREVIEWS!Magazineeverymonth,freeinyouremail-box.You’llalsoincludedinourdraw.Draw?Witheveryissue,oneluckyperson’snamewillrandomlyselectedtoreceiveanaudiogiftinpricefrom$100to$2,500invalue.pleasestaytuned. audiokeyreviews.com
THE Publisher/Editor-in-ChiefCREWK.E.HeartsongManagingEditorDr.IrinaKuzminskyAssociateEditor(s)AndreMarcOliverMasciarotteColumnistsDr.IrinaKuzminskyRogerSkoffRainJordanChrisSommovigo(RIP) Music ReviewersWabiDr.Nathan(Video/Written)MyNguyenLathourmMattNielsenIrinaKuzminskyPhotographerK.E.HeartsongGraphicDesignSabiDesignGroup MASTHEAD audiokeyreviews.com
HermanMiller
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Wassily Kandinsky - Opere
By K. E. Heartsong DENAFRIPS TERMINATOR II
THE SOUND Transparency. Delicacy. Nuance. Quiet. The DENAFRIPS Terminator II is the combination of all of the preceding attributes and a great deal more. It wields the ability to parse complex passages easily, sorting musicians, singers, backing
DENAFRIPS TERMINATOR II audiokeyreviews.com
A lvin Yee is a busy man and rightly so. Alvin’s DENAFRIPS line of electronics is extremely well regarded. DENAFRIPS makes master clocks, re-clockers, DACs, headphone amps, preamplifiers, and amplifiers. All are of rugged construction, sturdy, and beautifully made, as gauged by my experience with the Pontus II and, currently, with the just over 40lb Terminator II. To zero in on the DENAFRIPS DAC line with which I am most familiar, it currently boasts five DACs: ARES II DAC ($880) PONTUS II DAC ($1,700) VENUS II DAC ($3,074) TERMINATOR II DAC ($4,500) TERMINATOR-PLUS DAC ($6,400) Based upon my experience, it would be difficult to go wrong with any of the DENAFRIPS DACs. The DENAFRIPS price to performance ratio is, well, over Saturn, forget the moon! So for a relatively ‘meager’ sum one could be well on one’s way to establishing a decidedly good, very competitive high-end system, sans a good pair of speakers and good cables. In truth, given the research, I already expected the Terminator II to be quite good and certainly better than the Pontus II. But how much better would that be? Marginally better? A good deal better? On a completely different level altogether? Well, let me say that it didn’t take long to discover the truth of things. “And how’s that?” REFRAIN: Unlike most reviews, this review will be non-sequential, as it will start with how the component actually sounds and not the process of physically “undressing” it and/or laying out its various parts, specifications, etc. Think of this review then, as a non-linear movie— Memento, Kill Bill, Arrival, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, etc. —that, likewise, starts at the end and winds its way to the beginning.
Tamara De Lempicka - Portrait de Madame Ira Perrot, 1930
vocals, and the space between all of them with great ease. The Terminator II’s ability to preserve and render the tonal and timbral envelope in the most natural, most delicate way continues to give pause and inspire rapt listening. This I did not expect from this crescendos, overtures, requiems, wild jazz riffs, folk ballads, all found their “black quiet” inbetween or at the end. In screenwriting one is told never to embellish “black”, as in the black before credits or film or even before the sound begins. It is simple “black”. Not “inky, tar-black, onyx emptiness” nor “light-engulfing, soulsucking, ebony-black darkness” nor “murky, raven, black hole, profound, pitch blackness” –just “black” will more than do. And this is where the DENAFRIPS Terminator II takes one, time and again, to the black-quiet of the ‘befores’, the ‘in-betweens’, the ‘durings’, and the When‘afters’.I spoke of the various talents of the DENAFRIPS Pontus II, I described it as “truly names with them. However, as one would expect, in direct relation to its younger sibling (read less expensive)—the Terminator II is as master to novice. There is not a single aspect where the Terminator II does not better the Pontus II. Whereas the Pontus II was the brilliant young prodigy, listening offstage to the jazz greats, who would eventually invite him—the Pontus II—up to show his talents, the Terminator II, in
DENAFRIPS TERMINATOR II
Separation of performers, their relative DENAFRIPS TERMINATOR II
this respect, is the seasoned jazz great comfortable with his musical prowess. What you will get with the Terminator II, beyond the Pontus II, is greater volumes of uncovered detail, next-level transparency and resolution, and all manner of spatial information and microdynamic cues. These attributes in combination paint with rather fine strokes venue after venue, large and small, to a degree that the Pontus II could not even begin to imagine. The Terminator II’s only betters in this respect, to date, are the Mola Mola Tambaqui ($13,500), Bricasti Design M1SE ($15,000), and Audionet DNP/w/EPX ($30,000).TheDENAFRIPS
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Terminator II’s volumetric cube—its soundstage— encompasses that of the Pontus II in every respect. And when allied to electrostatic headphone amplifiers and headphones, these components enabled the Terminator II to loose its bounds and to attain even higher levels of performance which were simply outstanding.
-
Mark Rothko Red, 1964
STAX SR-009S, Dan Clark VOCE, ZMF Atrium, MEZE LIRIC. Wires and cables were provided by Audience, AntiCable, and RSX. Power was provided by RSX Power8 and the Audience AdeptResponse. BASS Powerful. Tight. Detailed. Refined. There was more in every conceivable respect from the DENAFRIPS TERMINATOR II audiokeyreviews.com
positioning, and their depth from the front to the back of the stage were all extraordinary. This brought a realism that once again bettered the Pontus II in every respect. The Terminator II becomes a critical element in bringing one from venue to venue with a sweet, exacting ease, and bringing flesh and blood and life—palpability—to performance afterTheperformance.DENAFRIPS Terminator II DAC for the purpose of the review was allied with the electrostatic/dynamic headphone amplifier— the LTA Z10e, HeadAmp Blue Hawaii SE, HeadAmp GS-X Mini. The various electrostatic and dynamic headphones were—
Dave Holland’s “Emerald Tears” (Emerald Tears, ECM) is tight, his upright bass present. Every plucked bass note carries its attendant weight, texture, finely resolved detail, and the naturalness of tone/timber that make this hearing one of the most compelling and beautiful that I have experienced. After this, Eiji Oue’s “V. Infernal Dance of King Kashchey” (Stravinsky, Reference Recording) rolls in, thunderous and powerful and haughty, traveling easily into the Stygian depths of the Holy-Bass-Head-Grail! And this bass mastery extended to every setup on hand (see Systems). The seven timpani assembled for this movement by the Minnesota Symphony were raucous, tight and convincing, bringing forth nods of “Well done.” On top of the low frequency onslaught the Terminator II loosed oceans of detail, easily lifted from every inch of the concert hall, and it accomplished this with II audiokeyreviews.com
Terminator II than that on offer from the Pontus II. And the Pontus II will, no doubt, be selected as one of the Best Products of the Year for 2022. This should give one some idea then of the Terminator II’s collective abilities.
DENAFRIPS TERMINATOR
MIDRANGE Transparent. Textured. Alive. Sweet. Olafur Arnalds' “Árbakkinn” (Island Songs, Mercury (Universal France)) begins with the poetry of Einar Georg Einarsson, and the birds, singing outside the recording venue, are now clearly present from the very beginning! Only the best components and component assembles can make this small thing happen so early. Palpability and realism are at another level above the Pontus II and the sound is even more immersive and detail rich. The entire piece is laid bare and beautifully so. Next, Shirley Horn’s “Beautiful Love” (You Won’t Forget Me, Verve) is flesh and blood palpable— 3-dimensional—and quite real via the Terminator II, which alone puts it leagues ahead of its sibling and a good number of other DACs. Further, it brings a refinement that was clearly missing from the Pontus II’s characterization of the same piece of music for harmonica and voice. The harmonica’s tone/ timbre via the Terminator II is richer, more resolute, fully fleshed out and real. And when Shirley’s voice enters, there is a beauty, entirely sibilance free, that is immersive and enchanting. The inner articulation of Shirley’s voice—the wet, the dry,—and the intermodulation that captures the forming of words, lyrics and all micro-dynamic cues are on full display, again as if real. The Terminator II’s representation is both beautiful and certainly rare at this price point. Though the Mola Mola Tambaqui and the Bricasti Design M1SE go much further still, but at 3 times the price. The Terminator II’s rendering, however, cannot be dismissed that lightly, as the various traits it exhibits and its incredible delicacy and refinement are generally expected only in the much higher prices range.
a naturalness of tone/timbre, refinement, and nuance that were beautiful.
TREBLE + Dave Brubeck’s “Take Five” (Time Out, Columbia-Legacy) rolls in, cool, hip, and jazz ready. There is ease and great refinement— nothing steps out of place, overhangs, sizzles, or is tone/timbre antithetical—and again, there is that palpability. How on earth can this sub$5k DAC bring so many Top-of-the-Line (TOTL) goods to bear! Joe Morello’s cymbals— hi-hat, ride, etc.—are true and air-infused and beat-on. Dave Brubeck’s piano, Paul Desmond’s sax, and Eugene Wright’s upright bass all reach out and touch, suspended in space, weighty. And the cymbals are ever doing their thing, beautifully resolved and righteously so. Next up, Jordi Savall’s “Les Pleurs for 2 basse de viole” (Tout les matins de monde, Alia Vox), reveals texture, weight, and oceans of inner detail via the Terminator II, lifted from places the exceptionally talented and award-winning Pontus II could not find, let alone excavate. The Terminator II was exceptionally capable in this range and excelled once again far beyond its price point. There will be no sibilance in the music you are listening to unless it has been purposefully recorded. Other than that there will be refinement and a naturalness that should not
DENAFRIPS TERMINATOR II audiokeyreviews.com
THE COMPANY DENAFRIPSDENAFRIPS TERMINATOR II ($4495) support@denafrips.com THE DISTRIBUTOR VINSHINE AUDIO 33 Ubi Avenue 3 Singapore Whatsapp:Wechat:sales@vinshineaudio.com408868vinshineaudio+6588534576 AKRM belong to a DAC at anywhere near this price point. Brilliant. CONCLUSION
The DENAFRIPS Pontus II was talented in the extreme and, at times, easily eclipsed DACs at multiples of its price. The DENAFRIPS Terminator II extends the price to performance ratio a great deal more than anticipated and performs far, far beyond its price point. The DENAFRIPS Terminator II checks all of the required music lover and audiophile boxes easily and well and is a prodigious talent, especially when its price is taken into account. DACs within its ‘ambient’ pricing circle should take pause and perhaps never agree to a side by side comparison, lest they suffer a humiliating defeat. In relation to the DENAFRIPS Pontus II which I deemed “a three-star Michelin meal”, I now bring correction to that statement. At its uniquely affordable price of $1,700US relative to its Terminator II sibling, it has retained its worth of a Michelin rating but has now been deemed a two-star Michelin meal. The DENAFRIPS Terminator II has now assumed the three-star status as testament to its greater abilities in every respect. Thus, I stand corrected.We,AudioKey Reviews, highly recommend the DENAFRIPS Terminator II DAC and award it our DIAMOND AWARD for superb musicality and resolution and spell-binding engagement, coupled with beautiful musicality – all in all a component one will be hard pressed to part with. Bravo!
“The magic begins, however, when the RA-C-CU’s musicality shows up and saunters in all “analog-like” and brings the house down.” —K.E. Heartsong, AudioKeyREVIEWS! Magazine
AUDIONET WATT T HE D ESERT I SLAND I NTEGRATED !
By Andre Marc
A udionet has been making bespoke high performance audio gear for decades, and I have been lucky enough to audition their streamers and amps over the years. I have also heard full Audionet systems at HiFi shows, and always come away impressed. Of course, the German manufacturer’s products have always been out of my budget, but they certainly have a loyal customer base that pushes them to innovate.Myfirst introduction to Audionet was back when I first got involved in networked audio, ripping my CD collection to FLAC, and using low cost streamers like the Logitech Squeezebox. I used the free Audionet DLNA iPad app to control playback on my devices and it worked flawlessly. They were one of the first HiFi companies to offer a complimentary app that worked with a variety of hardware.
Of course, Audionet’s main business is designing high end “Machines” as they call them, including streamers, DACs, CD players, preamplifiers, integrated and power amps, and phono preamps. Also offered are accessories like power cords, and LAN cables. They also still provide apps on their website, for room correction and music library management. audiokeyreviews.com
AUDIONET WATT
Wasily Kandinsky - Upward,1929
SET UP & LISTENING: The Audionet WATT is a backbreaker, the massive power supply and other high grade components contributing to its heft. So, with care, it was installed on a shelf in our rack. We used an Audio Art Cable power cord, and a Symposium Svelte Shelf to maximize WATT
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We received Audionet’s WATT integrated amplifier in for evaluation, and it is a beast. It weighs in at 25 Kilograms / 55 Lbs. The basic specifications are 167 watts per channel into 8 ohms, and 284 watts per channel into 4 ohms. There are user programmable balanced and unbalanced inputs, a remote control, and an optional phono stage board. This uber machine offers over the top build quality and precision workmanship. The volume knob has an immaculately precise feel, with approximately eighty volume steps, and the entire package gives off the vibe of a turbo charged Porsche 911. The WATT costs $18,000, with an additional cost of $1,000 for the phono module. Our review sample arrived sans phono stage, so we used our own standalone Rega MC phono preamp. The WATT is definitely a showpiece, and, when in operation, an orange glow emanates from the ventilated top panel. The amp is dual mono in design, and Audionet designs and manufactures most of the components in the WATT themselves.
AUDIONET
performance. Our sources were a Bryston BDA-3 DAC, a Sonore microRendu streamer, and a Rega Planar 8 turntable. The amp drove Magnepan 1.7i speakers, and signal cabling was a mix of Black Cat and Audio Art. We left the albums during the review period, making sure to sample many different genres and recording vintages. We started out with a bunch of Donovan albums, including Fairytale, A Gift From A Flower to a Garden, and Sunshine Superman, all remastered for CD quite nicely. Donovan’s voice is one of the purest ever recorded during his 60’s heyday, and the WATT presented this purity with amazing finesse. The same applies to the Scottish born troubadour’s guitar style, which was folky yet bluesy as well. It was easy to hear the wood and steel of his guitars, and the timing was impeccable on such tracks as “Hey Gyp” and “Jennifer Juniper”. Through the WATT, all of SACD acquisitions, Mobile Fidelity’s DSD remasters of the Eagles’ first four albums. We ordered these discs with great anticipation, and they lived up to the billing. They essentially sounded like LPs without surface noise and wow and flutter! Long time favorites like “Take it Easy”, “Desperado”, “One Of These Nights”, and “Already Gone” sounded fresh and vibrant, with the WATT explicitly laying out a wide and smooth soundstage, as
AUDIONET WATT audiokeyreviews.com
A new artist discovery from Bandcamp, UK based Katie Spencer, also makes pastoral music, but based on classic British folk rock. Her album, The Edge Of The Land, is enchanting, with spellbinding arrangements.
well as little nuances in the mixes that previous digital versions cannot match, at least to our ears.Switching gears to some wonderful contemporary recordings, we started with the Brendan Eder Ensemble’s Cape Cod Cottage.
The 24 bit download sounds terrific, and the music is a spellbinding mix of pastoral jazz and elegant lounge, with eloquent melodicism. The saxophone, flute, and percussive elements had tremendous body via the WATT, and the amp was able to provide an atmosphere very reflective of the album title.
The WATT framed this music so divinely, one could picture a seaside cottage on the English shore. Her vocals, guitar, and virtually allacoustic instrumentation were finely filigreed, with tasteful touches like flugehorn and Steinway piano being given beautiful body and texture.Moving on to a stack of vinyl we had on deck, we pulled out original pressings of some of Joni Mitchell’s early albums, including Ladies Of The Canyon, Blue, For The Roses, and WATT audiokeyreviews.com
AUDIONET
groundbreaking, with Davis tastefully incorporating subtle rock flourishes, while at the same time going into a clear experimental direction. The WATT did a spectacular job of presenting the avant-garde edge of this music, and providing extremely well-defined spacing, as well as correctly rendering the tonality of the Comparingsoloists. the recently reviewed Mola Mola Kula integrated to the Audionet WATT makes perfect sense. However that superb amplifier has been gone for several months, so we can only work from memory. Both amps are in the same price range, but the Kula does The Hissing Of Summer Lawns. These mint original Reprise pressings were mesmerizing through the WATT, offering the most pleasing and magical balance we have experienced with these albums. Hearing Mitchell sing some of her most iconic songs like “Woodstock”, “River”, “Woman of Heart And Mind” was really thrilling, and it was easy to hear how influential she was on generations of performers to come. We then got tremendous enjoyment from some of Miles Davis’s late 60’s more abstract recordings, including early Colombia pressings of Nefertiti, MIles In The Sky, and Filles de Kilimanjaro, These albums were
Gustav Klimt - Woman in Gold
CONCLUSION: Quite frankly, the Audionet WATT integrated amplifier is a stunning piece of audio engineering and industrial design. I tried to find flaws in its sonic performance to no avail. I did not get a chance to evaluate the optional phono board, but if it is on par with the amplifier, it is worth the additional grand. The final words we can muster about the Audionet WATT is that it is a gentle giant. It has muscle to spare, but distills its arsenal elegantly, using velvet gloves when needed, and bringing down the hammer when called upon to do so. In other words, it offers power and grace. The Audionet WATT is a true classic.
AUDIONET
WATT
+ $1000 for optional phono module http://en.audionet.de/ U.S. Distributor GTT Audio 356 Naughright Rd. Long Valley, NJ, 07853 908.850.3092gttaudio.comUSA AKRM
and
Audionet may have a slightly wider soundstage. But the differences are relatively small, it would come down in the end to listener choice feature set.
and
HermanMiller
By Irina Kuzminsky
T recentcomparativelyhisrelease (by Chandos in 2021) had me SymphonyalongsideGPianoneverconcertofeaturedstraightaway.intriguedItapianoIhadheardof,theConcertoinminor,op.33,ainFsharp minor, op.41, both by a(nother) woman composer I had never heard of, Dora Pejačević. The cover featured a portrait of a rather stunning looking woman from, at a guess, the early 1900s. I simply had to listen and, from the opening bars of the piano concerto, which immediately brought to mind a full-blooded work by Rachmaninov, I had to know – who was Dora Pejačević? But first, I listened to the entire album, glorying in its high romanticism. It turns out Dora Pejačević (1885–1923) was a Hungarian-Croatian composer and pianist who had been born in Budapest into the aristocracy, her father being a Croatian count and her mother a notably,suchandmetcirclesmovedbaroness.HungarianSheinculturalwheresheleadingartistsintellectualsas,mostthepoet
MUSICAL MUSINGS
Rainer Maria Rilke. Largely self-taught as a composer, she volunteered as a nurse when World War One broke out, yet still managed to continue composing. In fact, most of the Symphony in F sharp minor (1920) was composed during these war years. It was very well received when first performed, but then sank into an undeserved obscurity, like the rest of her work. Dora Pejačević died young at the age of 37 of complications following pregnancy, just as she was coming into her prime as a composer. Happily her music is
Joan Miro - Abstract c1935
she is increasingly seen as an important figure of early 20th century music. The Piano Concerto in G minor (1913) was probably one of Dora Pejačević’s first mature works. Right from the opening bars we know we are dealing with a large scale, lush, late Romantic work with all the trimmings – full orchestra, full emotion, virtuosic pianism with brilliant cascades of notes, and plenty of passion and colour throughout. The obligatory cadenza at the end of the first movement is a dramatic virtuosic display which the soloist, Peter Donohoe, simply revels in. The second movement ‘Adagio con estro poetico’ literally calls for poetic inspiration, full-throated at that! There is little in the way of a quiet peaceful interlude here as notes on the piano continue to cascade and arpeggio, with the strings providing most of the melodic content. The third movement, the ‘Allegro con fuoco’ erupts, contributing even more ‘fuoco’/ fire than the other two movements. The brilliant fingerwork of the pianist in the manner of Liszt or Rachmaninov continues here with the BBC Symphony under Sakari Oramo bringing their own brilliance and panache to this interpretation.Theworkas a whole is late Romanticism in full bloom, revealing glimpses of a world about to change irrevocably with the onset of war andTherevolution.Symphony in F sharp minor is a decidedly more mature work and it is not difficult to hear echoes of the Great War in it. Sakari Oramo gives a committed performance, fully encompassing the work’s emotional thrust and power. The first movement immediately demonstrates the composer’s endless inventiveness of musical ideas and grasp of symphonic structure, and the rest of the work does not disappoint. After the audiokeyreviews.com
MUSICAL MUSINGS
Perhaps the best end to this review would be Dora Pejačević’s own words, from a letter written to her husband in relation to their child:"I hope that our child will be a joy to you—that it should become a true, open and great human being. Prepare its ways for it, but never prevent it from knowing in life the suffering that ennobles the soul, because only in that way can one become a rounded human being. Let it develop like a plant, and if it has some great talent, give it everything to encourage this talent … Also, act the same way if it is a boy or a girl; every talent, every genius, requires equal consideration, and the child’s gender cannot be allowed to come into the matter.” [As quoted by Martin Buzacott in “Classically Curious: Dora Pejačević for Classic classically-curious:-dora-pejahttps://www.abc.net.au/classic/features/FM; čević/10378034] AKRM
audiokeyreviews.com MUSICAL MUSINGS
triumphalist close of the first movement the second movement, ‘Andante sostenuto’, enters with a plaintive woodwind motive in a solo line which is a complete contrast to what has come before. Cor anglais and bass clarinet feature throughout alongside other woodwind, with the orchestral passages alternating with woodwind solos and duets, producing a poignant effect. The Scherzo is an altogether brighter and lighter affair, with plenty of short strokes and a joyful dancing mood. Percussion adds colour to the staccatos while a folksy theme drives the dance onward. It’s back to calling on full orchestral resources for the ‘Allegro appassionato’ Finale which erupts in cascades of notes. Oh for an immersive concert hall experience with this music! The second theme enters in calming contrast while soaring melodies speak of resolution and of hope. For those who love their orchestral music full-throated, passionate and cinematically engulfing this album is a definite recommendation. But even for those who prefer something more classically nuanced and restrained this work, and Dora Pejačević herself, are well worth getting to know. And with a good quality hi-fi sound system the overall effect would be bound to be engulfing and immersive – an orchestral sound one could drown in. All in all, a discovery worth making and a notable addition to the symphonic repertoire.
A PUBLIC SERVICE BY AUDIOKEYREVIEWSwww.artic.edu
Edward Hopper - Lighthouse
Richard Schram
Photo: Absolute Sound
RS: My family lived in Chicago until I was five. In 1952 we moved to Wilmette which is the second suburb north of Chicago. AKRM: Was there music in your home? How did music affect your early life? RS: You have come to the right person. My parents appreciated the arts and especially music. I especially enjoyed listening to records with the same repertoire and performed by different artists and ensembles. My father purchased a Zenith console record player and FM/AM tuner. Its two Germanmade electrostatic tweeters fascinated me. They were single-ended and their high voltage audiokeyreviews.com
T
AKRM: Where are you from? Was there music in your home?
oday I’m happy to announce our interview with Richard Schram of Parasound, the San Francisco based electronics manufacturer, that has been in business for 40 years. Richard, I’d like to get a general idea of where and how you grew up, what influenced your life, how your parents may have influenced a love for music, possibly audio. Basically those things that started you on the journey to where you are now.So this is much less a technical interview than itis an understanding of you and the personal and the inspirational.Andthere will, no doubt, be one or two followup questions. [Oh, and please answer in first person. Thanks!] INTERVIEW: RICHARD SCHRAM, PARASOUND
Vincent van Gogh - Cafe Terrace Place du Forum at Night
AKRM: What musicians did you admire then, enjoy,love as a young man?
INTERVIEW: RICHARD SCHRAM
RS: This is a long list and most of it is classical. polarizing voltage was supplied by the vacuum tubes B+ used in the amplifier/radio.
Too many to mention (seriously). Memories of my first great system are indelible and the first thing that comes to my mind were my Quad 57s. A few years later I bought another pair and stacked them on a stand that was a Mark Levinson knockoff. Decca-Kelly 8” woofers were mounted in very heavy and bulky round water mains.
stacked mono PAM-1 preamp kits and a DSC controller kit.
RS:time?Why?
AKRM: Okay. What is your current reference system or your best high-end system of all
RS: My early systems were decades before any digital media. The first system was a British Collaro record changer, Shure M3D cartridge, and an Allied Radio Knight kit mono vacuum tube integrated amplifier. I learned to respect high B+ voltage the hard way. The input and output connections were on the bottom. I mention this because my first JBL SA600 integrated amplifier years later also had connectors on the bottom. The speaker was an EV Empire corner enclosure and Jensen 3-way 15” driver. I later replaced the amp with a Dynaco ST70 stereo power amplifier kit and
AKRM: What was your very first system then? How did you listen, in terms of Digital or Analog?How did it make you feel?
RICHARD SCHRAM
INTERVIEW: audiokeyreviews.com
Context: my parents enrolled me in the Northwestern University Preparatory Piano program. I had theory class on Saturday mornings plus individual performance lessons on Tuesdays – classical only. After a few years I was permitted to choose my own repertoire which leaned towards French impressionists Ravel, Debussy and Faure. Some years later I “discovered” Bill Evans for the first time and was smitten for life. AKRM: Most memorable epiphany that has come from listening to music or turning a good friend or a significant other on to RSmusic? : I would overload trying to answer this question. AKRM: Okay. What catalyzing event put you on the road to high-end audio? RS: A great question. There were two. The following 1234 characters are as concise as I can be. The first was hearing stereo for the first time in 1957, when I was 11. The source was an Ampex 600 two-track reel-to-reel tape deck with two Ampex 602 amplified speakers. I have an indelible memory of hearing Stan Kenton’s Intermission Riff.
20thsaidtransitionMostaudiencepretendedinstrumentsArtsdemonstrationsgoingandblockwalkingThewatch?v=8UD_28aasTAhttps://www.youtube.com/secondwasserendipity.OnedayIwasbytheMasonicTempleonthenextfrommy6thgradeschool.Iheardmusicwentintotheauditoriumtoseewhatwason.Itwasoneofthelive-vs-recordedwiththeChicago-basedFineQuartet.Whilethemusiciansplayedtheirtherewasatimewhentheyonlytoplaytheirinstrumentsandthewaslisteningtopre-recordedmusic.oftheaudiencecouldnotheartheoranydifference.(ThesamewasaboutCarusolivevs.recordedintheearlycentury.)
AKRM: What is Parasound’s driving philosophy, its goals for the future? demonstrate the prowess of their new AR3s. Amps were mono Dynaco Mk II tube amps. I forget what the preamp and microphones Thesewere. two experiences made it overwhelming clear that my future career would be to bring affordable high quality music into people’s homes. I am very fortunate to have had this opportunity for 60+ years. AKRM: Biggest mistake you ever made, personally and then with Parasound? And what did you learn from it? RS: Not prepared to answer this. It would be too long. AKRM: How did Parasound begin and what were the initial motivations?
RS: During the 1970s I created, developed and established Pacific Stereo’s four “house brands.” I invited and welcomed candid feedback from the stores. I also established close relationships with the OEM factories in
AKRM: What do you believe sets Parasound apart from the other high-end audio retailers/manufacturers AND what are your plans now that you have seen Parasound through 40 years of business?
RS: Parasound is committed to our customers. Since the money comes in our direction we must honor it. Some audio companies achieve their growth by compromising the quality of their products and/or distribution and customer support. As sole owners my wife Jeanie and I have the “luxury” of purchasing only as much product as we can sell in an orderly fashion and avoid reverting to internet “dealers” that would devalue our reputation and the trust of our dealers, reviewers and ultimately our end users.
future for Parasound.
Early years: Heitor Villa-Lobos: Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5 Bidú Sayão Soloist Debussy: Any piano works played by Walter Gieseking and Eugene Istomin String quartet. All piano
RS: Everything we do in the future will continue to align with our established values and practices. a close with a question on ethos and philosophy. Tell me, what is Parasound overall RSethos. : Integrity Endures. AKRM: What are your five favorite albums of all time and why? And if it’s too difficult to chose just five, well let’s hear it all.
Concerto for Left Hand, Concerto in G Major.
Mahler: Symphony No. 2, 6, 10. The San Francisco Symphony was awarded an Emmy for No. 2. (The San Francisco Symphony employ a Parasound original JC 2 in the recording studio at Davies Hall and multiple A 21s in the off-site mastering studio. They also received an Emmy for their performance of West Side Story. Michael Tilson Thomas uses Parasound in all of his homes and he has one of the extremely rare Parasound GMAS-18 “Great Mother of All Subwoofers” subwoofers in his INTERVIEW: RICHARD SCHRAM audiokeyreviews.com
RS: When I was young most of my exposure to music was from broadcasts of three superb FM radio stations, two classical and one primarily jazz.
ATRIUM zmfheadphones.com
• Miles Davis • Django Reinhardt • Stan Getz AKRM: Is there anything that I’ve not covered, that you would like to share or address concerning Parasound?
Beethoven: Symphony 7 & 9. Vaughan Williams: The Lark Ascending (He studied orchestration with Ravel in Paris 1907-1908). Samuel Barber: Adagio for Strings – I dare you to listen to this without tearing up; Knoxville Summer of 1915 (preferable soloist Dawn Upshaw) Bill Evans. My idol except for his tragic heroin addiction, courtesy of drummer Philly Joe Jones, when they were playing with Mile Davis. Some of his best recordings were at Keystone Korner in San Francisco when the owner, Todd Barkan, shamelessly recorded performances. with a hidden Ampex tape deck. I met him many years later in New York at Dizzy’s Club at Jazz at Lincoln Center. He was the founder and programmer. But I already knew him from Oberlin College where my son Greg was enrolled in a double-degree program in the Liberal Arts College and in the Conservatory of Music, where Todd was teaching. PS: I went Chesky, was performing and his brother and partner Norman were in the audience.
Sondheim
Others:•Steven
RS: My message to Parasound owners and soon to be Parasound owners is this: Jeanie and I wish you many years of musical enjoyment and we thank you for trusting your music to Parasound. AKRM
INTERVIEW: RICHARD SCHRAM
listening room of his house in San Francisco. Another GMAS-18 was used to pressurize this enormous concert hall to make acoustic measurements (by famed acousticians acoustic upgrade on Davies Hall.)
Brassai- The Eiffel Tower at Twilight
Vincent van Gogh -Chair and Smoking Pipe
MUSICTHEABOUTALLIT’S Let us connect you with Audio Cables & Components
audioartcable.com 619-255-6451with it.
SCANSONIC MB2.5 B
By Oliver Masciarotte
PREVIEW
THE DISTRIBUTOR AV LUXURY GROUP
AKRM SCANSONIC MB2.5 B audiokeyreviews.com PREVIEW
Oliver Masciarotte investigates the science and sensibility of Scansonic HD’s mid–price offering… www.avluxurygroup.cominfo@avluxurygroup.com866-791-6915
T all and slender, Scansonic HD’s mid–sized MB2.5 B bears more than a passing resemblance to sister company Raidho’s line of mini–tower loudspeakers. According to Dantax Radio A/S, parent company of both companies plus Gamut Audio, Scansonic’s top of the line MB Series are “…basically mini Raidho speakers as trickle down technology is implemented. Engineering and development is done by the same people as Raidho…The challenge was to bring down (Raidho’s) technology into a more affordable line of speakers.” That bodes well for price–conscious audio enthusiasts. Since their introduction in the late ’90s, narrow baffles minitowers have proliferated and for good reason. That minimal width, limited only by driver circumference, makes for minimal defraction and destructive interference from the baffle itself. To further improve fidelity, Scansonic employs woven carbon–fibre cone direct radiators paired with a simplified version of Raidho’s in–house ribbon tweeter and a conscientiously specified passive crossover network. The top plates and fronts are made with carbon fiber inlays, adding a high tech vibe to the braced MDF cabinet, while the naturally finished, adjustable aluminum feet elevates the quality impression further.Does all that engineering plus a carefully calibrated Danish design sensibility add up to a compelling, higher fidelity experience?
LS1 www.grimmaudio.com These are the most immersive, dynamic, detail-rich, nuanced, elegant, engaging, emotional, and yes, musical speakers I have ever heard. By far.
Timothy Roth, Positive Feedback
By K. E.Heartsong
ZMF ATRIUM The Long Awaited Arrival of Headphone Tribridization!
I t is nearly two years ago that I first came upon the quite sublime world of electrostatic headphones and headphone amplifiers or, as some call them, “earspeakers” and “energizers”, respectively. The journey into and across this world has been fascinating, eyeopening, and revelatory. It has also, however, shed light on the limitations of other headphone technologies—dynamic and planar magnetic—with regard to transient speed, dynamic shifts, transparency and resolution, as wed to truly immersive musicality.
There was a time, not that long ago, when I believed that the kind of transparency and resolution that electrostatics offered, combined with their musicality, was not a realistic ask, and all these elements simply could not exist together. I was wrong. I now hold a nonexpiring, lifelong passport to this electrostatic world.An electrostatic’s many talents— lightspeed transients and dynamic shifts, seethrough resolution—are a direct result of decreased mass—no magnets, no moving coils, as STAX, the pioneer in the electrostatic industry,“STAXstates:chose the electrostatic technology for its ability to produce transparent sound, and low weight for comfort/ergonomics, both due to the driver design not employing fixed magnets and moving coils, as opposed to other common headphone driver designs. The minimal weight of the driver ensures a very quick response to the signal, creating a more faithful sound reproduction.” This, of course, leads to a complete rediscovery of one’s music and especially so if
ZMF ATRIUM audiokeyreviews.com
Tamara De Lempicka - Lys et roses
THE SOUND This is my third go round with the ZMF line of headphones. The first was with its entry level headphone the ZMF Atticus (HIGH NINES AWARD) and the second was with its former flagship, the Véríté (DIAMOND AWARD). As I said in the ZMF Véríté review relative to the ZMF Atticus, “ZMF Véríté does a good deal better and in every respect.” Well, here we are again and the newest ZMF Top-ofthe-Line (TOTL)—the Atrium—exceeds the Véríté in, literally, every respect. I pray that Zach does not come out with an even better headphone, lest I have to repeat myself again and writers dislike that intensely!
The new ZMF Atrium represents a cutting edge design that employs a bio-cellulose driver, adds a patent-pending damping system— Atrium Damping System—, repositions the
REFRAIN: Unlike most reviews, this review will be non-sequential, as it will start with how the equipment actually sounds and not the process of physically “undressing” it and/or laying out its various accoutrements, specifications, etc. Think of this review then, as a non-linear movie—Memento, Kill Bill, Pulp Fiction, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, The Queen’s Gambit, In the Shadow of the Moon, etc—that, likewise, starts at the end and winds its way to the beginning.
ZMF ATRIUM said music is a live recording, or choral or symphonic music at which electrostatics excel. After experiencing what electrostatic headphones do for this kind of music, I would not even contemplate listening to it unless it was with a pair of electrostatic headphones. However, in terms of the other headphone the exponential rise of technological discovery and its implementation across all segments of society, worlds can, indeed, collide. This brings me to my review of yet a third ZMF Headphone—the Atrium—which sits at the apex of the ZMF range as its new Top-of-theLine (TOTL) headphone, and there is more within these gorgeous headphones, a great deal more, than meets the eye or ear.
drivers, and reworks the grill and cup venting. The result—lower distortion, even diffusion, and a more open sound. A further and most profound result is the synthesis or tribridization of three formerly disparate worlds—electrostatic, planar, and dynamic— intoTheone.ambiance of a live performance, a chorus, or a symphony is captured by the ZMF Atrium as if it were an electrostatic headphone, and a very good one. All the air and height, the spaciousness and treble reach, are easily brought to life by the Atrium to my shocked and enduring surprise. How is this possible?Theparallels continued with the articulationincredibleofwords, lyrics and lines that in many cases had finally faced the light of day for the very first time, over decades of listening. Donny Hathaway’s back and forth conversations with the audience on his Live album (Rhino Atlantic) revealed for the first time, and with outstanding clarity and ease, EVERYTHING that was being said. And on Voces8’s “Prayer to a Guardian Angel” (Lux, Decca Music Group) the wording of the second line has long been obscured, and with certain components, seemed to be in another language entirely. I figured it was a recording issue. The Atrium, however, solved the issue and laid bare the wording for the very first time. Imagine my surprise.Certainly its combo—Accustic Arts Player but even electrostatics as well. There is only one exception—the STAX SR-X9000—which sits easily at the apex of all headphones that I have ever heard to date (things change). There is also, as embodied by the ZMF Atrium, nuance and refinement, a richness of emotion and authenticity that recall vinyl and reel-to-reel master tapes. No kidding!The
ZMF ATRIUM combination is sublime in the extreme and compels one into a deep, immersive experience that is almost impossible to pull away from. These are not idle words. choral and symphonic music were all back on the menu, and the Atrium challenged and even dethroned a couple of electrostatic headphones! The overall experience was immensely enjoyable. The ZMF’s Atrium’s volumetric cube— sound stage—is immense and challenges all electrostatics heard to date in the areas of import, namely depth, width and height. The Atrium’s abilities to position, layer, and provide spaciousness and air are those of an electrostatic headphone and not merely electrostatic-like. As I said of the Atrium’s “…the Atticus peeked in or touched down momentarily on the world of electrostatics, the Véríté stares into that world and lingers, comfortable with its relative abilities.” The Atrium, in terms of the above, belongs, decidedly, to this world— electrostatic—and it belongs to the planar world and, of course, the dynamic headphone world. Tribridization. I did not think this would be possible for some time to come, even with the rapid technological advancement and the processes currently in play. It is, however, here now.
The ZMF Atrium was partnered with the Accustic Arts Player II CDP, Grimm Audio MU1, the Mola Mola Tambaqui DAC as both DAC and balanced headphone amplifier, the Bricasti M1 DAC, the DENAFRIPS Pontus II DAC, the LTA Z10e HPA/integrated. Cabling was Audience Front Row and power conditioning was handled by the RSX Power8 and TORUS RM20. evaluation. BASS Dave Holland’s Emerald Tears (Emerald Tears, ECM) cues for play and its resolution, clarity,
detail is stark and unremembered from previous hearings. The notes from the upright bass appear to emanate from a black-quiet background, fully formed, textured—one hears the material composition of the strings—and rich, tonally and timbrally. In this respect, it becomes a very personal performance and is one of the most compelling listens to of this track, to date. Eiji Oue’s V. Infernal Dance of King Kashchey (Stravinsky, Reference Recording) cues now for play and the opening notes are THUNDEROUS! The bass across this track as rendered via the ZMF Atrium is a Midwestern summer storm—ominous, dark, ground-shaking. The gold of the Atrium’s planar and dynamic traits comes to the fore. With its sibling—ZMF Véríté—I described the opening notes of this track as, “tumultuous, propulsive, beautifully resolved, and fast.” I’m sure, at this point, that you’re not surprised that the Atrium goes one better, and in every respect, in the fashion of a line’s TOTL. As a final test of bass response, I queued up Massive Attack’s “Angel” (Mezzanine, Circa). Angel is not, necessarily, an easy track to render well. Some headphones produce the bass very well, but all else can be, well, marginally congested. Others separate the mix beautifully, but cannot render the bass to anywhere near Holy-Bass-Head-Grail levels. The Atrium sailed through this track beautifully, easily resolving the mix and entering the stygian depths of the Holy-BassHead-Grail with fierce determination. I have never heard this track sound more propulsive and more musical and more finely sorted. While the ZMF Atrium was exquisite with other associated gear, its best synergy was with the Grimm Audio MU1 (via AES/EBU)/Mola Mola Tambaqui combo. Perhaps the subterranean noise floor exhibited by the trio and delivered straight, no ice, no chaser, to the ZMF Atrium was what made all the difference. Mind-boggling. MIDRANGE Emily D’Angelo’s “Fólk fær andlit” (enargeia, Deutsche Grammophon) begins. It has a somber, brooding beauty. Its stage—the breadth and depth of the conjured images—is extensive, the images within are fixed and beautifully resolved, and Emily’s voice is of flesh, holographic, centered. Tone and texture, nuance and refinement are truly superb, bringing a “thereness”—as in you are there—to the music. Emily’s portrayal of “Penelope: IV The Lotus Eaters” via the Atrium is the definition of palpability, as she is there, solidly, on stage, while the air of the venue—stage, studio, etc.—wraps around her, and her voice echoes and diminishes in a most natural manner. Olafur Arnalds’ “Árbakkinn” (Island Songs, Mercury (Universal France)) is a last guilty pleasure in what is becoming an overlong review. The Atrium resolves great detail and air, while conjuring tone, texture, richness, and then the weight of poet Einar Georg Einarsson’s voice to a degree beyond
even that of the STAX SR-X9000, no small tasks.CanBreathtaking!aheadphone be exceptionally resolving, detailed, flesh-and-bone palpable, tonally and timbrally natural, and sweet? Further, can it also be lightning fast, possessed of light-speed transients, and offer up a wealth of inner detail?
The ZMF Atrium says, “Yes.” With one exception to date, the STAX SRair, ‘treblespeed,height’, and resolution, the Atrium knows not these bounds.
Emmanuelle Bertrand’s rendition of “Cello Concert No. 1 A Minor, Opus 33, Allegro non troppo” (Saint Saëns: Cello Concerto No. 1 Sonatas No. 2 & 3, Harmonia Mundi) enters transient quick and beautifully played. The strings of her cello are textured, rich, resolute, and brimming with inner detail and insight into both the music and Ms. Bertrand’s playing. Another track, and then the entire album plays through so very quickly via the Atrium’s rendering. Apparently, this happens when one is drawn so completely and willingly into the music. Jordi Savall’s “Les Pleurs, for 2 basse de selfsame texture, openness, incredible resolution, and sublime tonal/timbral beauty.
The Dave Brubeck Quartet’s “Take Five” (Time Out, Columbia Records) rolls in from the playlist and the detail, the air-infused cymbals, the realism, the speed mean the Atrium is again being it electrostatic self. This is another example of the woven gold of three headphone ZMF ATRIUM
Pros
technologies as one or, when needed, just one. Sublime. CONCLUSION Wow! I’ve just come upon a headphone—the ZMF Atrium—that bridges three separate headphone technologies/worlds in a single form. And not in a slipshod fashion, given that it rises to TOTL status across all three worlds and at nearly half to one third the cost of the reigning TOTLs. Further, it does all of the above while being absolutely gorgeous. The Atrium’s abilities are without question, and to date it is without a like competitor that can so successfully and easily bridge the three technologies/worlds. In this respect, the Atrium stands alone. A salute must be given to Zach, Bevin, and ZMF. Salute!
Cons: None. THE COMPANY ZMFZMF Atrium contactZMF@gmail.comwww.zmfheadphones.com$2499 AKRM
The Atrium is also very congenial in that it will perform exceedingly well with all partners —DAPs, desktop kit, HiFi, and Ultra HiFi. Though there was considerable synergy with the Mola Mola Tambaqui, Accustic Arts Player II, LTA Z10e, HeadAmp GS-X Mini, etc. If you are first and foremost a music lover the Atrium will not fail to draw you in via its numerous talents. It is a little as though you were sitting on the event horizon of a Black Hole, another situation impossible to escape being drawn into.Well, in terms of headphones, it almost seems anticlimactic to honor the ZMF Atrium with our highest award. But it has earned that award by ticking off boxes in every category of importance for headphones and moving past all of its worthy competitors, save one—the STAX SR-X9000 ($6,200)—with relative ease. Without further delay, the ZMF Atrium receives our highest honor—the DIAMOND AWARD—for its ability to transcend worlds via the juxtaposition of the best traits/abilities gathered from each of the three headphone worlds. : An GorgeousPricetone/timbre,clothing.headphone—tribrid—inelectrostatic/planar/dynamicdynamicheadphoneOutstandingmusicality,richnessoftransparency,andresolution.toperformanceratio.TheSeahorsecase.aesthetic.
By K. E. Heartsong HEADAMP GS-X MINI
PARASOUND, STAX, THORENS, etc.—that through thick and thin bring HiFi—High Fidelity—playback continuously forward. And then there are those small concerns that are mostly unknown outside of the HiFi arena. They who possess great passion, who press forward, against the odds, to bring exceptional products to the market. More often than not it is a passion born from a respect and reverence
HEADAMP GS-X MINI audiokeyreviews.com
A s Gomer Pyle, of the TV series Gomer Pyle U.S.M.C., was wont to say, “Surprise, surprise, surprise!” It is this dictum of Private Pyle that greets me almost every time I welcome a new review product into my listening room. More often than not the component in question more when it ‘surprises’ in a different direction and one can scarcely believe that it is the same product researched. Yikes! These instances are ‘black-holed’ never to be heard from again. What’s the point of a bad or ‘flaming review’? I go on and on about the rise of technology across High-End audio, which appears to be one of the few areas where this rise consistently brings forward positive, welcomed results. It also brings what was ‘state-of-the-art’ and financially out of reach for a good many of us a few short years ago within reach and affordable. Thumb-Drives and R2R DACS, desktop streamers, streaming audio, DACenabled headphone amps, etc. are but a few of the many such benefits derived from the march of technology. Huzzah!
Henri Cartier Bresson
THE SOUND Musical. Transparent. Otherworldly engaging. I could not identify the tube-like voicing that formed one half of its hybridization—tube and solid state design. Was it an EL34, 845, EL84, 6550, 300B, KT88, etc? Or perhaps some hybridization or cross of several tube-like voicings? Whatever the combination, the HeadAmp GS-X Mini’s voicing is mesmerizing —richly musical via a tonal/timbral balance that is both rich and natural, and yet, exceptionally resolving. Know that long, contented hours will be spent re-listening to your favorite albums with the HeadAmp GS-X Mini.Further, the GS-X Mini's dynamic range— difference between quietest and loudest sounds —is exceptional, via a very low noise floor intruding into the musical signal, superb resolution, and truly wonderful treble extension. Dynamics are lickety-split fast and and love for music and a want to share that passion with others. This brings me to the company HeadAmp based in Virginia, run by the very affable Justin Wilson, and to the subject of the review—the HeadAmp GS-X Mini ($1,995). The HeadAmp GS-X Mini is a headphone amplifier with the power to drive headphones, of all types, that belies its quite diminutive form, and it drives them, without exception, beautifully and well. I had the absolute pleasure of reviewing its elder (read more expensive) sibling, the Blue Hawaii Special Edition ($6,995) electrostatic headphone amplifier. It is a Top-of-the-Line (TOTL) product with few equals and has been impossible to part from. So it remains part of my reference system, to this date. Does the GS-X Mini merit such accolades? Will it too be impossible to part with?
Arrival, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, The Terminator, In the Shadow of the Moon, The Queen’s Gambit, etc—that, likewise, starts at the end and winds its way to the beginning.
REFRAIN: Unlike most reviews, this review will be non-sequential, as it will start, below, with how the equipment actually sounds and not the process of physically “undressing” it and/or laying out its various parts, specifications, etc. Think of this review then, as a non-linear movie—Memento, Kill Bill, audiokeyreviews.com
microdynamics and spatial details are easily unburied across both the sparse and densely arranged musical passages. And there is both nuance and refinement at the heart of the GS-X Mini. Delicious! Or so say my ears. Are there better headphone amplifiers? There are—the Mola Mola Tambaqui ($13,500) LTZ Z10e ($7,500), the Enleum AMP-23R ($5,500) (The 3)—but you will have to pay a great deal more than the GS-X Mini to get anywhere near significant improvements above the GS-X Mini. And this is saying quite a bit, as the listed amplifiersheadphonewereall TOTL components and multiple award venue—isrecreatessoundstagevolumetricThewinners.GS-XMini’scube—itsorhowittheoriginalbothwide and quite deep when called for. In this respect, you’ll most probably add more depth and width and height to your various media upon listening. The GS-X Mini’s Staging—its ability to both place and separate musicians, to layer them relative to each other from the front stage to its depth—is fantastic. Far better than any $1,995 headphone amplifier has a right or the ability to render. As I had written in the review of BHSE, its sibling, “The musician at the rearmost part of the stage will be easily identified and that player’s contribution made relevant, where it had not before even been heard.” The beautifully constructed ‘apple’ does not, apparently, fall far from its technological tree. The GS-X Mini was paired with a front-end that consisted of the Grimm Audio MU1 streamer, the Mola Mola Tambaqui DAC, Bricasti Design M1SE, and the DENAFRIPS Pontus II DAC. It merited Top-of-the-Line power conditioner. BASS Rumbling. Deep. Substantive. By now those who have read any of my reviews know that my go to for bass response investigation is Eiju Oui’s Stravinsky (Reference Recording). Why? It is a smorgasbord of tectonic, dynamic shifts, HEADAMP GS-X MINI
Kashchey” (Stravinsky, Reference Recording) plays and brings forward the deep subterranean rumble of a California earthquake (of which I’ve had more than my fair share!). The GS-X Mini is only bettered in this respect by the two and a half times more expensive Enleum AMP-23R, which brought higher Richter-Scale bass impact. Driving, taut, and transient quick is the GS-X Mini’s rendering, as the multiple tympani coordinate for their subterranean dive to the Holy-Bass-Head-Grail. Follows Christian McBride’s “Fat Bach and Greens” (Conversations with Christian, Mack Avenue Records)—that I Regina’s violin dueling or doing their ‘call and response’, texture, palpability, and microdynamics are liberated. I’m afraid it’s playing with the big boys (read more expensive) here. There is not quite the resolution of The 3, but then each one of those is more expensive than the GS-X Mini in multiples!
MIDRANGE Transparent. Musical, musical, musical. Palpable. Textured. The midrange of the GS-X Mini is singularly detailed, resolving, dynamic, and, coupled with its musicality and its audiokeyreviews.com
It is, perhaps, the most incredible, if not the best IEM that I have ever had the opportunity to review, let alone listen to. —Kermit Heartsong, AudioKeyReviews.com obravoaudio.com/en
Vincent Van Gogh - Daisies and Poppies
HEADAMP GS-X MINI
textured palpability, one experiences sublimemomentary-catatonia.
In this case, said catatonia is induced by Muddy Waters’ Folk Singer (Geffen) with its you-are-there realism and stop and start dynamics, as the air swirls, inhaled, exhaled, and as though excited by the various guitars and drums from within and around the musicians’ bodies. From “My Home is in the Delta” to “You Can’t Lose What You Never Had” there are in-and-out bouts of lookingheadphonesofthatpalpabilitydimensionality,X’sDidmomentary-catatonia.sublime-ImentiontheGS-abilitytobring3-‘sohard’therearemomentsshiftingoffone’sandabouttheroom to determine where a particular sound has emerged from? Just saying. Moving from Muddy’s voice to Mercedes Sosa’s “Kyrie [Vidala-Bagula]” ( Criolla, Universal Music Argentina S.A.) brings Sunday mass with full choir after Saturday night’s barroom rollicking. May I have another bout of sublime-momentary-catatonia, please? Yes, you may. And so it was. The depth and width and deep-bass gravitas of this opening movement is powerful, and, if well rendered, offers a vast and holographic venue, a compelling visual, and a powerful sobering mix. The GS-X brought it all! And what was a one track review of this album became, again, a whole album review of Misa Criolla. Brilliant!
TREBLE+ Extended. Silken. Resolving. I again mostly followed the same path, in terms of musical Mini made no excuses for its rendering of the performance, as it clearly didn’t have to. Threedimensionality was fully intact once again, as Paul Desmond’s textured, sonorous saxophone spoke as though in a live performance. Hilary Hahn’s The Essential Hilary Hahn. provided revelations that were like triple-chocolate cake and ice cream with a cappuccino, followed soon thereafter by a wee shot of a fine, smoky bourbon (Michter’s 10 Year Kentucky Straight Bourbon). In “Partita for solo violin No. 2, D minor,” to say anything other than that Hilary’s
KEYNOTE
violin reached skyward with a highly-resolved, silken richness that was beautifully textured, would be to miss the point entirely. And the GS-X Mini’s musicality pulled one deep into the music of this 17:46 track, as if the track itself were a quantum singularity which could not be resisted (see sublime-momentary-catatonia).
AKRM HEADAMP GS-X MINI
There were more than a few times when I sat, stared, and shook my head at the HeadAmp GS-X Mini, as it perched all humble and diminutive on my desk. “You can’t possibly be making all of this incredible music,” I’d think. Then I’d imagine it answering, “And ahh, what else is? Duh!” If I were a betting man, I’d say that this imagined vignette will repeat itself time and time again in the homes of those who have adopted this unpretentious, yet potent, headphone amplifier. The HeadAmp GS-X Mini offers up prodigious detail, and resolves beautifully with a richness and natural warmth that are both beguiling and compelling. It has one of the best dynamic ranges that I’ve come across at its price point. And, as I stated above, though there are better headphone amps, they come at multiples of its price. There are few of which I am now aware at anywhere near its price, or even at double its price that can compete. It is clearly deserving of our GOLDEN AWARD for its outstanding musical prowess as married to incisive resolution and detail retrieval. These things I had believed, not so long ago, to be mutually exclusive. I now find that they—incredible musicality and resolution and detail—are actually not so. My first awareness of this came from the electrostatic world. My latest revelation comes from this headphone amplifier. Please treat the HeadAmp GS-X Mini as if it were a TOTL headphone amplifier and it will rise to the occasion and act as one.
The track ended far too quickly via the GS-X’s rendering. That happens when the music sounds really, really good. Bravo!
CONCLUSION
Pros: Incredible musicality, sumptuous tone and timbre, 3-dimensionality, superb texture and palpability, incisive resolution, and detail retrieval. Cons: Ahhhem, two XLR inputs, perhaps a special edition for reviewers. Though I imagine space would be an issue. Just saying. (as outfitted w/ALPS RK50 support@headamp.comwww.headamp.comstep-less)
THE COMPANY GS-XHeadAmpMini $2,195
HIGH-END HEADPHONES, AMPLIFIERS & DACS
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\ Wassily Kandinsky - Dunaberg, 1909
mytek.audio
GESHELLI LABS
By Oliver Masciarotte
T he world of personal audio has moved in many directions since John C. Koss and Martin Lange invented the stereo headphone in 1958. Most of those changes have improved sound quality while making our listening more convenient as well. Bluetooth audio experience, we tweakophiles opt for wired ear or headphones and, to bring the electronics within arms length, savvy shoppers choose balanced cabling between source and amp. Toward that end, I bring you the killer combo of the $250 Geshelli JNOG2 digital–to–analog converter (DAC) and the fully balanced $220 ERISH2 headphone amplifier. Geshelli Labs is a private, woman–owned company based in Florida, with three generations of the Geshelli family contributing to the enterprise. Product names all relate to family members. When asked for a backgrounder, Sherri Geshelli told me that she and Geno started the company in their house. “When Geno was young, he always dreamed of owning nice audio systems like he would see in magazines. In 2016, Geno decided to try to make his own DAC…He worked on it for months before he was ready to show me. I was blown away when I heard it and encouraged him to make another to sell.” Hand soldered, in a plexi enclosure, a buyer loved it and told his friends. Initially assembling in their dining room, by 2018 they “…were busy enough to rent a garage with no air conditioning next to the train tracks. It was hot and loud but we were determined to make our company succeed.” Fast forward to today, where they are “…in a nice building, (with) two stencil printers, two full PCB assembly lines complete with reflow ovens, a wood shop, a powder coating shop and enough business to be able to hire both our kids and Geno’s dad. Geshelli is a true family operation.” To keep costs down, the ERISH2 is opamp–based. Fancy operational amplifiers are built from discrete parts, and will run you around $40 per channel. Modern integrated “chip” opamps are excellent performers, and most cost a fraction of what you’d have to lay out for an equivalent discrete amp. The ERISH2 uses two $6 OPA1612 chip amps along with four single channel buffers. All four channels, two each for left and right, are handled independently to achieve maximum signal–to–noise ratio (SNR) and minimum distortion + noise specs (THD+N), “basically at the limits of the opamps,” Sherri Geshelli told GESHELLI audiokeyreviews.com
LABS
Wassily Kandinsky - Munich Before the City
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me. The ERISH2 develops a hefty 2 Watts of power per channel, enough to cleanly drive even difficult loads. Buyers have a wide choice of case and fancy SABRE ES9038Q2M 2 channel monolithic DAC chip with the $50 additional Amanero USB input module. These days, I largely rely on USB rather than an AES/EBU digital input. The JNOG2 comes standard with AES-3 unbalanced and optical inputs. Before The Fire‡, Geshelli exclusively used AKM. To their ears, AKM chips are the most neutral and colorless they have found. After The Fire with AKM parts unavailable, Geno redesigned the DAC with the ES9026PRO, then the ES9038Q2M. Once AKM availability eased, he redesigned the layout for AKM again so customers now have a choice of sound signature or lack thereof. Geno tries very hard not to allow any “house sound” to weasel its way into the Rememberproduct.Imentioned “four channels”? One of the many things I love about the the amp nearby. You <em>did</em> purchase a minimum–length USB interconnect, didn’t you? Next to the appallingly poor jitter performance of a POF (Plastic Optical Fibre) TOSLINK cable, USB is stellar but that don’t mean it’s robust. Like me, good things come in short packages and passive USB cables should be kept as short as possible to maintain solid signaling integrity. Okay, back to balanced analog…Since a DAC usually stays snuggled up to your digital source via that minimal length USB connection, it’s noice to have your headphone amp close to your comfy listening chair. A balanced connection is far more immune to induced radio frequency noise that
an unbalanced link, which means a 15 foot run of high quality wire won’t incur significant high frequency loss or noise pickup. Another aspect I enjoy is the look. Cosmetics are important; nobody wants an ugly box polluting their living space, and the Geshelli combo has a fun, cozy aesthetic, with their dovetailed cabinetry and peekaboo front and rear fascia for the wood option. A young adult visitor to our darkened living room specifically gushed about the magenta internal illumination I had chosen…Oh, didn’t I mention? Both units have six user selectable colors plus off and white visible through the clear acrylic fascia option; mix or match mood lighting between your DAC andToamp.begin my listening tests, I chose the one headphone I had that included a unbalanced TRRS plus an XLR-4 balanced cable set; Meze’s fantastic Empyrean. At $3k, this is more than a bit of a price mismatch but at least the cans were not the weakest link in the testing chain. Once that choice was made, I performed a quick sanity check: does the Geshelli combo outperform my MacBook M1 Air’s headphone jack? Yes it did. In terms of bandwidth, clarity and midbass solidarity, the Geshellis won. Now it was time to muck about in the weeds… To get a better sense of the Geshelli fingerprint, I needed to divorce the electronics from the transducers. As it turns out, the Empyrean shares a connector configuration with my $2k Audeze LCD-3, another planar magnetic, circumaural design. Because of that, I could jump back and forth between the very flat, brutally honest character of the LCDs, and the fuller, more romantic rendition that the Empyrean offers. On Tyshawn Sorey’s album his regular knack for exceptional composition to uniquely explore other writer’s work. His version of the 1948 Ellis/Frigo/Carter standard, Detour Ahead, displays Sorey’s spare and tasteful drumming as it propels Aaron Diehl’s keys and Matt Brewer’s bass to a calming, contemplative conclusion. Via a well–defined, realistic soundstage, the Geshelli combo transmited not only each instrument’s timbral contribution, but the intimate and completely plausible acoustic space created by engineer Aaron Nevezie. No piano the size of Newark here,Atfolks!about the same price as Geshelli’s JNOG2 is Clarus Cable’s CODA, a DAC and
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HPA tucked into a rectilinear extruded aluminum case the length of a lipstick. The each other, the Geshelli combo consistently delivered a more spacious soundstage with a better balanced tonal character. Of course, you’d expect more from two mains–powered separates and you’d be justified. The Geshelli dropped me into the room that the Buena Vista Social Club band were playing in on the 2021 re–release of their pioneering acoustic Latin jazz album [Qobuz 96k]. On the third cut, El Cuarto de Tula, listen to the room microphone pickup of horns and percussion. There’s a short slap echo and beautiful liveness that close mic’ing would not capture. The evocative motion picture soundtrack for Where The Crawdads Sing [48k Qobuz] sent me into a wistful funk, picturing bygone green afternoons and evening cricket choruses in the Appalachian Mountains. The album was recorded on the Newman scoring stage at 20th Century Fox Film Studios, according to Stephen Marsh, the project’s mastering engineer. Marsh mentioned via email that the “…Atmos (version) should be up any day now,” but I listened to the stereo mix. The bluegrass–inspired cue titled “Mussels For Jumpin’,” though clearly synthesized in post from mostly close mic’d tracks, still painted a warm, charming and convincing portrait through both the Empyrean and LCD-3 headphones. Thanks to the Geshelli pairing, the many stringed instruments all sat in the mix without becoming a tangle, and the pick sounds near the track’s end were cleanly rendered. I thought one final comparison was in order; Sony’s PHA-3 mobile DAC/HPA. A used version of that unit costs about the same as the Geshelli combo, so I gave it a try…On the 2022 Hampton Hawes release “Four!” [Qobuz 192k], both electronics rendered an exceptionally wide soundstage though the PHA-3 did a slightly better job in that respect. The Sony’s low end was slightly less powerful and the top was a touch darker with a pleasant smoothness. The Geshelli combo traded refinement and delineation of individual instruments for marginally more subjective detail.
in the Morning
Edward Hopper — Cape Cod
GESHELLIGESHELLIinformation:LABSERISH2[E2] $219.99 GESHELLI JNOG2 [J2] $249.99 AKRMgeshelli.com GESHELLI LABS
Some audiophiles love MQA. When done right, I’m part of that crowd. MQA is a two step process. The JNOG2 cannot perform the final “unfolding” or decoding of an MQA stream but better quality software players can carry out the first unfolding to 96k or lower. So, lack of MQA support is not as serious a shortcoming as one might think. Even if your player or streamer can’t fully decode MQA, you get the benefit of their temporal correction, baked into every MQA file, that renders a usually subtle improvement in transient response. For this review, I stuck with Qobuz as I was in the middle of evaluating their new curated releases. If you’re a Qobuz subscriber, you can play along; my “OMas” playlists are all public. Also for this review, I stuck to Sonic Studio’s Amarra, my hands down reference playerDisinterestedapplication.in ostentation, Geshelli Labs believes in real world pricing with high fidelity performance. Their JNOG2 plus ERISH2 are a petite and potent bargain. With just enough character to put flesh on bone, the classy little twosome sets your music free without excessive color or dispensable features. Yes, you can spend more, far more, and will receive a tad more transparency or a huge clot of “character.” Mostly though, you’ll be able to admire blingy casework or glowing tubes. I recommend that instead, you opt for the glow of tiny LEDs and lovely, very affordable sound. Highly recommended. ‡ — On October 20, 2020, the Asahi Kasei Microdevices factory in Nobeoka City (Japan) suffered a disastrous fire that burned in their “Fab2” semiconductor plant uncontrolled for three days. According to AKM, the aftermath created “…supply chain interruptions for many end-products including, but not limited to, analog to digital and digital to analog converters (ADC and DAC chips), TCXO and XO Oscillators…and various other electronic components used in pro audio…applications.” Company
By Rain Jordan Painting by Rossetti
JOAN OF AUDIO I n the July issue of Audiokey Reviews Magazine, I promised that in the next issue I would conclude my article entitled, “Listen Deeply”, by providing a user-friendly list of recommendations on the “how’s” of cultivating the art and practice of deep listening. At warp speed, here we are in September. And already the evenings are beginning to to get darker and cooler as we reluctantly say goodbye to summer. However, all is not lost. Fall ushers in its own mystery and magic. One of its charms is that it is an ideal time to spin albums and invite a friend or two over for long sublime listening sessions. So, the following list of recommendations should help to make your listening sessions this season a more potent, influential and enriching experience. This is not an all-inclusive list of recommendations. There are numerous and varied ways to listen to music deeply. Many of these recommendations can be taken by themselves as whole subjects to be further researched or explored. Also, they are not in any particular order of importance. Try one or try them all. The key to listening deeply is simple, listen more attentively. Listen with your ears (acoustically) and your mind (mindfully) in the same way you’d use your eyes and your intelligence to read and absorb a captivating book. And if reading is not your forte, then skip the analogy. Music is a universal language. Reading is not required. We need only to bring our full presence and attention. The prerequisites are a love for music, and an openness to expanding your experience of music. Anyone can master this! Be intentional about your listening sessions. Make time to listen to music. Create a quiet space, without interruption or distractions. The more often and closely you listen, the more your listening aptitude and awareness will blossom. Listen to the entire album from start to finish. Play the songs in the order they were produced. There is nothing wrong with listening only to your favorite songs on an album or CD. It’s almost irresistible. But the album is the whole work of art. When you focus only on its parts, you will miss the gestalt of the artist’s music, the depth and breadth of their work.
“Put your thoughts to sleep. Do not let them cast a shadow over the moon of your heart. Let go of thinking” ~
Rumi LISTEN DEEPLY II
Vincent van Gogh —Sunflowers-1889
nordost.com
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meaningful information about the artists and the album, including the lyrics. The more you learn about the artist, their ethos, history, culture, their influences, the deeper understandingyourof their music will be. The liner notes will also give you particulars on musicians,accompanyingthevocalists, and their respective instruments. And, of course, the song titles and lyrics will provide you with insight and context. You will notice there is often a theme or a story that the song-titles and lyrics give us a glimpse of. Take note of the length of time of the album and of each song. All of these tidbits will give you a feel for the context, movement, and tenor of the album. Many, many years ago, I had my first listen to John Coltrane’s epic album, “A Love Supreme”. Before listening, I looked through the liner notes and noticed there were only three tracks listed, “A Love Supreme” Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3. And each track had a thematic progression; track one, “Acknowledgment”, track two, “Resolution”, track three, “Pursuance” and “Psalm”. Track three was 17.5 minutes long by itself. Although the entire album only totalled 33 minutes. And, interestingly, it was recorded in just two days. It was a highly anticipated album during Coltrane’s career. As a fan, I was familiar with his history and battle with drug addiction. I knew that “A Love Supreme” was an expression of that battle. I remember holding the album in my lap for a while before playing it. I trendy.sayinggenres.differentwholeness.despairaddictionjourneysalvationtreacherymirrorandsongitendeavor.andbelisteningsuspectedwouldaweightyemotionalAndwas.EachavividtellingoftheandofthefromandtoListentoIamnotthistobeItisquite beneficial to move out of your comfort zone and listen to what you believe you won’t like. Our music tastes are very personal, and we hold on to them as if they were part of our identity. And in some ways, they are. What we love is a reflection of
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culture, conditioning, and experience. I recall attending a Joni Mitchell concert awhile back. I was surprised to see there were hundreds of people dressed up like her. Women in maxi dresses with long flowing hair everywhere. And it’s not uncommon to see the same kind of cosplaying at other performances. So, we can see that listening to music we don’t identify with requires that we relax our preferences, prejudices and judgements. So be patient, it takes time to navigate through uncharted territory. We may not even enjoy our first listen to new music. Our brains will be so busy processing unfamiliar musical arrangements, syllables, rhythms, tones, tempos, vocal ranges etc. that our new genre may sound more like noise than music. A second listen or multiple listens will fully rectify the pandemonium. As you make headway, your preferences and judgments will give way to insights and appreciation. Your brain will have made new neural circuitry, and you’ll be listening from a deeper and more expansive place. Notice the soundstage. While listening, try to locate where the musicians and their instruments are playing in the stereo imaging or soundstage. Is the piano to the left of the soundstage? Is the vocalist in the center or off to the right? Where is the cello, the upright bass, the percussion, the electric guitar? Are some instruments closer to the ground, such as percussion or someone sitting playing a sitar, or higher up such as the harp or windchimes?
When you learn to listen deeply into the music, you will experience its dimensionality. The music takes on a life-like quality and your listening experience expands in all directions. Make comparisons. Listen to different versions of the same song. Before you do, remember to keep an open mind. We tend to favor our initial experience of a song. We decide we love it, and our bias is now firmly established. We hear another version, and it doesn’t measure up. Try and let that go. Approach the various versions of your beloved song as if you were listening to the song for the first time. Imagine that each version is the original version. Listen with beginner’s mind. Only then can you truly hear the song without the filter of your past experience and preference. You can now discern more clearly how each approach to the song differs and how your inner response differs. This is an enjoyable way to develop an openness and adaptability to a greater variety of music and experiences.Another way to use comparisons as a learning tool for deeper listening, is to listen to the same song or album on different audio components. In other words, switch out your audio components and notice the differences in your listening experience. For example, switch out the headphones, and listen. Or
switch out the amplifier, or the DAC, or your streaming service, or CD player, turntable etc. I recommend doing one switch at a time for this exercise. Otherwise, it gets complicated. Another option is to bring your favorite album to a friend’s place or a hi-end audio store and listen on an entirely different system. You’ll be utterly surprised by what you hear and don’t hear.Meditate. So much of our busy life is lived unconsciously. We seldom bring our full awareness to our everyday activities. When we are brushing our teeth we are making plans, when we are eating a meal we barely chew or taste our food because we are balancing our checkbook in our head. We put our keys or phone down and forget where we put them. And when we try to remember our minds are full of false memories and accusations. Our minds generate endless thoughts that we latch onto and embellish until we are living in an imaginary world. Meditation puts the brakes on this inner chaos and slows down the thinking mind. When our thoughts slow down we become aware of the inherent silence that is the core of our awareness. We discover a clearer deeper consciousness; a wakefulness we didn’t realize was there because it was covered over. Through meditation we become aware of what is unmistakably here and now. Thus, it makes sense that a mind or consciousness that is meditative in nature instead of anxious or preoccupied has the capacity to live a more authentic life. And that clarity allows us to use all our faculties more efficiently. In terms of music, we can listen deeply without interference. We can unify with the artist’s creation without impediments. If we can approach music in this way, as well as our everyday lives, we will be greater attuned to the infinite source of peace, love, creativity and the support of our Ultimate Creator. Pharoah Sanders expresses it this way, “The Creator has a master plan. Peace and happiness for everyone…”Listento live music. As I preached in my previous article, listening to live music connects you to its source and origin. You can’t truly know the sound of an instrument without hearing it live. Live music is the fastest way to learn to listen better because it is immersive. You are in direct contact with the sound of real music.Any of the suggestions above can help to cultivate a deeper listening experience. It is up to us to take time for music in our lives. The benefits of listening to music with a deeper awareness are many. Our capacity for inner awareness brings a positive effect to our whole lives and the lives of others. Listening to music deeply is a glorious way to awaken our souls in a world that needs our awakening. AKRM
Edward Hopper - Lee Shore, 1941
ROGER
THE MOST
AUDIO AURICLE No.2
Y ou’re reading this publication so, unless you were just surfing the ‘net and got here purely by accident, it’s reasonable to think that you must have some interest in High-End audio. And if that’s true, it’s also reasonable to think that you’re either currently shopping for, or at least open to the idea of buying a new system, some new component, or an upgrade to something that you’ve already got. Or maybe you’re a gearhead, and just like to keep up on (and be able to engage in intelligent conversation about) what’s new and interesting in High-End audio. Either way –even if you’re a pure music-lover and don’t give a hoot about equipment but still want to listen to it, you’re still, eventually -- whether for yourself, a friend, or even just to hold your own in an audiophile bull session -- going to have to decide which equipment to buy, to recommend, or to champion. So how do you do it? The best and most obvious way is to listen to all of the possible contenders with your own ears and to make your own decision based on actual experience. Unfortunately, that’s simply not possible. The last time I counted, there were more than four hundred brands (not models, but manufacturers) of Hi-Fi speakers. How can you possibly listen to even just one model from all of them? And obviously, if you’re putting together a system, you’re going to need to pick a lot more than just the speakers. In fact, even if you’re putting together a one-source, phonobased (LP) system, even to just to listen to ten, each (out of all of the models of everything available ), of all of the things you’re going to need becomes a truly mind-boggling task. For example, let’s suppose that you were going to audition only 10 phono cartridges (that’s 10 listening sessions), mounted in 10 different tonearms (that’s 10 X 10 = 100 listening sessions) ,mounted on 10 different turntables (times 10 again makes for 1000 listening sessions), connected to a preamp through 10 phono cables (time 10 again, makes 10,000 listening sessions),and you’d still have 10 preamps (100,000), 10 preamp to amplifier cables (1 million), 10 amplifiers (10 million), 10 By Roger audiokeyreviews.comSkoff IMPORTANT REVIEW SKOFF WRITES ABOUT THE BEST WAY TO BUY STUFF
Henri Matisse - Window
speaker cables (100 million), and 10 speaker systems (1 BILLION total listening sessions) to go before you had listened to all of the possible combinations available to you. As I said, simply impossible -- even to make a serious start on it! So what can you do to make an intelligent choice about what to buy? First, before you do anything else, decide how much total money you want to spend. (Be sure to allow plenty extra for the stuff that’s so good that you have to have it even if you can’t afford it – it’s cheaper in the long-run to just buy it now than to buy something cheaper today and have to replace it later. taking a loss in the process). Then think of where you’re going to put your system (in which room). If your room is too small to fit giant speakers, don’t even bother to listen to them. Unless your room is at least as long as half the wavelength of the lowest frequency the woofers will go down to [1], you won’t be able to hear it, anyway. So don’t waste either the time, the budget, or the Wife Acceptance Factor by shopping too big. Next, decide what music source or sources you want: If you just want streaming audio and don’t need a record player, a CD player (although, like LPs, they’re coming back), or an FM tuner or other radio source, don’t worry about auditioning or spending money on them. Also, if you DO want radio (FM or otherwise) consider the absolute level of fidelity that you hope to achieve. If you’re trying for very good but not the ultimate sound quality, you might want to consider a receiver. They already have a radio section built in that will save you money on a tuner and on the cables to hook it up with. Every time you can answer a question about your system in advance of actually going out and listening to things, you cut – probably vastly – the total number of things that you need to listen to before making your purchase decision. Want analog only? Good: No need to make a decision about CD players, radios, or other sources. Want bookshelf, or tower, or horn, or planar speakers? Having pre-selected one kind means that – unless other information comes along to make you think otherwise – you don’t have to listen to or price any of the others. It’s the same thing with a decision to buy tube or solid-state electronics or a separate amplifier and preamp or integrated amp. Everything you decide narrows the range of decisions you still have to make. When it finally gets to the point where you have at least some idea of what kinds of things you want to buy, read reviews. Read lots of them, preferably from publications and/or reviewers that you think you can trust. Also talk to your audiophile friends; read (or even request) the opinions of people on the internet, and even, once it gets to that point, ask for the personal opinion – not just a sales pitch – from the salesman at the Hi-Fi shop. The most important purpose of all of this information is not to help you to pick what you’re going to buy. That will only come after
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you’ve spent some time listening to the products you’ve finally selected to audition. Instead, it’s to rule out the things you know you don’t want to buy. As we’ve already seen, it’s impossible to audition everything – even in just one product category -- but you CAN take advantage of other people’s experience in listening to things to help you know, WITHOUT LISTENING, which ones you might like and which ones to avoid entirely. Gathering all this information can help you in at least three ways: First, it will help you to finalize your pre-planned budget and give you a solid point to negotiate around when it comes to making your actual purchase. Second, it will help you to get the best possible sound with the very least time wasted in unproductive listening. And third, the information you get that doesn’t help you to rule out a possible purchase may help you to rule it in and add it to your list of things to listen to and possibly buy. There are two things you should always remember, though, when it comes to making your final decision: The first is that, particularly for speakers, different things sound different in different rooms, so what you hear at the store may not be what you hear when you get your purchase home. Always, therefore, try to get an after-purchase in-home trial with return privileges as part of your deal. And second, while Input from others can certainly be helpful, and you ought to both seek and welcome it, in the end, it’s what you hear with your own two ears that should be the deciding factor. If you and the magazines or you and your friends, or you and the guy at the Hi-Fi shop disagree, don’t let yourself be swayed into buying something other than what you prefer. You’re the one who pays for whatever you buy and has to live with it. That makes your opinion the only review that matters.
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—END— [1] To calculate wavelength, divide 1100 feet per second, the average speed of sound in air at sea level, by the desired frequency. For example, 1100 divided by 30Hz equals a wavelength of 36.7ft, which, divided by 2, to get the ½ wavelength, equals 18.33 ft. which means that, if your room isn’t at least 18.33 ft long, it will be unable to propagate a 30 Hz tone, regardless of how deep the speakers go. And as the room length gets smaller, the lowest possible bass frequency gets higher, so if your room is only 12ft long, the lowest bass tone it will propagate is only about 46Hz (110023.913 ft. 21.913 ft AKRM
W elcome to AudioKeyREVIEWS! Magazine’s video component review, our first. In this respect, we ask for your patience as we feel things out and adjust to the tenor of the ‘video reviewing’ times. That said, we will approach the reviews from a perspective of brevity, efficiency, and, as always, getting to the dessert of the review—the sound—as quickly as possible. The various reviews will include products of all types—speakers, DACs, amplifiers, preamplifiers, headphones, IEMs, portable audio, etc.—and from manufacturers across the wide world. And in holding with our review philosophy, if a given component does not review well, rather than flame it or write a bad review we will return it to its manufacturer with the caveat, that, perhaps, our system synergy was not able to show it in its best light, or our quite subjective criteria was not met. And nary will a negative word be said against it. There is far too much negativity in the world and we do not wish to contribute to it. The reviews, in general, will be no longer than 5 minutes, as it is not about us but the product under review. Please do see our written component reviews for more COMPONENTS(detail. VIDEO ) SHORT & SWEET REVIEWS
Ansel
Adams
By Andre Marc
SCANSONIC MB1 B & MB10 SUB
Scansonic speakers come from Denmark, a Scandinavian country known for design aesthetics, and for those in the know, refined high end audio products. There are a number of notable HiFi brands that are based there, and one such company is Raidho, who make stellar loudspeakers. One listen, and it would be apparent their transducers are at the upper echelon. Raidho speakers are not inexpensive, and Scansonic is their daughter company, and the goal is to make speakers with Raidho goodness, but at prices that more people can afford. Raidho’s parent company also owns Gamut, another celebrated brand. With that in mind, we have the Scansonic MB1 B stand mount monitors in house, along with the designedThefrontposts,WBTtwoAroundpyramidinaribbonfeaturesThefetchingwalnutfinish,aforTheMB10stands,matchingandthesubwoofer.MB1Bretails$2699foreitherblackorwhitewithafinish$3499.speakera1inchtweeter,and5.25inchdriver,acurvedshape.backarehighqualitystylebindingandthereisafiringport.MB1Bisand manufactured in the Raidho factory in Denmark, not outsourced to Asia or Eastern Europe, which is surprising considering their relatively low price. Scansonic / Raidho takes great pride in their factory and quality control, and in fact for prospective customers, this link
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Edward Degas - Dancer, 1878
Brace Ball, principal at AV Luxury Group International, personally delivered the MB1 B and stands, and the MB10 subwoofer to our home. I happened to be the lucky recipient of the walnut finish, which was gorgeous. The subwoofer was in gloss black. The workmanship on both products and the stands was top tier, and even more impressive considering they cost a fraction of Raidho SET UP & LISTENING: The MB1 B was set up in a system driven by the Parasound Halo Hint 6 Integrated amplifier (review forthcoming), a Sonore microRendu streamer, and a Rega Planar 3 turntable and a Lounge Audio phono preamp. Cabling was a mix of Transparent, and Black Cat. Everything was plugged into an Audience power conditioner. The MB10 offers several connection options, but we went with subwoofer RCA line out from the Parasound amp, and ran the speakers full range. Dialing it in took a few days, but once we did, it was “set it and forget it”. After some hours of running the MB1 B and MB10 in, we got into some serious listening. And the time flew by. Before we knew it two months had flown by. As the summer
SCANSONIC MB1 B & MB10 SUB
is worth checking out https://scansonichd.dk/ the-factory/TheMB10 subwoofer is unusual in that Scansonic uses a class A/B amplifier instead of the typical Class D amp, They pack a low mass 10 inch woofer, and combine that with an enclosure ”tuned to match the woofer”. There are a number of fine tuning options on the back panel.
dawned, we were really craving 60’s rock and folk. We started with a rather obscure UK band called Living Daylights.The Cherry Red / Grapefruit label just released a digital anthology, Let’s Live For Today: The Complete Recordings. It is beautifully mastered, with alternate takes, stereo and mono mixes. Their best known song, “Let’s Live For Today” is presented in several forms, including UK, US, and Japanese versions. The jangly Rickenbacker guitars, the Lennonesque vocals, and the psychedelic overtones make it a true representation of the period, and also illustrates how influential the Beatles were at the time. The Scansonic speakers sorted out all the pieces of the sonic puzzle magnificently. All of the analog fingerprints and mix particulars were there. Other songs, like “Up So High” with fuzz guitar and quaint drug references, were amusing, and highly enjoyable. The Scansonics were particularly adept at rendering the mono mixes! Because they share a song in common, we moved directly to the legendary psych pop band, The Grass Roots. Their version of “Let’s Live For Today” is less Beatleseque, and more trippy. The Scansonics were a like a time machine, presenting the tracks from The Complete ABC / Dunhill Hit Singles with no sugar coating, or smoothing over of the recording artifacts of the day. being blended at the time. Perhaps one of the most seminal bands to emerge in the mid 60’s was The Velvet Underground. Ironically, they sold very few records, but became incredibly influential. audiokeyreviews.com
Tomorrow’s Parties” and “There She Goes Again” gave me great joy, bringing me back to my early teenage days, when my friends and I first discovered the album. The Scansonics were scary good at presenting Lou Reed’s guitar and vocals, and the odd ball touches, like electric viola, and the singing of German actress, model, and singer Nico. The speakers also perfectly accentuated the dark mood the album conjures up midway through, with songs like “Venus In Furs”, “Heroin”, and “Black Angel Death Song”. We then reversed course and listened to numerous new recordings, with better fidelity, but with no less creativity. One such example is the recent release from singer / songwriter Diane Coffee, With People, a 24 bit download. The album is sophisticated, incredibly melodic, and cleverly produced. There are a number of champer pop touches, and the perfect amount of layering to compliment Coffee’s cinematic songs. The Scansonic made this album sound wide and spacious, yet intimate at the same time! The opening track “Corinna With Colina” is worth the price of admission alone. The MB1 B made all the layers easy to process and also created a coherence that glued it all together. We also have had a somewhat of an obsession with Nordic style “Viking folk”, which many artists from Scandinavia have rcenetly produced, especially after the blockbuster success of the History Channel show, The Vikings. Heling, is one such band,
SCANSONIC MB1 B & MB10 SUB
Their album covers alone are iconic. We went with The Velvet Underground & Nico (45th
SCANSONIC MB1 B & MB10 SUB audiokeyreviews.com
with members from Denmark and Norway. Their new album, Drif, is chock full of ancient sounding chants, intoxicating rhythms, and hints of electronica. It is hypnotic, and breathtaking at times. The MB1 B recreated the panoramic scope of this music, and really quite amazed us with how much texture and precision it rendered the thumping drums and bassAdrones.vinylspin that really crystalised the strengths of the MB1 B and MB10 combo was English songstress Marianne Faithful’s Greatest Hits Her version of Jagger / Richards’ “As Tears Go By” is devastating, and the Scansonic trio let us hear the utter purity of her voice from her early days, and how the producers sought to not overwhelm her vocals with tasteful folk rock arrangements. A true highlight of our listening. We came to realize towards the end of our time with the MB1 B, that it’s midrange was silky, and transparent, and that allowed the overall presentation to be so wonderfully balanced. The speaker has the least coloration of any we have heard in it’s price range. It also showed no strain at higher volumes, at least in our smaller listening room. We must comment on how beautifully the MB1 B and the MB10 blended, and were seamless in presentation when dialed in. The MB10 added that additional layer of weight and substance. But note, the MB1 B offers very commendable bass performance, but of course, within the limitations of a 5.25 woofer. For smaller rooms, they are pure magic. The MB10
is an excellent partner for larger rooms. Even in my smaller listening room, the Scansonic trio was beyond reproach.
CONCLUSION: The Scansonic MB1 B standmounts are the best monitors we have heard to date under $3000, by quite a large margin. In fact, when my Spendors eventually have seen better days, the MB1 B will take their place. They are refined, addicting to listen to, and are lookers to boot. The optional stands work beautifully with the speakers, and even improve them visually, but their cost may give some pause, but they are very nicely made. If they were priced more modestly we would say they are a mandatory purchase. The MB10 is also a superb value, offering articulate, controlled, and very satisfying bass weight and presence. The system taken as a whole, really was a special combination. Of course, being designed and manufactured by the same company allows them to have common voicing. I would not hesitate to recommend the Scansonic product line to any music lover seeking, sophisticated, elegant, and transparent loudspeakers that are a pure bargain in the greater scheme. Great speakers.
ScansonicSPECIFICATIONS:MB1BSpeaker Price: $2699 for Black or White finish, $3499 for Walnut finish. Optional Stands: $1800 per pair Freq. response: 70 Hz – 40 KHz Impedance: 6 ohm Sensitivity: 85 db Enclosure: Heavily braced, rear firing ports Drivers: 1 sealed ribbon tweeter with kapton/ aluminum sandwich membrane. 1 Mid/woofer 4,5”, Honeycomb enforced glass fiber cone. Finish: Silk White or Silk Black Scansonic MB10 Subwoofer Price: Freq.Weight,$1699kg.:15,4response:25 Hz – 150 Hz (adjustable) Amplifier: 100W Rms, Class AB Inputs: Line as well as low impedance input Enclosure: Rear ported Drive units: 10” long throw, low mass driver –Finish:Down-firingBlack-silk or White-silk US DISTRIBUTOR: AV LUXURY GROUP Phone:Phone:www.avluxurygroup.cominfo@avluxurygroup.com866-791-6915(866)528-8085(818)927-7553 AKRM
Wassily Kandinsky - Murnau Two
By Andre Marc AUDIO
QUALITONHUNGARYPHONO-PRE
QUALITON PHONO-PRE
A udio Hungary made quite an impression on us with their X200 tubed integrated amplifier (review forthcoming/insert link). We were eager to hear more of the company’s products. The Qualition tubed phono stage arrived to satisfy that desire. Our review unit came smartly finished in polished stainless steel, and features an outboard power supply. The unit retails for $5000 in stainless steel, and for $4500 with a blackThefinish,Qualition phono stage is available with a Moving Magnet card by default, or a Moving Coil card, which can be installed at the factory, the dealer, or by the end user. The Moving Coil card is user configurable as well, for perfect cartridge matching. According to Audio Hungary, the preamp should work with virtually any cartridge. Ours had the MC card preinstalled.Thetube compliment consists of 4 x ECC83; 2 x E88CC NOS, hand chosen by Audio Hungary. Full disclosure, this is our first review of a tubed phono preamp. What we found, is that we having been missing out on what tubes can do for vinyl playback! There is a slot on the back of the main unit’s chassis that offers an easy swap out of the MM and MC cards. The cards can easily be accessed by removing four screws. Then it is just like inserting a board into a computer, snap it in, and you are done. The inside of the chassis features a smart thermal design for audiokeyreviews.com
Robert Doisneau
cooling and a well thought out signal path, is excellent, as one should expect at this price point. Thankfully, neither box has a large footprint, and are easy to insert into an audio likelihood of any interaction. No special tweaks were used aside from an Audio Art Cable power cord on the power supply.
QUALITON PHONO-PRE audiokeyreviews.com
Right from the get go, when the needle first made me sit up and grabbed my attention immediately because of the big, spacious sound of the mix. I have had this release in every format available, from CD to 24 bit download, to SACD. The Audio Hungary phono preamp made the album sound more coherent than any previous vinyl spin I had experienced. Hats off to Kevin Gray’s excellent mastering as well. It was time to pull out stacks of familiar records! One of my favorite all time folk rock records is the self titled 1968 debut album from Fairport Convention. After searching long and hard on ebay we finally scored a playable copy. Having only had pretty decent placed in the soundstage, and the various acoustic instruments had sublime texture. I had used Elvis Presley’s late 60’s recordings, remastered in 24 bit, 96 kHz, as references for several reviews, However I managed to score original RCA pressings of From Elvis in Memphis, and Back In Memphis just for this review. The Audio Hungary preamp brought these albums to life and were even more enjoyable than the 24 bit downloads, despite some mild surface noise. Tracks like “In The Ghetto”, “Inherit The Wind”, and “The Power Of My Love” had tons
Violin and Grapes
Pablo Picasso -
Simply divine!
of emotional impact and the Audio Hungary provided a wonderful sense of flow and detail. An album that has been tugging at me to revisit is Pete Townshend’s All The Best Cowboys Have Chinese Eyes, from 1982. It is a brilliant work, and recorded very well. The Audio Hungary was especially effective in rendering the bass lines, various keyboard parts, and Townshend’s lead vocals. I heard more space in the mix I had previously, especially on tracks like “Stardom In Action”, “Stop Hurting People”, and “Exquisitely Bored”.One of the final albums I spun with the Audio Hungary in the system was Rod Stewart’s very first solo record, The Rod Stewart Album, released in 1969. It is one of my all time favorites because of it’s rawness, and the contributions of Ron Wood on guitar, and Keith Emerson on organ. The album offers a mix of folk, blues, and rock. Stewart’s voice was a thing of wonder, and the Audio Hungary preamp was superb in rendering the different dynamic shades of tracks like “Blind Prayer”, “Handbags & Gladrags”, and a cover “Street Fighting Man” by the Rolling Stones.
Audio
$5000 Manufacturer product AKRMhttps://wellpleasedav.com/MarkUSriaa-corrector/27https://audiohungary.com/product/phono--page:importer:Sossa,WellPleasedAV QUALITON PHONO-PRE audiokeyreviews.com
CONCLUSION: The Audio Hungary phono preamp was an ear opener in several ways. It allowed me to hear what a high quality tube based unit can do for vinyl playback. Namely, adding harmonic richness and natural tonality, assuming you have a turntable and cartridge up to the task, and all your other ducks lined up. While not an entry level phono preamp, it may be the last one you need, as we found it impossible to listen to records casually or as background music, we just kept getting drawn in. Aside from it’s sonic virtues, we also love the Audio Hungary phono stage because it is made by a small company with a lot of attention to detail. As with the X200 integrated amplifier, the phono stage was a pleasure to use. An audition by vinyl enthusiasts looking for a wonderful tubed phono preamplifier is highly recommended. Product information: Hungary Phono Preamplifer:
Tamara De Lempicka -Vase with Flowers
San Francisco AUDIOKEYREVIEWSBYSERVICEPUBLICA legionofhonor.famsf.org
PREVIEW
TRILOGY H1 ENERGIZER
By K. E. Heartsong
THE COMPANY TRILOGY AUDIO Trilogy H1 Energizer sales@trilogyaudio.comwww.trilogyaudio.comHPA\E AKRM audiokeyreviews.com
“WwhentheDoctor is asking this question, it is anywhere across both time and space, anywhere. He is, of course, the Doctor Who from the BBC television production of Doctor Who, the humanoid, space and time-traveling alien.When I engage an electrostatic headphone amplifier, like the good Doctor, I too prepare to travel across both time and space, though my time travel is limited to the earliest recorded music (still available) to presently recorded music. And my space, well, it’s simply that of planet Earth, for now. Yes, equipped with a good to great electrostatic headphone, a good to great electrostatic ‘energizer’/headphone amplifier, and a comfortable chair, you are off across time and space discovering a plethora of musical venues—recording studios, stadium concerts, jazz cafes, symphonies, small classical quartets, etc.—as if you were seated in them.
“How’s this possible?” you ask. Of the various headphone technologies that I’ve experienced—Dynamic, Planar, and Electrostatic—electrostatic has, by and large, taken me more closely to the music via its extraordinary transparency, speed, resolving capabilities—penchant to bring musicians into focus—and its ability to, seemingly, recreate or transport me to the actual recording venue. It was a powerful discovery/experience for me this ‘Electrostatic World.’ And it is a world that I now travel to often, as there is, truly, nothing like it. Though the state of the art in other headphone technologies is very quickly approaching the same type of time and space travel (see Abyss AB1266 Phi TC, ZMF Atrium, ZMFButVéríté).even in this electrostatic headphone world there are continents, countries, states, and cities that are as diverse and different and compelling as wines. And this too is a reason why I visit it so often. This time my travels bring me to TRILOGY on this electrostatic world. And in particular the TRILOGY H1 Energizer, which will be paired with two longtime friends of this world, the STAX SR-009S and the Dan Clark VOCE electrostatic headphones. How is this electrostatic country different from the others, that I have traveled to date? How is it alike? What is its landscape? And to mix metaphors, its vintage?
Mary Cassatt — Woman and Child Seated in a Garden
RECOMMENDEDwebsite.COMPONENTS
W elcome to AudioKeyREVIEWS Magazine’s Recommended Components, which will become part and parcel of each of our various issues. The purpose of this section is to acquaint the reader with products—speakers, DACs, amplifiers, preamplifiers, turntables, headphones, IEMs, streamers, portable audio, etc. —that we feel are quite exceptional and rise above their like brethren. There will be three categories—Budget, Mid-Tier, and Top-Of-The-Line. In our Budget Recommendations there will be products that compete far above their respective price point and are, generally, also built to reflect this.Our Mid-Tier Recommendations will encompass those products within arms reach, in terms of relative affordability, that present value and a challenge to the vanguard of their respective product niches. Finally, our TOTL Recommendations will be composed of those products that are at the cutting edge of technological advancement now happening across the world. The three categories of recommendations will rotate across the various issues of our magazine and there will also be a fluidity to the products within the various lists. Things change and especially now given our current technological epoch. The various lists, however, will be fixed on the AudioKeyReviews.com
1. ASTELL&KERN SE180 $1499: A DAP that travels and that does not leave one yearning for one’s home-based desktop or even one’s HiFi system! I would have thought the SE180 the TOTL DAP when judged by its abilities, but it’s not. 2. BURSON AUDIO CONDUCTOR 3XP $1399: The Burson Audio Conductor 3XP delivers a transparent, natural, and highly engaging, musical experience, well beyond its price point. The Burson Conductor 3XP is highly recommended! 3. STAX SRM-500T $1340: For those new to electrostatics the SRM-500T may serve as a beacon to a world that is immensely charming, musical, and communicates as if a breath of fresh air. It’s a great starting point. 4. ZMF ATTICUS $1099: Absolutely gorgeous in aesthetic, prodigiously musical, mesmerizingly transparent, offering an immensity of soundstage second to very, very few. And then there is its beguiling camphor wood aroma… 5. TRI-ART P-SERIES $995: It is a component made by a music lover and artist and, in truth, a visionary, who sought to provide more for the Everyman/Woman, whose hard-earned dollars deserved RECOMMENDEDCOMPONENTSmore…UP TO $1500
Paul Cezanne - Turning Road at Montgeroult,1898
Paul Cezanne
- Fruit, Jug, Dish
UP TO $1500 (CONT’D)
7. FIIO FD5 IEM $299: The FiiO FD5 from a design, aesthetic, build, and operational perspective is, indeed, a flagship product. It also provides a wealth of accessories that few flagships have, to date, matched.
RECOMMENDEDCOMPONENTS
6. SCHITT FREYA for $899: The Schiit Freya+ gets our highest recommendation. For $899 you get a triple mode line stage, with a 128 stepped attenuator, rarely used but beautiful sounding 6SN7 tubes and a nice metal remote control.
9. AudioQuest DragonFly Cobalt $299: Music via the DragonFly Cobalt will very much engage heart and mind and soul, above that of both its brethren, with a rich, natural, and transparent musicality that is highly addictive.
10. Clarus Audio CODA $299: The Clarus CODA is much more than anticipated, For the price, its decoding Strengths, its musicality, solid build, the CODA has few if any competition at its price point., very highly recommended!
8. iBASSO AM05 $299: The AM05 is very well made, aesthetically quite beautiful, and provides for one of the most easy to place and most comfortable fits for an IEMs that we have ever reviewed.
Edvard Munch - Beach in Åsgårdstrand, 1895
sĭn ʹ ər-jē▶
1,
MID TO HIGH-END
For us a Magical Synergy represents two components or more, that together make music far above what either make separately. Generally, we’ve discovered Magical Synergies via reviews, where we mix and match a good number of components to determine how one of the components—the component under review—sounds. And while there may be strengths and weaknesses between the various combinations, the Magical Synergy represents that combination which has very few if any weaknesses and a wealth of combined strengths.Inthis respect, we’ve done the homework for the reader by evaluating numerous combinations to uncover the Magical Synergy, as many of you may not have the time, options, or financial wherewithal to make these determinations. And Magical Synergies are not always uncovered in our reviews and or our research, as they tend to be, well, rare. A note on the various Magical Synergies that we uncover. We are music lovers first and foremost and not professionals who produce music or movies for a living and require different synergies, nor do measurements come into determination for us of what is a good Magical Synergy and what is not. No, for this we determine by ear, heart, and soul, that which moves us, provides for that “vibrational” comfort food, and a rich and engaging musical experience. The experience should, of course, come with sufficient detail and resolution and fidelity to recreate venue and/or the experience of listening to live music, when appropriate. After a long and trying day in this topsy-turvy world, wouldn’t it be wonderful if some small measure of nirvana could be achieved through one’s music and the components that play it back?In other words, our Magical Synergies do not render music that is dry, unengaging, subtractively neutral (see dry, boring, etc.), flat, or lacking in dynamics, when called for. Please find for your review a number of Magical Synergies below. Magical mă -k Of, relating to, or produced by magic.1 Syn•er•gy The interaction of two or more agents or forces so that their combined effect is greater than the sum of their individual effects.2 2 The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
əl▶
jʹĭ
MAGICAL SYNERGIES
T ransparency and resolution were quite good across the bass, especially good across the midrange, and exceptional at the edge of treble heights—cymbals, Hi-Hats, brushes drawn across cymbals—where it was clean, detailed and extended. The Ferrum OOR and HYPSOS are two beautifully designed components that together render a truly transparent, highly resolving, neutral, though engaging platform that lets one’s music be. There is exceedingly little to no editorializing, though the combo offers a wealth of options should one seek to ‘editorialize’ one’s music. The Ferrum OOR and HYPSOS represent our latest HIGH NINES AWARD WINNER and together they are highly recommended! The Atticus, undeniably, plays to the skill and abilities of its partnering components. Partner it with a Top-of-theLine DAC, headphone amplifier, integrated (as I did), and it will stand toe to toe with all comers and exhibit skills and abilities more closely related to another type of headphone altogether. Should you, however, partner the Atticus with lesser components, what you will hear are the limitations of those components and not the Atticus. Though even in this respect it will lift all boats. This is the classic case of Ying meets Yang and it’s brilliant! OOR/HYPSOS & ZMF ATTICUS
MAGICAL SYNERGIES UNDER $5k FERRUM
G orgeous. Incredibly transparent, resolving, detail rich, fast, fast, fast, and astonishingly musical.
The sum of the Véríté’s talents speak to something other than a dynamic headphone, something imbued with a good measure of the planar magnetic tribe, and, at times, the electrostatic tribe as well. An exceptionally talented chameleon able to meet the task at hand with all its best skill forward!
The Véríté is a TOTL headphone that will sound marvelous with a DAP, but it will be at its very best with top-flight, read, TOTL components of uncompromising abilities A time and space machine, indeed, for the when and where the Mola Mola Tambaqui transports one. Impossible it is, to write the concluding notes of this review, to break away from the spellbinding music or magic that this DAC/Headphone amplifier creates.Whether yours is a full-fledged stereo system that spans the width of a room’s wall where the Tambaqui is DAC or your system sits on small table, beside your most favorite chair, with Tambaqui as Headphone Amp/DAC, you will be more than well served. An internet connection to the Mola Mola Tambaqui, a USB cable from your computer, plug in the Véríté, and bliss! A simple TOTL system with few peers!
MAGICAL SYNERGIES UNDER $17k
ZMF VÉRÍTÉ & MOLA MOLA TAMBAQUI
STAX
Did I mention how extraordinarily immersive the STAX SR-X9000 is? Well, you will experience the sounds, the emotion, the ambiance, the ease, and even the ‘sights’—silverware and dishes clinking, the muttered voices of the inconsiderate, a waitress taking orders, muffled coughs, miscues, etc. It will all seem tangible and will be incredibly new to a great many. It was new to me and I have ‘mad’ years and much experience in this hi-fi thing. One listen. “You-are-there” describes succinctly my experience with the Viva Egoista STX electrostatic headphone amplifier. And it is an experience that will not soon be forgotten. As mentioned, the Top-Of-the-Line STAX SRM-T8000 is not a contender, though at approximately one third the price, it shouldn’t be. It isn’t. As I write this, there is no competition for the Viva Egoista STX electrostatic headphone amplifier. Where that contender may come from has yet to be discovered, but then competition is good, especially when the competition provides a different yet compelling perspective. Sublime musical playback from these two components that will challenge easily systems at twice their price if not more. In my experience there isn’t a better headphone system, to date, than this combination with TOTL components.
MAGICAL SYNERGIES UNDER $25k SR-X9000 & VIVA EGOISTA STX
Minor White
IN THE NEXT ISSUE audiokeyreviews.com 5 763 4 21
1. AURENDER N30SA STREAMER 2. AURORASOUND HEADA HEADPHONE AMP 3. MOJO AUDIO MYSTIQUE DAC 4. SILENT ANGEL ZI MUSIC SERVER 5. PARASOUND HINT 6 INTEGRATED 6. ABYSS AB1266 PHI TC 7. SCANSONIC MB2 B 8. NEODIO ORIGINE S2 CDP (not pictured) 9. AND other reviews, columns, interviews, videos, etc. NOVEMBER 1, 2022INTERVIEWSAUDIOMUSIC VIDEO REVIEWS
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Vincent van Gogh - Bulb Fields
Music is art, art is music.
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