MAGICAL SYNERGIES

UNDER $50k

AUDIONET PRE G2 & AMP/TRI-ART OPEN 5

Spectacular! Not everyday does a preamp and amplifier duo come into your life and raise the ‘living dead,’ figuratively speaking. Well, if you’ve gotten this far, the reference to the ‘living dead’ is clear They are wonderfully intimate, personal, and sweet when called for. Spatial recreation—horizontal positioning, layering, relative space, air and ambiance are, truly, outstanding! I listened to the Audionet amplification for nearly a full day and went to bed smiling, energized, and shaking my head. The Audionet PRE G2 preamp and AMP monoblocks are, if you will, velvet hammers. Should the program material require them to access the stygian depths of the Holy-BassHead-Grail, they will take you there easily and swiftly, as it is a path they know well. And in this Audionet PRE G2 preamp and AMP monoblocks are hammers. Yet should the material require a stratospheric rise to tip-top, treble heights, know you will be there in a flash and beautifully so and the material will be very well resolved.

The TRI-ART OPEN 5 at $7500 is a game changer in that it will challenge, easily, speakers at multiples of its price. All one need do to achieve this, is to establish its true sensitivity rating and feed it sufficient, well enabled power to bring it to life (100 watts+)! And there is its finesse, its open air ambiance, its wealth of spatial cues, and the incredible spaciousness, as a result, which, in my opinion, make it other—not electrostatic, not boxed, not planar—but perhaps some mix of all in addition to being open baffle.

MAGICAL SYNERGIES UNDER $25k

STAX SR-X9000 & VIVA EGOISTA STX

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.