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Reviews of Attainable Hi-Fi & Home-Theater Equipment

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Details: Written by: Michael Wright; Created: 15 August 2014

Blue Circle PLC Thingee Reviewers' Choice In the original Perry Mason TV series (1957-1966), District Attorney Hamilton Burger (William Talman) is almost always the prosecutor who’s trying to jail the clients of defense attorney Mason (Raymond Burr). Usually, just when Burger seems finally about to win a case, Mason finds a way to reveal the real culprit and thus exonerate his client. So it is with me and Gilbert Yeung, founder and designer of Blue Circle Audio: He’s always saying he’s come up with a component that can do a particular thing, I almost always scoff at the claim -- and then he proves his point. Once, he said he had an amplifier whose output stage comprised 288 op-amps and could drive most speakers. I still haven’t figured out how he pulled that one off, but he certainly did.

Once, however, I did win a small victory: I told Yeung that the power cord he’d supplied with his BC6000 powerline conditioner produced an easily audible coloration. When the volcanic eruption from Mt. Yeung had subsided, he decided, in true Yeungian fashion, to offer the BC6000 with an optional IEC inlet, so that customers could use the power cord of their choice.

Details: Written by: Philip Beaudette; Created: 01 August 2014

Note: Measurements taken in the anechoic chamber at Canada's National Research Council can be found through this link.

Most people use their stereos to listen to music. Audiophiles use music to listen to their stereos.

A friend said that to me recently, and although I wanted to disagree with him, there was some truth to it. It’s not uncommon to hear audiophiles argue about the supremacy of tubed vs. solid-state amplification, digital vs. vinyl playback, or ribbon vs. metal-dome tweeters. Some people have more to say about the gear than about the music it’s designed to reproduce. We audiophiles seem innately wired to tweak the sound of our systems until we get it just right. Unfortunately, some people never really kill the upgrade bug, but instead constantly swap equipment in a never-ending quest for a sound I wonder if they’ll ever attain.

Of course, I still believe that people who love listening to music should do so on a good system. Life is too short for mediocre sound. But for most of us, that means assembling a high-quality stereo at a reasonable price, then enjoying it to discover music, rather than obsessing over whether it can sound better. A few weeks ago, I received a pair of Monitor Audio’s Silver 6 loudspeakers ($1500 USD per pair), the newest iteration of the smallest floorstander in their Silver series. Those last two sentences are not unrelated.

Details: Written by: Thom Moon; Created: 15 July 2014

Musical Fidelity V90-DAC Reviewers' Choice Musical Fidelity’s V90-DAC is part of the company’s reasonably priced V90 line, which includes the recently reviewed V90-AMP integrated amplifier, the V90-HPA DAC-headphone amp, the V90-LPS phono stage, and the V90-BLU Bluetooth receiver, for sending music from a smartphone or tablet to a sound system. Each model comes in a nice, champagne-toned aluminum case measuring a petite 6.5”W x 1.7”H x 4”D.

The front panel of the V90-DAC ($299.99 USD) has two small toggle switches: Power On/Off, and a three-way Input switch with settings for USB, Coax/Optical 1, and Optical 2. Two tiny LEDs alert the user when the power is on and when the V90-DAC has locked to a digital signal.

Details: Written by: Hans Wetzel; Created: 01 July 2014

Devialet 120 Reviewers' Choice Hyperbole is the scourge of high-end audio. So many professional reviews are full of grandiose statements about how life-affirmingly better a given piece of equipment is than a competitor or its own predecessor. “Towering achievement,” “revolutionary,” “astonishing” -- such phrases are thrown about frequently enough to dilute any significance and meaning they might still possess. This normalization of high praise means that a review that isn’t luminously positive is viewed as a middling evaluation, while actual criticism of any kind becomes a pan. Where have reviewers’ spine and integrity gone? There are, indeed, a lot of good products out there -- but only the very, very best warrant the kind of lavish praise we too often see.

The Devialet 120 integrated amplifier-DAC is such a product.

Details: Written by: Erich Wetzel; Created: 15 June 2014

These days, preamplifiers priced at or near $1000 are expected to do everything. Many are able to accommodate virtually any sort of source component. Are you a techie who has fun adjusting the multitudes of features available in today’s audio components? Or do you just want to turn the system on, set the input and volume, and not touch it again? The Rotel RC-1570 ($999 USD) is designed for both types of user. It’s a capable example of today’s flexible system center: the modern digital preamplifier.

Details: Written by: Erich Wetzel; Created: 01 June 2014

Note: Measurements performed by BHK Labs can be found through this link.

Parasound Halo A 23 Reviewers' Choice Parasound Products, based in San Francisco, has a reputation for building great-sounding consumer-audio equipment and selling it at reasonable prices. Many readers will be familiar with the connection between the company and John Curl, who since 1988 has designed many of the circuits used in Parasound components. Less well known is that Parasound’s equipment is in use in many professional film-sound and music-production applications. Professional sound design requires well-engineered, high-resolution gear that imposes on the sound as little as possible of its own sonic character. The combination of a talented circuit designer, great sound, and professional use often leads to high-priced consumer gear -- but not at Parasound in general, and specifically not in the case of their Halo A 23 two-channel power amplifier.

Details: Written by: Sid Vootla; Created: 15 May 2014

I first came across Line Magnetic Audio several months ago, while browsing Internet audio forums. There was a great deal of buzz about the company, and especially about their field-coil speaker, inspired by Western Electric’s 755A drive-unit. A search led me to a Chinese website that had some astonishing designs -- massive horn speakers, and amplifiers that took up an entire vertical rack, mounted on casters and sprouting exotic tubes and myriad gauges. They also had more conventional tube amps, one of which, the Line Magnetic 211IA integrated amplifier, I auditioned and used in my recent review of Contrast Audio’s Model One As3-Ref loudspeaker. I was very impressed with the fit, finish, and sound quality of the 211IA, which is based on the EL34 tube. Sridhar Reddy of ARN Systems, the Indian importer and distributor of Line Magnetic products, suggested that I consider reviewing the KT88-based 216IA integrated amplifier ($1850 USD), and was enthusiastic about its sound. I exchanged e-mails with James Hwang, Line Magnetic’s director of international sales, to learn more about the company and its products.

Details: Written by: Roger Kanno; Created: 01 May 2014

Note: Measurements taken in the anechoic chamber at Canada's National Research Council can be found through this link.

Definitive Technology ST-L Reviewers' Choice Not long ago, Definitive Technology made some big splashes -- first with the introduction of their Mythos ST SuperTower loudspeaker, and then of the smaller Mythos STS. These speakers combined high-tech drivers and integral powered subwoofers to provide high-quality sound from gorgeously sculpted aluminum enclosures. Five years ago, when I reviewed the Mythos STS, I was so impressed that I called it “one of the most exciting products that I have come across in a long time.”

Since then I’ve been impressed by other Definitive speakers, including their BP-8000 series of bipolar floorstanders, also with powered subwoofer sections; and the more conventional but extremely high-value StudioMonitor bookshelf models. Based on my experience with those speakers I’ve anticipated getting in for review a pair of Mythos ST-L SuperTowers ($4999.90 USD per pair) more eagerly than I have any product for some time. The Mythos ST-L was first unveiled last September, at the 2013 CEDIA Expo. After an agonizingly long wait, a pair of review samples finally arrived at my door.

Definitive design

So when I first heard that Definitive Technology was working on the new ST-L, I wondered how they could significantly improve on such products as the Mythos ST and STS SuperTower, which included a lot of forward-thinking engineering and were already innovative and excellent. After speaking with acoustical designer Tim Gladwin and reading some of DefTech’s promotional materials, it became clear to me that their approach was to significantly rework every aspect of the Mythos ST in what they describe as a “meticulous rethinking” of the original. Although the Mythos ST-L looks outwardly very similar to the ST, little in the new speaker remains unchanged from the old.

Details: Written by: Thom Moon; Created: 15 April 2014

Musical Fidelity V90-AMP Musical Fidelity has been mostly associated with hi-fi equipment above the entry level. But the firm’s recent introduction of its V90 models brings the brand into a price range perfect for the newbie or budget-strapped audiophile.

The company’s founder and boss, Antony Michaelson, told me that the V90 series was based on no overarching design philosophy. “Each unit has its individual purpose. The V90-LPS phono stage and V90-DAC build on their predecessors (the V-LP and V-DAC, respectively) to be ‘giant killers’ -- as good as anything at the price. But the V90-AMP grew out of my desire to listen to music via AirPlay without a lot of other gear cluttering my desk. So we designed a small, class-D amplifier that can handle both digital and analog inputs. We very much like that it’s unobtrusive in the way it works.

“There was a lot of design and programming that went into each of the products. We’re fortunate to have ‘extremist’ people who get it right. Sometimes, they take longer than I’d like, but in the end, they do get it right.”

Details: Written by: Erich Wetzel; Created: 01 April 2014

Parasound Halo P 5 Reviewers' Choice Today’s preamplifiers are very sophisticated, with wide-ranging sets of features and functions, and Parasound’s Halo P 5 ($1095 USD) is a fine example of a preamp designed to connect together, process, and manage virtually every kind of audio signal and transmission format. Its long list of features and inputs makes a reviewer wonder: in describing all that it can do, where to begin?

I’ll start with the exterior. The P 5’s pleasant appearance, in line with the styling of all of Parasound’s current Halo offerings, breaks none of the aesthetic conventions of audio equipment in its price range. The fit and finish are high for the price, and the P 5’s overall looks leave me with no doubt that most buyers will find it easy to live with. Its substantial-feeling 14 pounds are distributed evenly throughout its dimensions of 17”W x 4.1”H x 13.7”D. The rectangular, metal faceplate, available in black or silver, has nicely rounded corners and, near the bottom, a shallow, rounded groove that runs almost the entire width of the faceplate. At each end of the groove is a large button -- On/Off on the left, Mute on the right -- each surrounded by a soft blue glow (which changes to red when the volume is muted). Between these is a row of LEDs indicating which input is selected. There’s nothing on the faceplate, though, to indicate the sample rate of the digital signal.