A lot of gear comes through the Barn.
Some comes from companies that are very well known to most hifi’ers, brands that have a super high profile for good reason—they make great products and in many cases they’ve been making great products for a long time. I’m thinking about companies like EMM Labs/Meitner, Audio Research, Audio Note, and Technics to name but a few.
Then there are others that seem, to me at least, to be farther off the radar. The reasons for this lower profile can be due to the fact that the company is relatively new, hasn’t had distribution in the US or other major markets, or for other reasons that remain a mystery (to me).
During the recent CAF 2024, an attendee was interested in talking to me about streaming DACs. Specifically, which ones would I recommend. He already owns a very high end analog rig, associated electronics, and speakers but is relatively new to streaming. When I asked about budget, he wasn’t sure which makes sense as you don’t know how much you’re going to enjoy something new, like streaming, until you jump in.
I offered two recommendations—the Grimm MU2, of course I did, and the Wattson Madison. Two solid products from great companies at different price points. While he’d heard about Grimm, Wattson was a name new to him which also makes sense for someone just getting into streaming as Wattson mostly makes digital gear aimed at same.
So I walked away from that conversation as I have from others where I’ve recommended products from Audia Flight and Aurorasound thinking—I should write something to help raise their visibility (as best I can).
Why? Because each of these companies make hifi products at sensible prices, i.e. HiFi Bargains, that offer a bit more, something special in their ability to connect us to music and that’s worth talking about.
Aurorasound
Yokohama, Japan’s Aurorasound was founded in 2012 by designer and director Shinobu Karaki. Karaki-san spent 28 years working for Texas Instruments as a Video Business Unit General Manager of the Digital Audio group. He is also an audiophile.
With help from Google translate:
Our philosophy is to create audio equipment like craftsmen who create musical instruments, and we want amplifiers to be works of art rather than industrial products.
To my mind and eyes, Aurorasound gear looks the part of classic hifi and each piece I’ve reviewed represented exceptional value and performance. I became so enamored with the Aurorasound sound, I bought their VIDA MK.II Phono Stage and EQ-100 Variable EQ Phono Amp for playing 78s. I put my money where my enthusiasm is and I could easily, very easily, live with their integrated amp and less expensive VIDA Prima Phono Stage ($1920) especially when pair with a Denon DL-103. Bargain hifi heaven.
I’ve decided to step away from reviewing analog gear for a while so that listening to records is something I can do without thinking about the gear but every time I play a record, I smile over at the Aurorasound phono stage with a nod of thanks for the way it does what it does.
The reviews:
EQ-100 Variable Equalization Monaural Phono Amplifier
HFSA-01 Vacuum Tube Integrated Amplifier
VIDA Prima Phono Stage
Audia Flight
The first product from Civitavecchia, Italy’s Audia Flight to enter the Barn was their current flagship integrated amp, the FLS 10, a beautifully made beast of an integrated amp offering 200 Watts into 8 Ohms, 380W into 4, and 600 into 2.
On the last leg of the Fidelity Imports Italy tour of 3 manufacturers we learned that inside Audia Flight amps that are handmade in their Civitavecchia factory reside massive custom wound transformers handmade to the their specs by a local company, the largest transformers being larger and heavier than many Class D amps.
Here’s the first sentence from that FLS 10 review:
“The Audia Flight FLS 10 is among the most engaging integrated amplifiers to have graced the Barn. Its performance is in some ways remarkable while being wholly engaging in every way.”
The FLS 10 offers superb control with a sweetness to the sound that belies its purely solid state-ness. And in part due to its massive transformer, the FLS 10 delivered the best bass I’ve yet to hear from the Barn resident O/96 which may seem counterintuitive as the O/96 are a super easy load and many people believe are made for tube amps but the FLS 10/O/96 pairing gave me something I’ve not heard any other amp do. Something special.
I also paired the FLS 10 with the Sonner Audio Legato Duo (review) and Perlisten S5t speakers (review) and remarked, “…listening to music with the Audia Flight FLS 10 driving all three of these speakers, a pair at a time of course, was a wow-inducing joyride with all of the thrills, chills, and subtle riches music has to offer on very full display.”
I also spent review time with the least expensive Audia Flight integrated amp, the FL Three S that costs just under $4k, and was once again more than pleasantly surprised by its performance (and price).
“As I was finishing up this review I took a look at my list of Favorite Amplifiers and didn’t see anything near the FL Three S’ price that offers as complete a package.”
Anecdotally, I got to hear the FLS 10 driving a pair of Magnepan MG2.7x speakers at CAF 2023 and said this system “nearly blew the pocket doors off the place with crazy, beautiful music power. Do you remember how amazed I was with the FLS 10’s bass response? I was amazed, again, at this system’s deep, powerful growl. Nice!”
The reviews:
FLS 10 Integrated Amplifier
FL Three S Integrated Amplifier
Wattson Audio
For anyone looking to get into streaming without spending thousands or tens of thousands or more on a streaming DAC solution that’s very well made and offers performance that’s very easy to love, look no further than Wattson Audio. I reviewed their ANALOG Streaming DAC back in 2023 and said, “the main thing I want to tell you about the Wattson Emerson ANALOG is that it makes digital music sound inviting, rich, and resolving in a manner that serves the music not the digits.” Kinda shocking, to me, for under $2k and the Roon Ready Emerson ANALOG could not be smaller or simpler—Ethernet in, analog out—in a small solid chunk of aluminum.
The pricier Madison Streaming DAC upped the performance ante, “One remarkable quality that sings out from the Madison is its ability to convert a digital signal into music that’s imbued with a sense of clarity and the kind of resolution that illuminates music from within, seemingly devoid of a distracting sonic fingerprint related to the processing involved.”
The people behind Wattson Audio, founded in 2019, have been in and around hifi for years “as design consultants to some of the audio world’s biggest and highest profile brands” and their products are designed, engineered, and built in Switzerland. Back in April of this year, CH Precision, also based in Switzerland, acquired Wattson in one of the rare cases that not only makes sense as Florian Cossy of CH Precision and Alexandre Lavanchy of Wattson Audio first worked together in 2004 and as Alex commented in the related press release, “It’s great to be working even more closely with Florian and his team once again. Modern products are incredibly hardware and software intensive: combining the resources of CH Precision and Wattson Audio gives both companies unparalleled access to design bandwidth and capability.”
The reviews:
ANALOG Streaming DAC
Madison Streaming DAC
Great products from great companies make me smile.
