The CAL Labs Alpha: A Tube DAC For The Ages?
Have you ever wondered — What does a 25-year-old DAC sound like? Well, I’m here to tell ‘ya.
Have you ever wondered — What does a 25-year-old DAC sound like? Well, I’m here to tell ‘ya.
Sometimes old is new again. I received this email from totaldac’s Vincent Brient on September 24:
A few (more) weeks with Junior.
What does the 22 Watt per channel, point-to-point wired, pure Class A Line Magnetic Audio LM-845iA Integrated Amplifier sound like? Perhaps surprisingly, it doesn’t sound like much of anything except pure power.
Do you know France-based Kora? Based in Toulouse, the ‘Silicon Valley’ of France, the company’s principals work in the Aerospace industry specializing in power supplies and signal treatment while also building integrated amplifiers that utilize tubes and transistors in an unconventional manner.
The hifi world is abuzz over the HoloAudio KTE May DAC for three reasons: it measures incredibly well, it sounds incredibly good, and it costs just under $5k.
I’ll have the fish, hold the chips. Something I’ve never said but I couldn’t resist playing with Mola Mola’s fish themed names and the fact that the Tambaqui DAC does not use a DAC chip for D to A conversion.
Vincent Brient’s newest creation, the totaldac d1-tube DAC/Streamer, which falls on the lower end of the company’s price list, offers the benefits of being imbued with the totaldac house sound. For anyone who has heard a totaldac or read one of my reviews of same, […]
The $2,000 H95 is Oslo-based Hegel Music Systems’ least expensive H series integrated amplifier. You could call it their entry level model, but that would be misleading.
I just dropped the Linear Tube Audio (LTA) MZ3 at our local UPS store. It’s hot (112, says The Weather Channel), so I rushed back home to the shady, cool listening space that is my office. On the way back, I was thinking about the […]
In Part 1 of our review of the Vinnie Rossi L2 Signature Preamplifer and L2 Signature Monoblock Amplifiers, we looked at and listened to the pre-power combo using the L2 Signature Preamplifer as just a preamplifier. Here, in Part 2, we’ll focus on the optional […]
Big sound from a little box. Isn’t that everyone‘s dream?
I thought it would be fun to share some of the tweaks I have been using with my system that have come from Intona Technology and Sonore by Simple Design LLC. These products include the new Intona Technology USB 2.0 Hi-Speed Isolator Model 7055-B and […]
Oftentimes, hifi gear that immediately impresses is not what you want. The same can be said for many things we encounter in life so we’re talking about common sense.
Most people want the same thing from a small speaker—big sound. Amar Bose went to some lengths in his Wave Radios to deliver on this promise but you can only twist the truth so far. The Wave Radio sounded like a big table radio. If […]
Imagine you are walking down the street on your way to your favorite restaurant. As you approach the front door of Chez Écoute, the door recedes. The closer you try to get to it, the door continues its backward slide remaining just out of reach. […]
If you’ve been here before, you may have noticed my affinity for Audioquest (AQ) headphones. Their sound made sense to me from the start. I’ve likely posted thousands of words about them. I know, enough already. Well, it seems we’re not quite done yet, as […]
The Audioengine A2 speakers and I have history. We go back, way back.
The last several years have seen Shunyata Research enter a particularly creative period with the release of the Hydra Denali Series and the higher performance Hydra Triton v3 power distributor. Caelin Gabriel, founder and President of Shunyata Research, has released his new version of the […]
Two channel systems with loudspeakers, or “stereos” as my childhood friends and I called them, and headphones have always run together, side by side—my earliest memories of listening to playback include both. I recall sitting on one end of our couch in the living room […]
Sonore has not rested on their laurels given the announcement of their latest products based around the new systemOptique. Sonore has described systemOptique as “a fiber optic Ethernet interconnection scheme that utilizes a new series of Sonore products with optical transceiver capabilities.” John Swensen has […]
“I hope they sound as good as they look” I heard myself thinking as I unboxed the Dynaudio Focus 30 XD. Their sleek, high sheen, high contrast grey oak high gloss finish gave them an air of 2001 monolith-otherness while standing inside the Barn. By […]
I know a guy who lives under a rock and he knows all about the KEF LS50.
The story of Manger Audio is a fascinating one as it is rich in history beginning in 1968 with Josef Manger’s first patent application. As we all know, 1 hifi year is the equivalent of 7 human years, seeing as some hifi companies in existence […]
© Twittering Machines LLC · All rights reserved | Privacy Policy & Cookie Settings