Articles Archive

MOON 491 Network Player Preamplifier and 461 Power Amplifier Now Available in the UK

Renaissance is pleased to announce that the new MOON 491 network player preamplifier and MOON 461 power amplifier have now arrived in the UK and are available through authorised MOON retailers nationwide. Building on the success of the award-winning MOON 371, these latest additions to the Compass Collection deliver expanded performance, flexibility and system capability.

10 Reasons to Own the MOON 491 and 461

A complete high-performance pre/power combination that delivers exceptional transparency, refinement and musicality.
The MOON 491 combines a network player, preamplifier, DAC, phono stage and headphone amplifier in a single beautifully engineered component.
The proprietary MiND 2 streaming platform supports UPnP, Roon Ready, AirPlay and Bluetooth, with Qobuz Connect, TIDAL Connect, Spotify Connect and access to streaming services via the MOON MiND Controller app.
Extensive analogue and digital connectivity makes integrating sources effortless.
An adjustable MM/MC phono stage provides precise cartridge matching for exceptional vinyl performance.
The MOON 461 delivers a class-leading 150 watts per channel with exceptionally low distortion and outstanding control across a wide range of loudspeakers.
Proprietary MDCA (MOON Distortion-Cancelling Amplifier) technology, developed from the flagship North Collection, delivers remarkable clarity, precision and linearity.
Proprietary MOON Hybrid Power (MHP) supply technology improves channel separation, reduces crosstalk and enhances current delivery for effortless musical dynamics.
Control options include a large colour display, CRM-4 metal remote and compatibility with MOON’s BRM-1 intelligent controller (available to purchase separately).
Designed and handcrafted in Canada using premium materials and backed by MOON’s industry-leading 10-year warranty for complete peace of mind.

“The MOON 491 and 461 have exceeded even my demanding expectations,” said John Carroll, Managing Director of Renaissance, MOON’s UK and Ireland distributor. “They combine exceptional engineering with superb musical performance, creating a level of transparency, refinement and control that is remarkable at this price point. I have no doubt they will become two of the standout products in the Compass Collection.”

The MOON 491 and 461 are designed and handcrafted in Canada using only premium materials. Each unit is backed by MOON’s industry-leading 10-year warranty.

UK RRP: 491 £5,950, 461 £4,550 – including VAT.

Renaissance distributes Audiovector, MOON, Nordost & VPI Industries products in the UK and Ireland.

For more information, visit www.renaissanceaudio.co.uk.

Butler, Blake & Grant

Butler, Blake & Grant may sound like a firm of solicitors, but it’s actually a new supergroup comprising singer-songwriter, guitarist and producer, Bernard Butler (Suede, McAlmont and Butler), Norman Blake (Teenage Fanclub) and James Grant (Love and Money).

The trio were formed when a mutual friend in the music industry suggested they play together for a concert in rural Scotland. More gigs followed and now the band have released their debut, self-titled album.

Writing and recording for it began at Blake’s home, on the banks of the River Clyde – the group were looking to capture the stripped-back vibe of their concerts, with guitars and vocal harmonies.

“We went up to Norman’s to hang out for a couple of days and see what would happen,” Butler tells hi-fi+.

“It really worked – there was no set way of doing it – we just sat around in armchairs playing, and James said, ‘I’ve got this tune…’, he started playing a song, and we joined in and started working it out together.”

He adds: “I asked Norman if he had any recording gear and he did, so we got out some mics and set them up in his living room – we had no headphones or isolation. There was no studio set up – just three microphones plugged into a computer. We said we would record everything we did – just press record and leave it. We did a song by James and one of Norman’s, then I wrote something quickly, overnight.” There were more sessions at Blake’s place, and then Butler took the recordings to his studio in London, where he added overdubs and mixed the tracks.

First single and album opener, ‘Bring An End’, which started out as a fragment of an idea on Blake’s phone, is a good indication of what’s to follow – a gorgeous and intimate, autumnal folk song with acoustic strumming, some delightful harmonies, and Butler playing some and inventive electric guitar.

It’s followed by the sublime, ‘One And One Is Two’, which is steeped in the chiming folk-rock sound of The Byrds, and was the first song the trio worked on together. It’s surprising to find out that it was written by Grant, as it has the sound of Blake’s Teenage Fanclub all over it.

Butler takes lead vocals on his own composition, ‘The 90s’, a wry commentary on his past, which is a jaunty tune with a retro-soul feel, thanks to its strings, Blake and Grant’s backing vocals, handclaps and some neat, ‘70s-style guitar work. It’s easy to imagine McAlmont and Butler recording it.

‘The Old Mortality’ – another of Butler’s songs – is one of the record’s moodier moments. It’s a dramatic and atmospheric track, with swelling violin by Sally Herbert, and would’ve fitted well on Butler’s excellent solo album from last year, Good Grief.

Grant’s ‘Girl With A Little Black Number’ complements ‘The Old Mortality’ well – it’s a dark and haunting folk-rock song that Grant says has a touch of Edgar Allan Poe about it.

Things lighten up, albeit slightly, on Blake’s ‘Writing’s On The Wall,’ which harks back to the comforting sound of the album’s opening track, ‘Bring An End’, but the lyric deals with a turbulent relationship, and the song is set in the distant past, in a seaport town in the far north of Scotland.

Butler, Blake and Grant will more than likely attract comparisons to Crosby, Stills & Nash, and they channel that on Grant’s, laidback harmony-laden ‘Seemed She Always Knew’, which was inspired by Joni Mitchell and has echoes of Laurel Canyon running through it.

The final song, the moving and partly acoustic ‘There’s Always Something You Can Change’, ends the record on a hopeful and positive note.

As you would expect from the coming together of three such talented musicians, Butler, Blake and Grant is a strong album of well-crafted songs that has a traditional charm to it.

The rural surroundings in which it was written and recorded have seeped through into the music – it’s ideal listening for when you’re sitting indoors by the fire on a cold night. Stick it on your hi-fi, pour yourself a wee dram and lose yourself in it.

Back to Music

D’Agostino Audio Pendulum

For those unfamiliar with Dan D’Agostino’s work, it reaches the heights of High-End audio. Before the Pendulum reviewed here, the starting point for the D’Agostino experience was the Progression Integrated, which begins its journey at a shade under £25,000. Therefore, the arrival of the Pendulum — a modular integrated amplifier that begins at £20k in its simplest form — is welcome. It can be customised to include a streaming function and a built-in phono stage.

The cost of the bits, i.e., the digital board, is £3.2k, and adding a phono stage will cost an extra £1,500. Therefore, it accommodates many preferences, and the additional costs are reasonable, especially in the context of high-end audio. However, as the cost breakdown shows, most of the manufacturing expenses are in the integrated amplifier section. Unsurprising, as this is D’Agostino’s primary expertise.

What’s in a name?

The brand requires little introduction, and although the full name – Dan D’Agostino Master Audio Systems – is somewhat lengthy. However, it highlights the significance of Dan D’Agostino. As the founder of the renowned Krell brand, Dan D’Agostino’s amplifier designs shaped and defined high-end audio in the 1980s and beyond. His original KSA-50, over 40 years old, still fetches a respectable price on the second-hand market.

In the 2010s, Dan left Krell to establish Dan D’Agostino Master Audio Systems. The brand’s first product – the Momentum mono power amplifier – once again set the standard for a generation of high-end audio amplifiers. Additionally, its innovative use of pure copper heatsinks as a visual element, along with that distinctive ‘steampunk’ display, created an aesthetic that D’Agostino continues to employ effectively.

Breguet-like

The amplifier has a very distinctive appearance. The front panel features just two knobs and a circular porthole, styled to resemble a Breguet Timepiece, encircled by a copper ring. Inside the dial, there’s an LCD screen displaying key information, such as the track name, input, and importantly, a fine digital needle indicating the volume level. Overall, it looks very elegant and quite minimalist. At the back, you’d expect to see a traditional line stage amplifier, with three pairs of balanced inputs and a pair of phono inputs, which is used for the phono stage if one is fitted. More on that later.

A headphone socket can be accessed by switching the output on either the remote control or the device itself. There is potential to install a digital board that includes Ethernet, optical, and HDMI with Enhanced Audio Return Channel (eARC) inputs. The DAC can support up to DSD256, 32-bit/192K PCM playback. The chip used is a Sabre DAC ESS9039Q2M, but the current setup does not allow for adjusting filter settings. This might frustrate dedicated tweakers, but it also offers relief to those who prefer a quieter life and do not wish to tinker!

Inside, there is a low-noise JFET similar to those used in the Momentum C2 and HD Preamplifiers. Three large bipolar transistors per side are mounted at the bottom of the case. A nearly 25,000μF capacitor bank complements a custom toroidal transformer rated at 750VA. Although the unit isn’t Roon-certified yet, I understand that plans are in progress.

Unique remote

Two Bluetooth antennas facilitate communication with the remote-control unit, which, in my opinion, is the most distinctive handset I’ve encountered in 20 years of reviewing! The remote is circular, made from Delrin—a durable black plastic—with a rotary dial and a mirror of the ‘watch face’ on the amplifier itself. It contains an internal rechargeable battery via USB-C and is quite bulky. The outer dial rotates to adjust volume and can be pressed to access input and settings. The remote closely resembles the unit’s display, making it particularly useful when streaming from your phone via the D’Agostino App and needing to quickly adjust the volume. However, if you accidentally leave the remote on and the battery runs out, the reset process borders on the arcane. D’Agostino is currently investigating this issue.

The downloadable app is well-designed and well-executed, offering access to streaming services, inputs, and volume controls. However, the D’Agostino Pendulum does not support Apple AirPlay, and the app lacks the necessary features for radio playback. This may be added in a future version. As a dedicated radio enthusiast, I find this omission noteworthy.

The amplifier is available in black or silver and is contained within a Peli case with handles, ensuring excellent protection. Its bold design exudes strength and precision, reminiscent of a watch face, making it both radically stylish and highly appealing. It will probably attract audiophiles who also have an interest in collecting watches.

Listening

Connecting the D’Agostino Pendulum to my system, which includes Bowers & Wilkins 802d4 speakers, Townshend cabling, and a PS Audio PS10 mains regenerator, I initially used a dCS Bartók APEX as a digital source to focus on the key part of the investment in this product, namely the amplification.

Listening to one of my current favourites, the recent Andris Nelson recording of Shostakovich’s First Symphony on DG with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, demonstrates a powerful amplifier that is very much in control of the B&W speakers. One of the most valuable aspects of this piece of music is its blend of chamber sounds with abundant woodwind solos, as well as the more bombastic elements typical of Shostakovich, providing a chance to distinguish both aspects. The first thing I notice is the overall grip the amplifier has on the textures of the music. The woodwind and strings are well separated in texture and space.

There is something very ‘fast’ and immediate about the sound. The double basses are solid and focused, and the transients are razor-sharp. The woodwind instruments are beautifully coloured with plenty of detail. When the bass drum makes its presence felt, the floor shakes appropriately. Still, it’s tight and dry with no splash or overhang—a superb and realistic depiction of a large orchestra at work, communicative and brilliant.

Interesting comparison

Listening to the same excerpt with the DAC/Streamer board inside the D’Agostino Pendulum offers an interesting comparison. The soundstage isn’t as deep, and the internal DAC lacks the punch and brilliance of the dCS Bartók APEX, but it is reasonably impressive for its modest price, which is about £3,200. You might reasonably ask why someone who spends £20k on an amplifier would want to compromise on a component that could be a significant part of their listening experience. However, the convenience and wire-free setup of this all-in-one system, along with the higher ‘Acceptance Factor’, are compelling reasons. Of course, this choice depends on personal preference, and I should emphasise that for a £3.5k DAC/streamer, this one is certainly not bad, though it does not match the quality of higher-end options.

Returning to the dCS Bartók APEX, I listen to and evaluate the D’Agostino Pendulum at its finest, then shift to some Mozart, conducted by Daniel Barenboim in the final movement of the 18th Piano Concerto. I notice the piano’s immediate sound, characterised by a brisk attack at each note’s onset. I also observe how the microphrasing is sharper than what my system usually produces.

Brief divergence

To diverge briefly, the sense of a musical phrase, especially in classical music, arises from the rise and fall in volume; the highest, or loudest, point of a phrase guides the human ear to the key note, creating the climax of a phrase. When this is clearly marked, a piece of music becomes much easier to understand, more coherent, and more engaging. Without it, it’s akin to someone mispronouncing words, making the listener’s brain work harder.

All this to say, the D’Agostino Pendulum excels at showcasing the musical line, which naturally draws the listener into the core of the music. I’m not a strong believer in labelling a bunch of transistors, capacitors, etc., as ‘musical’, but this demonstrates how good digital replay (dCS) and a well-designed amplifier can reveal the essence of Mozart’s phrasing. The rendition has a beautiful flow; the piano sounds not only completely convincing, but also allows me to perceive a deeper rhythmic playfulness in what Barenboim is doing at the keyboard. It makes the music sound clearer and more joyful, while also highlighting the interaction between the soloist and the orchestra.

On to vinyl

A turn now for the in-house phono stage, which exclusively supports moving-coil cartridges. There is a small removable panel on the top plate of the amplifier, which features four DIP switches for each channel to control the loading. Listening on an Inspire Monarch Turntable, with an SME V arm and Hana ML cartridge with the recommended loading, I cue up Dvorˇák’s Piano Quartet in Eb op.87, performed by the Beaux Arts Trio with Walter Trampler, a superb recording on the Philips label, which yields some good results.

My reference Phonostage is a Tim de Paravicini Ear Yoshino Phonobox (£1,349), which is a valve. To my ears, the Dvorˇák sounds a little sweeter with more spatial depth than the D’Agostino version, but not a night-and-day difference, noticeable on an A-B test, but probably not something I’d stake my life on just based on a single option. The D’Agostino Pendulum phono stage is fast and immediate, dynamic, but tonally less encompassing than the Ear Yoshino. Nevertheless, it is a pretty good value for the modest £1,500 cost involved.

Similarly, the headphone stage is not an afterthought; it offers something users can truly enjoy. It has excellent imaging and bandwidth, and when listening with my Sennheiser HD 800S, the sound is full and rich. You could pay several thousand pounds for a dedicated headphone amplifier and still not achieve this quality of sound.

Really enjoyed

Overall, I really enjoyed my time with the Pendulum; I found it to be well-designed and built, and as an amplifier on its own, a best-of-breed for the money. Fast, powerful and uniquely styled, it’ll make good friends in the high-end audio buying community and their partners. As for the extras, the Streaming DAC section and phono stages offer good value for the additional cost, but I think someone spending £20k on an amplifier may want to go further than the two bolt-ons provided.

Of course, people have a multitude of different reasons for buying audio, and more power to D’Agostino Pendulum’s elbow that ultimately the company is giving the listener a choice. An all-in-one unit occupies less space and creates less wire pollution. However, making those options modular allows the listener to use the amplifier as an amplifier alone and select their own bits. Surely this choice is more empowering to the customer than no choice at all. Whichever way you look at it, the D’Agostino Pendulum is a ground-breaking product and deserves a serious listen for anyone in the market for a £20k amplifier.

Technical specifications

Frequency Response 1 Hz to 80 kHz, –0.5 dB / 20 Hz to 20 kHz, ±0.01 dB
Signal-to-Noise Ratio 100 dB, unweighted; 95 dB A-weighted
Input Impedance 1 MΩ
Output Impedance .1 Ω
Output Power 120W @ 8 Ω / 240W @ 4 Ω
Distortion (full output) 120 W @ 8 Ω / .015% @ 1 kHZ
Analogue Inputs 3 pr balanced XLR stereo; 1 pair unbalanced RCA stereo
Phono Equalisation Curves RIAA
Phono Stage Loads 47 KΩ, 1 KΩ, 500 Ω, 200 Ω, 100 Ω, 50 Ω
Outputs 1 pr balanced XLR stereo; 5-way speaker binding posts; ¼-inch headphone
Control RS-232
Dimensions (WxHxD) 43.2 x 11.8 x 35.6 cm
Weight 15.9 kg
Finish Silver or Black
Price: £19,998

Manufacturer

Dan D’Agostino Master Audio Systems

dagostinoaudio.com

UK distributor

Absolute Sounds

absolutesounds.com

+44(0)208 971 3909

Meze Audio 105 AER

Listening to the Meze Audio 105 AER, it’s not surprising that ‘Aer’ is the Romanian word for ‘air’. It’s certainly less startling than discovering that Romanian headphone expert Meze Audio is aware of a place called ‘the real world’. In fact, this is where most of us live. For most, spending nearly £400 on a pair of headphones constitutes a significant investment.

Most surprisingly, though, is that after making this discovery, Meze Audio has designed a pair of open-backed, wired over-ear headphones priced to appeal in the real world. After all, this is a company that has no trouble regularly producing utterly uncompromised planar magnetic headphones. Then it charges ten times the £369 it’s asking for a pair of 105 AER.

Broader Group

Is Meze Audio experimenting with the 105 AER? Or is it genuinely trying to connect with a broad group of consumers it has hardly mentioned before? Luckily for the rest of this review, I strongly believe it’s the latter.

There’s been no corner cut in the design of the 105 AER. The need to meet a real-world price means some of the more esoteric materials Meze Audio favours don’t feature. Nevertheless, from the slim, stamped magnesium that forms the outer headband to the equally slim, self-adjusting PU leather headband that makes contact further down, the 105 AER are carefully specified. The earpads are made of velour over memory foam. The velour cover can be removed for easy cleaning. The earcups behind them are constructed of ABS-PC thermoplastic, which looks good and feels nice. This also helps keep the (cable-less) weight down to a sleek 336g.

The cable itself needs to be connected to both earcups, so Meze Audio provides a 1.8m braided cable with two 3.5mm sockets at one end and a single corresponding socket at the other. A 6.3mm adapter is also included. A circular pouch in the hard-zip-fastening travel case keeps your cables (and the headphones) organised when not in use.

The cable transmits its electrical impulse to a pair of 50mm full-range dynamic drivers. These drivers are very similar to a design used in some of Meze Audio’s more expensive models. There have been modifications to the driver membrane and frame. Although the company does not promote the specifics to keep costs down, the design is mostly retained.

W-shaped

This means the 105 AER are equipped with a ‘W’-shaped dome driver made of a cellulose/carbon-fibre composite. Meze Audio values this material for its durability and relatively light weight. It is surrounded by a semicrystalline polymer torus that is similarly lightweight. In addition, its vibration suppression and resonance damping are, as the company claims, outstanding. Distortion is further minimised by the zinc/copper alloy stabiliser placed around the very edge of the driver assembly.

Meze Audio has measured the 105 AER at a sensitivity of 112dB and an impedance of 42 ohms, and claims a frequency response of 5Hz-30kHz. None of these figures is discouraging in any way.

Despite the beautiful measurements of these headphones, there are some concessions to consider if you want to be among the first to own Meze Audio over-ear headphones. In line with the company’s usual approach, the 105 AER are quite substantial. Therefore, anyone with a head smaller than ‘quite large’ might find that the self-adjusting headband does not adjust enough. A balanced cable with either a 2.5mm or 4.4mm connection is a good value, costing around £49. The open-backed design easily leaks sound — though this is not unique to Meze Audio.

And besides, once you’ve got your quite large head inside a pair of 105 AER, there’s much more to enjoy than to worry about. With the 6.3mm termination plugged into an iFi iDSD Diablo 2 headphone amplifier/DAC, and with music coming through an Apple MacBook Pro (loaded with Colibri software to enable hi-res functionality) and a Naim Uniti Star (serving as a network streamer and power source for a Rega Apollo CD player), these headphones are no chore to listen to.

Meticulous neutrality

Perhaps most immediately striking is the meticulous neutrality of the tonal balance Meze Audio has achieved. Mark Lanegan’s remarkable version of ‘You Only Live Twice’ from his Imitations album [Heavenly Recordings] faithfully maintains its gentle suggestion of warmth. At the same time, the relatively cool, blue-toned sound of Ezra Furman’s Restless Year [Bella Union] is conveyed with confidence. In this respect, the 105 AER seem perfectly willing to step aside for a recording. An egoless attitude like this is by no means common in a pair of headphones, regardless of how much or how little you are paying.

And Meze Audio show a similar stance on frequency response. Whether or not they extend down to 5Hz is a moot point. What matters is that the 105 AER reach very deep and can hit very hard. There is no lack of control over low-frequency sounds, so their rhythmic presentation is very positive. The headphones also balance the emphasis across the frequency spectrum quite well. There is no noticeable ‘V’-shaped curve in the frequency response, which lesser designs might produce to make sound more assertive through the midrange. Instead, the transition from the bass to the treble is smooth and seamless.

Lavish

At every stage, the level of detail approaches ‘lavish’. The 105 AER can reveal and contextualise every piece of information it receives. Its ability to create such a large, well-defined, and accessible soundstage is highly beneficial. It communicates most clearly through the midrange. So, with vocalists as distinctive as Aretha Franklin or Mark E. Smith, there’s never any doubt about their attitude, emotional state, or technique (or lack thereof). Transient details are managed with a casual authority that consistently reassures the listener they’re receiving the full, unaltered picture.

The subtle harmonic overtones and undertones in a solo instrument are given proper emphasis. This focus on dynamic change includes the loud ‘quiet/LOUD’ fluctuations in volume that are equally clear in a recording of Mogwai’s Like Herod [Chemikal Underground] as in Dmitri Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 5 in D Minor, Op. 47 [Leningrad Masters] conducted by the Leningrad Philharmonic under Yevgeny Mravinsky. The distance the 105 AER can create between ‘contemplative’ and ‘attacking’ is remarkable. Moreover, they achieve this without sounding strained or compromised.

More than nuts and bolts

However, while the 105 AER proves to be impressively skilled in every technical aspect of music production, including the nuts and bolts of creating a convincing sound, they never lose sight of the fact that music is meant to be entertaining. Some headphones that excel at providing a faithful transcription of a recording seem to forget the purpose of the exercise entirely. But the Meze Audio are more engaged than that.

They handle all of the technical details competently (to say the least) and manage to combine each aspect of audio reproduction into a convincingly unified and singular whole. Most importantly, they do this without sacrificing any of the energy and character within a recording. “Up and at ‘em” is not an easy attitude to describe when discussing sound quality, but you know it when you hear it. The Meze Audio 105 AER has it in abundance.

At this point, I’m sorely tempted to ask “What more do you want?” – but I know I’ve already answered that question. I want a balanced cable, and I want a physical design that doesn’t exclude quite so many people from enjoying how the 105 AER performs. But setting my contractually obligated nit-picking aside, it seems clear these headphones add another tick in the ‘Meze Audio successes’ column. And for once, at a price that doesn’t exclude quite so many people as usual, regardless of their head size.