Articles Archive - Page 159 of 266

Totem Sky Tower floorstanding loudspeaker

Montreal based speaker manufacturer Totem Acoustic has always been closely identified with company president and chief engineer Vince Bruzzese’s ability to defy expectations for what can be accomplished with bookshelf monitor loudspeakers. Refreshingly, throughout Totem’s expanding journey into free-standing, on-wall, and in-wall speakers the Canadian company has managed to avoid being associated with bloated pricing and to the consumer’s benefit has always kept a keen focus on the nexus between value and performance.

Totem recently garnered a good bit of attention when it released the Sky monitor and its slightly silkier sister, the Signature One monitor, in quick succession. It seems in retrospect as if Totem was intentionally tipping its hat to their early monitor heavy days showing yet again they are not afraid to push the limits of how a fairly priced standmount speakers can be expected to look and perform. It is natural then that riding the success of the Sky Monitor and Signature One releases, Totem would be interested in squaring the circle one more time by releasing a complimenting floorstanding speaker which applies their very latest technology and design innovations. The Sky Tower purports to take the best traits of the Sky Monitor and brings Totem Acoustic’s signature sound to those who are interested in owning a high quality and affordable floorstanding speaker. As well, Totem states that the tower version of the Sky possesses the same DNA as the monitor but with more dynamic range, projects a larger soundstage and is compatible with a wider range of electronics.

The Sky Towers share the understated and elegant design that Totem has come to be identified with across their line up of speakers. Always defer to the fairer sex’s ability spot a winner on the design front, my Sky Towers experience got off to a strong start when my wife’s first off the cuff comment regarding the speakers was “Wow those look nice! I like those, can you keep them?… please?” My better half was not blowing smoke; the white satin finish Totem Sky Floorstanders I was shipped are quite visually arresting and I too found myself gawking at them for several seconds when set upright for the first time. While these speakers certainly are gracefully designed to catch your eye, what might not be readily apparent from the supplied pictures is the svelt size of the Sky Towers. At a 6.35’’ wide by 9.125’’ long base (add a few more inches to the base for the Claw Feet) and measuring only 33.4’’ high the Sky Towers offer a compelling coin-flip of design proportion. The towers are just big enough to make you pause and take good notice, and yet just small enough to invisibly slip away into your feng shui as if your room had always been built around the chief goal of procuring them. The well proportioned size for the Sky Tower, the trim lines, and expertly applied finishes (striking black ash veneer and mahogany veneers are also available) are sure to set a higher measure for how a reasonably priced speaker can stay in a constant architectural dialogue with your listening space regardless of room size. One special feature small dwelling listeners will find particularly appealing is Totem encourages the Sky Towers to be placed close to your back wall, as close as 12’’ actually. The close proximity to the back wall should free up even more of your precious living space and as I can confirm after experimenting extensively, “hugging” the wall indeed significantly enhances the bass response without ever making the output feel tubby, slow, or congested.

The Sky Towers are noticeably light weight for a floorstanding speaker. While most manufactures feel the safe bet is to go heavy to fight cabinet resonance, the Sky Towers are not ready to be written off because they haven’t packed on the pounds. A few subtle but important intricacies are worth mentioning. The first of these intricacies not readily visible to the naked eye is the MDF cabinet pieces of the Sky Tower are fit together using interlocking-mitered construction. A sophisticated woodworking method associated with high end furniture in which a zigzag pattern is cut into the ends of panels so they provide substantially more surface area on each joining piece and in turn have more area to grip and physically lock together in a fashion up to five times stiffer than conventional cabinet assembly. Second, the interior of the sturdy lock-mitered construction is dampened with borosilicate, a process that usually will only show up in much more expensive speakers. This dampening technique is accomplished by taking a glass based paste that is by nature extremely slow and difficult to degrade and ‘painting’ it on to the interior of the cabinet. Any stray vibrations found in the cabinet simply do not have the energy needed to degrade the borosilicate armor and are immediately deadened. Third, real wood veneer is applied to the inside of the cabinet to increase overall cabinet strength, comparable to that of hardwood, making the cabinet invulnerable to warping, while maintaining its acoustic and cosmetic integrity for decades. Please note that even though these first three methods of vibration killing are brutally effective the user manual encourages owners to take no chances and mass load their Sky Tower speaker bases with sand or lead shot. The final vibration battling measure incorporated is a new customized version of Totem’s Claw decoupling feet. The unique shape of the Claw feet will be familiar to many previous Totem patrons but here have been newly refashioned for the Sky Tower from an inert sound-isolating composite material.

For such a slim-bodied speaker the measured frequency response from 36Hz on the low end and 30kHz on the high end is quite a commendable range. This broad dynamic range is generated on the low end from a custom designed, underhung long throw 146mm woofer which has a built in copper capped voice coil. The woofer is expected to take the lion’s share of the low mids and bottom thumping frequencies but does get help in the upper mids from the tower’s 3.3cm tweeter which utilises a neodymium magnet assembly. The laser etched textile soft dome is durable enough to carry a portion of the midrange load but still agile enough to soar high without any metallic and tunnel like sound colorations. A first order hand-wired crossover exclusive to the Sky Tower regulates the critical interplay between the woofer and tweeter with large gauge air core coils. Totem asserts that the unified Sky package is phase coherent but is unfortunately short on details as to exactly how that is accomplished.

The Sky Towers effortlessly weaved a truly enormous soundstage that seemed to be unfairly contained only by the walls of the room. The rippling soundstage was delightfully untethered to the physical location of the floorstanding towers and was anything but diluted or mushy around the edges. Continually being surprised by the level of minute details being picked up recording after recording I found myself more often than not fully being able to concentrate on the depth of recording spaces and incredible illusion of proportion between players in the studio. Background banter and cues being passed between band mates or the previously unheard scraping of a chair on a floor quickly became common place with the Sky Towers and allowed a new level of immersion in the music.

I found after experimenting that the Sky Towers to my ears sounded much more full-bodied after being bi-wired. While not a runaway decision, bi-wiring seemed to add a deeper bass extension and gave the playback a natural breath that was just irresistible. While the Sky Towers do pack a stinging musical punch, if you are looking for loudspeaker that can forcibly knock you back down in your seat, these Totems might not be your cup of tea. Unbridled power and an iron grip choking your music to death is not what you are going to find here. The Sky Towers are a sonically graceful home run that allows you to rock when you need to rock and allows you to be carried off when you need escape. The Sky Towers offer a rounded and complete delivery with enough finesse and detail to allow you to joyfully rediscover your music collection all over again. With certainty, it is hard to imagine how anyone would think they are not getting more for their entry fee than they had expected.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Type: Floorstanding Loudspeaker
Driver complement: 3.3cm laser etched textile soft dome tweeters and 146mm woofer with copper capped voice coil
Frequency response: 36Hz–30kHz ±3dB
Impedance: 8 ohms
Sensitivity: 88dB
Dimensions (W×H×D): 16.2 ×85×23.2 cm
Weight: Not Listed
Finishes: Multi coat Satin White, black ash veneer, and mahogany veneer
Price: £2,399

Manufacturer: Totem Acoustic

URL: totemacoustic.com

Distributed by: Joenit

Tel: 0032 15 285 585

URL: joenit.com

https://hifiplus.com/reviews/

Kii Three active loudspeaker system

Put Bruno Putzeys’ name into a search engine and you get plenty of results. He is ranked among such audio engineering luminaries as Nelson Pass and Siegfried Linkwitz, yet his name has yet to enter the wider audiophile hall of fame. Bruno started out designing Class D amplifiers for Philips where he developed the UCD circuit – a technology that saw him poached by Hypex who now build these amplifiers. Putzeys used his time with the company to develop NCore Class D modules that can be found in amplifiers from Bel Canto, Jeff Rowland, and others today. He created the Mola Mola brand while working with Hypex and went on to work on Grimm Audio active monitors. Now he has his own project… well not entirely; Kii Audio is a collaboration with Chris Reichardt from the pro audio field and software engineer Bart van der Laan.

The Kii Three is the first fruit of this collaboration and if the sound quality it produces is anything to go by, it should put both the company and Putzeys firmly on the audio map, especially when you see the loud shirts he sports at shows these days. It was developed to combat the bane of all loudspeakers; the room. The space that you put a speaker in has so much impact on the sound it produces that it is almost impossible to make a one size fits all design. What Kii has done is to create a fully active loudspeaker with a cardioid dispersion pattern that goes a long way to minimising the impact of the room. The Kii Three is designed to cancel the rearward output of bass and lower midrange by sending an inverted phase version of the signal to the rear and side drivers with a delay that’s calculated to attenuate output. The problem with most speakers is that at higher frequencies output is highly directional while frequencies from the lower midrange down become more omnidirectional as they descend, so bass frequencies come out of the back to nearly the same degree as they exit the front. There are pros and cons with this, it means that the closer you put the speaker to the walls the more bass you get because it’s bouncing off the wall(s) but the problem is that this energy is delayed relative to the direct sound and thus smears the signal you hear.

The Kii Three’s six drivers are controlled by a DSP crossover that uses antiphase in the rear drivers to stop bass from coming off the back of the box and bouncing off the walls. It’s a genuinely radical solution to one of the biggest problems facing speaker designers that also attempts to deliver a flat response within half a decibel from 30Hz to 20kHz. And as if that were not enough, phase coherence is also promised. Such is the potential of DSP in crossover design that such things are theoretically possible; in fact, others have built speakers that aim to achieve the latter qualities but rarely has this been executed in a genuinely uncoloured and musically coherent product.

Digital Signal Processing means that traditionally, the signal has to be converted to digital and then converted back to analogue after the processing. The Kii Three has six drivers, each of which has its own channel of DSP, D/A conversion, and amplification. That’s six 250 Watt NCore Class D power amps combining to produce 1,500 Watts, which is generous even for a professional monitor (there is a pro version of this speaker). The drive units they power consist of four 165mm bass units, a 127mm midrange and a 25mm wave-guided tweeter, but Kii won’t tell you, or me, what the cones and domes are made of. There are three basic ways to use the Kii Three: direct analogue connection via XLR from a preamplifier, direct digital with a USB to AES/EBU cable from a laptop with Audirvana or similar software that has volume control, or the most flexible approach, which involves something called a Kii Controller. There is a fourth option of direct digital connection via a Weiss INT203 which provides digital volume control but that is a niche within a niche.

The Kii Controller connects to one speaker via RJ45 ethernet cable and the signal is passed to the second speaker with a similar cable. You can then use the Controller like a preamplifier for digital signals as it has optical, coaxial and USB inputs, it also has a knob for volume control, an IR receiver and a display where various parameters can be adjusted. These include boundary compensation across 12 settings for freestanding, against walls, and in corners. It also offers tilt style tone controls that allow subtle tailoring of the response to suit more or less reflective rooms. You can adjust latency, polarity, programme the presets on the Controller and adjust EQ for individual loudspeakers, which is useful if one has to be in a corner and the other has more space around it. Both speakers and Controller have coloured indicators to show status and these lights can be dimmed, and you can choose between auto standby or manual on/off for the system. Surprisingly the system incorporates a limiter to stop users damaging amps or drive units if the listener should get carried away or accidentally turn it up to 11 (or 99, which appears to be max output on the Controller), but in truth this is really for pro applications where some kind of visual indication might be handy for terminally deaf engineers!

Kii offers a dedicated stand for the Three which is unusually chunky with two beefy columns that are mass damped yet also have cable management routing, they stand at a higher than average 67cm without spikes and provide a stable platform for the speaker. You can connect any analogue source to the XLR inputs and adjust level with the Controller, so with digital inputs going to the latter there is the potential for four inputs with the Kii Three.

I started out by hooking up an Innuos Zenith SE server and AURALiC ARIES G2 network streamer to the USB input on the Controller, sending the signal over standard Ethernet cable to the speakers and powering them with Naim Powerline Lite mains cables. The resulting sound is a bit of a shock; the distributor told me to expect something a bit different and he was not wrong. This is because at low frequencies all loudspeakers interact with the room to some extent or another, the deeper the speaker goes the more this happens and ironically, the smaller the box the more bass comes out of the back and sides as a proportion of the total output. Take a large amount of that interaction out of the equation and you get a completely different sound that initially seems rather lean and lacking in low end waft, oomph, call it what you will. But after a while it becomes clear that the absence of this colouration allows significantly more detail to emerge from the speakers and you start to hear detail that eludes the vast majority of speaker/amp combinations. The resolution of voices, instruments and sounds of all stripes is quite uncanny.

The Kii Three is clean, detailed and even in the bass to an extent that is rare at almost any price, so it shows you both the nature of the original signal and the partnering electronics with considerable clarity. With some recordings this can slide into a degree of exposure that is less appealing than you might hope. Van Morrison’s voice on Astral Weeks [Warner], for instance, sounds as if it’s a little too much for the microphones: there is an audible strain. At the same time, what he is singing and what the band is playing has never been clearer. If you want to decipher lyrics I’m certain there is not a better speaker for the purpose; this was made clear playing Radiohead’s A Moon Shaped Pool [XL] where Thom Yorke’s mutterings were made intelligible for the first time in my experience. I’m not saying they made much sense, but the words themselves were clear. Separation of instruments and voices is likewise transparently obvious, so that you can hear the characteristics of each with utmost ease. One visitor put on a Bob Dylan track he has been playing for decades [‘Absolutely Sweet Marie’ from Blonde on Blonde, Columbia] and was stunned by how much he could hear in the mix, the way the drums sounded being particularly novel. Material with plenty of bass was even more explicitly exposed; this is where the room has the greatest impact on the overall sound and by minimising this aspect the Kii Three opens up the lower registers and makes them as transparent as the mid and top.

There is a problem with this, however. Speakers that interact with the room are the norm, it’s what we’ve been listening to all our lives; the sound of our favourite music is a combination of speaker and room. Rooms and speakers may have changed but the summing effect has always been there. Take that away and you have a different sound, one that seems less familiar. Is it less enjoyable is really the question of course. And the answer is an emphatic ‘no’. The original performance is the same, but it’s just that you can hear more of it, and with a bit of familiarisation it becomes even more engaging and transporting. The emotional quotient takes a bit of recalibration to appreciate but it’s still very much there for the taking and I found myself becoming quite misty eyed with some old favourites. I also found that for once the Innuos Zenith SE server was not the best source for the job, which became apparent when I switched to a Melco N1ZS/2A. This server has a slightly warmer, smoother character that suits the explicit balance of the Kii Three very well indeed. Both servers were streaming through an AURALiC ARIES G2 before the signal went to the Kii Controller (which sounds a lot better than taking a direct USB output from either server), but the subtle change in balance made the Melco the better partner, the one that with good recordings transcends the usual limitations of reproduced audio to create a palpably real musical experience. The recording that did this most effectively was Fiona Boyes’ Professin’ the Blues[Reference Recording], which always sounds good but here became so vivid that it was exhilarating.

Less ‘audiophile’ recordings also sounded extraordinary; Arab Strap’s ‘New Birds’ [Philophobia, Chemikal Underground]revealed its unusually wide dynamic range and more of both the Glaswegian accent of the singer and the beautiful texture of the bass guitar. It all comes back to the bass; other speakers sound warmer and fuller because the bass is being reinforced by the room. Here, the bass seems leaner because it’s not doing this but at the same time it extends very low and remains perfectly in time. The Kii Three doesn’t sound like a typically fast or timely speaker but it stops and starts faster than virtually any other. The combination of high power active operation with minimal low frequency veiling means that every nuance of the bass is that much easier to hear, and the denser the piece of music the more apparent this becomes. The dynamics on Beethoven’s 5th are bang on and the bass on Steely Dan’s ‘Show Biz Kids’ [Countdown to Ecstasy, ABC] is surprisingly deep and extended, suggesting that some tweaking must have been done for the digital release. But ultimately you are struck by how well put together this and other pieces of music are; the insight that this speaker provides makes this more apparent than ever.

I have to take my hat off to Bruno and his partners. In the Kii Three they have achieved what few others can match at a price that while high is almost a bargain by the standards of alternatives that can deliver similar resolution. Once you get a handle on what this speaker can do it’s almost impossible to stop playing your old favourites and hearing stuff that is normally only hinted at. Fortunately (unfortunately for me) my pair was whipped away before the deadline, or otherwise you might have had to wait another month to find out!

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Type: Six-driver, standmount speaker with active drive, DSP crossover and sealed enclosure
Driver complement: One 25mm tweeter; one 127mm midrange driver; four 165mm bass drivers. Materials not specified
Crossover frequencies: Not specified
Frequency response: ± 0.5dB – 25 kHz, 20Hz -6dB
Amplifier output: 6x250W full-custom Ncore
Input sensitivity: Not specified
Inputs: Analogue (via XLR), AES/EBU (via XLR), KiiLink (via RJ45)
Dimensions (H×W×D): 400 ×200 ×400mm
Weight: 19kg/each
Finishes: standard white, graphite
Price: £11,000/pair
Kii Controller: £1,500
Kii Stand: £1,000

Manufacturer: Kii Audio

Tel: +49 (0) 2202 – 2356289

URL: kiiaudio.com

Distributor: Sound Design Distribution Ltd

Tel: +44 (0)2920 679779

URL: sounddesigndistribution.co.uk

https://hifiplus.com/reviews/

Kuzma CAR-60 moving coil cartridge

They say that nothing lasts forever and, judging by the standards of hi-fi fashion, that certainly seems to be true. How long did it take for diamond tweeters, suddenly the must-have audio bauble, to lose their starry status? These days, unless it’s a diamond midrange driver, who even bats an eyelid? But there is one realm in which, if not exactly popular, diamond retains an enduring ascendency. When it comes to cantilever materials in that most exotic of products, high-zoot moving-coil cartridges, seemingly nothing tops a diamond. Despite a bewildering array of gemstone alternatives, rare materials, or rarer alloys, diamond cantilevers still command respect – and a serious price-tag. How-serious? Put it this way, it’s a step up from Kuzma’s £4,945 CAR-50 (with its sapphire cantilever) to the £10,995 CAR-60 with that tiny diamond rod sticking out from the underside: this rod more than doubles the price. That might seem steep for something you can barely see, but as is so often the case with audio products, the proof is in the listening. Does the CAR-60 offer double the performance of the 50? At this point you might expect me to trot out that weary old saw, the law of diminishing returns, so often deployed in defence of under-performing or just over-priced products, but I’ve never subscribed to that philosophy. To me, any product, irrespective of price, needs to justify – indeed can only justify – its existence or relevance in terms of performance. On that scale, the CAR-60 does not disappoint. This is a very, very special cartridge indeed.

However, in order to extract that performance, you need to follow a few simple rules, observe a few basic dos and don’ts and – as with all cartridges – those start with the physical characteristics of the unit itself. Fetching red colour aside, the CAR-60 shares its blocky body, high mass and low compliance with the other Kuzma cartridges. The numbers you need to worry about here are the 17g mass and 10cu compliance. They mandate a heavy (as opposed to medium mass) tonearm – at least if you are going to avoid the counterweight dangling, cirque du soleil-esque off the back of its extension. Now factor in the sheer energy and drive that characterises the Kuzma cartridges and it should be obvious that a secure, stable platform is pretty much essential to realise their performance potential. Of course, if you are using one of Franc Kuzma’s own massive (and massively stable) tonearms, you need have no qualms, but owners of wimpy nine-inch members need not apply. Unlike the CAR-20, 30 or 40, which make a brilliant sonic match for Linn decks (even if mechanically they’re really too heavy for the arms) the 60’s natural habitat is going to be arms of 11” or more – and arms that are mechanically solid and extremely well behaved, if you really want to get the best out of it. As physically and mechanically similar as it is to its junior brethren, it’s an order of magnitude more critical when it comes to matching and set-up. Get any of this wrong and you’ll quickly erode the fragile brilliance that allows this cartridge to breathe life into your recordings, leaving it sounding flat and ordinary. I used the CAR-60 in Kuzma’s 4POINT as well as the VPI JMW 3D Signature and Timestep 12” tonearms, all with considerable success. The one-piece, 3D printed construction of the VPI arm-wand and the high-mass and titanium tube used on the Timestep are far from coincidental contributors to that experience.

Other than the diamond cantilever, the CAR-60 employs a micro-ridge stylus profile and silver coil windings that deliver an internal impedance of 6 Ohms and an output that at 0.3mV is lower than currently fashionable but perfectly adequate to avoid any noise problems. Both the Connoisseur and the Tom Evans Groove Plus phonostages proved to be perfect partners, the latter loaded at 100 Ohms. Those who favour transformer step-ups should take some serious care to match turns ratio and input impedance to the CAR-60’s internal characteristics or once again, you’ll be seriously limiting its potential. Finally, once you are getting close to ideal VTF, I found the 60’s behaviour confusingly counter intuitive. Rather than bass weight increasing with tracking force, I found the opposite happening. I don’t know why and I don’t know if it is a general tendency, but if you are not expecting the possibility, it can leave you getting things very wrong indeed…

Which rather invites the question, how does the CAR‑60 sound when everything is just right? The quick, clichéd response is that it doesn’t – although that isn’t strictly true. However, with any cartridge at this price there’s a tendency to go looking for that ‘thing’… that ‘thing’ it does better than anything else and, once again, that would be a mistake. You see, what really sets this cartridge apart is just how uncannily unforced and natural it sounds. It has an ability to convince, to let the listener relax, forget the system, and simply accept (or marvel) at the performance. This is something I remember from the Kiseki Lapis Lazuli, another heavy cartridge with a diamond cantilever – and if you think that’s praise indeed, you have no idea just how right you are!

In many ways, that preternatural capability rests as much on what the CAR-60 doesn’t do as on what it does: There’s no edge or brightness, no rounding or etching; there’s no stretch or elongation of the images or acoustic, no selective projection or spotlighting of instruments or frequencies. But above all, there’s no sense of haste or congestion, constriction, or compression. The result is a presentation that is as natural in terms of proportion as it is in perspective. You don’t realise just how many liberties most cartridges take with the shape and extent of the performance until you hear it reproduced without those aberrations or exaggerations. The result is musical performances that have all the presence, body, and power for which the Kuzma cartridges are rightly known, but with a level of integration and a natural immediacy that brings performers to life. On first listen, you might think that the CAR‑60 sounds dull or small, lacking in detail or transparency. But, just like a diamond tweeter, what you are hearing is that lack of edge and glare, combined with a level of natural organization and integration that binds all the information retrieved from the groove into a single, meaningful whole. It’s not how much detail there is, but how that detail is used. Listen longer and you soon start to realize that textures and dimensions, colours, and incidental nuances are not just there, they’re right where they should be. The incidental noises of performance, be they an instrument hitting a music stand or a player’s breathing, fingers on a guitar body or the way a singer moves relative to the microphone are captured with a natural ease that adds to the performance rather than distracting from it.

But perhaps the CAR-60’s most special quality is that it brings that sense of order and control to the time domain as well as the spatial and dynamic. Just as defining the edges of the soundstage can make it seem smaller, and just as increasing the intimate relationship between band members tends to pull things in, allowing the music time to happen can rob it of urgency – at least if you are used to expecting the system to drive things along and fire the notes at you. But once again, listen longer and you soon appreciate that things happen just as quickly as they should and that the Kuzma reacts quickly enough to let them happen just when they should. It doesn’t matter whether you want to cite the relationship between Joe Jackson’s piano and Graham Maby’s bass [Summer In The City: Live In New York, Intervention], or the inner workings of Coltrane’s elongated lines on A Love Supreme[Impulse!] the rhythmic and dynamic complexities of Martha Argerich playing Prokofiev or the sweeping momentum of a Sibelius crescendo, the CAR-60 doesn’t just bring the musicians to life, it allows the music to breathe and communicate, engage, and seduce. Because that is what makes the CAR-60 special: you don’t hear IT because you hear the performance; it’s not about sonics, it’s all about music.

No cartridge can be all things to all men or women. There will be those who crave more detail and there will be those who expect more sonic fireworks. There will be those who never get the CAR-60 working right because they use the wrong arm or just lack the necessary skills and patience. They might well conclude that it’s dull but worthy. But if you hear this cartridge singing and if you really do use hi-fi as a gateway to music (rather than an end in itself) then I suspect that many a listener will be as astonished and flabbergasted, besotted, and beguiled as I was when I first heard the Lapis. This is one diamond that just might be forever.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Type: Low-output moving-coil cartridge
Output Level: 0.3mV (3.54cm/1kHz)
Internal Impedance: 6 Ohms
Compliance: 10cu
Mass: 17g
Cantilever: Diamond
Stylus Profile: Microridge
Coil Windings: 4N Silver
Price: £10,995

Manufactured by: Kuzma Ltd.

URL: kuzma .si

Distributed by: Definitive Audio

URL: definitiveaudio.co.uk

Tel:+44(0)115 9733222

Back to reviews

Sonus faber Amati Homage Tradition floorstanding loudspeaker

The long-running Homage series from Sonus faber pays tribute to the finest violin makers of the past with loudspeakers that look and sound fantastic. The Amati has long been the conventional top tower of the range, and with the wide-baffle Stradivari out of the latest range, the new Amati Homage Tradition represents the top of that range. It replaces the Amati Futura (tested in Hi-Fi+Issue 79); a chrome-topped floorstander with a unique damped suspension system.

Both the chrome top and the squidgy baseplate are gone in the Amati Homage Tradition, and while that gives the latest Amati a more conventional look, it doesn’t hold back from looking fantastic in the flesh. Sonus faber was always a hit in terms of looking good, but the new Homage Tradition range – in either a traditional red with chrome contrasts, or wenge with black – takes that to a clever combination of refined elegance and timeless chic that is reminiscent of Riva yachts. Unlike the Futura – which never quite shied away from a spot of ‘bling’ – this is almost understated luxury for the elegant home-owner. It remains a tall tower that needs to project into the room by about a metre, but it speaks to a home of taste and charm rather than shiny excess.

The changes in each iteration of Amati seem larger than the last, and the Amati Homage Tradition holds to that ideal. Practically no parts from the Futura cross over to the tradition, and although both models are boat-tailed three-and-a-half way designs, culminating in a pair of 220mm bass drivers, exactly noneof those drivers are shared between the two models. OK, so there are probably some screws, spikes, terminals, and wires shared between the two, and looking at them side by side, you can see they are related, but this is a long way from a few cosmetic changes.

But those cosmetic changes are pretty lovely. Alongside the Riva Yacht styling, as the name suggests, the Homage Tradition line have an instrumental look and feel to them. No, they are not directly channeling the father of the modern violin Andrea Amati (1505-77), but the range in the flesh looks less like audio components and more like the construction of master craftsmen.

Nevertheless, it’s the engineering that counts, and the intervening years have been fascinating for Sonus faber. The company has introduced some of its most iconic and best loved top-end models sonce the Futura hit the streets. Models like the Il Cremonese, Lilium, and Aida, from which the Amati Homage Tradition inherits many technical solutions and patents.

Even that Sonus faber mainstay, the violin shaped speaker cabinet underwent major change, and is the product of careful research and major restyling. The curves blend the lines of previous Homage models with those inherited from Lilium, giving the Amati Homage Tradition speakers larger volume into the rear chambers.

This change allows the cabinet to better control internal resonances. And while there are many ways to control internal resonance, few of them look as good. For example, the top plate wood is not only the same finish as the sides, and not only does it have aluminium inlays that match those of that ‘colourway’ (brushed aluminum in the wenge finish, anodised black in the red) but there’s an ‘Sf’ logo in silk-screened glass placed right at the centre of the surface. This is also echoed in the dustcap of the midrange driver. OK, so little touches like these do not materially improve the sound quality, but when you make a true high-end purchase, you might want a true high-end product in terms of fit and finish, as well as sonic performance. The Amati scores on the fit and finish front and has done so for decades. As Michelangelo said “trifles make perfection, and perfection is no trifle.”

The speaker system is mechanically decoupled from the floor by Sonus faber’s patented Z.V.T. system (Zero Vibration Transmission), optimised suspension system with alternating surfaces metal/elastomer/metal overlapped inside the bracket-spike group. This system substantially reduces transmission of spurious vibrations to the listening room; also, acoustic feedback phenomena are inhibited. It also represents something of a miniaturisation on the predecessor’s suspension system.

At this level, it’s almost pointless to discuss installation because it’s probably going to be down to a team of professional installers and piano movers to move the Amati Homage Tradition into optimal position. As purchaser, your input is more oversight than ‘hands on’, although from experience the Amati Homage Tradition requires a very high-performance upstream system. To be perfectly frank, that likely comes from fellow McIntosh Group brand, Audio Research. In the review, we used the new Reference 160M mono amplifiers (with matching Reference CD player and preamp from the brand) and the only thing that stopped this from being a match made in heaven was that it arrived in the midst of a heatwave. Realistically, there is no reason to break-up this combination, and every reason to keep it entirely intact. Cables were that high-end industry standard… Transparent.

What is truly surprising about the Amati Homage Tradition, is just how big the change to the sound. In fairness, I liked the sound of the Amati Futura, although I know many who thought the older model – in trying to sound like a classic Sonus faber of old – sounded a little slow, and bloated in the bass, and the backswept design did make it difficult to adjust in some spaces; those who wanted to project into a big room for example sometimes struggled with the lower section, as if you raised the back too far, the squidgy block between speaker and baseplate wasn’t in its best position. But overall, I liked it as a loudspeaker design and hoped I wouldn’t be disappointed by the replacement.

The replacement (the Amati Homage Tradition) is, quite simply, leagues ahead of its predecessor. It addresses all the things the Futura was trying to address, in making the intellectual jump from old Sonus faber to new but does so with such an impressive performance in its own right; it’s like the brand shifted up a gear or three. In the process, it makes the loudspeaker more ‘now’ than ever.

There’s a sense of clarity of purpose and musical focus that has permeated the sound of Sonus faber since the beginning, and this is no different, but now that clarity of purpose is also a clarity of signal. From top to bottom, the loudspeaker has a remarkably ability to disappear, leaving the listener with just the musical sound itself. I played ‘Memphis Soul Stew’ [King Curtis Live at Fillmore West, ATCO] and found the instruments each delineated in its own three-dimensional space on the stage, but more than that the ability to hear the slightly squeaky drum pedal, the little chops and tricks played by the bass and guitar to keep the music flowing without it sounding repetitive, and then the outstanding sense of an organic ‘whole’ – these were musicians at the top of their game, used to playing together, working an audience perfectly, and every single part was portrayed brilliantly. Most importantly, Bernard Purdie’s drumming takes on an intensity, like he’s half-man, half-train, chugging unstoppably through that rhythm. The rest of the rhythm section is more than capable of keeping up, but he’s at the tiller. I’ve listened to this disc hundreds of times through different components in so many systems, and that sense of an organic, human drummer as opposed to an underpinning of rhythm has only happened a handful of times.

Again, what Sonus faber has always done well and continues to do well here is an ability to tease out the beauty in a piece of music. It’s what sets the brand apart, but in 2018, that beauty can be seen as veiling and a deviation from the truth. On the Amati Homage Tradition, you get both truth and beauty. It’s accurate, and great sounding, and that’s special.

There is a lot of headroom now, too. It’s not an unbreakable loudspeaker, but it can dish out the decibels with the best of them, and unlike previous Amati models, you’ll probably want to do just that because it does sound great loud. Playing The Race For Spaceby Public Service Broadcasting [Test Card] might not be the first choice for audiophile approval (there are lots of treated samples from the 1960s set to music) but in fact it’s truly captivating, and especially so here. You get the added reverb tail placed on JFK’s voice during the ‘We Go To The Moon’ speech, and you can hear the distortion in the original microphone, and the heavy handed end-of-the-sentence reverb whizzing off into a hard pan left or right. But not only does it all seem and sound right, it makes you want to listen to more of the album and more intensely, and intensely satisfying in the process.

We could list albums played on this for days. The sound of Duke Ellington playing at Newport, the Rolling Stones playing ‘Love in Vain’ in a warm-up to a tour, Dylan singing ‘Masters of War’ or Roy Orbison singing ‘Crying’… this is the sort of loudspeaker that shows why audio is still so important, so enjoyable, and so almost atavistic: when you hear those recordings you carry with you for all-time (for me that’s ‘Masters of War’, and Satchmo playing ‘West End Blues’) they leave you speechless and humbled when played on a system like this.

I spent a great deal of time enjoying the sound of these speakers too much to find fault, but no product is completely perfect, and the Amati is no exception. Bass is tauter and more ordered now (it passes the Trentemøller test), but still has some frequencies that are heavier than others. Also, this is not a loudspeaker that suffers fools gladly; it makes music sound good where it can, but some tracks are clearly beyond saving. This doesn’t mean the Amati Homage Tradition is making editorial decisions for you on your musical taste, but just that some recordings can end up sounding almost ‘syrupy’ through this loudspeaker. But that’s about it.

Is this the Sonus faber to take on Wilson or Magico and win? No, but that’s not the point of high-end audio, in that it’s not quite so cut-throat at times. Instead, this is the Sonus faber that high-end audiophiles can use to enjoy really good sound, and really good-looking audio components.

Don’t underestimate the Amati Homage Tradition. It is not the Sonus faber of even 10 years ago. This is a Sonus faber that combines the best of the past with the clarity and energy of the present. And yet, it’s not a forward sound… it’s just a ‘right’ sound. If you are the kind of person who thinks Sonus faber is all about the looks and not so much about the sound, then the Amati Homage Tradition will be something of a wake-up call. Don’t be surprised if you end up thinking it’s one of the best speakers on sale right now!

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

System: 3.5 way, full para-aperiodic vented box “Stealth Ultraflex System” and “Zero Vibration Transmission” technology , vibration transmission- decoupled from the floor, staggered low frequency floorstanding loudspeaker system.
Tweeter: H28 XTR-04. Sonus faber silk dome 28 mm “Arrow Point” DAD, implemented with a natural wood acoustic labyrinth rear chamber.
Midrange: M15 XTR-04. Sonus faber designed 150 mm neodymium magnet system ultra dynamic linearity midrange.
Woofer: 2 x W22XTR-08. Sonus faber designed 220 mm lightweight “sandwich” cone structure (high-tech syntactic foam core and two external surface skins of cellulose pulp) woofers.
Cross-over points: 80Hz – 250 Hz – 2.5kHz
Frequency Response: 28 Hz – 35kHz, Stealth reflex included.
Sensitivity: 90 db SPL (2.83V/1 m).
Nominal Impedance: 4 ohm.
Suggested Amplifier Power Output: 100W – 500W, without clipping.
Long-term Max Input Voltage (IEC 268-5): 25 V rms
Dimensions (HxWxD): 1176 x 411 x 512 mm
Weight: 61 Kg
Finishes: Red or Wenge
Price: £23,500 per pair

Manufactured by: Sonus faber

URL: sonusfaber.com

Distributed by: Absolute Sounds

URL: absolutesounds.com

Tel: +44(0)20 8971 3909

Back to reviews

Falcon Acoustics LS3/5a stand-mount loudspeaker

There is almost no point in discussing some parts of this loudspeaker. The BBC-designed LS3/5a is the stuff of legend, and in our little world as well-known, as ubiquitous, and as popular as the original Issigonis Mini. And, until recently, it was just as consigned to history as the original Mini. That’s all changed, and the Falcon Acoustics LS3/5a is a bold attempt to recreate the original design from scratch.

A little history is in order, however. The LS3/5a was originally designed in the early 1970s, by the BBC Engineering Department team headed up by Dudley Harwood (the ‘Har’ in ‘Harbeth’). It was intended as a monitor for portable ‘OB’ (outside broadcast) vans and in small studios, but by 1975 was starting to be sold to home users. The sealed two-way small box used a 19mm SP1032 T27 dome tweeter with a Melinex diaphragm and a 127mm Bextrene SP1003 B110 mid-bass unit from KEF, and was, by 1970s standards at least, made to very fine tolerances (the BBC demanded the ability to match loudspeakers precisely, even if one of the pair had been bolted to a studio wall for five years, and the other was fresh off the production line). That could only be performed with a complex crossover network, resulting in a loudspeaker with a relatively low 83dB sensitivity but a benign impedance load (in this case, 15 ohms).

The LS3/5a continued as both a domestic loudspeaker and broadcast monitor for about a quarter of a century, but the KEF drive units were discontinued the mid-1990s, which kind of put a dampener on continued production. Also, by this time there were a number of loudspeakers inspired by or derived from the original LS3/5a, perhaps the best known being the Harbeth P3ESR.

Normally, an absence of drive units would mark the end of a loudspeaker design, and in fairness there had been more than a decade of hiatus where brands went more for the spirit of the LS3/5a than the actual design; in some cases, ‘spirit’ was closer to ‘25 year old single malt’; in others it was more ‘bathtub gin that could blind a horse’. It’s here where Falcon Acoustics comes in.

Falcon received a license to build the 15-ohm LS3/5a from the BBC a few years ago, and instead of making a BINO (BBC In Name Only) model with near-enough drive units, Falcon asked retired engineer Malcolm Jones to re-engineer the T27 and B110 drive units from scratch. Given that Jones’ job – before starting Falcon Acoustics – was to design and build drive units for KEF and both designs fell under his purview if any company can do this, Falcon can! The Falcon T27 and Falcon B110 are new production stock.

Falcon also uses the same BBC FL6/23 crossover network circuit used in the original 15-ohm version of the original LS3/5a loudspeaker. This allows the graded drive units to be matched to the sort of tolerances the BBC first specified (and which are still hard to match to this day). The cabinet is made from Baltic ply with Beech fillets, now finished in a range of veneers, and terminating in a single pair of speaker terminals, and a pair of Tygan grille cloths. Short of getting John Arlott or Brian Johnston back for Test Match Special (not easy… they both died in the 1990s), you don’t get more classic BBC than this today. Oxford-based Falcon Acoustics is also keeping the dream alive for existing LS3/5a owners by offering everything from replacement cabinets and drivers, to full crossover networks with matched pairs of HF caps for driver matching. And yes, you could also use that Falcon B110 to repair a Linn Kan.

But it’s the complete, finished LS3/5a that’s the icing on the Falcon Acoustics cake. And it’s here that I sometimes find our British sense of self-deprecation to be at its most self-destructive. The LS3/5a is one of the cornerstones of classic British audio, and yet the British are the first to point to its flaws rather than highlight its obvious benefits. Checking an LS3/5a out in mid-2018 is something of a revelation because it is still current. In fact, it’s one of those loudspeakers that benefit from a spot of modern re-evaluation and partnering; put this loudspeaker with really good, modern electronics and it shines, and some of the ‘relaxed’ criticism of the LS3/5a seems more a reflection of the amplifiers of the time than the loudspeaker itself.

The LS3/5a is an eloquent and refined musical transducer, especially when used with modern electronics: I used it predominately with the Naim Uniti Nova, and the pairing shined brightly. It is all about the precision of sound and image, and if those two aspects of performance align with your own sensitivities, then the LS3/5a is a perfect partner for many listeners, especially those in small rooms. It’s diametrically opposed to the sound of horns, that big, effortlessly dynamic, sometimes cuppy and coloured and blousy sound of a classic 1950s horn is very much at odds with the small-scale, precise, accurate, and dynamically controlled sound of a LS3/5a.

In other words, the LS3/5a is accurate from about 100Hz up to about 20kHz. It was designed at a time when post-20kHz sound was surplus to requirements, and while that might disenfranchise the high-res brigade, the sound of those high-frequencies is so sweet and likeable that they just might not care. A petty little swipe often directed at the LS3/5a is that this sweetness made it likeable to chamber music enthusiasts and no-one else, but in fact, it brings out the sonic greatness of something like Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon[Harvest]. It’s also fast and expressive enough to cope with Eminem’s motormouth on The Eminem Show[Interscope]. A loudspeaker that doesn’t stray too far below 70Hz isn’t big on ‘slam’ and bass force or depth, but it’s remarkably enjoyable when driven by a very good and modern-sounding amplifier.

Beyond all, though, it’s the imaging that really gets to you with the LS3/5a. It’s small enough to act almost as a point source and set up for outstanding imaging in the room (far enough out for good stereo, not so far as to undermine bass, or less than about 30cm from the rear wall) and you are rewarded with a natural 3D soundscape extended wide and deep of the speaker cabinets. This was the reason they were designed in the first place; as a monitor of speech and music in a small BBC control room. Such a monitor demands detail of both music and the stage it presents, and the LS3/5a does that beautifully. The Falcon reproduces the LS3/5a performance equally beautifully. The worry with any recreation is that it becomes effectively a re-enactor; like the well-fed fortysomething pretending to be a malnourished, louse-ridden teenage soldier of the English Civil War – the stitch-perfect recreation is still way better upholstered than the original. That doesn’t seem to be the case here, and it’s a testament to Falcon that they have recreated the LS3/5a anew, right down to the strengths and weaknesses inherent to that 44-year-old design.

So, those thin-walled ply cabinets remain, and perfectly show the modern listener just what a speaker with low cabinet colouration can sound like, without having to call upon a thick cabinet of modern polymers that is five times heavier and more expensive than the BBC design. It shows that although materials science has moved on greatly in the intervening generations, those early ‘plastic’ cones and domes still have their place in terms of outright fidelity, even if it is at the expense of efficiency.

Because the Falcon sticks resolutely to the original design, you don’t get much in the way of effortless dynamics or deep bass, but used in its original context (small listening rooms, not the back of OB trucks) and it works wonders because the LS3/5a doesn’t set the room off, and won’t let you set the room off by playing too loud. This is why they are still popular with companies demonstrating their audio electronics in hotel rooms at audio shows around the world. Trying to rid yourself of room nodes in an 8’x6’ room is an exercise in futility as the amount of bass trapping required would be larger than the room. The LS3/5a – by simply not going there – will sound tauter and more precise in such a room. Moreover, there’s a very slight lift (both to the treble and the upper bass), that gives a bit more body and presence to the sound in such a small room. It’s perhaps the best example of the ‘less is more’ approach, and in case you think the idea of someone trying to use any loudspeaker in so small a room is absurd, I give you… Chelsea property pricing, or Saint-Germain-des-Prés property pricing, or SoHo property pricing. And, once again, in the context of good modern electronics, the LS3/5a is a more dynamic proposition, in more ways than one. A larger loudspeaker is a better prospect for more dynamic sound with deeper bass goes without saying; this isn’t a loudspeaker that tries to tamper with the laws of physics. The LS3/5a, however, remains remarkably cogent as an option for those who are unable to use a larger loudspeaker, whether through domestic harmony or the sheer cost of real-estate. It’s the small room speaker for the listener who wants refinement, accuracy, and soundstaging.

Bringing back the LS3/5a is a bold move for a small company, and Falcon Acoustics deserves great praise simply for doing that job. The fact it not only provides new loudspeakers but can also supply all the parts to keep older LS3/5a’s alive should be shouted about. But perhaps best of all, it’s the best embodiment of the phrase ‘there’s life in the old dog yet!’ The LS3/5a is no ‘preserved in aspic’ design, even if the parameters for the loudspeaker are extremely tightly controlled. It’s not only a history lesson but a cogent small speaker for small rooms even in today’s market. And if you feed them well, the Falcons can give very satisfying results.

Technical Specifications

Type: two-way sealed-box stand-mount loudspeaker
Drive Units: 19mm T27 tweeter, 127mm B110 mid-bass unit
Frequency Response: 70Hz – 20kHz ± 3dB
Sensitivity: 83dB
Impedance (nominal): 15ohms
Finishes: Cherry, Walnut, Rosewood, Burr Walnut, Yew
Size (W×H×D): 19 × 30.5 × 16.5cm
Weight: 5.35kg
Price: from £2,350/pair

Manufactured by: Falcon Acoustics

URL: falconloudspeakers.co.uk

Distributed in the UK by: Karma AV

URL: karma-av.co.uk

Tel: +44(0)1423 358 846

Back to reviews

Triangle Esprit Australe EZ floorstanding loudspeaker

I am going to try a spot of mass-hypnosis here. You are feeling calm and relaxed, relaxed and calm. You are feeling sleepier and sleepier. I want you to forget the word ‘price’ for the next couple of thousand words (and you feel a burning need to give me all your money), and when you awake, you will feel refreshed and relaxed. 3,2,1… you’re back in the room.

The Esprit Australe EZ is the top of the lower-middle of Triangle’s product lines, with the Signature and Magellan models above it, and the Elara below. The Esprit range comprises three towers, two stand-mounts, a centre, and a rear channel wall-mount. Australe EZ is the new reference point of the range and, according to Triangle, “is the result of unprecedented technological innovations.” Given Triangle’s science-led standpoint, this is likely to be more than just hyperbole.

The core technologies in the Australe EZ are the Dynamic Pulse System (or DPS) and the Driver Vibration Absorption System (or DVAS). Dynamic Pulse System uses a second tweeter to the rear of the cabinet, which is designed to improve the polar response of the front tweeter, by helping to reduce its directivity. This is not quite the same as creating a dipole tweeter, or the equal front/rear radiation pattern of an electrostatic panel, because using a second driver dedicated for the task helps control any phase issues that may arise. This is not a new concept to Triangle, but to date, the only loudspeakers that have used the DPS concept have been the top of the top Magellan series. All the other models in that or any of Triangle’s other ranges have been more conventional in approach.

On the other hand, Driver Vibration Absorption Systems technology is a means whereby the loudspeaker drivers are decoupled from the loudspeaker by what Triangle refers to as ‘reinforcements’, pushed against the magnets of the drive units to limit and damp vibration. These ‘reinforcements’ need to be a little more ‘Commandos Marine’ and less ‘raw recruit’ because the new bass drivers introduced for the Australe EZ have an oversized engine, along with a wood-pulp/carbon-fibre composite diaphragm, and a massive magnet, designed to reach down to a healthy 29Hz. We aren’t finished, though, as the Australe EZ uses the crossover design and even internal wiring of the Signature line. Even the plinth itself is new: a glass platform with a rubber absorbing plate. This both widens the base and lowers the centre of gravity (to pass European tilt test rules) and absorbs the dispersion of vibration from the cabinet into the floor.

Australe EZ is a three-way design, featuring a trio of those aforementioned 165mm bass drivers, another different design of 165mm for the midrange, and the front above and rear set of 25mm tweeters, both with a bullet phase plug and deep-set enough to be a quasi-horn. The speaker crosses over at 300Hz (bass-midrange) and 3.9kHz (mid-tweeters), using a second-order network for the bass and a third-order crossover for the top end. The loudspeaker can be bi-wired or bi-amped if so desired.

Triangle has always made its loudspeakers relatively efficient and the Australe EZ is no different, with a 92.5dB sensitivity and a nominal impedance of eight ohms that drops to just 3.3 ohms at a minimum. This means a loudspeaker that is easy to drive and is unlikely to trouble any amplifier it is likely to be partnered with. The tall tower is neatly finished in a choice of gloss white or black, and there are no veneers or RAL paint options.

The set-up is a breeze. You just need to place the loudspeakers at least 0.4m from the rear wall, at least 0.5m from the side walls, and at least 2m apart. You need to sit at least 2m from the centre of a line drawn from tweeter to tweeter. And if that sounds pragmatic, it is, and so is the Australe EZ. It is unfussed about positioning, placement, and partnering. Just make sure the loudspeaker is level and not wobbling, and experiment with toe-in (don’t make it too acute though, as you don’t want the rear tweeter to start interacting with the front). There is one limitation to this; try not to have a very reflective rear wall. This is a good idea in general, but when there’s a rear tweeter involved, you want it to subtly reinforce the main sound, not provide too much of its influence: a wall of glass is going to do just that, so aim for a more diffuse rear wall (you might want to put room treatment panels on the back wall behind the tweeters in extreme cases).

I preferred the Australe EZ wider and with no toe-in and sitting closer to the loudspeaker than usual. This is more of a near-field setting than most might choose, but it worked for the Australe EZ perfectly. This was just at the limits of the central image becoming distinct left and right channels. At that point, everything snapped into focus and clarity, the musical integrity of the sound went into hyperdrive, and the sound just seemed like there were real people projecting music into the room.

Amplifier and source choices are pretty much open to interpretation. I’d go with ‘quality’ rather than ‘quantity’, although if you can do both, the system will sound even better. Because of the hypnosis, I’m not talking specifics and price points, but when you are out of thrall, you’ll probably work out that this deserves a ‘commensurate’ system. I found it worked perfectly with a spot of Class D overkill in the shape of an Aavik U-150 integrated amplifier fed by a Hegel Mohican CD player and hooked together with either Ansuz, AudioQuest, or Nordost cable. In truth, I preferred the slightly earthier tones of the AudioQuest over those of Ansuz or Nordost in this context.

For a loudspeaker with two tweeters and three bass drivers, the Australe EZ leads from the midrange. It’s a midband-out loudspeaker, getting that all-important aspect of music correct first, and then letting the other parts do their stuff from there. That is not to downplay the bottom end or the treble extension but shows the design criteria of the Triangle sound. The mid and treble (but especially the midrange) are fast, dynamic, open, precise, clean, and entertaining. It’s the kind of loudspeaker where you put on a piece of music – let’s say ‘Marietta’ from Buena Vista Social Club Presents: Ibrahim Ferrer [World Circuit] – and it leads to another, and another, and another. Even with a CD front-end, this is more like a Tidal and Roon workout, with you just enjoying ‘swimming’ through your music collection. The overall presentation of that midrange is a little forward, but not troublingly so; music is a new projection further into the room, not a lap-dance.

What that midrange-primacy does with something like ‘Marietta’ is make you wish you spoke Spanish, makes you want to reach for a Cohiba Exquisitos (and I don’t smoke anymore) and mix up a Cuba Libra with seven-year-old Havana Club (and I don’t drink anymore… than the average rugby club after a big win), then you want to reach for any of those other records made by octogenarian Cubans in the 1990s. In short, that mid-forward-and-first sound of the Australe EZ makes music fun again (which sounds like it should be written on a hat). It’s just so damn enjoyable to listen to music played through the Australe EZ, you want to hear more of it, and that’s always a sure sign of musical goodness.

As is the next big acid test: each recording sounds different and has its optimum level with the Australe EZ. This is how it should be; music recorded in one studio should not sound like music recorded in another, and yet too many systems blur those lines and make everything sound a bit ‘samey’. There simply isn’t the resolution to hear the difference from engineer to engineer, or from studio to studio… but there is here. Also, the difference between a few dB listening levels is not a big one in the case of most loudspeakers, but here every piece of music has its own distinct ‘right’ level. That is a sign of deep resolution.

The Australe EZ sings from the midband on out, and the bass and treble need to give that midband a good underpinning. And they do. OK, so they don’t do ‘big boy dynamics’ in the way a much larger speaker will, but instead they deliver subtle woven texture to the bass (in particular) that makes the speaker so entertaining on most styles of music. The big hitters do better with heavy opera and large orchestral pieces – if you are expecting audiophile Mahler played at thunderstorm levels, you’ll be mistaken, and likewise, if your music is predominantly different versions of Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, there are more satisfying loudspeakers available. But for the rest of us – including those who want a spot of Mahler, just not the full catastrophe all the time – will find the Australe EZ’s bass beguiling.

What the Australe EZ does so well is be generous with music. It doesn’t tailor your tastes to suit its performance parameters, primarily because it’s so free of those performance parameters. Instead, it’s like sharing your music with someone infinitely passionate in all things musical. You two are on a musical journey of discovery, and it will be entertaining.

As to the back-firing tweeter, it works very well, but perhaps not in the way you might expect. It seems to expand the soundstage (which you would expect), but does it from the bass on up (which you wouldn’t). It makes the soundstage seem that bit fuller and richer, and more dimensional (of course) but it also makes the sound project into the room more… not in an aggressive way, but just as you want the Australe EZ to sound. It’s easy to check – put a piece of thick piece of card over the rear tweeter and hear the difference. It’s not subtle.

A modern loudspeaker needs to be good when the sound is good and when it is bad because a lot of modern recordings leave a lot to be desired. The Australe EZ does this exceptionally well, coping with the compression of modern music as well as it does with the open dynamics of outstanding recordings. It doesn’t make compressed recordings any easier on the ear; Metallica’s Death Magnetic[Vertigo] really hasn’t got any nicer over the intervening decade, and the Australe EZ doesn’t hide the pain, but it makes it slightly less aggressively thin. However, well recorded music – such as Buddy Guy’s Damn Right, I’ve Got The Blues[Silvertone] – is performed with sparkle and energy, just like it did the first time I heard it 27 years ago.

The best part of the Triangle sound is its naturalness. This is forward, but not aggressively so. The next best part is the soundstage, which is precise and wide of the boxes. Then comes the detail, and that bouncy bass underpinning the liquid treble. After that comes the detail and dynamic range. In reverse order, there is only really the running out of steam when the music gets dynamic and large scale, and that seems a function of…

It’s time to snap you out of the post-hypnotic suggestion. Price isn’t an issue here until it is, in a good way. These loudspeakers don’t sound like they are a pair of £3,295 loudspeakers; they sound like a pair of far more high-end designs, just with the constraint upon that full-scale, full-range dynamism. And for most people with music, rooms, and systems that are not entirely perfect, they would rather have something they can love instead of something they have to endure until the next upgrade happens. The Triangle Australe EZ is that speaker that people can love because it makes music sound great. There are many speakers at double the price that offer more (regarding frequency extension) but at the same time less (regarding sheer enjoyment). That’s the clincher; these are speakers that bring the fun back!

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Three-way ported loudspeaker

Drive Units: 2x tweeter, 1× 165mm midrange,
3x 165mm woofer
Sensitivity: 92.5dB/W/m
Bandwidth: 29Hz–22kHz±3dB
Power handling: 150W
Repetitive Peak Power handling: 300W
Nominal impedance: eight ohms
Minimum impedance: 3.3 ohms
Crossover Points: 310Hz, 3.9kHz
Dimensions (W×H×D): 20 ×113 ×37cm
Weight: 38.8kg
Available in: piano white, piano black
Price: £3,295 per pair

Manufactured by: Triangle

URL: www.triangle-fr.com

Tel: +33(0)3 23 75 38 20

Back to reviews

Dynaudio Music 5 wireless loudspeaker

A few years ago, products like the Dynaudio Music 5 simply couldn’t exist because the technology that underpins them didn’t exist. Even a couple of years ago, this class of product would come with such compromises, their inclusion in a high-end audio magazine would be at best ‘outreach’ and at worst highly dubious. But if anything highlights just how far and how fast the audio world is changing, it’s the Dynaudio Music 5.

The ‘5’ is one of a quartet of Music products designed by the Danish company; the Music 1 and 3 being smaller, battery-powered portable devices, the Music 7 being a larger device ideally used as the best sound-bar around, but arguably too bulky for easy transport. The Music 5, then, sits in the Goldilocks spot, as it is a sizeable, mains-driven device (so you can really give the Music 5 some beans without it running out of puff) but not so bulky that it impersonates a boulder.

The distinctive, angular look of the Music 5 isn’t just there to make it awkward to photograph. Under the grille there sits a pair of 25mm soft-dome tweeters, a pair of 75mm midrange units and a lone 128mm woofer, all fed by 250W of Class D power. The angled aspects allow the Music 5 to project a cogent stereo presentation, but also – thanks to Dynaudio’s RoomAdapt DSP – help tailor the sound to the Music 5’s position in the room. This is extremely useful in a product like the Dynaudio Music 5, because it’s unlikely to be used in more orthodox audiophile installations, and might end up being used in the corner of a room (for example). This can be adjusted using Dynaudio’s own app.

The app is remarkably intuitive to use, especially in setting up the system. Grouping loudspeakers (or turning two speakers into a stereo pair) is as simple as dragging icons into circles on your smartphone screen. Unless you have a phobia about Venn diagrams, set-up is a breeze.

The Dynaudio app also unlocks a host of functions and features that essentially transform the Music 5. Without app support, it’s a good wireless active speaker system that can connect to the outside world through Bluetooth, and a USB port for wired iDevice connectivity. Use the app, however, and it opens up on a far wider world of music, and becomes something like its own DJ. The app supports and Tidal (there’s a free nine-month trial included), but wireless DLNA connectivity, so your home music network can be accessed, or something like Spotify require third-party app support. But where the Music 5 really comes into its own is the combination of a row of five buttons along the top of the Music 5 and the Music Now algorithm within the app itself. The five buttons relate to a range of options, including user-defined – but ‘intelligently’ curated – Music Now playlists.

The app generates Music Now playlists depending on the artists you select as favourites. They can be Music Now (Your personal mix), Music Now (Discovery), Music Now (Favourites), Rock, Pop, Hip Hop, etc.

You can’t create playlists in the Dynaudio Music app but instead play the ones generated by the app/Music Now and your saved playlists from Tidal. You can, however, shape the Music Now playlists by click ‘dislike’ or ‘like’ when a specific track is playing. Also, if you create your playlists in Tidal and then they will automatically show on the front page of the Music app. The best way to think of the Music Now function, is as as an ‘always on’ playlist that is constantly adapting to your taste.

This is one of the true strengths of the Music 5, and the Music system entire. Pretty soon, the app goes away, and you just press one of those five buttons for your music (you can also assign specific albums, fixed playlists, or even internet radio stations to those hard buttons). In fact, about the only time you end up using your tablet or smartphone is when you hear something so good, you want to play it again. That happens quite a lot because the Music 5 quickly becomes spookily good at finding the sort of music you like. And I really mean ‘spookily good’… almost ‘music stalker’ good. You press that button and music you never knew you liked comes out of the speaker.

OK, you can make the Music Now algorithm fail (if you made a playlist that includes plainchant, Kabuki, Burt Bacharach, and Dead Kennedys tracks, then don’t be surprised if your virtual-music-curator acts a little psychotic), and it’s bound by the limits of Tidal, but that means it’s functionally limitless for most listeners.

Even this isn’t the end of the Music’s ‘smarts’. It includes a NoiseAdapt function that ‘listens’ to the ambient sound. It may adjust the volume slightly but it is more about adjusting and adapting the dynamics in a specific area of the soundstage. Personally, I’d like that to go further and include a ‘drowning out boring conversations’ option, but I think that’s beyond the technology as it stands. In fact, the technology has existed in recording systems for years, but usually alters the volume level alone, and as a result can ‘pump’ the volume up and down a little with the flow of speech.

Given the relative size of the Music 5, it also plays impressively loud. Not ‘PA system’ loud and not even ‘bring the club home and party’ loud, but certainly loud enough to get the party started. This can be something of a double-edged sword if you are in possession of a teenager. If this is the case, you’ll probably need to buy more than one Music 5, because your one will be purloined, reprogrammed, and played a lot, at a decent lick. That’s actually great, and great for keeping the audiophile flame alive because it’s promoting the notion of good sound to an audience that might not otherwise experience the concept. And here’s why: the audio industry keeps banging on about ‘new blood’, but what they mean is ‘younger people listening to the same stuff we did.’ This will never work; no teenager is going to be impressed by listening to well-recorded songs penned 25 years before they were born (sorry, Rickie Lee Jones), but this gives the same teenagers some kind of context in which to appreciate good music (on the Music 5). That makes these loudspeakers a gateway into good audio. Excellent!

In outright audiophile terms, the Music 5 is pretty good. OK, so it’s not ‘bulldog chewing a wasp’ audiophile-grade good, but they will be damning it for not being a pair of Special 40s anyway. There is some slight tailoring around the upper-bass, which comes across when playing fast bass drums; instead of ‘bop-bop-bop’, it’s slightly ‘blomp-blomp-blomp’. However, that tailoring is akin to reducing a sauce to make it richer, and makes for a more fun sound. The difference between Music 5 and conventional hi-fi is fairly narrow, and mostly relies on the more meticulous nature of traditional systems. Sound will be presented in full marching order on a good stereo system, where the Music 5 takes a more relaxed approach to things like dynamic range. In its peer group, however, it’s hard to beat.

Using a pair of Music 5s makes a lot of sense, too. Pair them as stereo and they make an expansive sound, albeit not a sound with a pin-point soundstage and rock-solid instruments in an audio hologram. Group them and you have a multi-room system. Run them as two standalone devices and you have two separate music systems in the house. You can switch between these scenarios easily on the app.

No, the big downside is an intellectual one. It slowly dawns on you that you are not that musically special, after all. I pride myself on having catholic music tastes, and feel “no robot could label me”. After some lengthy playlist action, including introducing me to ‘Everyday’ by Logic and Marshmello, the Music 5’s played ‘Instant Replay’ by Dan Hartman followed by ‘Rock Around The Clock’ (the Telex version, not the one by Bill Haley and the Comets)… how the hell did it know that I bought both records in the late 1970s?

The Dynaudio Music 5 is one of the best-named products on sale at the moment because it really is all about the music. Couple this with Tidal, spend a few minutes creating a few playlists, and it’s like you hired your own DJ who has spent the last few years meticulously cataloguing your music and knows precisely what you like. Who’d not love that?

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Type: Wireless active loudspeaker
Cabinet type: vented chamber
Drive units: 2x 25mm tweeters, 2x 75mm midrange units, 1x 128mm woofer
Amplifier power: 5x 50W Class D, one amplifier module for each drive unit
Audio inputs: AirPlay, Internet Radio, UPnP, Bluetooth, USB-A (for iOS device, includes charging facility), TOSlink optical input, 3.5mm mini-jack line input, RC5 remote control
Connectivity: Wi-Fi (802.11a/b/g/n)and Bluetooth aerials
Audio Formats: FLAC, WAV, AIFF, ALAC, MP3, AAC, Bluetooth (aptX), from 16bit/32kHz to 24bit/96kHz
Frequency response: 45Hz-20kHz
Distortion % THD: <0.3%
Finishes: Light and dark grey, red, and blue cloth
Dimensions (WxHxD): 659 x 201 x 185mm
Weight: 5.4kg
Price: £700

Manufactured by: Dynaudio A/S

URL: dynaudio.com

Tel: +44 (0)1638 742427

Back to reviews

Meet Your Maker – Karl-Heinz Fink of Finkteam

This one’s a little different because Fink Audio Consulting and Karl-Heinz Fink are not so much ‘maker’ as ‘gun for hire’. Well, almost: the company does make the Finkteam WM-4 loudspeaker (see below) and more recently announced the Borg loudspeaker, but the company remains primarily a design studio of loudspeakers for a surprising number of brands. His designs include models for Tannoy, Mission, Naim, and Q-Acoustics, but many of the big names in European home and car audio have quietly called upon Karl-Heinz and his team. As a consequence, the small design studio in Essen, Germany is a hotbed of creativity and objectivity. Each room in the labyrinthine office houses cutting-edge design and measurement instrumentation, and there can’t be many freelance loudspeakers who have their own anechoic chamber. We spoke to Karl-Heinz about his background, the design team, and the future of Fink. Then we got to hear the Finkteam WM-4, in the place where it was designed.

With the benefit of 20:20 hindsight, our date of visit was probably not the best. Influenza was moving through the Fink office, and where there is usually a bristling community of designers huddled over CAD/CAM programs, or operating one of the many test, measurement, or prototyping machines liberally dotted around the plant. Instead we got empty workstations and abandoned coffee cups. There were a few exceptions…

In another way, however, this didn’t matter. There are always people at workstations in every factory or facility. What really impresses about Fink – the man, the design team, and even the loudspeaker brand – is the degree of thoroughness that goes into everything. A loudspeaker designer for hire could be a guy with a good head for numbers, a good pair of ears, and copies of Autodesk and Spice on his computer. Fink has its own anechoic chamber, runs a full Klippel test facility, an extraordinarily well-engineered listening room, state-of-the-art modelling software, and – ‘flu notwithstanding – a team of experts capable of working on every aspect of modern audio transducer design and implementation.

It isn’t hard to see where this attention to detail stems from. Karl-Heinz Fink is all about the details. Like many in the audio business, he shares common man-gadget passions; watches, cameras, guitars, pens, etc. But for many these are casual interests. ‘Casual’ does not exist in the Fink lexicon: an hour in his company, and I know more about the history of the cartridge (both ‘phono’ and ‘ink’) than I thought possible. His affable, gentle-giant demeanour and seemingly laid-back lifestyle belies an information-sponge, steel trap of a mind.

Like many designers in audio, Karl-Heinz Fink’s route into the business was through being an enthusiast. In his teens, Fink built a number of audio electronics and loudspeaker projects and was a confirmed DIY-er. Like many who take DIY project building seriously, he migrated from cookbooks and plans to designing his own loudspeakers. But unlike many of his peers in Germany at the time, he was more impressed by British loudspeaker designs than German ones.

Soon, Karl-Heinz took his passion to new levels and started working in the hi-fi industry, in a company making, distributing, and selling DIY loudspeaker kits and components. During this time, he began designing commercial loudspeaker kits and was mentored by the late Ted Jordan, of ALR/Jordan fame.

Briefly in the 1980s, Karl-Heinz went down the audio reviewer path, but he was later released under caution. Around this time, he was approached by a family member to help out a friend who was designing a loudspeaker. This turned from a short project into years of design and development but ended with Karl-Heinz Fink’s first brand – IQ – and working in a freelance design capacity for Yamaha. The rest is history.

Karl-Heinz Fink describes himself as ‘lazy’, but any notion of him lying round watching TV while binging on Cheetos should be laid to rest. Fink’s version of ‘lazy’ means ‘not reinventing the wheel’. He uses sound engineering practice to design something and makes sure that can act as a form of module for subsequent designs. However, this is not reusing one client’s design for another client. Because Fink Audio Consulting has such a reputation in the audio world, it can also take time to perform genuine blue-sky project research into audio engineering. This is normally the preserve of universities, but with many audio courses now becoming more about coding than product design development, Fink’s lazyness is the key to many important developments in audio product implementation.

This is especially true of DSP. Unlike many traditionally trained loudspeaker engineers – who often view DSP at best as a necessary evil and often as either an intrusion or an abomination – Fink is convinced good modern design should be a blending of hardware and digital processing. “It’s more than just about reducing the size of the cabinet,” he said, “that’s a useful benefit. But I’d love to see it used more widely because it can improve on what we can already do with acoustic engineering. An active loudspeaker with DSP can clean up group delay and the distortions that creates. I can’t do that mechanically.”

Discussing DSP shows Karl-Heinz has also approached an important aspect of audio that rarely gets touched upon: passing the baton. Fink’s not 900 years old, but neither is he 23 anymore, and if there is a company that bears his name, he has a responsibility to nurture and develop the people who will carry that name. “No, I have no plans of retiring just yet,” he laughs, “but you always need to think about the future.” Which is why many of his team (when they are not swallowing down ‘flu remedies) are in the early stages of their careers. Fink, as ever, is charmingly pragmatic about this, “As I said, I’m lazy. There’s no point in me spending months learning how to think like a 26-year-old software engineer, when there are 26-year-old software engineers I can hire that will come up with a solution in a few days.”

However, Fink, like many of his contemporaries, is concerned about the lack of analogue electronics training in young graduates. “They often come here with very little analogue electronics under their belts because colleges and universities concentrate on digital electronics and design today. Some just can’t handle the step back to hardware design, but most learn fast.” Fink doesn’t see this as arrogance, however. “A few think our ways are stupid and need to change, but most of them realise that’s just years of working solely in digital speaking. Although, there was this one guy…”

The separation of the different aspects of the Fink team might seem somewhat confusing. They were to me. “Well there’s me!” explains Karl-Heinz, “then there’s Fink Audio Consultants, which is the team here who help develop new designs for audio and automotive. Then there’s Finkteam, which is also the same design team from Fink Audio Consultants, and some others, who came up with the WM-4.”

I wanted to know more about the loudspeaker and how it came into being before the listening test. “We just wanted to try something with a 15-inch driver,” he explained. “I mean, you can really hear all the music that was mixed on something like that with huge bottom end. So, we showed the original as a proof of concept at Munich 2016. After the show we got some reaction from distributors and a lot of press coverage, and then we said, okay we’ll do it!

Easier said than done. “Nobody taught me before how much work it would be! We started to design that speaker and I almost lost my mind.” It was clearly worth the effort, though, as it might not be the last design from Finkteam. “We are working also on a smaller model,” Fink explained, “because not everyone can afford a loudspeaker for that sort of money. You don’t find people that just buy what you have to get distribution. I’ve always liked not to go too crazy with prices.”

Of course, as this is the company’s own design, it is also a testbed for concepts that will inform the next generation of Fink Audio Consultants designed loudspeakers. This has already happened. “There is a spin off from what we’ve tried on the WM-4.” says Fink, “It’s the kind of technology platform we use to try things out and do things in a different way, and this is how you get the Q Acoustics Concept 500. How the pressure equalises there originally came from the box from the W.M. because we tried it the first time. So everything gets a kind of technology update. You try old things and new things, but basically it’s a chance for us to have some fun!”

The Finkteam WM-4: listening to the washing machine!

Finkteam was struggling to find a name for its first loudspeaker. “It looks like a washing machine” said one designer, pointing at the wide base and the 15” drive unit. That was it – the WM-4 was born. This is at once a proof-of-concept and the best loudspeaker Fink and his team (hence the name) can come up with at this time.

The design is a three-way, two-cabinet model, with the bass cab containing a custom 380mm bass driver with a corrugated GRP-impregnated paper cone, a massive magnet, and a cotton (instead of rubber) surround. This is joined by the top-box, which features an AMT ribbon tweeter flanked in vertical D’Appolito style by twin custom made FMWD (flat membrane, wide dispersion) drive units not dissimilar to Balanced Mode Radiator designs. This makes for a relatively straight-forward fourth-order Linkwitz-Riley crossover, but also uses a cabinet with compliant spacers between bass and mid/top sections, to make sure cabinet vibration does not cross from one cabinet to the next.

This is not a review. This listening test was performed after walking through the Fink plant and hearing the loudspeakers in their natural habitat of the Fink listening room. They are, however, available to the general public. The price is still to be finalised (it’s somewhere in the mid-to-high five-figure mark) and for that money, you not only get the loudspeakers, you get Karl-Heinz Fink turning up at your door personally to fine-tune the installation. But a loudspeaker of this size and magnitude is going to be hard to audition at first.

The Washing Machine is incredibly detailed and analytical. This is the kind of loudspeaker that will tell you when a piece of music is not entirely right, whether that means the wrong type of format, some error in the coding or decoding, or simply you bought the wrong mix. Where many speakers are of sufficiently high-distortion or of limited bandwidth and dynamic range to mask these limitations, if you want to hear just why MP3 is so vexatious, try the WM-4s.

This makes the Finkteam loudspeakers appear like they are a bit ruthless, and that’s not the case. There is a subtle difference between ‘ruthless’ and ‘revealing’, and the WM-4 is revealing enough to highlight that difference. Put on a recording that isn’t undermined by signal or data compression and you get insight into the music and the recording. At that point, ‘revealing’ is a great thing. It gives insight into the music that you will struggle to find elsewhere (or at least, elsewhere at anything like this price). The sound has great texture, very good soundstaging and solidity of images within that soundstage, and excellent vocal and tonal articulation. You hear singers breathing – not as if you were researching the chest cavity performance of vocalists – but in an organic manner. It’s extremely addictive.

Perhaps most of all, however, this is a very big loudspeaker that ‘times’, when it really shouldn’t. There’s no way a loudspeaker with a whopping great big bass unit and a port you could put your fist through should be able to keep a precise beat and a sense of temporal order in the way the WM-4 can. This is not the last you’ll hear of The Washing Machine

iFi Audio Pro iCAN, Chord Hugo2, Final D8000, and Campfire Andromeda system

As high-performance personal audio systems have evolved, they have become more specialised. Some focus on top class headphones and electronics intended for use within the relative quiet of one’s home, while others centre on advanced, high-performance universal fit earphones, CIEM’s, and associated portable components that can be enjoyed either at home or on the go. For a systems-orientated issue of Hi-Fi+, we decided to configure a multi-part personal audio system that not only offers some of the best headphone and earphone sound around, but that also offers exceptional versatility for in-home and portable listening applications.

Our system is comprised of four components: the iFi Audio Pro iCAN hybrid valve/solid-state fully balanced headphone amp/preamp (Hi-Fi+issue 143); the Chord Electronics Hugo 2 transportable headphone amp/preamp/DAC (Hi-Fi+issue 153), the Final D8000 planar magnetic full-size headphones (Hi-Fi+issue 157), and the Campfire Audio Andromeda universal-fit earphones (Hi-Fi+issue 158). These components are strong individual performers, but also harmonise beautifully with one another as a group. Let’s look at each component in turn and then talk about the synergies between them.

iFi Audio Pro iCAN

At a recent personal audio show an industry colleague told me he was considering purchasing a Pro iCAN. “I’ve searched all over the personal audio market space and I haven’t found any amp that offers the sound quality or versatility that the Pro iCAN does,” he said. “Have you found anything that tops it for around the same amount of money?” After scratching my head for a moment, I had to admit my colleague was right. iFi’s Pro iCAN is that rare product that combines exceptionally high baseline performance plus an expansive set of useful features and functions unmatched at or even above its price class.

The Pro iCAN is a powerful yet also quiet balanced headphone amplifier/preamp. Significantly, it offers three operating modes: Solid-State, employing a Class A discrete J-FET circuit; Tube, employing a Class A valve-powered circuit with moderate negative feedback; or Tube+, employing the same Tube circuit, but with feedback reduced “to a minimum”. Users can switch between modes on the fly to choose the mode(s) best suited to one’s headphones, earphones, or listening tastes. Pro iCAN also provides switch selectable gain settings of 0dB, 9dB, and 18dB.

The Pro iCAN incorporates sophisticated versions of two proprietary iFi circuits: namely, the firm’s XBass Bass Correction System and 3D Holographic System, both of which are switch selectable. The XBass Bass Correction System aims to compensate for low-frequency deficiencies found in some headphones and many loudspeakers and can apply a maximum of 12dB of bass boost at 10Hz, 20Hz, or 40Hz. The 3D Holographic system addresses spatial aspects of playback with two ASP (Analogue Signal Processing) circuits—one for headphone listening and the other for loudspeaker listening. iFi says the 3D Holographic System is neither a traditional “cross-feed” system nor a DSP-driven system that adds artificial reverb. Rather, the system aims to provide ‘out of head’ sound source placement for headphone listeners while rendering “the whole 3D sound field in a manner that strongly parallels listening to loudspeakers in a normal room, all achieved without added reverb.”

I tried both systems at some length and found them admirably subtle and restrained in their effects and useful when applied in appropriate contexts. With that said, however, I left the circuits switched off for most of my headphone listening to better appreciate the rich, pure, and unprocessed sound of the Pro iCAN.

Predictably, the sonic character of the Pro iCAN is determined by the operating mode chosen. As a rule, the Solid-State mode yields the tautest presentation with excellent linearity (that is, neutral tonal balance), quick and lively transient response, and crisp, sharp focus. Switching to the Tube mode gives similar linearity with a very slightly more softly focused sound, but with more vividly rendered tonal colours, superior harmonic richness, and even more expressive dynamics. Finally, the Tube+ setting is like listening to the Tube mode on steroids, meaning that, on the right track and with the right headphones, the Tube+ setting is positively enchanting.

When I used the Pro iCAN with Tube+ mode engaged to play the title track of Mary Chapin Carpenter’s Come On Come On[SBME Special Markets, 16/44.1] through a set of almost clinically revealing headphones the Pro iCAN helped draw forth the headphone’s more expressive, magical side. Chapin’s voice sounded downright luminous and seemed to float gracefully upon the air, while the backing instruments—most notably the piano and bass—sounded achingly beautiful with rich, deeply saturated tonal colours and expansive harmonics that made them sound almost breathtakingly realistic.

In sum, the Pro iCAN is a versatile, powerful, accomplished, and masterful headphone amp/preamp that is ready to serve as the centrepiece of a very high-performance personal audio system.

Chord Hugo2

The Chord Hugo2 is a major upgrade on the firm’s original and critically acclaimed Hugo transportable headphone amplifier/preamp/DAC. What’s different and better about the Hugo2? Just about everything.

Chord has given the Hugo2 more power, lower distortion, reduced noise floor modulation, and a more sophisticated DAC section as compared to the original Hugo. For example, where the first-gen Hugo’s DAC was a 4-element pulse array design with a digital filter offering 26,000 filter taps, the Hugo2 DAC is a 10-element pulse array design whose digital filter offers a stonking 49,152 filter taps.

Why is the number of filter taps significant? Chord Consulting Designer Rob Watts has long maintained that a properly designed DACs could theoretically deliver just as much sonic information, detail, and analogue waveform accuracy from a garden-variety CD-resolution file as from an ultra-high-res file, provided it uses correctly designed digital filters with an extremely large (and ideally, infinite) number of filter taps—an astonishing claim. The only difference, says Watts, is that the CD-version would have a slightly higher noise floor than the ultra-high-res version.

Putting theory into practice, the Hugo2 uses Watts’ signature WTA (Watts Transient Aligned) filter system, which is implemented via an extremely powerful Xilinx FPGA device. Recognising that the best off-the-shelf DAC devices offer filter taps numbering in the hundreds, Hugo2’s 49,152 filter taps obviously represent a huge (and audible) step in the right direction. The end result is a portable DAC that renders transient and timing-related details (and especially three-dimensional spatial cues) in the music with exceptional accuracy. Better still, the Hugo2 is sonically competitive with full-size tabletop DACs more than twice its size and price.

The Hugo2 provides four dome-shaped, self-illuminated, colour-coded switches to provide On/Off, Crossfeed, Input, and Filter selection functions, plus an also dome-shaped and colour-coded touch-sensitive volume control. There are four available digital filter settings and also four Crossfeed control settings. Colour-coded lights, visible through an upward facing ‘porthole’, indicate the type and resolution levels of the files being played. Users can choose from five digital inputs including a Micro USB port, coaxial and optical S/PDIF inputs, a TOSlink input, and an AptX Bluetooth input. Analogue outputs include a set of 3.5mm and 6.35mm headphone jacks, and stereo DAC/preamp outputs.

Whether used as a standalone DAC or headphone amplifier, the Hugo2’s sonic character is defined by fundamentally neutral but also naturally warm and ‘organic-sounding’ voicing, with exceptional resolution of low-level transient and textural details, striking three-dimensionality, and extremely quiet backgrounds.

The Hugo2’s noise-free and natural-sounding presentation complements all types of music, but its terrific low-level detail and inherent three-dimensionality really come alive on tracks such as Ron Miles and Bill Frisell’s ‘Darken My Door’ from Miles’ Heaven[Sterling Circle Records, DSD64]. Through the Hugo2, Miles’ cornet simply sounds real, letting listeners clearly hear even the smallest details that define the horn’s attack, sustain, decay characteristics, and dynamics. Moreover, the Hugo2 places the horn with pinpoint precision within a broad expansive soundstage. Frisell’s supporting guitar is captured in a slightly more diffuse way, as if its amplifier had been placed onstage and then fairly closely mic’d. The result is a wonderfully up-close-and-personal rendition of the recording event.

Hugo2 is quiet enough to use with high sensitivity earphones such as the Noble Kaiser Encores or Audeze iSINE20’s, yet powerful enough to drive demanding full-size headphones such as the MrSpeakers Ether Flow or Abyss AB-1266 Phi edition. Only for very low sensitivity headphones like HiFiMAN’s Susvara would one wish for more power. Otherwise, the Hugo2 can drive most any transducer you choose.

Hugo2 is an industry benchmark and is the finest transportable headphone amp/preamp/DAC presently available. It is a superb DAC that just happens to incorporate a versatile and also excellent portable headphone amplifier worthy of use with top-tier headphones and earphones.

Final D8000

Final is a respected Japanese manufacturer of premium-quality headphones, earphones, and other audio products; the company enjoys a reputation for technology-driven but always music-centred product design, a great example of which is the revolutionary D8000 planar magnetic headphone reviewed here.

Final’s aim with the D8000 was to create a ‘best of two worlds’ design that would offer, “…the sensitive high ranges of planar magnetic models and the volume and open-feel bass tones of dynamic models.” Consequently, Final took a ‘clean-sheet-of-paper’ design approach for the D8000 and effectively wound up reinventing planar magnetic driver technology in the process.

The D8000’s driver uses a ring-shaped diaphragm featuring an inward-spiralling circular band of voice coil traces etched into the surface of an aluminium-skinned, ultra-thin film diaphragm material. The diaphragm also uses concentric corrugations to promote more linear motion over the diaphragm’s entire working surface. The result: a driver said to achieve superior “reproduction of subtle high frequencies.”

Each D8000 driver features two sets of ‘doughnut-shaped’ magnets, with one magnet ring placed just to the inside and the other to the outside of the voice coil traces. Importantly, each driver features front and rear-facing sets of magnets (for improved efficiency and lower distortion) positioned to minimise sound wave obstructions. Magnetic fields from the front/back and inner/outer magnet rings combine to create an evenly balanced magnetic field across the voice coil surface.

Finally, the D8000 driver uses an air film damping system the design for which was suggested by Dr Heitatro Nakajima, a microphone specialist who lead Sony’s Compact Disc project and who collaborated with Final on the design. The system places perforated metal screens a precise distance away from the front and rear sides of the diaphragm to provide a semi-constrained layer of air between the diaphragm and the outside world. Sound waves pass through the screen perforations, while the openings in the screens offer a just-right amount of resistance to provide critical damping or “braking” for the diaphragm. The sonic benefits of the system are readily apparent.

Straight out of the box, the D8000 offered astonishingly fine bass and midrange performance, but with upper mids and highs that initially seemed a bit reticent or subdued. However, after several hours of run-in time the D8000’s mids, upper-mids, and highs opened up magnificently, so that the headphone’s tonal balance became pleasingly neutral while its overall resolution, transient speed, and focus took dramatic steps forward.

Stated simply, the D8000 combines in roughly equal parts the following qualities: accurate and neutral voicing, high levels of resolution, superb transient agility from top to bottom, finely shaded dynamic contrasts, energetic expressiveness and impact—all with remarkable freedom from audible ringing, overshoot, distortion, or compression. Listening through the D8000 can be a revelation; it lets listeners hear recordings in their most pure, unexaggerated, and unadulterated forms—as if the slate suddenly has been wiped clean of a thousand small sonic obstructions, leaving just the music behind.

To appreciate the D8000’s superb resolution and expressiveness listen to Imogen Heap’s witty and deceptively complex song ‘Bad Body Double’ from Ellipse[RCA, 16/44.1], which contains a heady mix of natural, synthesized, and electronically processed sounds. The song combines funky and intricate riffs with high-energy rhythms, while Heap’s wry lyrics refer to her being her own ‘bad body double’. The D8000 effortlessly teases out the sophisticated multi-layered sounds used in the track while highlighting Heap’s feisty, self-deprecating humour. What is more, the D8000’s reveal a cool sonic detail that sets the stage for the song: namely, the fact that as the track opens Heap is softly working out the lines of the song as she sings to herself in the shower (!).

Few headphones have captured our attention and musical imagination in the way that Final’s D8000 has. It is a breakthrough design that has an uncanny ability to capture the essence of the music while pushing the usual sonic obstructions aside.

Campfire Audio Andromeda

Campfire Audio arrived on the scene in 2015 with the release of its Jupiter, Orion, and Lyra earphones, followed in 2016 by members of Campfire’s “Liquid Metal” earphone range, plus the flagship Andromeda model covered here. Campfire is a start-up company with a pedigree, in that it is a spin-off from ALO Audio, an Oregon-based firm famous for its specialized personal audio cables, headphone amplifiers and amp/DACs. Industry veteran Ken Ball serves as the president of both companies.

The Andromeda features angularly shaped, matte finished earpieces CNC machined from aluminium, with matching metal faceplates attached with recessed, miniature cap screws. The earpieces are fitted with very high-quality Campfire beryllium-copper MMCX-type signal cable connectors. One small caveat: because Campfire’s earpieces are somewhat angular, it would be good to do a test fit to make sure they are comfortable for you (they are for me). Campfire models each have distinctive colours and the Andromeda’s arrive in a beautiful Kelly green-anodised finish with accents in the form of silver-coloured metal sound outlet ports.

The three-way Andromeda uses five balanced armature-type drivers per earpiece, grouped as two high-frequency drivers, one midrange driver, and two low-frequency drivers. Outputs from the mid and low-frequency drivers are directed outward via traditional bore tubes, but the high-frequency drivers are treated differently. Instead of a “traditional ‘tube & damper’ tuning system,” says Campfire, the Andromeda’s dual high-frequency drivers are loaded into a 3D-printed Tuned Acoustic Expansion Chamber™ (T.A.E.C.) said to provide the requisite “acoustic tuning without compression”, thus yielding uncommonly extended and open-sounding treble response.

Andromeda is an earphone created by and for audio purists. It is a well-balanced all-rounder that offers nearly ideal neutral tonal balance, with a substantial amount of resolution—especially when it comes to capturing spatial cues in the music. The Andromeda might exhibit a very subtle degree of bass emphasis, but this mostly serves to give a sense of more solid grounding whenever foundational bass elements are present. Like many fundamentally neutral transducers, the Andromeda sounds so disarmingly natural that it can at first seem self-effacing, though it is simply standing aside to let the music tell its own story.

In practice, the Andromeda proves highly transparent to its sources. When the music is well recorded and rich in emotional content, the Andromeda sounds accomplished, expressive, and nuanced. But, on recordings that sound flat, compressed, or lacking in focus, the Andromeda will honestly reveal those shortcomings. What this means is that the better the recordings you play and the better your ancillary equipment is, the more you will be impressed by the Andromeda’s sound. I found the Andromeda competitive with top-tier models from firms such as JH Audio and Westone (many of which carry higher price tags than the Andromeda), which is to Campfire’s credit.

A track that highlights the Andromeda’s strengths is Dead Can Dance’s “Anabasis” from In Concert[PIAS America, 16/44.1]—a well-made live recording of the famous electro-acoustic ensemble led by Lisa Gerard and Brendan Perry. This atmospheric track combines both powerful yet delicate high and low percussion instruments, a wide variety of other acoustic and electronically synthesized instruments, plus haunting, Middle Eastern-influenced vocals. Through the Andromedas, the variegated textures and tonal colours of ‘Anabasis’ are brilliantly revealed, so that the track sounds by turns dark, brooding, shimmering, soaring, and majestic. Importantly, the Andromeda’s superb low-level resolution gives the earphones an uncanny ability to capture subtle concert hall sounds and the almost electric atmosphere and ‘feel’ of a live event.

The Andromeda is a serious purist’s earphone that does all things well and that offers particularly good top-to-bottom balance and coherency, plus very effective rendition of spatial cues in the music.

Musical Synergies

In many respects, the heart of this system lays in the components produced by iFi Audio and Chord Electronics, which not only set a very high-performance bar, but also are capable of driving virtually any headphones in almost any context. Notionally at least, they could form the electronics root of any non-electrostatic headphone system.

The iFi Pro iCAN may look compact, but it’s a sonic giant offering the elusive combination of high power, low noise, subtle user-selectable voicing options, excellent resolution, and matchless versatility—including the ability to serve as quite effective preamp in a traditional speaker-based system. Chord’s Hugo2 matches the Pro iCAN step for step thanks to its brilliant, Rob Watts-designed DAC, plus a quiet, powerful portable headphone preamplifier that is ideal for headphonistas on the go. Put the Pro iCAN and Hugo2 together and the two components basically ‘turbocharge’ one another, each making the other better.

Final’s D8000 is one of the finest planar magnetic headphones available today—a headphone whose revolutionary design gives it a well-balanced, powerful, revealing, and highly expressive sound that is wonderfully free of ringing, resonance problems, and other distortions. It is an ultra-high-performance headphone whose sophisticated sound will not easily be outgrown and that takes full advantage of our iFi and Chord Electronics.

The Campfire Andromeda is a very sophisticated universal-fit earphone that sounds almost like an in-ear sibling to the Final D8000. It’s an earphone that—like the D8000—exudes sonic refinement and sophistication that just won’t quit. Andromeda works beautifully with the Chord Hugo2 for those seeking top-quality sound away from home.

Our system takes listeners close to the sonic mountaintop for headphone and earphone performance, yet at a price that would seem modest by the standards of typical high-end loudspeaker-based system. Better still, it’s a system whose performance headroom will give owners plenty of room to grow in the future.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

iFi Audio Pro iCAN

Type: Fully balanced hybrid solid-state/valve-powered headphone amplifier/preamplifier
Valve Complement: Two NOS GE5670 valves
Inputs: Three stereo single-ended (via RCA jacks), one stereo balanced (via dual 3-pin XLR jacks)
Preamplifier/DAC outputs: One stereo single-ended (via RCA jacks), one stereo balanced (via dual 3-pin XLR connectors)
Headphone outputs: Three stereo single-end headphone output jacks (two via 6.35mm headphone jacks, one via 3.5mm mini headphone jack); three stereo balanced headphone output jacks (one via 4-pin XLR headphone jack, one via dual 3-pin XLR headphone jacks, one via 3.5mm balanced—TRRS type—jack)
Distortion (THD):
Solid-State: <0.0004% balanced/<0.004% single-ended
Tube: <0.0005% balanced/<0.005% single-ended
Tube+: <0.1% balanced/<0.01% single-ended
Signal-to-Noise Ratio: >147dB (A) balanced/>137dB (A) single-ended
Power Output @ 16 Ohms: >14,000mW balanced, >4,800mW single-ended
Dimensions (H×W×D): 63.3 ×192.5×213mm
Price: £1,695 UK; $1,799 US
Manufacturer Information: iFi Audio

URL: ifi-audio.com

UK Distributor: Select Audio

URL: selectaudio.co.uk

Tel.: +44(0)1900 601954

Chord Electronics Hugo2

Type: High-resolution portable headphone amplifier/DAC.
Digital inputs: Micro USB (PCM up to 32/768, native DSD from DSD64 to DSD512); Coaxial S/PDIF via 3.5mm combo jack (32/768); Optical via 3.5mm combo jack (24/192); TOSlink (24/192); and Bluetooth (Apt X implementation, 16/44.1/48)
Analogue outputs: One 3.5mm headphone jacks, one 6.35mm headphone jack, one stereo analogue output via RCA jacks
Battery: Two Enix Energies 3.7V/9.6Wh lithium ion batteries. Sufficient power at full charge for playing time in excess of seven hours.
Power Output @ 1kHz, 1%THD: 300 Ohms, 94mW; 32 Ohms, 740mW; 8 Ohms, 1050mW
Distortion – 1kHz 3V RMS output: 0.0001% THD
Signal-to-noise ratio: 126dB ‘A’ weighted
Output Impedance: 0.025 Ohms
Dimensions (H×W×D): 21 ×100 ×131mm
Weight: 450g
Price: £1,800 UK, or $2,379 US

Manufacturer Information: Chord Electronics Ltd.

URL: chordelectronics.co.uk

Tel: +44 (0) 1622 721444

US Distributor: Bluebird Music Ltd.

URL: bluebirdmusic.com

Final D8000

Type: Planar magnetic headphone with air film damping system
Driver complement: Full range AFDS planar magnetic driver
Maximum SPL: 98dB
Impedance: 60 Ohms
Weight: 523g
Warranty: 2 years
Price: £2,999 UK; $3,799 US

Manufacturer information: Final

URL: snext-final.com

Distributor: KS Distribution

URL: ksdistribution.co.uk

Campfire Audio Andromeda

Type: Five-driver, three-way universal-fit earphone
Driver complement: five balanced armature-type drivers grouped as two high-frequency drivers in a Tuned Acoustic Expansion Chamber enclosure, one midrange driver, and two low-frequency drivers.
Frequency response: 10Hz–28kHz
Sensitivity: 115dB SPL/mW
Impedance: 12.8 Ohms
Price: $1,099 US

Manufacturer Information: Campfire Audio

Tel: +1 (503) 853-8606, +1 (855) 204-1492

URL: campfireaudio.com

Back to reviews

Burson Audio Conductor Virtuoso 2+ headphone DAC preamp

This is not our first rodeo with Burson Audio. If they even have rodeos in Melbourne, Australia, where Burson Audio is based. We looked at the HA160 headphone amp in Issue 79, and the original Conductor – complete with matching Timekeeper amps in Issue 105. Of these products, the Conductor was perhaps the most impressive in performance terms, so when the time came to look at it’s latest guise – the tricked-out, Conductor Virtuoso 2+ (‘V2+’) – we jumped at the chance. It more than lived up to expectations, too!

The Conductor V2+ is no simple step-change. It’s a root-and-branch rebuild of the concept from scratch. The basics remain unchanged – a silver box with two analogue single-ended, and three digital connections (coaxial, optical, USB). There’s a good, clicky volume pot behind the front panel and a blue LED volume readout, which is a pig to read unless you are staring right in front of the Conductor V2+.

There’s a palpable sense of solidity to the build. It’s… stocky, not in the modern euphemism meaning ‘fat’, but in the old, original meaning, the kind that everyone in The Godfather(except possibly Al Pacino) did so well. The square thick top panel, held together with large Allen bolts gives it a powerful, commanding weight that bespeaks of quality.

Quality extends deeper than just the case. The entire circuit has been redesigned, and is now based on Burson’s V6 SS op-amp, which Burson thinks is the best sounding audio op-amp in the world. In fairness, if you get to designing your own op-amps, you get to be proud of them.

The Conductor V2+ also uses tighter-wound transformers than before, tighter even than most brands. These custom high-density transformers supply twice the power of previous Conductor products. Also, while still a pure Class A designed with FETs (Field Effect Transistors), Conductor V2+ fully utilises the two 70W transformers to output over 8200mW per channel into 16ohm. Just over eight watts will comfortably drive the toughest headphone in the world.

At the heart of our Burson’s new volume control is Burr-Brown’s flagship analogue PGA2310. It offers a set of impressive specifications, including 120dB dynamic range and 0.0004% THD @ 1khz. The PGA2310 possesses two main components; a set of resistor networks and an op-amp output stage. The resistor network allows for 0.5db steps of fine control with channel matching within 0.05%. Compare that to conventional motorised volume controls which can only match channels to 7-10%.

Burson’s set the PGA2310’s op-amp output stage to unity gain, so it essentially acts as a purely resistive volume control. This arrangement avoids any potential coloration the op-amp output stage may inject into the audio signal.

Burson claims the ESS Sabre32 DAC to be “the most expensive and highest performing DAC chip in the world”. For the new Conductor V2+, Burson completely redesigned all the support circuits around the Sabre chip in order to improve overall performance. The new output stage of the DAC has been improved thanks to the company’s latest V6 SS audio op-amp. Pure Class A, the new output stage with its V6 op-amp is claimed to be able to “reveal micro-dynamics that others can only dream of”.

The new DAC design also utilises the DSP volume control that is built in the Sabre 32 DAC. Such an arrangement means when using with any digital inputs, volume control is handled by the Sabre 32 DAC, bypassing Burson’s own PGA2310 volume control. This arrangement helps deliver those absolutely state-of-the-art objective figures.

Burson also uses the flagship XMOS six-core USB module on the Conductor V2+, which allows for 32bit 346k sampling and DSD 256 streaming and an extremely high level of connectivity with both computer and mobile devices. The Conductor V2+ implementation employs a triple low-jitter clock structure for strong jitter correction.

What hasn’t changed in the move from Conductor to Conductor V2+ is Burson’s commitment to tank-like performance criteria in shows. This remains one of the best made devices you can buy, especially at the price. Everything is solidly built and works together as one.

Like its predecessor, the Conductor V2+ includes a pair of line level analogue inputs, three digital inputs, and a choice of variable output to a power amp or fixed DAC output to a full amplifier. If you go this route, the volume control still works to drive the headphone socket. The five inputs are controlled by touch buttons on the front panel. Then there’s the volume display to contend with. This is a good idea in theory, with the blue LEDs hidden behind precisely drilled holes on the front panel, however, the panel is so thick, they essentially disappear unless you are staring right at the LEDs. This works on an aesthetic level, because the front panel is smooth and the display subtle, but I’d go with less style and more readability.

The last iteration of the Conductor came with a range of DAC options, but this proved more confusing for many (myself included). The latest Conductor is more simple in approach; whether you buy a Conductor V2 (which doesn’t have a DAC) or a V2+ (which does). We tested the full V2+.

I really liked the original Conductor, but this shows just how far the company has come. This is a more mature product from a more mature brand, and it shows. The Conductor V2+ is a beast of a headphone amp, in a good way. It can drive practically everything (to the point where more sensitive headphones have some slight gain issues (you have to treat the volume dial with care if you don’t want to deafen yourself, and there’s a slight amount of hiss when playing quiet music at low levels). Through every headphone, however, the Burson Conductor V2+ is always authoritative and stentorian. There’s a tremendous grip over the music that makes headphones sound bigger than they are, but not in an inaccurate, mellifluous manner. Just through sheer grip, especially in the bass. I used a motley collection of headphones from the great (LB Acoustics 3.2) through the good (Sennheiser HD 660 S) to the reasonably hard to drive (a classic pair of HiFiMAN HE-500s) and more. No amplifier is the ideal model for all headphones, and there will always be high points and low points as you plough through a room filled with headphones. But the Conductor V2+ has a better hit rate than most. That’s a big step in the right direction.

This amp copes with all kinds of music too, I played everything from 1920s Jazz [Louis Armstrong, ‘West End Blues’, Hot Fives and Sevens, Okeh] to Infected Mushroom crunking up acoustic guitar [‘Becoming Insane’, Vicious Delicious, BNE] and all points in between. The Burson didn’t favour one side over the other, keeping the surprising dynamics of a trumpet recorded 90 years ago, while handling the driving rhythms of Infected Mushroom (‘driving rhythms’ they may be, but don’t drive and listen to Infected Mushroom at the same time, or wave goodbye to driving for a few months!). In fact, the purity and impact of Armstrong’s opening salvo on ‘West End Blues’ was surprising, given I’ve been listening to that track time and again for years.

Beyond the grip on the bass, though, there’s a sense of refinement and at the same time a lot of detail on offer. Those two don’t normally go hand-in-hand, but the combination is as sweet as it is well received.

There’s so much to like here; from the five-year warranty to the way the detents on the volume control feel under your hand. This is a very well realised headphone amplifier/DAC that shows just how professional Burson Audio has become, and the last round showed the company wasn’t exactly goofing around. The Conductor V2+ is beautifully made, can drive practically everything, sounds powerful and full of bass while staying lithe and detailed, and the only real fault I can find is those damn blue volume settings. The original was a real star; this one’s a supernova!

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Type: headphone amplifier/DAC
Inputs: 1 ×USB Connection 1 ×Coaxial RCA (Support up to 24bit @ 192Khz) 1 ×Toslink / SPDIF (Support up to 24bit @ 192Khz) 2 ×RCA line level input
Outputs: 1 ×headphone jacks 6.35mm 1 ×RCA Pre Amp output 1 ×RCA DAC direct line out
COAX & Toslink / SPDIF : 24 bits / 44.1K, 48K, 88.2K, 96K, 176.4K, 192KHz
Desktop OS: Windows XP, 7, 8, 10 Mac OSX
Desktop OS: iOS* , Android (require OTG support)
PCM Support: PCM / 384kHz @ 16, 24 or 32bits
Native DSD: Native DSD 64 / 128 / 256
DSD over PCM: DoP64 / DoP128 / DoP256
Input impedance: 35 KOhms
Frequency response: ± 1 dB 0 – 56kHz
Signal to noise ratio: >96dB
THD: <0.003% at 30ohm with 1W ouput
Channel Separation: 142 dB @ 1KHz, 135 dB @ 20KHz
Output power: 4W at 8 Ohms
Dimensions (W×D×H): 26.5 ×25.5 ×8cm
Weight: 7kg
Price: £1,590

Manufactured by: Burson Audio

URL: bursonaudio.com

Distributed by: Elite Audio

URL: eliteaudiouk.com

Tel: +44(0)1334 570 666

Back to reviews

Trilogy Audio 903 preamp and 993 power amp

Trilogy Audio specialises in making valve amplifiers for people who don’t want to look at valves. At least that’s the way it seems when you consider the latest amplifiers in the range. The 903 preamplifier is a very modern looking piece of perfectly finished kit that does nothing to suggest that there’s a thermionic triode lurking within its carefully machined casework. The display and variety of features backs this up even further and makes you wonder why Trilogy’s founder Nic Poulsen bothers with valves at all, but that would be to fail to appreciate how much he loves the sound quality of glass audio. His first products were rather more conventional valve-based designs but one can only presume that he wanted a more contemporary aesthetic as that has been the style of Trilogy amps for most of the company’s 25 year plus history with machined aluminium being the preferred look. The 903 pre and 993 power amp do make one design concession to the glowing tubes within, however, in the form of small ventilation slots on the back panel.

The 903 is currently Trilogy’s only entrant in the preamplifier stakes. Its six inputs are all on single ended connections and one of them can be used with an optional phono stage. All too often phono stages like this are not in the same league as the preamplifier they inhabit, but as Trilogy has a particularly good example in the 907, Nic has taken this Class A design with its discrete circuitry and shunt regulated power supply and incorporated it into the 903. All of the loading and gain characteristics can be adjusted via the front panel display so this is a full-fat phono stage without the cost of casework and separate PSU.

The 903’s line circuitry uses a 6H6π double triode, as found on MiG fighter jets so you know it’s pretty bomb proof; this provides all the voltage gain and is run in Class A as you might expect. Elsewhere there are Mundorf film foil and custom capacitors and resistors with an emphasis on longevity and sound quality. This preamp doesn’t just look well-built on the outside, it is that way on the inside too. The controls are so sparse that they take a bit of familiarisation, but with the manual in hand, the combination of dot matrix display, rotary encoder with enter and escape buttons allow all sorts of things to be changed and customised to your requirements. For a start, it has a built-in security code system that locks it down if the unit is disconnected from the mains for more than 30 minutes, so don’t lose the slip of paper with the code on it! The processor within the 903 allows some useful things like balance control, gain trim and naming for each input, timer based power up, and display preferences.

The front panel controls are a little inconvenient for everyday operations such as changing input because you have to ‘enter’ change input with the rotary and then ‘exit’ before it’s selected, but in truth you are more likely to do this with the supplied remote handset. This is a simple plastic affair but a hardcore machined aluminium alternative is available.

The 993 stereo power amplifier is a chunky beast with heavy-duty fins attractively machined into the front panel, the thick nature of these cooling fins is apparently to avoid the tendency of thinner extruded fins to vibrate. This is the first time I’ve come across this suggestion, but if you run your finger over most heatsinks, they do indeed ring so it makes sense to have something beefier. The same double triode as used in the 903 provides the voltage gain in the 993. The output stage consists of a FET which provides the first and most crucial Watt and higher power bi-polar devices that supply additional current, so this is a hybrid design in more ways than one. Trilogy’s valve inclinations can also be seen in the choke input power supply, an approach found in some of the more powerful triode power amps that consists of a large transformer, which is designed to provide a more linear current supply to the circuit.

Connection wise the 993 is fairly conventional except that it only has single-ended inputs, an approach that makes sense given its single-ended nature but one that is unusual in high-end amplifiers largely because of market pressures. As well as big and easy to tighten speaker terminals there are a pair of RJ45 terminals for Trilogy’s BUS system, this allows switch on from the connected preamp and avoids the finger crushing challenge of using a tiny switch under the heatsink.

Using the 903 with an ATC P2 power amplifier and PMC Fact.8 loudspeakers revealed the Trilogy to be an unusually precise yet relaxed preamplifier. It is superb at defining tempo without any inclination to forwardness or emphasis on leading edges. This is an unusual combination that has speed and definition that is so appealing without the glare that often accompanies it, there is plenty of power in the bass and the highs are effortless and natural but not rolled off. The mid is where the valve element is most obvious, it makes lyrics unusually intelligible and brings a natural transparency that is rare. The balance is warmer than absolutely neutral and concedes a little openness; cymbals are not as bright as they can be for instance, but it’s a balance that works with highly transparent sources and loudspeakers very well.

I gave the phono stage a spin with the Goldring 1042 MM cartridge that is currently residing on my Rega RP8, setting gain to 40dB and impedance to 47kOhm. The result was that the high-quality timing of the line stage is also apparent with vinyl in a musically engaging result that has plenty of air and detail. It could deliver slightly better separation and dynamic shading but there’s no escaping the musicality that keeps you listening so happily. With a Rega Apheta 2 moving coil with gain set at the maximum 60dB, the result was a bit cosier than usual, with lots of tonal richness and bass depth but not quite the spriteliness that this cartridge is capable of. I tried both the 100 Ohm and 240 Ohm impedance settings, the latter proving a bit more open, and I also experimented with capacitance, which seems to effect Rega MCs, but couldn’t get the life and energy that is possible. Using an external Rega Aria phono stage, which is naturally well suited to the cartridge, helped matters but the balance was still on the dark side. At the same time, it was apparent that the 903’s phono stage is excellent at differentiating between recordings thanks to high levels of detail and an ability to open up aspects of the recordings that are often unclear.

With the line input and e.s.t. Live in London[ACT] from a Naim Uniti Nova the sound is firm but juicy, and the three members of the band can be easily followed as they spin out a locked down groove that has a degree of musical flow that’s hard to achieve with solid state electronics. This preamplifier is immensely subtle and revealing; every piece of music you put on shows its character straight away, and this extends beyond the way the music is played to the vintage and style of recording. I’ve been loving Frank Zappa’s Roxy Performances [Zappa Records] box set, but its early seventies era is obvious in the limited bass extension and power and tape compression. However, with a preamp like this it’s easy to hear past this and get carried away by the brilliance of the performances by what was arguably his best band (in the world, ever).

When I spoke to Magnus Öström of e.s.t. recently (see interview, page 100) he said that ‘From Gagarin’s Point of View’ from their 1999 album of the same name was a favourite track, so I took the opportunity to give it a spin and was fully able to appreciate its clarity and poignance. They use Sputnik style electronic noise to give it atmosphere and this worked superbly on the Trilogy/Eclipse combo. Also highlighted was the extent to which Svensson, like so many other pianists it seems, was inclined to ‘sing’ along with his playing. I don’t remember that being nearly so clear in the past. The following track, ‘Return of Mohammed’, is a groove that this amp/speaker combo proved to be properly cooking and had to be indulged as well, deadlines schmedlines (sorry Alan!).

Bringing in the 993 power amplifier results in a slight increase in the warmth and relaxation experienced with the 903, this presumably being related to the character of the valve in both. The sound produced is generous and open with lots of fine detail to enjoy and an increase in the musicality experienced with the preamplifier. You get superb depth of timbre from Amandine Beyer’s solo violin [JS Bach Sonatas & Partitas BWV 1001–1006, Zig-Zag Territoires] which sounds more solid and real than usual and the reverb applied is clearly defined. It could have more ‘air’, but so convincing and real does it sound that you wonder if the sense of openness found elsewhere might just be a characteristic of transistor amplifiers.

I decided to see how the Trilogy pair would work with some Eclipse TD712 Mk2 speakers with their full range driver, a speaker that had proved tricky to get a result with up to that point. I put on Kurt Vile’s ‘Pretty Pimpin’ [b’lieve I’m goin down…, Matador] and was lost to the groove, the sheer coherence was enough to keep the album running far longer than expected and I got the sort of communication that the Eclipse has always promised. A more familiar and even older piece is Conjure’s ‘Wardrobe Master of Paradise’ [Music For The Texts Of Ishmael Reed, American Clavé], this produced all sorts of nuances and tonal riches that are rarely exposed. Voice, piano, and sax in particular have a rightness to them that is addictive – so much so that I put on some late Joni Mitchell singing ‘The Man I Love’ [Gershwin’s World, Herbie Hancock, Verve] and allowed myself a moment of escape.

For thoroughness, I also lugged in the mighty Bowers & Wilkins 802 D3 floorstanders, an effort that proved worthwhile from the first note when the speakers ‘disappeared’ leaving the room free for the Micheal Wollny Trio to deliver the phenomenal set they laid down in Wartburg last year. In some respects, this could have had more dynamic impact but I suspect that the removal of the fine glare that purely solid state amplifiers add to the sound partly explains this. The 993 is not the most powerful amp in the world and the 802 D3 is possibly not its natural partner, but there’s no getting away from the high level of musical engagement the pairing produces. My ATC P2 is a bit more lively and thus makes a more exciting sound, but in the long-term the relaxed demeanour of the Trilogy power amp is likely to deliver an experience that you want to continue with as long as time permits.

Trilogy’s 903 and 993 may look like a stylish pair of solid state amplifiers but that’s a cunning disguise to make them more appealing to the modern music lover. They are in fact rather more musically fluent than most of the competition and in many ways more flexible in operation. Build quality is first class and if you can come to terms with the fact that single ended connections are at least of good as balanced ones (with interconnects up to five metres or more) this is a very sweet and revealing amplifier system that should keep you happy for a very long time.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Trilogy 903

Type: Hybrid line-stage preamplifier with optional MM/MC phono stage
Valve complement: 6H6π double triode
Analogue inputs: six pairs of single-ended inputs (via RCA jacks)
Analogue outputs: Two pairs of single-ended outputs (via RCA jacks), one pair of single-ended tape outputs (via RCA jacks)
Input impedance: 50kOhms (20kOhms, minimum)
Output impedance: < 200 Ohms
Bandwidth: Not specified
Gain: 14 dB +/- 0.5dB
Distortion: Less than 0.05% A weighted at 1V output
Signal to Noise Ratio: Not specified
Dimensions (H×W×D): 106 ×465 ×312mm
Weight: 10kg
Price: £6,495, 903 Phono Option £1,445

Trilogy 993

Type: Hybrid stereo power amplifier
Valve complement: 6H6π double triode
Analogue inputs: One pair single ended (via RCA jacks)
Analogue outputs: One pair of speaker taps (via 5-way binding posts)
Power output: 125Wpc @ 8 Ohms, 200Wpc @ 4 Ohms
Bandwidth: Not specified
Sensitivity: 2v to rated power
Distortion: Less than 1% A weighted at rated output
Signal to Noise Ratio: Not specified
Dimensions (H×W×D): 106 ×465 ×346mm
Weight: 19kg
Price: £6,495

Manufacturer: Trilogy Audio

URL: trilogyaudio.com

UK Distributor: Symmetry

Tel: +44(0)1727 865488

URL: symmetry-systems.co.uk

Back to reviews

Vicoustic Multifuser DC2 room treatment panels

About a year and a half ago I moved to a new, downsized home that had a listening space whose acoustic characteristics I did not fully understand. The room is a second storey space and is roughly rectangular, with enclosed walls on one end and at the other end, balcony walls opening on to the vaulted ceiling of a living room (or lounge) space below. My thinking had been that the rectangular shape of the room would make for good hi-fi sound, with the loudspeakers placed at the enclosed-wall end of the room and facing toward the semi-open-wall end of the room. I reasoned that there wouldn’t be (and probably couldn’t be) reflection problems from back walls that weren’t there, and that sound waves passing over the rear balcony would bounce off the angled vaulted ceiling and be directed downward to be absorbed or diffused in the lounge space below. That was my operating theory, but to my chagrin, the actual acoustics of the room proved much different than expected.

While the room was blessedly free of unwanted bass resonances or obvious low-frequency standing wave problems, it exhibited midrange and upper midrange anomalies that were—how shall I put this? —challenging, to say the least. Specifically, the room seemed to have an issue with characteristic midrange and upper midrange brightness, plus the problem of tending to smear or obscure imaging and spatial cues in the music. In particular, imaging was not as precise and sound stages were not as fully formed as I felt they should have been (especially with loudspeakers whose performance I had observed in the past in different listening spaces). In short, it was as if my room was “singing along with the loudspeakers” in a discordant and acoustically unhelpful way—obviously not a good state of affairs.

Looking for solutions, I tried experiments with absorptive panels and with combination absorption/diffusion panels that I had on hand, but with only moderate success. The absorbers and so-call ‘diff-sorbers’ were beneficial, but only to a limited degree; they were acoustic bandages where a deeper and more profound kind of solution was needed. It was then that an old audio friend, Wendell Diller, head of Sales and Marketing for the loudspeaker manufacturer Magnepan, offered an observation that proved prophetic. “You know, Chris,” said Wendell, “my experience has been that in rooms where absorbers or ‘diff-sorbers’ aren’t getting the job done, there can be real benefits to using true, purpose-built diffusors. What’s nice is that most high-end audio systems seem almost infinitely tolerant of diffusors, so diffusors are an ideal, do-no-harm solution.”

It was at that moment that I recalled an encounter I had had with another old audio friend: John Bevier, National Sales Manager for the North American high-end and pro audio distribution company, Audio Plus Services. At a trade show John had demonstrated for me a then-new set of Focal Sopra-series stand-mount monitors, but what caught my eyes and ears were the distinctive diffusor panels John had placed within the room to tune up the otherwise ‘spotty’ acoustics of the hotel/demonstration room. Since the Focals were sounding better than they had any right to in an hotel space, I asked John about the diffusors, which he explained were Multifuser DC2 panels made by the Portuguese company Vicoustic (whose products are distributed in North America by Audio Plus Services).

“Listen to this,” John said as he removed the DC2 panels from the room. Immediately, the sound exhibited much more midrange and upper midrange ‘hash’, while losing imaging specificity and soundstage width and depth. “Now listen to what happens when I put the panels back,” John said with something akin to a magician’s flourish. As the panels went back in place, the sound transformed. The ‘hash’ went away, the imaging became sharply focused (almost the sonic equivalent of an auto-focus camera optimising focus for a photographic image), and sound stages became spacious once again.

Recalling that demonstration, and heeding both Wendell Diller and John Bevier’s advice, I approached Audio Plus Services about trying a set of Vicoustic Multifuser DC2 panels in my listening room. But what exactly are the Multifuser DC2 panels like? Let me provide a brief thumbnail sketch.

The Multifuser DC2 panels each measure 570 ×570 ×177mm (that is, 23.6 ×23.6 ×5.5 inches) and are made of EPS (expanded polystyrene). The panels are offered in three colours—white, grey, and black—but can also be painted to match room décor using water-based paints. The panels ship in boxes of six. Readers seeking a more upscale (albeit more expensive) and aesthetically more in line with domestic decor, solid wood solution might want to check out Vicoustic’s similar Multifuser Wood 64 diffusors.

The panels’ rear and side surfaces are flat, while the fronts of the panels feature a geometric grid array of posts and wells (196 of them per panel) of varying heights and depths. The exact height and depth dimensions of the posts and wells are dictated by a so-called “primitive root” numeric sequence that in essence helps maximise the range of audio frequencies over which the panel provides meaningful diffusion. What is more, the faces of the posts and wells are deliberately angled, which also helps improve diffusion characteristics.

The primary purpose of the panels is, of course, to provide two-dimensional (that is, “hemispheric”) broadband diffusion and a performance chart for the DC2 panels shows that indeed their diffusion coefficient remains remarkably consistent from 125Hz (coefficient = .67) on up to 5kHz (coefficient = .75) and beyond. However, the panels do also provide a modest degree of absorption, with their absorption coefficient becoming most effective from about 800Hz to 2kHz and then gradually tapering off from 2kHz to 5kHZ. Importantly, and unlike many of the so-called quadratic-residue diffusors on the market, the performance characteristics of the DC2 panels are the same in the vertical and horizontal axes.

How do the Multifuser DC2 panels work in practice? In my room they worked like a charm, transforming a space that initially seemed an acoustic ‘problem child’ into what frankly has become the nicest sounding listening room I have ever had. For my application, I used a total of twelve DC2 panels arranged as four columns of three panels each—two on the rear walls of the room and two on the sidewalls (positioned at the first reflection points). The results were impressive to a downright jaw-dropping extent.

First, the characteristic midrange and upper midrange brightness of the room was corrected, yet with no apparent loss of musical energy or information in either frequency band. Second, imaging became more continuous, meaning there was little if any tendency for there to be a sonic ‘hole in the middle’ between the speakers, while perceived imaging focus and specificity were dramatically improved. In layman’s terms, the diffusors seemed to take the room out of the equation, so that I could more clearly hear what the loudspeakers were doing. Third, spatial cues in the music, including very subtle recorded echoes and reverberations, became much easier to hear, as did sounds of instruments and voices interacting with the acoustics of various recording venues. The upshot was an increase in overall soundstage size and three-dimensionality. Finally, the panels worked equally well with dipole and with forward-firing loudspeakers. When you put all of these virtues and benefits together, the Vicoustics panels seemed like nothing less than acoustical miracle workers.

How are the Vicoustics panels mounted in one’s room? The answer is that in many applications the panels would be affixed to wall or ceiling surfaces using special flex glue that Vicoustics makes for this purpose. At the same time, though, I should point out that the panels don’t have to be attached to walls at all to be effective. In my case, for example, I found it perfectly acceptable to place panels on the floor, butted up against the wall, and then to stack additional panels on top. The beauty of this approach is that you can experiment with different panel placements as you wish without having any glue residue to clean up.

Saving the best for last, let me mention that the Vicoustics Multifuser DC2 panels aren’t expensive: many UK retailers offer them for £339 per six-pack box, while US retailers typically sell them for $649 per box. Either way, the value for money on offer is clear off the charts. Vicoustic says the DC2 is “the best cost/performance diffuser money can buy,” and until I discover something better for less, I would enthusiastically concur.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Type: Two -dimensional (“hemispheric”), Primitive Root sequence-based acoustic diffusor panel.
Construction: EPS (expanded polystyrene)
Dimensions (H×W×D): 570 ×570 ×177mm
(23.6 ×23.6 ×5.5 inches)
Weight: 10kg/box
Price: £339 or $649 US/box of six

MANUFACTURER INFORMATION: Vicoustic SA

URL: vicoustic.com

Distributor Information (UK): Source Distribution

Tel: +44 (0)20 896 250 80

URL: sourcedistribution.co.uk

Distributor Information (North America):
Audio Plus Services

Tel: +1 (800) 663-9352

URL: audioplusservices.com

Back to reviews

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Manufacturer: Totem Acoustic

Distributed by: Joenit

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Manufacturer: Kii Audio

Distributor: Sound Design Distribution Ltd

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Manufactured by: Kuzma Ltd.

Distributed by: Definitive Audio

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Manufactured by: Sonus faber

Distributed by: Absolute Sounds

Technical Specifications

Manufactured by: Falcon Acoustics

Distributed in the UK by: Karma AV

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Manufactured by: Triangle

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Manufactured by: Dynaudio A/S

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

UK Distributor: Select Audio

Manufacturer Information: Chord Electronics Ltd.

US Distributor: Bluebird Music Ltd.

Manufacturer information: Final

Distributor: KS Distribution

Manufacturer Information: Campfire Audio

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Manufactured by: Burson Audio

Distributed by: Elite Audio

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Manufacturer: Trilogy Audio

UK Distributor: Symmetry

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

MANUFACTURER INFORMATION: Vicoustic SA

Distributor Information (UK): Source Distribution

Distributor Information (North America): Audio Plus Services

The sound of excellence delivered your way

Distributor Information (North America):
Audio Plus Services