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NAD M66

When it comes to moving in somewhat confounding directions, the audio industry rarely misses a trick. On the one hand, we have devices that refine their roles into ever-narrower niches. We have digital front ends that require four or more devices and external power supplies. These do increase the box count, should you wish to do so. At the other end of things, we have devices like the NAD M66. Here, you idly study the features list and realise that it could replace most of a conventional audio system.

So comprehensive is this list that the M66 defies easy description. It’s a streaming preamplifier, which in itself is not too unusual. However, additional flourishes enhance the experience. Its closest relative in the Master’s range is the M33 all-in-one system, which has broadly similar functionality. However, the M66 removes the onboard amplification and further boosts the specification.

Kind of Blu

The core of the NAD’s functionality is a BluOS-based streaming platform. Like every other device that uses the platform, the M66 makes informed decisions regarding functionality and stability. BluOS can make a reasonable claim to being bulletproof in general use. It combines extensive support for streaming services with the ability to scale effortlessly across a whole house of devices. (And, thanks to the success they’ve had licensing the software to others, they don’t need to come from NAD exclusively.) I’ve run six zones at once in the past, and up to 42 is technically possible. From a user and convenience angle, the M66 makes most premium rivals look masochistic in their simplicity.

This stability comes at the expense of some format handling. Upon examining your library during installation, BluOS will identify DSD content. It will then offer to convert it to PCM, but only up to a maximum of 192 kHz.

No DSD, no problem?

Higher sample rates and native DSD are not part of the offering. I don’t think this matters hugely at the more terrestrial end of things. However, it puts the M66 at a disadvantage compared to devices such as Naim’s superb NSC222. How much it matters to you is something you’ll have to decide for yourself.

Two optical, two coaxial, and an AES digital input power the NAD M66’s streaming front end. These are all capable of receiving the same PCM to 24/192 kHz. You will also find HDMI eARC for a simplified connection to your TV. This is not simply a streaming DAC, though. It also features two RCA analogue inputs, an XLR input and separate inputs for MM and MC phono cartridges. These phono inputs act independently of one another. NAD has made mixing digital and analogue inputs a speciality. Most use an analogue-to-digital stage to digitise the analogue inputs before the level is adjusted. Having used a fair number of these various products, I’ve never found it an issue. However, some potential owners may be less keen.

Top of the food chain

The NAD M66, being at the top of the company food chain, takes a different approach. As it finds itself up against some excellent analogue preamps, it has the means to act as one. It is possible to select ‘Analogue Direct’ and have the volume control function exclusively as an analogue resistor ladder. However, I don’t think that many actual owners will make frequent use of it. This is because the M66 requires the volume to operate in the digital domain for Dirac EQ.

NAD has been offering products with Dirac EQ and correction for several years now. It typically concentrates on the bass section of the frequency response, where most gremlins are likely to manifest themselves. The M66 offers full-range EQ (20Hz-20kHz) as standard for the first time. To use Dirac, download the software onto a PC or Mac. The Dirac auto-detects the NAD M66 on the same network. You can then proceed to run the required tests using the supplied (and perfectly respectable) setup microphone.

And there’s more…

The NAD M66 is its first device to include Dirac Live Bass EQ. This provides real-time management of low frequencies in the room for up to four subwoofers. Lest you think this is hyperbole, NAD fits the M66 with four subwoofer outputs on both RCA and XLR. There is very little anywhere near the price of the NAD that has more resources to coax a less-than-perfect room into behaving itself.

Using the Dirac EQ is straightforward. I took a decent set of measurements. Remember to connect the mic to the Mac before opening Dirac. Dirac proceeded to eliminate a 40Hz room node and make other corrections further up the frequency response. BluOS can save and implement multiple profiles. This contributes to a broader perception that, despite the impressive sophistication of the M66, it is a fundamentally approachable and user-friendly device.

Masters Series masterstroke

With the Masters Series, NAD shed its reputation as a maker of battleship grey econoboxes, and the NAD M66 does nothing to dent this perception. The fit and finish are immaculate. The vivid front colour screen is responsive and logical. There is also an attractive (if slightly limited) IR handset supplied to work alongside the control app. You can argue that the two-tone casework steers you into buying matching components, but I don’t feel that it looks jarringly out of place with products from other manufacturers.

I unwittingly tested this hypothesis in terms of how the NAD was partnered up for testing. A matching M23 power amplifier was supplied with the NAD M66. Still, I ignored it in favour of a Chord Electronics TToby power amp, with which I am considerably more familiar, and paired this duo with the Bowers & Wilkins 702 S3 Signature, which had been in place for some weeks by that point and with which I was comfortably dialled in. To begin with, I ignored the Dirac options and listened to the M66 ‘as is.’

Formidable

Doing so shows that, even without the extra bells and whistles engaged, the NAD M66 is a formidable preamp. As the entire streaming range utilises the same interface, it can be easy to believe that they all sound the same, but the M66 refutes this entirely. Give it the high-res download of The Phosphorescent Blues by The Punch Brothers [Nonesuch], and the M66 demonstrates a lightness of touch in how it decodes things that eschews any initial sense of shock and awe in favour of a presentation that is comfortably ‘right’ in how it reaches you. With and without the beautiful harmonisation that the group is so adept at, Chris Thile’s distinctive voice is perfectly defined against the lush instrumental backgrounds, but without any sense of overemphasis.

The M66 also differs from more affordable NAD digital tiers because there is no sense of less ballistic material being forced or given a slightly unnatural sense of urgency. When you do want a bit of get-up-and-go, though, such as with the newly released rework of Orbital’s Orbital [London Records], the NAD M66 is agile and engaging in how it goes about its business. Compared to Naim’s NSC222, it’s not quite as potent and hard-hitting, but you’d have to be using some unusual speakers before it felt in any way lightweight. It’s arguably happier when listening to less propulsive material.

Admirably transparent

On a more basic level, the NAD M66 is admirably transparent. The fundamental character of the TToby and the 702 S3 Signature isn’t lost when the M66 is handling the decoding and gain in the system. With the volume control being handled by the more flexible digital pathway, there is no indication in terms of use or behaviour that this is how the signal is being handled, except for the perfectly linear volume gain, which tends to elude fully analogue devices. Briefly running my resident Hugo TT2 and Mscaler combo through the XLR input of the NAD, sees the heftier bass extension and greater scale and width of the Chord duo effortlessly stitched into the performance. I cannot see many owners electing not to use the onboard streaming, but the M66 can display the overall transparency you would reasonably expect at this price.

In contrast to this ability with digital, the phono stages are fractionally less adept. I found myself preferring the moving magnet side, which featured an AVID Ingenium Twin, SME M2-9, and Vertere DarkSabre, over the moving coil inputs with the Audio Note Arm III and Goldring Ethos side of the same turntable. The lower gain of the moving magnet section sounds happier and more fluid when listening to Goldfrapp’s Felt Mountain [Mute] than the moving coil. The latter has a slightly harsher tone.

Analogue pathways

Switching the volume control to its analogue pathway does not make any significant change to this behaviour. I don’t personally feel that this is either unexpected or a detriment; NAD’s A-D experience is enough to ensure that it was always unlikely to be decisively different. This probably isn’t the natural choice for the person who regards digital audio as a backstop, but I suspect NAD knows this.

I also suspect that most owners’ experiences with Dirac will be enough to keep them operating in the digital domain. During the time I have been using products equipped with Dirac technology, they have all demonstrated the refinements that Dirac has been incorporating into their software, and the M66 is a further refinement of this. In the past, I felt that NAD’s decision to concentrate on the bass frequencies over the full frequency range made sense because I found that on a few occasions, Dirac’s corrections often affected the character of the speaker itself. It is time-consuming to correct this manually.

Dirac Profile

Here, I don’t have any worries. The 702 S3 Signature remains the speaker it was before the Dirac Profile was loaded. However, with the 40Hz node corrected and a slight dip at 3kHz ironed out, the effect is cleaner and more amenable to being driven more demanding than it was before. The massed band that supports Gregory Porter’s All Rise [Blue Note] is slightly less congested, and it’s easier to discern fine details that make them sound like a group of individual musicians rather than a backing track.

However, I have a well-behaved room. It also has speakers positioned optimally. In a space that isn’t a neat rectangle and where considerations other than ‘earning a living by listening to audio equipment’ have to play a role, I suspect that the M66 is going to open up more of a gap over most rivals. It fell outside the scope of the hardware here to try the Live Bass EQ, but I suspect it will only enhance this perception for subwoofer owners.

The choice for a new generation

All this processing wizardry will leave some readers cold. When you have control over speaker placement and general room behaviour, it can feel like a blow dealt for nothing. NAD knows what it’s doing, though. There is a generation of customers who grew up using auto calibration systems for multichannel amplifiers. To them, the pared-back traditional approach will feel rather restrictive. What the M66 does superbly is retain that functionality while providing a delight-delivering level of performance and outright musicality. This is an exceptional device, one that looks to the future of how we might build audio systems. I’m genuinely enthused about tomorrow, if the NAD M66 is the future.

Technical specifications

Type: Streaming preamplifier
Analogue inputs: 2x pair RCA and earth terminal for MM/MC phono, 2x pair RCA line, 1x pair XLR balanced line
Digital inputs: 2x coaxial, 2x optical S/PDIF, AES/EBU, USB Type A, HDMI eARC, Ethernet RJ45, Gigabit 1000 Mbps
Wi-Fi Built In: Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac), dual-band, Bluetooth 5.0 aptX HD
Outputs: 4x mono RCA, 4x mono XLR line outputs, 1x pair RCA, 1x pair XLR preamp outputs
Comms connections: RS232, 2x in, 1x out 12V triggers, micro HDMI service connection, IR input
Streaming cloud services: Tidal, Qobuz, Deezer, Spotify, Amazon Music HD, SiriusXM, LiveOne, HighResAudio, JUKE, Napster, Pandora, Presto Music.
Internet radio: TuneIn Radio, iHeartRadio, Calm Radio, Radio Paradise
Supported audio file formats: MP3, AAC, WMA, WMA-L, OGG, ALAC, OPUS
Supported high-res audio file formats: FLAC, MQA, WAV, AIFF, MPEG-4 SLS
Sampling rate: up to 2bit, 192 kHz PCM
Free BluOS Controller App for download Apple iOS. macOS, Android, Kindle Fire, Windows
Dimensions (HxWxD): 57x52x26cm
Weight: 16.25kg
Price: £3,999, $4,999, €5,799

Manufacturer

NAD electronics

www.nadelectronics.com

Stack Audio AUVA EQ

Mechanical gremlins! They randomly bounce in and around our audio systems, disrupting the electricity we need to reproduce music faithfully. We know the role of isolation products is to deal with gremlins. If you are beginning your journey trying isolation products for your audio components, I’ve realised that the Stack Audio AUVA EQ System Isolators are a great place to start. They offer high value for money and make it easy to extract optimum performance. Whether your front-end equipment sits on a shelf, table, or rack, the difference it makes is far from subtle. Let me explain more.

True creativity

I had a great phone call with the company’s managing director, Theo Stack, about how he visualised ideas for vibration control towards more faithful musical reproduction. He explained that it was a creative process. Theo Stack did not constrain himself with any financial considerations when finding a solution. He knew he wanted to avoid using mass, which led him to vibration control techniques used in aerospace. Heavy planes are not a good idea!

In general engineering, silicon is effective at absorbing vibrations. An inverted ’cup’ of silicon forms the lower section of the AUVA EQ. Ingeniously, the silicon cup creates an air pocket simultaneously and once loaded. Four small holes further damp the system, creating an ‘air bag’ spring/damper suspension system. This is called the Custom Silicon Absorber (CSA). Sandwiched between the aluminium body and the CSA is the AUVA chamber, which contains the Particle Impact Damping technology.

Theo Stack has a beautifully simple explanation describing the absorption of vibration and dissipation of energy. He likens it to a golf ball coming to a complete stop when it lands in a sand pit. PhD-level Dynamics experts with laboratory-standard vibration measurement equipment tested his ideas. They checked the effect of the isolators (compared to baseline inputs) in multiple axes. That’s when he knew he was on to something. And he is.

Selection

The AUVA EQ System Isolators are specifically for your front-end audio equipment. They are available in sets of three and four. There are three versions. The CSA 1 is rated for loads of up to 4 kg, the CSA 2 is rated for loads between 4 and 10 kg, and the CSA 3 is rated for loads between 10 and 15 kg, respectively, per isolator. Therefore, you can support components up to 60kg. I tried the CSA 1 and CSA 2 versions.

Stack Audio AUVA EQ System Isolators must be in contact with the chassis of your equipment. Stack Audio recommend the vicinity of existing feet. They are height-adjustable (up to 3mm) with a fine-pitched thread, making perfect levelling precise and easy.

Weigh it!

You must use the correct version based on the weight of the component to be supported. That hit me right between the ears when I put the wrong ones under my dCS Rossini APEX and found the sound a bit bright and fatiguing. However, conversely and positively, it proved the AUVA EQ System Isolators are precisely tuned for your equipment. I did use the perfectly titled (for the music) track ‘Going to School’ by John Williams from the album Memoirs of a Geisha: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack [Sony Classical]. It’s a dynamic, melodically playful, and full-frequency-spectrum sonic experience, all at the same time! I have found it can be borderline fatiguing if the planets don’t align concerning the system and room setup. Given that it takes no time or effort to experiment with the positioning of the isolators, do move them to find your just-right, Goldilocks sonic zone.

Elsewhere, I used four CS1s under my David Berning Pre-One preamplifier, four CSA 1s under a vintage Yamaha receiver, and three CSA 2s under a Project X2B turntable.

The first time

I took the opportunity to try the Stack Audio AUVA EQs in a friend’s system that had never been exposed to modern specialist isolation products. The turntable and the amplifier were on a classic vintage Sound Organisation rack. I had the urge to listen to ‘The Girl from Ipanema’ by Stan Getz from the album Getz/Gilberto [Verve Reissues]. Listening without the AUVA EQs, I craved the sound to be more open and spatial. I desired this change without any sense of listening to a pair of box speakers. I wanted more texture and definition to bass notes, all in balance, especially when the giant saxophone arrives.

With that baseline, I introduced the AUVA EQs under the Yamaha receiver. I made sure I had direct contact with the chassis. I was pleasantly surprised that what I was craving arrived in a way that added sophistication and authenticity to the music. The AUVA EQs turned the Yamaha receiver into a rather lovely, modern-sounding amplifier. Importantly, this transformation did not sacrifice its wonderful, old-school analogue attributes.

Turntables

Stack Audio advises against using the feet on a turntable with suspension, such as the Linn Sondek LP12. That made the Project X2B turntable an irresistible candidate. Once the AUVA EQs were introduced and perfectly levelled, the performance of ‘The Girl from Ipanema’ transcended into a live performance. My brain had to do far less processing and could appreciate a special, intimate musical event. The sound transcended what felt like an even more authentic experience to me.
I appreciated the improvement in soundstage, the space between musicians and performers, diction, and annunciation. These improvements came without any sense of clinical dissection. Music became very easy to listen to and non-fatiguing. It lets you relax knowing that you can sit there and enjoy music for hours.

Brilliant value for money

In the world of audio vibration isolation devices, the cost of the AUVA EQs is very accessible. The benefits they bring are instant and all good. The result? The AUVA EQ delivers a high-quality, high-value solution for audio equipment vibration control. You really should try the Stack Audio AUVA EQs. Mechanical gremlins beware!

Price and contact details

Price: AUVA EQ from £54 (single AUVA EQ) to £198 (four-pack AUVA EQ)
Available in CSA 1, 2, or 3 (depending on load)

Manufacturer

Stack Audio

www.stackaudio.co.uk
+44(0)1626 249005

McIntosh DS200 network streamer/DAC

Just as you recognise a giraffe when you see one, it’s difficult to confuse the work of McIntosh Laboratory, Inc. of Binghamton, NY, with that of any other hi-fi brand. The company established its industrial design vocabulary quite some time ago. The absence of updates since indicates that the company does not consider it broken. The McIntosh DS200 network streamer/DAC is a thoroughly modern device. However, it arrives in the classic McIntosh livery. Similar to McIntosh products of the last 50 years or more. Whether a design is appealing is essentially a matter of personal taste.

Spec effectiveness

What is less subjective is the effectiveness of the specification for the DS200. For instance, consider the “audiophile grade” quad-balanced, eight-channel DAC that McIntosh has fitted. It’s suitable for resolutions up to 32-bit/384 kHz, DSD 512, and DXD up to 384 kHz. The company points to its “huge dynamic range’ and “low distortion” for its inclusion.

Various methods get that digital audio information to that impressive DAC. Physical connectivity includes a pair of digital coaxial inputs and their digital optical equivalents. All four support up to 24-bit/192kHz resolution. There’s a balanced AES/EBU input (24bit/192kHz once again) and a USB-B that can extend all the way to 32bit/384kHz, DSD512 and DXD384kHz. An HDMI ARC socket allows your television to become part of your system, and there’s also a proprietary McIntosh MCT connection – it enables the company’s CD/SACD transports to bypass the limitation that SACD does not prefer to be output via S/PDIF. An Ethernet socket provides robust network connectivity.

The wireless equivalents extend to Bluetooth 5.0 with aptX HD codec compatibility and dual-band Wi-Fi. A Wi-Fi or Ethernet connection to your router enables the DS200 to function with Apple AirPlay, Google Cast, Spotify Connect, Qobuz Connect and TIDAL Connect. Furthermore, the McIntosh is not only Roon Ready but also holds Roon Tested certification.

Put simply, it does the lot!

Outputs

A pair of unbalanced RCA sockets or a pair of balanced XLR sockets retrieve the audio once the DAC has completed its function. It’s the (admittedly predictable) presence of these analogue outputs that makes me ponder why there are no analogue inputs. These analogue outputs can be configured for fixed or variable gain. The McIntosh DS200 network streamer/DAC can operate as a source or a preamplifier for digital sources.

As for the usual McIntosh-isms of glowing green Gothic script, bright blue display, and black glass fascia, it is very much business as usual. Given the enduring success of McIntosh, ‘business is usual’ is precisely what people want. Even a glass faceplate that collects fingerprints with the zeal of a crime scene investigator is a positive to McIntosh users. It’s an excuse to make their DS200 even shinier.

Control buttons cover the major functions like ‘power on/off’, ‘Bluetooth pairing’, and various playback controls—they operate with a pleasing positivity, much like the little remote control handset provided, which duplicates many of these functions. However, the turn/push controls, one on either side of the central display, managing volume level, input selection, and access to the menus, do not share that positive feel.

The third option

Then, there is the display. We live in a world where network audio streamers, available at virtually every price point, either lack a display altogether or feature a bright, crisply rendered, and colourful display for album artwork and other elements. McIntosh, however, has decided there’s a third option: a classic dot-matrix display. Far from ‘retro’, this is a part of the McIntosh DS200 network streamer/DAC’s ‘kerb appeal’.

With the DS200 connected via its unbalanced RCAs to a Naim Uniti Star serving as an amplifier and a pair of Bowers & Wilkins 702 S3 Signature floorstanders at the end of the chain, it’s not difficult to overlook the concerns regarding the perceived value of the aesthetics and instead focus on the exceptional quality of the sound this streamer produces. Whether streaming high-resolution content from network-attached storage, enjoying the best TIDAL Connect has to offer, or even using Bluetooth with the aptX HD codec, the McIntosh provides one of the most complete and thoroughly satisfying ways to access digital audio content that this kind of investment can procure.

Switch between a 24-bit/192 khz FLAC file of Bruckner’s Symphony No.9 recorded by the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra under Manfred Honeck [Reference Recordings] and a 24-bit/96 khz FLAC file of Lite Spots by Kaytranada [XL], and you’ll learn almost everything there is to learn about the way the DS200 goes about things. The sound it produces is quite strongly at odds with its unrefined appearance.

Deftly naturalistic

In every circumstance, the DS200 is deftly naturalistic and maintains an utterly convincing tonal balance, and its frequency response is similarly judicious. From the profoundly deep bass to the bright and substantial treble, the McIntosh offers an even-handed listening experience. The ability to extract a significant amount of detail from recordings is a definite advantage, as the DS200 maintains a properly balanced overall picture while keeping a vigilant eye on the most transient, minor, and tangential details in a recording. If the information is available to be revealed, it will undoubtedly be, along with the appropriate weighting and context. This fine detail retrieval only serves to enhance the overall recording; it is never the focal point.

The significant dynamic shifts of a massed symphony orchestra are fully described. They are also conveyed with the sort of casual authority that denotes effectively limitless headroom. The more nuanced dynamics of harmonic variation that the same orchestra indulges in are handled with similar command.

Latent potency

There’s a latent potency to the McIntosh DS200 network streamer/DAC that’s even more effective because it’s not a showoff. Only large swings in intensity or outright attack prompt the DS200 to engage the afterburners. Yet, at the same time, it doesn’t lack subtlety. There’s a nimbleness and lightness of touch that stands in contrast to the machine’s brooding presence.

There’s no denying the considerable low-frequency presence of DS200. It can deliver an implacable force when a recording demands it. This network streamer/DAC addresses bass information with precise positivity. It also pays just as much attention to decay, ensuring that rhythmic expression remains coherent and confident. Above, there’s an eloquence to the midrange reproduction, along with an abundance of detail revealing a singer’s character and technique. At the top end, the McIntosh achieves an endlessly pleasing balance between brilliance and substance, particularly in the onset of treble sounds. It expertly controls their decay.

Our main weapon is spaciousness

All of this takes place on a spacious and reasonably deep soundstage that is almost fanatically defined. It provides ample elbow room for every member of this orchestra I keep referencing. This allows them to perform their part unhindered by the neighbouring instrumentalist. This organisation and separation do not come at the expense of unity, however. The DS200 possesses the happy knack of offering a genuine sense of togetherness, of singularity, to recordings. The sense of performance is always strong.

McIntosh products have a distinct set of design criteria that sets them apart from the audio zeitgeist. And the McIntosh DS200 network streamer/DAC meets those criteria perfectly. But more importantly, this demands to be heard if sound quality is of utmost importance (as it should be).

Technical specifications

Type: network streamer/preamplifier/DAC
Analogue inputs: none
Digital inputs: Ethernet; 2 x digital coaxial; 2 x digital optical; AES/EBU; MCT; USB-B; HDMI ARC; dual-band wi-fi; Bluetooth
DAC resolution and supported digital formats: 32bit/384kHz PCM; DSD512 (inc dff/dsf/dst); DXD384kHz. APE; FLAC; MP3; Ogg; WAV
Music services and wi-fi inputs: Apple AirPlay; Google Cast; Roon; Spotify Connect; TIDAL Connect, Qobuz Connect
Analogue outputs: Balanced XLR; unbalanced RCA
Digital outputs: none
Frequency response: Hz – 60kHz
Distortion (THD + noise): 0.005%
User interface: ascia controls; remote control handset
Dimensions (H×W×D): 52 x 445 x 432mm
Weight: 9.3kg
Price: 5,890, €5,990, $4,000

Manufacturer

McIntosh Labs

Homepage – https://www.mcintoshlabs.com

Product – https://www.mcintoshlabs.com/products/new-products/DS200

Where to buy – https://www.mcintoshlabs.com/dealers/find-local-dealer

UK distributor

Fine Sounds

www.finesounds.com

+44(0)7714 232033

Xavian Medea

Last year’s Virtuosa Anniversario was one of the biggest surprises in speakers and, alas, had very limited availability, with only 50 pairs produced. Can Xavian replicate the shock and awe with the Medea, a two-way, stand-mounted, non-limited version of the same? Knowing that the Czech brand’s owner, CEO, and chief designer, the Italian-born Roberto Barletta, has maintained the same uncompromising approach with his latest creations, the signs appear promising from the outset.

Those who interpret the terms ‘two-way’ and ‘stand-mount’ as significantly cheaper and easier to accommodate are likely to be disappointed. While they initially offer exceptional value from a material standpoint, the Medeas are priced at €11,990 for the pair, with the matching stands costing €3,190. The total is nearly equivalent to the retail price of the floorstanding, three-way Virtuosa Anniversarios, and this also applies to the amount of space they occupy, assuming no one would be foolish enough to actually place them on a bookshelf…

No mini in these monitors

These are certainly not your typical stand-mount speakers – a category that has largely been reduced to mini-monitors since large, rectangular boxes with an eight-inch driver covering the lower part of the frequency band have fallen out of favour in light of slim columns utilising two or more smaller bass units to achieve the same purpose.

They are not rectangular; their baffles slope like those of the Anniversarios and any other speaker from Xavian’s long-standing ‘XN’ line, with the top panel descending towards the rear at a 90-degree angle. However, by ‘modern’ stand-mount speaker standards, they are certainly big and bold. Accommodating the same 22.2 cm (approximately nine inches) Scan Speak Ellipticor woofer as the Virtuosa Anniversario, they are not particularly slim and are as deep as they are high.

That’s a substantial amount of (very nice) walnut veneer on display, particularly on the sides. The weight comes in at a hefty 27.7 kg, and that’s without the stands – which arrive in boxes the same size as the actual speakers and weigh almost the same at 25.6 kg (including 10 kg of sand filling)! Coupled to the speakers using four M8 bolts each, and resting on a generous footprint with adjustable Soundcare Superspikes (featuring integrated footers), the result is something that one’s cats certainly won’t knock over; indeed, a 150 lb Danish Mastiff probably wouldn’t manage it either… Like the Anniversarios, the Medeas feature a large, front-mounted, elliptical bass port, now oriented in landscape rather than portrait.

Driver Delight

Similar to the Virtuosa Anniversario, the driver complement includes the highly advanced (and expensive) Scan Speak Ellipticor drivers—the previously mentioned 22 cm woofer and a 38 mm high elliptical dome tweeter. In fact, it shares the same driver complement as the Anniversario, apart from its 18 cm midrange. The low-frequency driver features six neodymium magnets arranged in a star configuration around an elliptical voice coil, which moves a paper membrane shaped in a manner reminiscent of a horn wave guide, rather than adopting a conical form. This design results in exceptionally low distortion figures across the entire bandwidth and dynamic range, as well as impressive impulse response.

The removal of the dedicated midrange driver with a single crossover point at 1,750Hz permits a crossover filter that is even simpler than that of the three-way Anniversario. Instead of five elements, it comprises just three, and, like the Anniversario, none of them is a capacitor. The specified frequency response for the Medea is from 39Hz to 20kHz, virtually identical to that of the Virtuosa Anniversario. This initially raises the question of where the extra driver and additional litres of internal volume the latter possesses have gone.

A potential explanation lies in the sensitivity rating, which at 87dB (2.83 V/1m) is a significant 5dB lower than that of the Anniversario. This, along with a 4 Ohm impedance rating (identical to that of the Anniversario), led me to believe that the smaller Xavians would not pair as well with my single-ended 300Bs as the Anniversarios did. As we shall see later, I needn’t have worried (so much).

Engaging and direct

Although their ultimate dynamic range may be somewhat limited compared to larger multi-driver systems, two-way speakers utilising minimalist crossovers are frequently lauded for their engaging, direct, and emotionally compelling approach to music, which certainly proved to be the case for the Medea. The Virtuosa Anniversarios already displayed exceptional clarity, transient speed, and detail, and their smaller counterparts are at least equally proficient in these aspects.

However, the genius of the Medeas lies in the fact that this has not been achieved by thinning out the tonal balance and soundstaging. The detail and ‘pinpoint’ imaging, so cherished by audiophiles primarily guided by their left-brain thinking, are not artificially enhanced by making everything slightly smaller and thinner. That’s the sort of expectation one might have when a full-sized loudspeaker is condensed into a smaller package (‘of course, they won’t have the full-bodied sound and sheer impact of the full-size version – but do listen to the precise imaging and all that detail…’) – but that certainly isn’t Barletta’s approach.

What you get is the same rich tonality and easy-going balance aimed at real-world listening rooms, rather than purpose-built auditoriums. There’s top-to-bottom consistency and commendably deep, impactful bass, with all but the very lowest octave present at full force. You also experience the same believable sense of scale, with life-sized voices and instruments, as offered by the Virtuosa Anniversarios. The main difference is those five decibels of sensitivity, which will likely translate to a similar difference in dynamic headroom (the low-frequency unit and the upper end of the recommended amplifier power rating range being the same between the two models). However, this is pretty much a non-issue for those of us living in apartment buildings or terraced housing who don’t tend to retreat into soundproofed, windowless basement rooms to listen to our music.

To the nines

Replacing the Audio Note Quest monoblocks (which deliver all of nine watts according to their manufacturer, though that’s likely a bit of an exaggeration) with my custom Pink Faun Tube Pre from the ‘big’ system for my default ‘baseline’ Copland CSA 28 60-Watt hybrid amp (an oldie but a goodie) did not lead to any softening of transient impacts; a prime example being Front 242’s Headhunter on 12-inch vinyl; a multilayered electro workout with a bassline derived from a string sample and relentlessly pounding industrial beats that can tend to become rather chaotic on speakers needing a firm hand from the driving amp(s) to keep them in check.

Semi-nearfield

Not so here: at sound levels that were still vaguely sustainable in a domestic environment (admittedly in a listening configuration best described as ‘semi-nearfield’), the Medeas’ rendition was one of almost shocking directness—only surpassed by very large horn systems in appropriate rooms, and then not by much—while maintaining total control and lucidity in the midband, with Jean-Luc de Meyers’ sneering voice distinctly standing out in its own virtual space against a busy background of percussion and whooshing electronic sounds, being that bit more intelligible than I am used to. Vocals are something of an eye-opener, in any case.

The relative lack of interference from crossover components in the signal path and the remarkable linearity—at least among loudspeaker drivers—of the Scan Speak Ellipticor drive units certainly contributes to highlighting the special qualities of a single-ended, non-feedback 300B triode amplifier design, particularly that wonderfully tactile, grain-free midband. I wouldn’t unreservedly recommend this combination, mind you; under more standard conditions, I would concur with Xavian’s recommendation of 20 watts amplifier power as a minimum, which is rather accurate. However, in situations where it performs well, the outcome is truly something to behold. The Medeas may not boast the above-average sensitivity rating of their larger siblings; however, this does not suggest that they present anything less than a (tube-) friendly amplifier load.

Cheerleading?

At the risk of coming across as a cheerleader for this tiny, artisanal Czech company that is rarely found at the major international high-end audio events (the cost of maintaining a presence there is likely prohibitive given the scale of the operation) – this first non-limited edition speaker from the reinstated and rejuvenated top-of-the-range XN series demonstrates that Roberto Barletta has in no way suffered from the ‘difficult second album syndrome’.

The Xavian Medea is as revealing, impactful, and agile as it is friendly, coherent, and engaging in typical domestic settings; it is as precise as it is comprehensive. Furthermore, it offers transparency—particularly by avoiding the addition of grain and texture that might obscure lower-level information—allowing it to do justice to very high-end sources and amplification devices, whilst not being excessively punishing to more modest devices. In fact, during everyday use, it delivered background sounds from a distinctly lo-fi internet radio player that were quite enjoyable, providing body and scale, if not refinement. And, as with all truly exceptional hi-fi components, it raises challenging questions regarding the necessity for ‘more’ in terms of size, complexity, and expenditure.

Technical specifications

Type: two-way, standmount, front ported speaker
Driver Complement: 1x 120 mm Scan-Speak Ellipticor silk dome tweeter, 1x 222 mm Scan-Speak Ellipticor woofer
Sensitivity: 87 dB
Impedance: 4 Ohms
Frequency Response: 39 – 20,000 Hz (-3 dB)
Recommended Power: 20 – 200 W
Dimensions (H x D x W): 54 x 26 x 52,5 cm; stand 57 x 34 x 51 cm
Weight: 27,7 kg; stand 25,6 kg
Price: Medea, walnut (pair) – €11.990, textile magnetic cover grille (pair) – €399, Medea stand (pair) – €3.190.

Manufacturer

Xavian Electronics s.r.o., Prague (Czechia)

www.xavian.cz

Distributor

Official worldwide Xavian e-Shop

www.xavian.store

Music Interview: Jake Bugg

Jake Bugg’s new album, A Modern Day Distraction – his sixth – sees him going back to his Brit-rock roots after a flirtation with contemporary pop on 2021’s Saturday Night, Sunday Morning, which met with mixed reviews.

This time around, the 31-year-old singer-songwriter from Nottingham, whose self-titled debut went to number one in 2012, when he was only 18, has cranked up the guitars and recaptured the indie swagger of his youth.

First single and album opener, ‘Zombieland’, is a clattering, raw and primal, feedback-drenched social commentary with a twisted Beatles riff – the cost of living crisis and ordinary people’s everyday struggles is a theme that Bugg revisits throughout the record.

Elsewhere there’s the energetic, Jam-like punk / new wave of ‘All Kinds of People’; a poignant anthem about the loss of someone close to him (‘Never Said Goodbye’); a folky drinking song (‘I Wrote The Book’); the moody, ‘60s pop-tinged ‘Got To Let You Go’, and epic album closer, ‘Still Got Time’, with its strung-out Neil-Young-meets-Oasis guitar solos.

hi-fi+ spoke to Bugg, who had just returned from supporting Liam Gallagher and John Squire on tour last year, to find out why he’s gone back to more familiar territory for his latest record.

SH: After the contemporary pop feel of Saturday Night, Sunday Morning, the new album feels like it’s a return to your roots…

JB: Yeah – I would say so. I think it definitely feels like a natural progression from the first two records. In that time, there’s been experimentation, which is a great thing to do, but I’m really happy with how this record has kind of gone back to the start a little bit.

Was it a deliberate reaction to the previous album, or was it more organic than that?
You’ve experimented with quite a few different styles on each record – you worked with Andrew Watt and Ali Tamposi (Dua Lipa and Miley Cyrus) on Saturday Night, Sunday Morning, Dan Auberbach (The Black Keys) in Nashville for Hearts That Strain, and Rick Rubin in Malibu on Shangri La…

This definitely felt more organic. When you’re working with different people from different musical backgrounds things develop into different sounds – some things can be brought out and some things can be lost.

With this record, it felt natural. I wasn’t trying to chase the old sound or anything – it just kind of came out. I worked with the same guys for all the songs and the production, and it just felt like it happened organically.

On this record, you worked with Metrophonic at their studio in London. How did that come about?

When you’re looking to make a new record, A & R and other people have ideas – it was one of the ideas from A & R.

You never know what you’re really going to get to be honest, and seeing some of the work they [Metrophonic] have done, I was fearful that it was going to be a bit more poppy, but the guys – Paul Barry, Mark Taylor and Patrick [Mascall] – were great, and it just felt like we all had the same tastes and the same idea of what the record should feel like and what it should be.

Copyright ©Kevin Westenberg ALL Rights Reserved

It was great to work with those guys – on my last record, it was very much a case of trial and error, and I worked with lots of different people – sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn’t. I didn’t have any of that on this record, which was great.

You’ve said in the press that the last album was one of the most fun records you’ve made. Was recording the new one an enjoyable process too?

Yeah – absolutely. Lyrically, it’s a better place for me to be and I think it contains some of the things that people liked on the first couple of records.

You co-wrote this album with the guys from Metrophonic you mentioned earlier…

We were all in a room together pretty much every day of the week – we worked really hard on it. I didn’t have many ideas left because I was doing soundtrack stuff during COVID, so it was good to go in with a fresh slate – it all just developed from scratch, which is what made it fun I suppose.

Every detail was considered – if it didn’t feel right, we’d work on it for a few hours because we really cared about it and wanted to make it the best it could be.

‘Zombieland’ was the first single and is the opening track on the album. It doesn’t mess around – it’s a loud, upbeat guitar song with a great, driving rhythm and feedback. I love the riff – it’s like a mutated ‘Paperback Writer.’ It’s very Beatlesy…

It’s a very simple riff, but it has that energy that drives it along. There is a little bit of that in there, which is kind of cool.

Lyrically it talks about people who are dealing with the drudgery of everyday life, and working their fingers to the bone just to pay the bills and stay alive…

Absolutely – it’s hard to avoid that subject in the current climate. A lot of people are suffering and it’s important to highlight those points – if it’s done in the right way.

That subject comes up throughout the course of the record. The song ‘Breakout’ feels like it’s coming from the same place as ‘Zombieland’ lyrically – it’s about a person who is trapped in a cycle they can’t get out of…

That is quite a common theme throughout the record – it’s been something that’s been playing on my mind, and I felt needed to be addressed.

I think a lot of people feel stuck and it’s scary to venture out without that sense of security – it’s a shame that people have been made to feel like that. I like to think there are opportunities out there for some people, but sometimes you’ve got to take a leap…

In the song ‘All Kinds of People, ’ you sing about how we’re trying to find our way every day. You grew up on a council estate in Nottingham and were lucky enough to be discovered and start a music career when you were 18. For a lot of people music has been a way to escape a difficult upbringing or a dead-end job. Do you feel privileged to have been able to do that?

Yeah – absolutely. I’ve been very fortunate to be able to have the life that I’ve had, and I owe it all to music.
I was very much one of the lucky ones. There are a lot of people who aren’t so lucky…

It’s OK to address those problems [in music] and if it comes from a good place and you’re not being condescending or patronising… For me, it’s more about observing and making a social comment.

I know how inspired I was by music, and it gave me that drive – if I can inspire anybody else to make that leap, then great.

‘All Kinds of People’ has a punky or new wave feel – it’s got a lot of energy and a great bassline…

Yeah – it has, and again, it’s really simple, but very effective. On this album, I used my own band to record in the studio again after a long time – it was great to have Jack [Atherton– drums] and Robbo [Tom Robertson – bass] back and it just felt like us and how we play live. That was an important element of the record.

‘Breakout’ has an unexpected flamenco guitar break, which I love…

(Laughs). It’s funny because during the COVID lockdown and in the last few years I’ve been obsessed with flamenco and classical music.

When I was writing the song with the guys and I played that bit they said it was great, but I was like, ‘Are you sure it’s not a bit too much?’ But they were like, ‘No – just roll with it…’

So, we kept it in, and then it comes back around to a more psychedelic, bluesy line, which takes it back to the song. I thought it might be too much, but people seem to like it.

‘Never Said Goodbye’ stands out because it addresses a different subject matter to some of the other songs – it deals with the death of someone you knew, and has a melancholy quality, but is also anthemic…

Yeah, but it also ties in with the record – for a lot of people, life is hard enough as it is, and then when they lose someone who meant so much to them, the only way is to try and be positive – that’s the reason for the anthemic chorus. It’s important because it’s the only hope that’s lingering…

‘I Wrote The Book’ is a stripped-back drinking song that sees you chatting to an old guy in a bar, and, again, it’s about trying to deal with daily struggles…

It’s about realising that you’re not the only one suffering – the guy says, ‘You think you know it all, but I wrote the book…’

I’m that guy who always gets talking to the old guy in the corner, but they have the best stories – I love it and I was inspired by that.

Growing up in our household, there was a lot of Irish folk music – The Fureys and The Dubliners were played, so there was a bit of that influence in there as well.

One of my favourite songs on the album is ‘Got To Let You Go’ – it starts off moody, dark and sad, but then unexpectedly goes into Beatles or Hollies-like, ‘60s pop in the chorus. Where did that one come from?

I was listening to a lot of Bee Gees at the time – there was one song, ‘And The Sun Will Shine,’ which is great. I was fascinated by how they go from major to minor in the same chords and how it’s possible to make a big chorus out of that.

It seemed like a good challenge for me, so, in terms of musicality, that’s what inspired me, but, lyrically, it’s about letting go of those older parts of yourself that made up who you were when you were younger. As we get older, we all change, don’t we?

‘All That I Needed Was You’ is one of the slower and more reflective moments on the album. It has a sad, late-night feel and could be a love song or about a breakup…

It’s reflective but it’s not specifically a love song – ‘all that I needed was you’ could be anything that saved you – for me, it was music.

I love that song – it feels like some of the older stuff that I used to play growing up, like ‘50s and ‘60s country things.

The album deals with some social and personal issues, but it ends up a hopeful note with ‘Still Got Time’, which has an epic rock feel, like Oasis or Neil Young, and on which you sing: ‘Don’t stop dreaming – we’ll make it out alive…’

Yeah – it’s one of those songs where the guitar solo keeps going on and on. We were like, ‘We should probably think about cutting this, but, no, why should we?’

These days, people are a bit scared to go on with a guitar solo, but as long as the notes are the right ones and they’re melodic enough, I think it’s OK.

It has a very simple chorus, but it does end on a positive note and I’m very pleased with it.

I think this album has all the things the fans like from me as an artist, and I hope it’s a road I can continue on.

So, finally, what’s your favourite modern day distraction?

The PlayStation and the pub – I’m definitely guilty of a few myself.

A Modern Day Distraction is out now (RCA Records).

Jake Bugg is currently touring the UK.

www.jakebugg.com

Back to Music

Focal’s New Loudspeaker Pushes the Boundaries of Wireless Hi-Fi

8 July 2025 – Focal elevates the world of high-fidelity once again with DIVA MEZZA UTOPIA, a bold new evolution in the prestigious Diva Utopia line from the French acoustic innovator. Wireless, active and seamlessly connected, it embodies the pinnacle of Focal’s craftsmanship and technological expertise. With its striking design and extraordinary acoustic performance, Diva Mezza Utopia transforms the home listening experience by delivering immersive sound with remarkable depth. More than just a loudspeaker, it represents a significant leap forward in Focal’s pursuit to redefine home Hi-Fi, where uncompromising sound meets intuitive ease of use.

FOCAL & NAIM EXCELLENCE TAKEN TO THE HIGHEST LEVEL

Larger and more powerful than its predecessor, the Diva Mezza Utopia delivers the acoustic authority of a full high-end system within an elegantly integrated all-in-one product. Its four 8-inch ‘W’ cone woofers (at 20.5cm, they are 4cm larger than Diva Utopia) are configured in a push-push layout, generating exceptionally deep, dynamic, and controlled bass. This low-end response lays the foundation to allow the full capabilities of the ‘M’-shaped Beryllium tweeter and ‘W’ cone midrange driver to shine, resulting in a wider, more articulate soundstage. It’s an uncompromising expression of Focal’s acoustic engineering expertise.

As an active loudspeaker, Diva Mezza Utopia integrates a completely re-engineered Naim Audio electronics package. Delivering 500 watts per speaker, the system features a dual-stage power supply for exceptional dynamics and precision power management across the frequency range. At the rear, the sculpted, high-efficiency heat sink ensures optimal thermal stability and long-term reliability. Designed to perform effortlessly in rooms up to 100m², Mezza Utopia exemplifies Focal’s vision of ‘New Hi-Fi’: where cutting edge acoustic design and state-of-the-art electronics converge with a seamless, intelligent user experience.

HIGH RESOLUTION & PERSONALIZED SETTINGS

To meet the demands of high-resolution wireless listening, the Diva Utopia range introduces a suite of technical innovations. First up, Ultra Wideband (UWB) – a unique audio innovation that enables uncompressed, high-resolution signal transmission at 96kHz/24-bit, wirelessly. UWB delivers the clarity and precision of a wired connection, surpassing traditional CD quality without the physical constraints of cabling. For listeners seeking absolute fidelity, a direct wired connection is also available, unlocking studio-grade resolution at 192kHz/24-bit. Complementing this is the Intelligent Dynamics Clocking (IDC), a precision clock-control system that ensures exact synchronization between channels for a coherent, stable soundstage. Data transfer is defined by speed, reliability, and timing accuracy. Additionally, Focal’s patented ADAPT (Adaptive Acoustic Personal Tuning) technology uses a sophisticated algorithm to calibrate the system to both room acoustics and user preferences. Accessible via the Focal & Naim app, ADAPT delivers a finely tuned, personalized listening experience.

LISTEN FREELY. FEEL LIMITLESSLY.

Like Diva Utopia, Diva Mezza Utopia benefits from the Focal & Naim ecosystem through the advanced Pulse Platform. It offers extensive wireless connectivity with support for Bluetooth®, AirPlay 2, Google Cast, and UPnP™, enabling access to streaming services including Spotify Connect, TIDAL, Qobuz Connect, and QQ Music (China). The system supports high-resolution multiroom streaming and is compatible with smart home platforms such as Control4, Crestron, Savant, and RTI. Users can control the system effortlessly via the Focal & Naim app, the included remote control, or voice assistants like Google Assistant and Siri. Whether you’re listening to music, watching films, gaming, or enjoying vinyl, every detail is engineered for a seamless user experience.

SCULPTURAL DESIGN, UNIQUE FINISH

Behind the design of Diva Mezza Utopia lies the same meticulous craftsmanship and passion that define all Focal products. The body is crafted from high-density polymer using a low-pressure molding process, ensuring precise construction, efficient material use, and acoustic optimization. The speaker rests on a double-level, beveled base and features signature floating side panels – a signature of the Diva Utopia range. These panels are made from felt, an eco-friendly yet refined material, presented in a new ivory hue that highlights the speaker’s contours and adds brightness to any environment. The design is further elevated by distinctive touches, including a dual red and black grille on the tweeter and a brushed aluminum band encircling it. Together, they form the iconic ‘signature watch’ detail – an emblem of Focal’s Utopia excellence.

PRICES AND AVAILABILITY

Diva Mezza Utopia will be available from July, exclusively through the Focal Powered by Naim network of authorized retailers for $69,000 USD and $97,249 CAD.

For more information on the Focal Diva Mezza Utopia visit: https://www.focal.com/products/diva-mezza-utopia.

Connected-Fidelity TT Hub

From the first time I saw the TT Hub turntable from Connected-Fidelity, I loved its looks and the quality of its finish. Now I have had one at home, those initial impressions were only confirmed.

Although setting up the TT Hub is not complicated, I was grateful when designer and Connected-Fidelity owner Michael Osborn volunteered to deliver it personally and run me through its finer points.

You may have bumped into him at shows on the Air Audio stand, under which banner he also imports Hana cartridges and Sorane tonearms from Japan. He started Air Audio in 2003 and Connected-Fidelity is its manufacturing arm, producing such products as mains and interconnect cables, mains distribution boxes and balanced supplies, RF filters and isolation accessories. He has 30 years experience in audio design and manufacture.

The TT Hub is Connected-Fidelity’s first turntable. It was supplied fitted with a Sorane SA1.2 tonearm. The TT Hub itself sells for £4,995 and if you buy the package with the Sorane SA1.2, that brings the total to a tad under £6,900. A Connected-Fidelity tonearm cable is also available and was included.

Three tiers

The turntable is a three-tier design comprising a base plinth, chassis and sub-chassis, all of which are machined from bamboo plywood, which look rather elegant in their dark brown lacquer finish, a natural finish is also available. Bamboo plywood was chosen (Bamboo is actually a grass, but plygrass is not in the dictionary!), Osborn explained, because it is immensely strong and has little potential to store energy and resonances.

The tonearm and main bearing/spindle/platter are rigidly connected to the subchassis, which bolts to the larger chassis below, but with solid spacers. The subchassis in turn sits on three pointed brass feet, locating on composite carbon/rubber dampers in the bamboo ply base board to further isolate it from any structure-borne vibration.

The 12-pole AC motor is housed in an isolating pod that sits on rubber feet and is free to move. The user manual says that it should be placed with 15mm clearance between it and the cutout in the subchassis using the spacer provided.

Bearing down

The turntable main bearing is a long and large-diameter, self-lubricating sintered bronze design that uses a PEEK (polyetheretherketone – a high-performance engineered polymer) base component on which sits a sapphire thrust bearing, all housed in a thick-wall aluminium housing.

The aluminium arm mounting plate bolts to the subchassis and can be supplied either blank, or precut for Sorane, Rega or SME arms. Blank units can be cut out to order for any specific arm that the customer requires.

Connected-Fidelity believes that this style of non-suspended turntable design offers “the most lifelike musicality, particularly dynamics, speed and ‘timing’.” I have quite a bouncy floor and can attest that isolation from footfall was excellent.

The power supply for the motor is housed in a separate unit. This quartz regenerator unit is said to offer speed accuracy at 33rpm or 45rpm of 0.003% to compensate for fluctuations in mains frequency, which Connected-Fidelity says can vary by up to 2% moment to moment.

On the front of the power supply box, the LED light glows red/orange when the factory speed setting is used. The rotary control on the left selects 33rpm, 45rpm or off, while the one on the right offers fine speed control if necessary and for those wishing to do so, they recommend using a quartz-controlled battery-operated strobe such as the KSB SpeedStrobe. If you do decide to tinker with the fine adjustment and get lost, pushing the right-hand knob and holding it in for five seconds will reset the factory default.

The high-gloss black acrylic platter of the TT Hub is 30mm thick and has a ‘foamed’ mat bonded to the top of it. This is intended to absorb any vibrational energy from the LP as it plays and isolate the LP from the acrylic platter material.

Disarmingly simple

The Sorane arm is made by IT Industry in Japan, which was founded by Katsuaki Ishiyama in 1974. Priding themselves on precision machining and hand assembly, they have three ranges – the SA1.2, a more conventional looking TA-1 range and a girder-style 12in called the ZA-1.

Ishiyama believes that low-mass tonearms are a poor match for moving coils, and so his arms provide what he sees as the necessary mass for medium- and low-compliance cartridges. The company also boasts very high-quality bearings as it says this has a major influence on performance.

IT Industry says that the bearings used for horizontal movement are axial-loaded thrust bearings with zero play that are held in contact by gravity and act like a unipivot, but with more than one contact point with tapered seats. The main arm component is machined from one billet of aluminium.

The design is easy to use and, unusually these days, has a detachable headshell, making cartridge fitting a doddle. The counterweight slides back and forth to balance the chosen cartridge and there is a captive, sliding weight on a slider within the main arm section that adjusts the tracking force. Bias is set by a rotary control just behind the lift/lower device handle. All in all, I found it easy to use and smooth in its operation.

Sound quality

Fancy claims are all very well, but what does it sound like? To put the TT Hub/Sorane SA1.2 through its paces I hooked it up to an Avid Accent integrated amplifier and a pair of Russell K Red 120Se floorstanding speakers, connected with QED Supremus Zr speaker cable. The unit was supplied with a Hana Umami Red cartridge, which sounded rather gorgeous. However, to facilitate a comparison with a well-respected rival turntable of similar price as a performance benchmark, I fitted it with a Goldring Eroica low output moving coil.

First on the TT Hub’s platter was George Benson’s 20/20 album and the track ‘No One Emotion’. From the first few bars, I could tell I was going to like this turntable. Its sound was pacey, tight, clean, dynamic and detailed. This track has a synth bass line that really pumps it along and it really flew on the TT Hub, whereas on the other benchmark deck the sound was slower, a little turgid and just didn’t move. Benson’s vocals on the TT Hub were open and articulate, with the various layers of this lush and vibrant arrangement well conveyed. The stunning guitar solo from Michael Sembello also had much more bite on the TT Hub and it really soared without being OTT.

The Carlton switch

Switching to my favourite album from Larry Carlton, I wanted to hear what it could do on a well-recorded acoustic guitar. On ‘A Place for Skipper’, the TT Hub acquitted itself well, conveying the presence and bite of his play and revealing how each note was shaped. Soundstage was also more open and defined than on my comparison deck, while the bass guitar line was tighter and more tuneful, with drums and percussion more detailed and dynamic.

I wondered if a rather less well recorded and quirky track might catch the TT Hub out, so I reached for a recent purchase – Messy from Olivia Dean, and the track ‘Dive’, which I just can’t get out of my head. Here, the TT Hub was far from caught out and proved much more open and focused than the rival deck, while the more subtle layers of instrumentation were easier to pick out and follow. The bass line was rather overblown on the other deck, but on the TT Hub it was well controlled, all of which helped to convey the distinctive rhythmic flow of the track.

For a real rollercoaster ride of virtuosity, I spun up ‘Roller Jubilee’ from guitarist Al di Meola’s Splendido Hotel album. Straight away it was clear that his guitar was open and articulate with great bite and inner detail, while drums and percussion were explosive and dynamic. The complex layers of this arrangement were easier to listen into on the TT Hub, while the celeste had more leading edge note detail and the marimba really rang out. The blisteringly fast tempo of the track was also well handled by the TT Hub. Its competitor by comparison seemed slower and rather unexciting, with the track lacking the bite I associate with it.

Hubba, Hubba!

Beautifully made and superbly finished, the Connected-Fidelity TT Hub turntable and its Sorane SA1.2 arm were a joy to use and to listen to. Its sound was detailed, offering good insights into the various layers of the music and how instruments are played and how the musicians work together to create a cohesive and compelling musical experience. It is dynamic, fast and pacey and had my foot tapping in all the right places.

I have no hesitation in recommending the TT Hub/Sorane and it offers excellent performance and value for the asking price. Make sure it’s on your shortlist if you’re in the market for something at this price.

Technical specifications

Type: Belt-driven turntable with AC synchronous motor, controlled by and remote quartz controlled microprocessor PSU.
PSU speed accuracy: 0.003%
Speeds: 33.333rpm and 45rpm, electronically selectable
Chassis: Bamboo plywood
Platter: Acrylic with integral foamed platter mat.
Tonearm: Sorane SA1.2 9in K2 arm with miniature radial bearings
Arm lead: Connected-Fidelity DIN/RCA-U-1.00E
Dimensions (HxWxD): 85mm x 540mm x 390mm
Weight: 14.5kg
Price: £4,995; £6,890 with Sorane SA1.2;
Above plus Connected-Fidelity tonearm lead £7,675

Manufacturer

Connected-Fidelity

www.connected-fidelity.com

UK distributor

Air Audio Services Ltd.

www.airaudio.co.uk

+44(0)1491 629629

Java Hi-Fi Double Shot

It’s a DAC, it’s a phono stage, it’s a pre-amp, it’s a power amp. And all in one chassis. So far, so normal for the world of integrated amplifiers. What makes the Java Hi-Fi Double Shot different is its striking minimalist visual aesthetic. Additionally, the Auckland-based company pays attention to fit and finish. This is a high-end designer product intended to slot seamlessly into a duplex Manhattan apartment. It aims to share the space with the owners’ collection of iconic American furniture and Jackson Pollock originals.

Eyeball appeal

The amplifier’s quasi-organic form factor is available in a range of natural wood finishes and colours. However, the review sample came in premium carbon fibre, which designer Martin Bell says is 9mm thick. It was chosen for its anti-RFI properties, as well as its visual appeal. It looks piano black from some angles, but it reveals the carbon mat structure from others. Beneath the gloss gel coat, Java Hi-Fi’s logo is printed in pearly silver. Heatsinks for the gain stages inside are mounted on the sides of the chassis. They look somewhat like the gill flaps of a basking shark. Overall, it exudes quality in a subdued, high-class manner.

That vibe continues on the front panel. Rather than the typical disjointed scattering of switches and lights found in the sector, we find just two large, chromed knobs, apart from a 6.3mm headphone socket. One knob is located on the left, and the other is on the right, giving it symmetry.

Pleasing weight

If we place a questioning fingertip on either one, we find that it rotates freely, with a pleasing weight. The left knob allows sources to be selected, while the right one adjusts volume. Segments around the perimeter of each knob light up to show source and volume status. Importantly, both functions are also controllable via the supplied hand-held remote.

On the back things get rather more industry-standard. There are four sets of XLR line inputs, a pair of RCAs, and a grounding post for phono input. Additionally, it includes XLR pairs for fixed and variable out, a stubby Bluetooth (aptX) antenna, and of course, two pairs of speaker binding posts. The Double Shot is also designed to work with digital audio. However, it limits the inputs to just a single USB-B input. This is understandable, as the rear panel is densely packed with XLR sockets. But more digital options would be nice.

Light-dependent

Inside is Java Hi-Fi’s design of an active line stage using light-dependent resistors. Bell has combined this with OEM boards from several different suppliers. The power amplifier modules are GaN FET-based Class D units by Elegant Audio Solutions, a well-regarded pioneering specialist in the field. There are two, which are configured for fully balanced operation. They allow the Java Hi-Fi Double Shot to deliver 400 Watts per channel into eight Ohms. The DAC module uses dual Burr-Brown PCM1794As ASICS and supports up to 24-bit 192kHz PCM and DSD. The phono stage is built around an LCR network using Japanese resistors and German capacitors. However, it is Moving Magnet only.

Paired with the household’s PMC MB2se speakers, the Double Shot produced a sound that I consider would have most buyers in Java’s target market segment purring with delight. Readers harbouring any lingering doubt about full-range Class D amplification need to take a listen to the current crop of amplifiers. This includes the Double Shot, to hear how far things have come.

The Jury does not rest

The jury’s still out on whether or not GaN sounds superior to MOSFETs in switching amplifiers, but pioneering engineers like Skip Taylor of Elegant Audio Solutions are working hard to drive it to the point where it becomes the default technology in high-end audio. We should nod towards Bell too for making what some might regard as taking the bold option and choosing to use switching GaN in his aspirational products.

In the Double Shot, he pulls it off, though. Some might suggest that the amplifier offers almost a tube-like level of liquidity and sonic saturation. However, having lived with a review sample for a while, I can report that this would be an overreaction. Perhaps it’s brought on by relief at the discovery that it doesn’t exhibit the dry and somewhat colourless sound once associated with Class D.

As an amplifier of external line sources, the Double Shot achieves a level of transparency up there with some better alternative integrated amplifiers on the market. This is irrespective of their underlying technology. Some of this may result from Bell’s implementation of light-dependent resistor attenuation. It’s attractive as it reduces the number of noise-prone contacts in the signal path. LDR is not more commonly seen because it requires an ultra-quiet power supply. If not, the noise advantage might be thrown away.

Up to the mark

The quality of the power supply specified by Bell is evidently up to the mark here. In addition to strong transparency, it allows the Java Hi-Fi Double Shot to deliver all four musical pillars to a satisfying and broadly competitive degree of competence. There’s the required grunt and speed to support the GaN modules in driving big transients with a satisfying snap. The combination has underlying power and some pleasing richness. It doesn’t lean out and get flatter dynamically through the midrange like Class D of yore. There’s enough tonal and textural detail at the top end to render cymbals as quite believable wooden stick-on-alloy events.

Selecting the in-built phono stage and then a little later the DAC only firmed up the sense of all-round solid competence and balance. It may contain an assemblage of functional modules from different sources. However, the Double Shot has them all flying in formation just as if they were all from the same designer and manufacturer.

It struck me that the moving magnet-only phono stage might be seen as a misstep in the primary intended market for the Double Shot. It wins points for being very quiet and linear. But in my mind at least, Mr and Ms Loft Dweller have a tricked-out vintage LP12 hung with a moving coil cartridge. They’ll not be thrilled to learn that they must buy a step-up transformer for it to work with the Double Shot.

However, in some regions, MM/MC phono stages are viewed as heresy and a step-up transformer is a mandatory part of the deal. So maybe I’m being a bit too Brit-fi here!

Visually arresting

How to sum up this visually arresting integrated amplifier? In the review system, the Java Double Shot did not make a case for being regarded performance-wise as a sonic outlier. It is neither hugely better nor worse than the small number of alternative GaN-based amplifiers already on the market. It compares similarly to most of the larger number of MOSFET Class D amplifiers available. In a way, that’s reassuring, indicative perhaps of the relative maturity of a sector that is, as Skip Taylor and other GaN pioneers intend, getting to the point where the once remarkable is now unremarkable.

With his Double Shot integrated amplifier Java’s Martin Bell is demonstrating both a marketeer’s nose for a relatively under-served market sector and an engineer’s ability to put together a satisfyingly well-rounded sonic performer. The Java Hi-Fi Double Shot can go head-to-head with Class A or B alternatives that have strong established audiophile credentials. And it looks beautiful too.

Technical specifications

Type: Integrated amplifier
Analogue inputs: 4 x pairs of XLR line-level inputs, MM phono stage (RCA inputs)
Analogue outputs: 2 x pairs of XLR outputs (fixed and variable), headphone socket
Digital inputs: USB, Bluetooth aptX
DAC Sampling Rates: PCM up to 24 bit, 192kHz, DSD
MM Input Impedance: 47K Ohm.
MM Input Capacitance: 200pF load.
MM Gain: 45dB signal gain (at 1KHz).
Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR): 124dB (A-weighted).
Residual Noise: 1.6uV (A-weighted).
Dynamic Range (DNR): 122dB.
Total Harmonic Distortion + Noise (THD+N): -110dB or 0.0003%.
Output Voltage: 2.5Vrms (+10.2dBu)
Finish options: Seven casework finishes, with black, silver or bronze front panel options
Dimensions (WxHxD): 44 x 13 x 41.5cm
Weight: 11.6kg
Price: £14,995, $12,995, €13,500

Manufacturer

Java Hi-Fi

www.javahifi.com

UK distributor

Audio Emotion

www.audioemotion.co.uk

+44(0)1333 425999

Back to Reviews

Focal Diva Utopia

Focal and Naim announced their merger over a decade ago. Back then, many couldn’t visualise an actual engineering liaison between the two companies. Both firms have been highly prolific in the ensuing years. However, the nature of those products is that they have been either ‘Naim’ or ‘Focal’. Only at the terrestrial end of proceedings, with the Mu-so devices (new ground for both firms), has there been any actual collaboration. Until the Focal Diva Utopia, that is.

The Diva Utopia sports a Focal badge. However, that badge lights up, which indicates that there is as much Salisbury as Saint Etienne inside those cabinets. Focal’s Diva Utopia is an active speaker. It’s wholly self-contained, replacing streamer and amps in a conventional system. This category is going great guns at lower prices, but it’s more singular to encounter at £30,000.

Utopian dream

The Focal contribution to the Diva is entirely in keeping with the Utopia name. Like other range members, it sports a beryllium tweeter for high frequencies. Focal believes that beryllium’s combination of strength and lightness is unmatched by any other material. Only hydrogen, helium and lithium are lighter than beryllium. Two of those are gases, and the other spectacularly reacts with oxygen and water. Not good properties for loudspeaker designs.

The Focal Diva Utopia is the first speaker to use the ‘M’ shape profile in a beryllium tweeter. This development first appeared in the automotive division. It increases the relative rigidity of the dome for the same amount of material used.

This hands over to a 6.5-inch composite midrange driver that shares a baffle with the tweeter. It’s also a Utopia-pattern composite engineered for stiffness. However, as a midrange unit, it is lighter than a dedicated bass driver. To find those, you’ll need to look down the side of the Focal Diva Utopia. Another four 6.5-inch drivers in counter-firing pairs sit on either side of the cabinet. These are aided in their excursions by a port integrated into the cabinet’s bass near the plinth. One of the reasons why the Diva carries that name is that an earlier passive Utopia model of the same name was the first in the range to mount a driver on the side.

Spine of Naim

Naim’s contribution to the Diva is less visually apparent but significant nonetheless. At the back of the cabinet is a ‘spine’ that contains the electronics required to make the Diva Utopia function. Naim’s distinctive circuit architecture, philosophy, and component choices abound. The amplification is derived from the New Classic series of amplifiers. It breaks down into 75 watts each for the tweeter and midrange and 140 watts for each linked pair of bass drivers. Typical of a Naim product, the board’s layout is meticulous, and the power supply is very hefty indeed.

Notably, much of what makes the Diva work has been developed specially for this application. A combination of SHARC DSP and Burr Brown DACs perform the digital heavy lifting. It’s a pairing that underpins most of Naim’s recent offerings. In the Diva, though, this is operating at 64 bits for the first time, dramatically increasing the amount of processing available. This DSP sends material to DACs specifically assigned to treble, midrange, and bass, meaning that each Diva Utopia has significant decoding horsepower. The two speakers then communicate via a custom implementation of the UWB wireless protocol designed to ensure that the bandwidth available is enough for any task handed to the speaker while offering the pre-requisite stability.

This digital platform is made available to an enhanced version of the Naim/Focal streaming app. The app incorporates the setup and specific adjustments of the Diva. It also accesses streaming options, including stored content with Tidal, Qobuz, Spotify, internet radio, AirPlay, and Chromecast. HDMI eARC, a single optical, and RCA analogue pair complete the inputs line-up. Sure, a device like Triangle’s Capella active wireless speaker at one-thirteenth the cost of the Focal has more inputs to its name. Still, I suspect the Diva Utopia will do enough for most applications.

Intriguingly different

All of this technical and engineering work creates a speaker that is at once familiar and intriguingly different. Many aspects of the design of the Diva Utopia could only be Focal; the drivers and prominent top plate, together with the ‘slash’ at the back of the cabinet, have been company calling cards for years. This familiarity blends with elements like the prominent groove down the front and the repositioned (and, of course, illuminated) logo that presumably points to the direction other members of the Utopia family will head in.

It does work better in the flesh, though. When Focal sent some low-resolution images before going to have a listen, I wasn’t convinced. The proportions looked wrong, and the grey finish was worrying, akin to ferroconcrete. In reality, the Diva is entirely more convincing.

Reducing mass and size

The lines effectively reduce the perception of mass and size, and what looks a little disjointed in two dimensions comes together effortlessly in three. The grey is more likeable, too, but these outer sections are removable, and, in time, more finishes will become available. Owners can easily change these outer sections.

I went down to Naim HQ to listen to the Focal Diva Utopia as their size and other items I have on test precluded installing them at home. The Salisbury massive had run the review pair through their basic EQ process. They had been placed near (but intriguingly not exactly in) the tape marking point for passive Utopias. The business of selecting the first track of the day was the same as if I were using the Mu-so Qb2 that lives in my kitchen, and it led to a slight sense of mental friction regarding what to expect when the music started. Steve Sells, Naim’s Technical Director, showed me a circuit diagram of the Diva’s main board, but its density puts it somewhere close to Minoan Linear A in the intelligibility stakes. Still, the message was clear- this is a formidably complex device.

Beautifully sultry

What resulted, as the beautifully sultry ‘No Depression’ on My Baby’s Loves Voodoo [Embrace Recordings] filled the room, is a sound that gently but firmly subverts expectations of what that technical complexity ‘should’ sound like. Yes, six drivers are in each cabinet, firing in multiple directions, being coaxed, corralled and contained by that formidable electronics package. You receive Cato Van Dyck’s stunning vocal turn from the listening position. Also, the pared-back instrumentation supports that voice in a way that is utterly free of embellishment. The most important thing that the Diva did in that opening 3:54 of music was to demonstrate that engineering brilliance is a means to an end. It’s a means of creating the story rather than being the story itself.

Digging deeper and leaning harder on the Focal Diva Utopia with Public Service Broadcasting’s Electra [So Recordings] began to show what it can do. Electra is an urgent, frantic and unavoidably congested recording due to the older samples that run through the music. The Diva takes this in its stride, delivering the thumping low end with cohesion and control while the delicate chorus is maintained perfectly over the top.

IMAX

Public Service Broadcasting has long had a knack for almost cinematic scope in its material. Here, that presentation gets the IMAX treatment.

This effortless ability to deliver scale is more than a function of those hefty cabinets. The Diva consistently generated a stereo image that I could all but walk around in but one that rises and shrinks to fit the requirements of the material. Fink’s live rendition of ‘Sort of Revolution’ at La Cigale in Paris on Wheels Turn Beneath My Feet [Ninja Tune] has the space of the venue effortlessly stitched into the recording. Change tack entirely and give it Dodie’s Build a Problem [Doddlenoddle], an album that often feels like a boxroom studio recording, and that scale bleeds away entirely and convincingly. In both cases, the vocalist is the centre of your attention as they should be, but they arrive in the broader context of a recording that makes effortless sense.

Beyond proficient

Crucially, Naim’s influence makes its way into the presentation at a level beyond simple technical proficiency. Give the Diva ‘Strange Times’ by the Chameleons [Geffen], and the simple propulsive energy they lend to the track is type-standard Naim. ‘Timing’ is a thorny and hopelessly subjective construct. It’s also impossible to argue that much of the actual business of how the Diva coordinates its many drivers is a function of software rather than innate mechanical wizardry. For all this, though, as you listen to John Lever’s epic gated drumming, it is abundantly clear that the Diva Utopia times perfectly.

The application of digital cleverness might be subtle, but its effectiveness is hard to overstate. As you lower the volume, Focal’s Diva Utopia gently enhances the bass frequencies. The Focal can purr effortlessly in the background while the sound remains fuller and larger than expected. For some people reading this, the concept of a DSP-based bass ‘boost’ at low levels is an anathema. It goes against those purist ideals ingrained in the high end.

Traction control for audio

It reminds me of traction control in cars. Traction control has gone from a slow-witted digital nanny that could – on a good day – intervene to prevent you from dying into something that can apply in stages to make the whole vehicle more exploitable. So is the case here; this isn’t DSP from the turn of the century.

The Focal Diva Utopia is a glimpse of the future. Granted, not the only future but a persuasive template nonetheless. It forms a convincing template for delivering a high-end audio product in a broader ecosystem where the ideals of ‘good, better, best’ are distorted by quite how good the ‘good’ rung is. People are buying affordable powered and active speakers right now for whom the Diva Utopia will look far more like their logical endgame than passive speakers with supporting electronics ever will.

Suffering-free art

The peculiar notion that genuinely great audio requires you to suffer for your art is, fortunately, beating a retreat. However, even with this change in audio sensibilities, the Diva still feels like a step forward. So long as you can accommodate the cabinets, living with them is easy. The Diva carries out the day-to-day sonic drudgery with aplomb.

When you have the time and inclination, that convenience fades into the background. Instead, the formidable ability to deliver the sonic performance that only a large, well-engineered speaker can generate shines through. In that case, the Diva will be ready and willing to provide it. So long as it has access to two main sockets and an internet connection, of course. The collaboration between Focal and Naim has been a long time in the making. Regardless, the Focal Diva Utopia is both superb and likely to be a portent of things to come. It’s been worth the wait.

Technical specifications

Type: three-way bass-reflex active streaming floorstanding loudspeaker
Floorstanding bass: 4 x W 6.5” (16.5cm) push-push configuration
Midrange-bass: W 6.5” (16.5cm) with TMD surround and NIC motor
Tweeter: IAL2 1 1/16” (27mm) pure beryllium M-shaped inverted dome
Bandwidth (+/-3dB): 27Hz – 40kHz
Low-frequency cut-off (-6dB): 24Hz
Maximum volume (per pair): 116dB SPL (@ 1m)
Amplification power per loudspeaker: LF: 250W Class AB / MF: 75W Class AB / HF: 75W Class AB
Power supply: 110-120V/220-240V ~50/60Hz
Power consumption: 280W
Network standby mode: <2W
No-network standby mode: <0.5W
Inputs on primary speaker: HDMI eARC, CEC / TOSLINK Optical / RCA analogue / Type A USB 2.0 / RJ45 Ethernet / RJ45 Speaker Link
Inputs on secondary loudspeaker: RJ45 Speaker Link
Internet radio format: Streaming containers: HLS, DASH, OGG. Codecs: MP3, AAC, Vorbis, FLAC. Icecast, Shoutcast, XPeri Extended Metadata support
Audio formats: WAV, FLAC and AIFF – up to 24bits/384kHz, ALAC (Apple Lossless Audio Codec) – up to 24bits/384kHz, MP3 – up to 48kHz/ 320kbits (16bits), AAC – up to 48kHz/320kbits (16bits), OGG and AAC – up to 48kHz (16bits), DSD64 and DSD128
Bluetooth codecs: aptX Adaptive, SBC, AAC
Multiroom Sync with up to 32 Focal & Naim streaming devices
Control: Focal & Naim app, remote control, voice assistants
Wireless streaming: AirPlay, Google Cast, UPnP, Bluetooth 5.3, Spotify via Spotify Connect, TIDAL via TIDAL Connect, QQ Music via QPlay
Music streaming services via the Focal & Naim app: TIDAL, Qobuz, Internet radio and podcasts
Network: Ethernet (1000/100/10Mbps), Wi-Fi (Wi-Fi 6)
Wireless connection: UWB 96kHz/24-bit
Connection with Hi-Res Link: 192kHz/24-bit
Focal & Naim control app: iOS and Android
Remote control: Zigbee
Dimensions (HxLxD): 121x42x56cm
Weight: 64kg
Price: £29,999, $39,999, €34,999

Manufacturer

Focal

www.focal.com

PM Warson: A Little More Time

UK soul, blues and R ‘n’ B singer-songwriter and guitarist, PM Warson, recorded his last album, 2022’s Dig Deep Repeat, in a makeshift studio, located in an industrial storage unit in Stoke Newington, in north-east London, during the pandemic.

For the follow up, A Little More Time, which is his third record, he’s pushed the boat out – quite literally, as it was made at Lightship 95, a floating analogue and digital studio moored on the Thames.

“The live room has a very distinctive sound and I think you can hear it at the heart of the recording – it’s quite a ‘roomy’ production,” says Warson, talking to hi-fi+ in an exclusive interview.

This time around he’s been joined by his regular rhythm section, Billy Stookes (drums) and Pete Thomas (upright and electric bass), plus guests, including Stephen Large (organ and electric piano), Martin Kaye (piano), Jack McGaughey (organ), Ollie Seymour-Marsh (guitars) and Grant Olding (harmonica), plus backing singers and a horn section.

Warson’s previous album saw some ‘60s pop, soul and girl group influences creep in, alongside the more traditional R ‘n’B and blues – on A Little More Time he’s explored those inspirations, er, a little more.

“That’s always been there, but on this record, I let the wider influences just come in a little bit,” he says.

There’s still plenty of blues and R ‘n’B on the album, though, but, as he explains: “It’s a lot more straight up, with some really wild electric guitar playing – those tracks are a lot rawer, alongside some more polished, song writing-led productions.”

The album opens in style with the classy title track – a dramatic, ‘60s-style, Phil Spectoresque pop song, with organ, Bacharach-like horns and female backing vocals.

It sounds like a long-lost gem that’s been discovered while crate digging in a specialist vintage record shop.

Says Warson: “It’s a sound I’ve had in my head for a very long time – it was the first track we laid down in the first session, so it set the tone for the record.”

We’re then plunged into raw blues and R ‘n’B territory with the smouldering ballad ‘Over & Over,’ which was influenced by the Paul Butterfield Blues Band and the ‘60s blues scene in West London, as well as southern soul and Irma Thomas.

It’s now time to be whisked to New York to be seduced by the cinematic and neon-lit ‘Another City Night’, which is a wonderfully atmospheric soul tune inspired by The Drifters and Ben E. King – think ‘Under the Boardwalk’ and ‘Spanish Harlem’ – but with a hint of country.

C J Hillman supplies some pedal steel and Warson provides a great, twangy guitar break that’s a nod to the fuzz-laden playing of Barrie Cadogan from UK rock trio, Little Barrie.

‘Win Or Lose’ lightens the mood with its funky country-soul groove – there are touches of The Meters, FAME Studios, Memphis soul and Clarence Carter, while ‘Closing Time’ explores ‘60s rock and the West Coast sound – it’s slightly psychedelic, with a jangly guitar riff.

“I’m really into Buffalo Springfield, The Byrds pre-the San Francisco hippy thing, and Dylan and The Velvet Underground,” says Warson, who also plays electric piano on the track.

‘I Saw You In A Dream’ is the album’s most dramatic moment – a haunting, ‘50s-sounding ballad in the vein of Roy Orbison, who has influenced Warson since he was a teenager. The track features some throbbing, phase-shifted, ‘60s Wurlitzer piano and a melodic, Duane Eddy-style guitar solo.

The record closes with the sublime and moody, piano-led ‘In The Heights’ – one of the darker tracks, with its late-night / early-morning-in the-city vibe, a strung-out, bluesy guitar solo and a slightly spooky outro that was put through a plate reverb and an echo chamber.

“That track, ‘Another City Night’ and ‘I Saw You In A Dream’ tie-in with each other – they have a similar mood and imagery,” says Warson.

This is his strongest and most varied album yet – a melting pot of a record that has its roots in the past, but still manages to sound fresh, inventive and inspired. I’m off to spend a little more time with it.

Back to Music

Dynaudio Contour Legacy

Nostalgia is a powerful drug, and it has been fuelling a significant part of the audio industry of late. Across a range of different product categories and at various price points, companies have mined their past. The resulting products remind us of a time when things were, at the very least, differently awful. I’ve enjoyed many of these products. However, their emotional pull on me has been somewhat limited. Many of them hark back to a point before I was born. Even the Neat Petite Classic, which I adore, harks back to the point when Fisher-Price made my audio system. However, the Dynaudio Contour Legacy hits a little differently.

It’s designed to mimic the Contour 1.8 loudspeaker from the 1990s. The Dynaudio Contour Legacy takes me back to a point where my interest in hi-fi was coming together. The Contour 1.8 achieved the unusual feat of being highly regarded across nearly every publication I could access. It carved out an enviable reputation for delivering a massive bang for your buck. Dynaudio has leveraged its reputation for the Heritage program, and the Contour Legacy is the result.

Ancestral resemblances

It’s hard to overstate the latent nostalgia it unlocks simply sitting in my listening room. The Contour Legacy resembles its ancestor, but Dynaudio didn’t dust off an old production line. Instead, Dynaudio developed a new speaker that happens to look like an older one and it is a different size to any ‘in period’ Contour model. However, the lengths that Dynaudio has gone to here are impressive. The tweeter, for example, looks exactly like the classic T330 unit used at the time, with its distinctive nine-bolt fixing in three groups of three.

It isn’t a T330 tweeter, of course. The Contour Legacy uses a 28mm Esostar tweeter complete with Hexis technology that prevents unwanted information from coming back through the dome. It’s absolutely of the moment, but thanks to some careful aesthetic tweaks, you’d never know. Dynaudio’s mid-bass drivers have been more stylistically consistent over the years. You will only notice that the Legacy uses two 180mm units taken from the Evidence range if you know what you’re looking for.

Stealth spanning

Stealthily spanning the decades is a theme for the speaker as a whole. The Contour Legacy is still a 2.5-way design that connects via a single set of speaker terminals. However, the crossover is completely revised and features niceties such as Dueland capacitors in the signal path. At the base of each cabinet is a metal plate, but it’s now roughly the thickness of a section of an armoured belt and lends each speaker an all-up mass that will surprise most people who judge them on their sensible dimensions. While the veneer of the original Contours was always a touch on the prosaic side, the Legacy is different. It uses a sustainable American walnut that is genuinely lovely to behold in the same gently understated manner as the Contour Legacy exudes in general.

This ‘if you know’ quality to the Dynaudio has really appealed to me in the time they’ve been here. Taken at face value, it’s a well-proportioned (I have stated before that Dynaudio has a grasp of proportion that results in uncommonly elegant speakers), attractive and fundamentally ‘grown up’ piece of hardware. If you’re more invested in this pastime, you’ll see a loving homage to a highly regarded classic done in such a way as to ensure that every single part of it is as good as it can be. You don’t have to notice the tweeter surround or that it uses a badge with a period-correct logo. You don’t have to know anything about the older Contour 1.8 to know this is a unique loudspeaker. Still, if you do, it rewards you in various ways.

Modern place

In one key area, the Contour Legacy is a modern Dynaudio. While the ongoing use of aluminium for voice coils means there will always be more efficient rivals, it would be a stretch to call the result hard to drive. It’s also more forgiving regarding placement than the Evoke 30 I tested recently. I wound up with them around 2.5 metres apart, with a gentle toe in and around half a metre out from the wall to let the two rear ports breathe as they should.

The result was a performance that did what I would expect a Dynaudio to do but with twists that took a little untangling. First up, the Contour Legacy has sensational bass extension. The deep drum that underpins the opening ‘Angel Dance’ on Robert Plant’s Band of Gold [Universal] is a positively seismic event felt both in the chest and through the sofa. The delivery is practically effortless; the port is utterly inaudible, and the control and definition give you the sense that you are barely pushing the Dynaudio. And that’s true even at the point where people unencumbered by neighbours and the rudiments of mechanical sympathy would be winding it down a notch.

Tangibly real

This bass is wedded to a gloriously and tangibly lifelike midrange without tipping over into any perceived emphasis to any one point on the frequency response. Listening to Stanley Jordan’s unique take on Eleanor Rigby’ on his Magic Touch album [Blue Note], the Contour Legacy make complete sense of the ‘one man, one guitar, two discernible melodies’ that defines Jordan’s technique. Having replayed so clearly does nothing to take away the astonishing experience of it. As the frequencies increase, the Dynaudio remains almost impossible to provoke. Wilful mis-partnering would result in a performance where that refinement slipped, but you’d have to work on it.

The Contour Legacy deviates from up-to-the-minute Dynaudio designs because there is fractionally more perception of the cabinet being part of the performance. There’s nothing so overt as ‘coloration’ from the Contour Legacy but less sense of the ‘shaping’ that creates soundstages you can all but wander around in. The effect is joyous when confronted with the focused rage of Superabundance by the Young Knives [Transgressive].

Leaning in

The Contour leans into the congested, jangling mess that is ‘Terra Firma.’ It delivers it with all of the fury baked into the recording intact. Is this more authentically ‘hi-fi’ than the modern speakers? Possibly not. Is it an absolute riot to listen to? You bet.

It’s this absolute joy that the Contour Legacy has delivered so consistently that it marks them as something extraordinary. I’ve sat here on a few evenings, looking at a loudspeaker that takes me back to a very satisfying time of my life. It delivers a fundamentally modern performance but tinged with just enough of something different to be quite exceptionally captivating. At one point, I moved to vinyl and while listening to a ‘97 first pressing of Massive Attack’s Mezzanine [Virgin] (something I regrettably failed to pick up when new and sourced more recently), the sense of time travel was pretty much complete. ‘Dissolved Girl’ rumbles into life with Sarah Jane Hawley’s delicate vocals perfectly presented over the top of it. The nexus of ‘my adolescence but high end’ was complete, and my life was much better because of it.

Limited catch

Of course, there’s a catch- there generally always is. Products from the Dynaudio Heritage line are always limited editions. However, making just 1,000 pairs of the Contour Legacy feels especially restrictive. Of that 1,000, only 52 will go to the UK. You will need both speed and a touch of good fortune to secure a pair. I understand the desire to create something that is both a talking point and not a distraction from modern Dynaudios. However, double that number would have still passed through very rapidly indeed.

The Dynaudio Contour Legacy is something a bit special. It’s a modern retelling of a profoundly influential speaker, made as well as the company can make it. However, the result is still greater than that of prodigious engineering. It delivers a performance absolutely of the moment. And yet it has just enough knowing winks to the past to make the experience an unforgettable one. In a crowded field of nostalgia products, this ranks as one of the best. It’s undoubtedly the most considered and capable I’ve had the privilege to listen to.

Technical specifications

Type: Two-and-a-half way, rear reflex-ported floorstanding loudspeaker
Drive units: 28mm Esotar 3 tweeter, 2x 180mm MSP mid-woofers
Frequency Response: 42Hz-29kHz (±3dB)
Sensitivity: 90dB (2.83V/1m)
Impedance: 4Ω
Crossover Frequencies: (400)/3400Hz
Crossover topology: 1st/2nd Order
IEC Power Handling: 200W
Finish: American Walnut
Dimensions (WxHxD): 20.8×35.2×99.5cm (incl. feet/grille)
Weight: 32.5kg per loudspeaker
Price: £10,200, $14,000, €12,000 per pair

Manufacturer

Dynaudio A/S

www.dynaudio.com

UK distributor

Dynaudio UK

www.dynaudio.com

+44(0)7852 867661

AURALiC VEGA G2.2

The AURALiC VEGA G2.2 remains the top DAC in the brand’s range of digital audio components. The upcoming AQUILA X3 is the brand’s new modular platform, and that may challenge the VEGA G2.2 pole position.

However, as a standalone DAC, the AURALiC VEGA G2.2 is the best converter in its current range. It’s a serious piece of not-quite full-width kit, too. The build, fit and finish are exceptionally high. It weighs nearly 10 kilograms, which for a component that measures 34 x 32 cm square, feels dense. One reason for this is that the anodised aluminium casework. It conceals an internal case made from Nickel-plated pure copper. This serves as a shield to keep out radio frequency noise. AURALiC transitioned from a single-piece chassis to the multi-part construction seen in the G2.2 range a few years ago.

Most digital audio specialists RFI issues are well aware of RFI issues. However, few go to such lengths to protect the circuitry in their converters. The only companies that appear to appreciate the benefits of copper casework are in the tube electronics field. AURALiC discovered the material’s qualities through trial and error. Tube amp makers are likely doing the same with those products as well.

Same but different

The VEGA G2.2 is not a typical converter in any respect. For a start, it has a built-in analogue preamplifier with a relay-based volume control albeit only one purely analogue input. It is far better equipped when it comes to accepting digital sources of the wired variety. Unlike other AURALiC streamer/DACs, the VEGA G2.2 does not support wireless sources such as Bluetooth. Nor can it stream without an Ethernet cable plugged in. Did I mention that it’s a streamer? AURALiC calls the VEGA G2.2 a ‘streaming DAC’ and dubs the visually similar ALTAIR G2.2 a ‘digital audio streamer’. This makes them sound like the same thing, and in many ways, they are.

What the VEGA offers is the option to upgrade through its Lightning Link connections with a word clock. However, it doesn’t have the option of onboard storage for a music library that you get with the ALTAIR. That model is a more comprehensive one-stop solution. The VEGA G2.2 is, therefore, the more hardcore audiophile device with upgradability built in. Regardless, it sounds pretty good on its own.

Onboard buffer

One reason for this is the onboard data buffer, known as Direct Data Recording (DDR). DDR records the incoming stream into memory in a binary format and then processes and outputs it to the DAC. It means that the DAC doesn’t have to cope with fluctuations in data rates. These can cause power supplies to have to vary their output. Having separate 60 fs femto clocks for 44.1 kHz and above, and 48 kHz and above, means that the data is fed to the DAC with maximum precision and minimum jitter. AURALiC claims the VEGA G2.2 is immune to input signal distortion and jitter as a result.

The DAC itself is a hybrid of a discrete ladder and Delta-Sigma designs. AURALiC uses only the switching network inside a DAC chip and takes over the other roles. These include PLL (phase lock loop), filtering and oversampling, and do these discretely. The AURALiC VEGA G2.2 also offers streaming and preamp functions as mentioned. However, those looking to get maximum thrill power from its conversion section can select the Pure DAC mode. This disables those features and dedicates all its efforts to delivering the cleanest analogue signals.

Lesser spotted

The preamp is not an afterthought though. It uses an analogue resistor ladder with coil latch relays that are only powered when the level is changed. This helps minimise noise. The streaming system has the benefit of AURALiC’s Lightning HD server software, this buffers all the metadata from attached drives or network servers and means that the Lightning control app displays the contents of your library with a degree of clarity that approaches the best in the business. You need to have it scan your music collection to do this but the process for doing so is straightforward with the app.

The only niggle is that it must scan the whole thing every time you add new music, there is no ‘scan recent additions’ which some apps offer. The way around this is to schedule a daily scan at a time when both VEGA and the server are turned on and let it run in the background.Alternatively, you can stream from the usual services alongside less common options including Amazon Music, Highresaudio and Netease (me neither), with both Spotify and Tidal Connect options plus internet radio.

Connection-wise, the VEGA G2.2 has pretty much the full gamut of options with AES, coax, Toslink and USB for starters, these are augmented by a LAN port for streaming, a single pair of RCA analogue inputs and a word clock connection. Two of the three HDMI ports are for AURALiC’s Lighting Link which can be used to hook up an Aries streamer and a LEO GX word clock, the third HDMI is an eARC for use with a TV or set-top box. Analogue outputs are as expected with the balanced being AURALiC’s preferred option.

Mmm… woody

Auditioning this AURALiC started with it connected directly to a Bricasti M25 power amp via XLR with a USB input from my Longdog Audio power-supplied Lumin U2 Mini, this revealed that the Bricasti has a lot of gain and the Acoustic Energy Corinium speakers are sensitive. The sound produced by this system was live and direct with strong immediacy and excellent timing. Removing the streamer and hooking the VEGA G2.2 up to the network brought out the gutsiness of the strings played by the Locrian Ensemble (Mendelssohn Octets) which had lots of texture but avoided sounding coarse, they were just woody and fluent. Joni Mitchell was great too (Herbie Hancock, ‘The Man I Love’, Gershwin’s World), with strong three-dimensionality. It worked well without a separate preamp into the Bricasti, coherently presenting lots of detail, dynamics improved when a decent line stage was used but the onboard volume is quite presentable.

The VEGA has a clean, open presentation that solidifies stereo imaging and projects voices well into the room with the right record, Laurie Anderson’s ‘Strange Angels’ was right on this occasion. It is powerful and clean in the bass, often pulling out low notes that elude my usual converter which sounded mid-strong by comparison, and a little bit rose-tinted for that matter. I used the AURALiC’s Smooth filter setting alongside the Clean balance option, the alternative to the latter being Tone Mode which enhances harmonics in a vaguely tubey kind of way but ultimately reduces transparency. If you want a more relaxed ride however it may well appeal.

Carbon connection

The dynamics on offer from the Laurie Anderson track were impressive but the VEGA reveals that the quality of ECM’s recording on Anouar Brahem’s Blue Maqams is vastly superior, the depth of image, the tone and shape of the bass and all-round resolution is superb. As the opportunity presented itself, I tried an ARIES G2.2 with the VEGA to contrast results with different digital connections. AudioQuest kindly leant a box of Carbon cables with different terminations, this revealed that coax sounds fluent and relaxed but not overly detailed or spacious.

Lightning Link has better imaging and finer nuancing of detail while USB sounds a bit drier; instrument and vocal tone not being as rich as AURALiC’s proprietary connection. AES was ultimately the best sounding however, it’s a little brighter than the Lightning Link but times superbly and has a very engaging fluency.This result will probably vary with speaker choice and taste of course but it was an interesting experiment and one that few other products offer so many different options to try.

Back to Lumin

I went back to listening to the AURALiC VEGA G2.2 with the Lumin streamer and my regular Network Acoustics muon2 USB cable which is a lot pricier than the AQ Carbon but does deliver notably superior results. With this combo Ali Farka Touré and Ry Cooder’s ‘Ai Du’ (Talking Timbuktu) just oozes quality, the languid pace of the rhythm section counterpointed by crisp guitars and all the space and time you could want. The VEGA producing an easy but precisely defined version of events that is very engaging indeed. The Liv Andrea Hauge trio album Ville Blomster is not from an audiophile label (Hubro) but the depth of image that this DAC finds on the album is superb, the piano playing is so strong and tactile, the instrument sitting solidly in the room as if it was right there.

I love the way that the AURALiC VEGA G2.2 is fast enough to define the attack and decay of each note without blurring the transients, it has excellent low-level resolution thanks to all the efforts to keep noise at bay, and this brings a degree of focus and clarity to the results that makes you want to play more. JJ Cale’s ‘Call Me the Breeze’ was one of the pieces selected and the groove produced seemed as solid as I have heard it on any digital system, and a few analogue ones at that.

Natural high

I also enjoyed the way the AURALiC VEGA G2.2 can create such wide-open soundstages when the relevant detail is on the record, and it’s there on more of them than you might expect. Openness is generally a good sign. It indicates that the noise floor is very low and that the quietest signals are collaborating with the fundamental ones coherently.Sense of scale is produced by the entire bandwidth, subwoofers tend to enhance scale, but clarity in the higher frequencies is the key to reproducing the ‘air’ from the studio or concert hall.

High frequencies are the areas that digital audio finds most challenging to reproduce accurately. It’s where any inherent grain or grime will get in the way. This will make the system sound digital in a bad sense. This AURALiC is very extended; it doesn’t seek to flatter by rolling off the treble, and very clean thanks to very low noise. And this makes all the better recordings sound more natural and well, analogue.

I don’t mean that it has the cuddly warmth that you get with a few record players. I mean that it has an excellent sense of timing and none of the harshness of bad digital displays. Ryley Walker’s ‘Summer Dress’ (Primrose Green) has a strong leading-edge definition on digital versions. It sounds quite compressed, which is likely the case, but it remains coherent despite lots being going on. The energy of the song comes through. It inveigles its way into your subconscious almost as well as the vinyl on a good turntable.

Power and dynamics

Labi Siffre’s ‘I Got The…’ (which contains the riff sampled on ‘The Real Slim Shady’) grooves like it should. It has plenty of power and has as much dynamics as the recording allows. Michael Chapman’s Window sounds equally analogue due to its 1970s origin. This means that you can hear a great deal of what went into it, even with a Qobuz stream. Locally stored music files sound better through the VEGA G2.2, but uncompressed streaming services are far from shabby here.

The AURALiC VEGA G2.2 is a very capable DAC, one that responds to source upgrades of any ilk with great enthusiasm. I spent a lot of time trying different reclockers and was always able to appreciate the differences between them. It imposes little character, has a highly even tonal balance and vast bandwidth in terms of tone and dynamics. As a dedicated digital-to-analogue converter, it is challenging to beat the combination of features. AURALiC’s VEGA G2.2 offers build quality and sonic capability that are unparalleled at its price. It seems even AURALiC is having trouble surpassing this thoroughly evolved DAC.

Technical specifications

Type: Solid-state high-resolution PCM, DXD, and DSD-capable digital-to-analogue converter/preamplifier.
Digital Inputs: One AES/EBU, Coaxial, one Toslink, and one USB, HDMI eARC, Lightning Link.
Analogue Outputs: One stereo single-ended (via RCA jacks), one balanced (via XLR connectors). Both outputs are configurable for fixed or variable-level operation. One headphone output (via 6.35mm jack).
DAC Resolution/Supported Digital Formats: All PCM from 44.1KS/s to 384KS/s with word lengths up to 32-bit, DSD up to DSD512. The following format restrictions apply:
- 352.8KS/s and 384KS/s are supported through USB only.
- 32-bit word lengths supported through USB only.
Frequency Response: 20Hz – 20kHz, ± 0.1dB
Distortion (THD + Noise): <0.00012% (XLR), < 0.00015% (RCA) 20Hz – 20kHz at 0dBFS.
Output Voltage: 6V / 2V user selectable
User Interface: Front panel display, Lightning app.
Dimensions (HxWxD): 96 x 340 x 320mm
Weight: 9.3kg
Price: £6,899, €7,799, AURALiC is currently not sold in the US market

Manufacturer

AURALiC Ltd

www.auralic.com

UK distributor

AURALiC Europe

www.auralic.com

+44 (0) 7590 106105