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Equipment Reviews

Ultra Audio's site platform was changed in August 2010. For equipment reviews previous to that, use this link to transfer to the old site.

Tidal Piano G2 Loudspeakers

Written by: Aron Garrecht
Created: 01 July 2018

Reviewers' ChoiceWith just about any manufactured commodity, consumers are offered various tiers of products to choose from. Volkswagens are the entry-level automobiles made by the Volkswagen Group, while their more premium brands -- Audi, Porsche, Lamborghini, Bentley -- represent consecutive upward leaps in quality, performance, and exclusivity. VW’s most boutique brand, Bugatti, is synonymous the world over with unparalleled levels of craftsmanship, industry-leading design, and world-class performance. They produce a single Bugatti model, the Chiron, and with only 500 Chirons slated for production, exclusivity is a given.

Read more …

ZYX Ultimate 4D-X MC Phono Cartridge

Written by: Garrett Hongo
Created: 15 June 2018

The winter haze in Eugene, Oregon, where I live, hangs like a veil of thin gray fog over everything, diffusing light, draining color from the landscape, and contributing to my moods a quality of vague gloom for months at a time. But in my nearly 30 years here I’ve grown mildly accustomed to its character, seeking joy and the brilliant colors of life in other things -- cooking soups and stews, reading good books, scribbling essays and poems, growing fanatical about all things audio -- to drive away the clouds of accidie and despair brought by months of winter weather.

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European Audio Team E-Glo S Phono Stage

Written by: Jason Thorpe
Created: 01 June 2018

How many people know what a phono stage is? Of that microscopic cross-section of humanity, how many do you think actually own a standalone component whose only job is to amplify the tiny electrical signal generated by a phono cartridge?

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Balanced Audio Technology VK-255SE Stereo Amplifier

Written by: Aron Garrecht
Created: 15 May 2018

For the past few months I’ve been evaluating two products from Balanced Audio Technology: the VK-53SE preamplifier and the subject of this review, the VK-255SE stereo power amplifier. The VK-255SE presents attractive measures of size, mass, gain, and power output for its asking price of $8995 USD, but would its impressive specifications result in equally impressive sound quality? I couldn’t wait to find out.

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T+A Elektroakustik PA 3100 HV Integrated Amplifier

Written by: Jeff Fritz
Created: 01 May 2018

Reviewers' ChoiceThe current popularity of the integrated amplifier is unquestioned. This component category has risen in the esteem of audiophiles over the last decade and more, even as it has grown in complexity. On average, integrated amps can now do more than ever before. In fact, if a 2018 integrated doesn’t have at least a built-in digital-to-analog converter, it breaks with current convention. Streaming options, onboard storage for music files, wireless connectivity -- these and more appear on the lists of features of many of today’s integrateds.

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Furutech NCF Booster Cable Holder

Written by: Howard Kneller
Created: 15 April 2018

I’ve said it before: No matter what type of audiophile you are, Furutech probably makes a product you’ve lusted after. In addition to power distributors and filters, and finished interconnects, speaker cables, and power cords, they make DIY bulk cables and component parts, and accessories that include the stainless-steel and silver-plated FI-50 NCF power-cord connectors, the Destat III Static Charge Eliminator for LPs and CDs, the DF-2 LP Flattener, Nano liquid contact enhancer and PC-α (Alpha) cleaning solution for CDs, the SK-III Electrostatic brush for discs and A/V gear, and a variety of AC outlets, cover plates, and fuses.

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Raidho Acoustics XT-5 Loudspeakers

Written by: Jeff Fritz
Created: 01 April 2018

Back in May 2012, I reviewed the Raidho C2.1, a smallish, three-driver, floorstanding loudspeaker from Denmark that retailed for $28,000 USD per pair. A lot has changed since then for the manufacturer of that speaker, Raidho Acoustics. The primary designer of the C2.1, Michael Børresen, has left the company to helm Aavik Acoustics along with his partner, Lars Kristensen. Aavik makes some very expensive amplifiers and a DAC-preamplifier.

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Waversa Systems WDAC3 Mk.II Digital-to-Analog Converter

Written by: Vade Forrester
Created: 15 March 2018

Part of the fun of being an audio reviewer is to discover new gear unknown to the general public. Such a device is this DAC from Waversa Systems, a Korean manufacturer previously unknown to me. Their founder, CEO, and lead design engineer, Dr. Collin Shin, draws on 30 years’ experience in developing low-noise, jitter-canceling chips for precision medical and military applications, to design circuits that will allow the listener to be enveloped by digitally encoded music. In designing this version of the WDAC3, Shin was assisted by legendary American audio engineer and SoundStage! Network equipment-measurement engineer Bascom H. King.

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Rethm Maarga Loudspeakers

Written by: Tom Mathew
Created: 01 March 2018

Reviewers' ChoiceRethm’s polymath founder, CEO, and designer, Jacob George, is based in Cochin, in southwest India. He brings to loudspeaker design a nontraditional vision informed by his love of wide-frequency-band, high-efficiency, single-driver speakers, vacuum tubes, his trainings as an architect and engineer, and a musician’s ear. His passions for audio and speaker design were driven by his pursuit of a type of sound reproduction that existed in his imagination: fast, coherent, highly detailed, yet nonfatiguing. The products of that pursuit have been steadily refined, and have culminated in the latest Rethm loudspeaker, the Maarga ($9750 USD per pair).

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Audience Au24 SX powerChord Power Cord

Written by: Garrett Hongo
Created: 15 February 2018

Reviewers' ChoiceOver Thanksgiving and the ensuing week, I flew down from Oregon, where I live, to spend time at a retreat for artists (I write poetry) in northern California near the Bay Area. Because I also had friends to visit, I rented a car when I landed at the Norman Y. Mineta San José International Airport, splurging on a full-size vehicle: a silver Chevrolet Malibu sedan. It was big and stable, gave good mileage, and had lots of features. It got me around -- to Berkeley and Lafayette, to San Francisco and Santa Cruz. But it didn’t have savoir faire. It lacked that je ne sais quoi that aging guys like me crave on getaways from our humdrum lives.

Read more …

  1. McIntosh Laboratory MA9000 Integrated Amplifier-DAC
  2. VPI MW1 Cyclone Record-Cleaning Machine
  3. Esoteric Grandioso G1 Master Clock Generator
  4. Pro-Ject RPM 10 Carbon Turntable with 10cc Evolution Tonearm
  5. Esoteric Grandioso K1 SACD/CD Player-DAC
  6. Sonus Faber Homage Amati Tradition Loudspeakers
  7. TAD Micro Evolution One Loudspeakers
  8. Paradigm Persona 7F Loudspeakers
  9. Dynaudio Contour 60 Loudspeakers
  10. VAC Signature 200iQ Stereo Amplifier
  11. Synergistic Research Galileo UEF Speaker Cables, Interconnects, and IFT Jumpers
  12. Mytek Digital Brooklyn DAC-Phono Stage-Preamplifier-Headphone Amplifier
  13. Moon by Simaudio Evolution 860A Stereo Amplifier
  14. Esoteric K-05X SACD/CD Player/DAC
  15. Audio Physic Codex Loudspeakers
  16. Furutech FI-50 NCF Series Power Connectors and FP-TCS31 Alpha PC-Triple C Bulk Power Cord
  17. Vivid Audio Giya G1 Spirit Loudspeakers
  18. Audio Research Foundation DAC9 Digital-to-Analog Converter
  19. Vandersteen Audio Model Seven Mk.II Loudspeakers and M7-HPA Mono Amplifiers
  20. JPlay JCAT USB Card and USB Isolator
  21. Monitor Audio Platinum II PL300 II Loudspeakers
  22. Audiodesksysteme Gläss Vinyl Cleaner Pro
  23. Gryphon Audio Designs Antileon Evo Stereo Amplifier
  24. Symposium Acoustics Osiris Stealth Ultimate Equipment Rack
  25. Focus Audio Liszt Concerto Mono Integrated Amplifiers
  26. Magico MPod Support System
  27. Linear Tube Audio ZOTL40 Mk.II Stereo Amplifier
  28. Synergistic Research PowerCell 12 UEF SE Power Conditioner
  29. van den Hul Crimson Stradivarius Phono Cartridge
  30. Devialet Expert 1000 Pro Mono DAC-Integrated Amplifiers
  31. Audience adeptResponse aR6-TSSOX Power Conditioner
  32. Audio Physic Avanti Loudspeakers
  33. High Fidelity Cables CT-1 Ultimate Digital Link, Interconnects, Speaker Cables, and Power Cords
  34. Gryphon Audio Designs Diablo 300 Integrated Amplifier-DAC
  35. Constellation Audio Inspiration Stereo 1.0 Amplifier
  36. Kharma Elegance dB9-S Loudspeakers
  37. Ayre Acoustics AX-5 Twenty Integrated Amplifier
  38. Luxman EQ-500 Phono Stage
  39. fo.Q Modrate HEM-25 Pure Note Insulators
  40. Constellation Audio Inspiration Preamp 1.0 Preamplifier
  41. Zanden Audio Systems Model 3100 Preamplifier
  42. YBA Passion PRE550A DAC-Preamplifier
  43. Skogrand Cables Ravel Speaker Cables and Interconnects
  44. Soulution 560 Digital-to-Analog Converter
  45. Synergistic Research Atmosphere Level 4 Speaker Cables and Interconnects, Atmosphere Level 3 Power Cords, Grounding Block and HD Ground Cables
  46. Merging NADAC ST-2 Digital-to-Analog Converter
  47. Zanden Audio Systems AT-1 Acoustic Tubes and AP-1 Acoustic Panels
  48. Rockport Technologies Cygnus Loudspeakers
  49. Esoteric K-07X SACD/CD Player/DAC
  50. Moon by Simaudio Evolution 850P Preamplifier
  51. Stanford Research Systems PERF10 Rubidium Audio Clock
  52. Wadia di322 Digital-to-Analog Converter
  53. Reference 3A Nefes Loudspeakers
  54. Ayre Acoustics KX-5 Twenty Preamplifier
  55. Nordost Norse 2 Tyr 2 Speaker Cables, Interconnects, and Power Cords
  56. Ayre Acoustics MX-R Twenty Mono Amplifiers
  57. Aqua - Acoustic Quality La Voce S2 Digital-to-Analog Converter
  58. Magico Q7 Mk II Loudspeakers
  59. Highend-AudioPC AudiophileOptimizer Computer Audio Software
  60. Soulution 711 Stereo Amplifier
  61. Rogue Audio RP-5 Preamplifier
  62. Moon by Simaudio Evolution 760A Stereo Amplifier
  63. AudioQuest Cinnamon Ethernet Cable
  64. Spatial Audio Hologram M1 Turbo Loudspeakers
  65. Audio Research Reference 10 Preamplifier
  66. Bryston Middle T Loudspeakers
  67. Vienna Acoustics Imperial Liszt Loudspeakers
  68. Exogal Comet Digital-to-Analog Converter
  69. NAD Masters Series M22 Stereo Amplifier and M12 Preamplifier-DAC
  70. Ascendo C6 Loudspeakers
  71. Hegel Music Systems HD12 Digital-to-Analog Converter
  72. Esoteric Grandioso P1 SACD/CD Transport, Grandioso D1 Mono Digital-to-Analog Converters, and G-01 Master Clock Generator
  73. Blue Circle Audio BC60X1 Power Conditioner
  74. Octave Audio V 110 Integrated Amplifier
  75. JL Audio CR-1 Active Subwoofer Crossover
  76. fo.Q Damping Products and AB-4045 Audio Board Isolation Platform
  77. Devialet 400 Mono Integrated Amplifier-DACs
  78. Audio Research VSi75 Integrated Amplifier
  79. Triangle Magellan Cello Loudspeakers
  80. Audience Au24 SE powerChords, Interconnects, and Speaker Cables
  81. Zanden Audio Systems 120 Phono Stage
  82. Grimm Audio LS1 Loudspeakers and LS1s Subwoofers
  83. Aurender W20 Music Server
  84. Transfiguration Phoenix S Phono Cartridge
  85. M2Tech Young DSD Digital-to-Analog Converter
  86. Audio Research SP20 Preamplifier
  87. Magico S3 Loudspeakers
  88. Synergistic Research High Frequency Transducer (HFT) and Frequency Equalizer (FEQ) Room Treatments and XOT Crossover Transducer
  89. Ayre Acoustics KX-R Twenty Preamplifier
  90. Resonessence Labs Invicta Mirus Digital-to-Analog Converter
  91. Vivid Audio Giya G4 Loudspeakers
  92. Aurender X100L Music Server
  93. Sonus Faber Olympica I Loudspeakers
  94. Clarity Cable Organic Speaker Cables, Interconnects, Digital Interconnect, and Vortex Power Cord
  95. EgglestonWorks Nine Signature Loudspeakers
  96. Light Harmonic LightSpeed USB Cable
  97. David Berning Company ZH-230 Stereo Amplifier
  98. Esoteric Master Sound Works C-02 Preamplifier
  99. Vivid Audio Oval V1.5 Loudspeakers
  100. Daedalus Audio Argos v.2 Loudspeakers
  101. Octave Audio V 70 SE Integrated Amplifier
  102. KR Audio VA910 Mono Amplifiers
  103. T+A Criterion TCD 110 S Loudspeakers
  104. Birch Acoustics Raven Loudspeakers
  105. Monitor Audio Platinum PL200 Loudspeakers
  106. Essential Sound Products Essence Reference-II Power Cords and Reference-II Power Distributor
  107. JE Audio Dyad S400 Stereo Amplifier
  108. Dynamique Audio Celestial Speaker Cables, Zenith Interconnects, Firelight USB, and Infinite Power Cables
  109. Music Culture Elegance MC 501A CD Player-DAC
  110. KR Audio VA340 Mk.II Integrated Amplifier
  111. PMC IB2i Loudspeakers
  112. Cabasse Pacific 3 Loudspeakers
  113. Sonus Faber Venere 3.0 Loudspeakers
  114. Hegel Music Systems HD25 Digital-to-Analog Converter
  115. EMM Labs DAC2X Digital-to-Analog Converter
  116. Esoteric P-02 SACD/CD Transport and D-02 Digital-to-Analog Converter
  117. Vivid Audio Giya G3 Loudspeakers
  118. PBN Audio Scan-Speak B741 Loudspeakers
  119. Blue Circle Audio BC109 Preamplifier
  120. Dynaudio Confidence C2 Signature Loudspeakers
  121. First Watt J2 Stereo Amplifier
  122. Simaudio Moon Evolution 810LP Phono Stage
  123. Boulder Amplifiers 1060 Stereo Amplifier
  124. SMc Audio VRE-1C Reference Preamplifier
  125. Blue Circle Audio NSL Stereo Amplifier
  126. Audio Research Reference 250 Mono Amplifiers
  127. Von Schweikert Audio VR-35 Export Deluxe Loudspeakers
  128. Vitus Audio Signature SM-010 Mono Amplifiers
  129. YG Acoustics Kipod II Signature Loudspeakers
  130. Vandersteen Audio Treo Loudspeakers
  131. Magico Q1 Loudspeakers
  132. Hemingway Audio Prime Reference Mk.II Speaker Cables, Interconnects, and Power Cords
  133. Synergistic Research Element Copper, Tungsten, and Copper-Tungsten-Silver Interconnects and Speaker Cables
  134. Crystal Cable Arabesque Mini Loudspeakers
  135. EgglestonWorks Fontaine Signature Loudspeakers
  136. AudioQuest Diamond and Carbon FireWire 800 Cables
  137. Artos Audio Sunrise Loudspeakers
  138. Esoteric I-03 Integrated Amplifier
  139. NuForce DAC-9 Digital-to-Analog Converter
  140. Audience adeptResponse aR6-TS Power Conditioner
  141. EAR MC 4 Step-Up Transformer
  142. PBN Audio Montana InnerChoic Liberty Loudspeakers
  143. Simple Design Sonore Music Server
  144. Herron Audio VTSP-3A Preamplifier
  145. Copland CDA825 CD Player
  146. TW-Acustic Raven 10.5 Tonearm
  147. Artisan Silver MC Phono Stage
  148. MSB Technology Universal Media Transport
  149. Well Tempered Lab Amadeus Turntable
  150. Purity Audio Design Purity Reference Preamplifier
  151. Silverline Audio Sonatina Mk.IV Loudspeakers
  152. Ayre Acoustics DX-5 Universal A/V Engine
  153. Coda Technologies 15.0 Stereo Amplifier
  154. LessLoss Firewall Power Conditioner and DFPC Signature Power Cable
  155. Miyajima Laboratory Premium BE Mono Cartridge
  156. Magnum Dynalab MD 309 Integrated Amplifier
  157. Audio Research Reference 5 Preamplifier
  158. VAC Phi 200 Stereo Amplifier
  159. Ortofon Cadenza Mono Phono Cartridge
  160. Ultrasone Edition 8 Headphones
  161. YG Acoustics Carmel Loudspeakers
  162. Atma-Sphere Music Amplifier M-60 Mk.3.1 Mono Amplifiers
  163. AudioPrism Ground Control Grounding Cables
  164. Nordost Norse Frey Interconnects and Speaker Cables
  165. Ayre Acoustics KX-R Preamplifier and MX-R Mono Amplifiers
  166. Raysonic SP-300 Integrated Amplifier
  167. Synergistic Research Galileo Universal Interconnect and Speaker Cells, and Mini Power Couplers
  168. VAC Renaissance Mk.3 Preamplifier
  169. Accustic Arts Reference Tube-DAC II SE DAC and Reference Drive II CD Transport
  170. Silent Running Audio VR fp isoBASE Equipment Platforms
  171. EAR 890 Stereo Amplifier

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210x600 T+A R Criterion S (20240601)
Dynaudio Contour 20BE
 Electrocompaniet - AW300M
Dynaudio Contour 20BE
Vitus Audio
Vitus Audio

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