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Tuesday, February 25, 2020

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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.

Details: Written by Vade Forrester; Created: 15 August 2017

Reviewers' Choice Mytek Digital has been a pioneer in digital audio reproduction. Their Stereo192-DSD was one of the first DACs capable of playing DSD files, and their Brooklyn was one of the first non-Meridian DACs to play Meridian’s new Master Quality Authenticated (MQA) files.

MQA is a system of encoding audio files that its developer, Meridian Ltd. (MQA Ltd. has since been spun off as a separate company), claims sounds better than such high-resolution encoding methods as DSD and DXD, while resulting in file sizes much smaller than those formats. The small files mean that MQA encoding can be used to stream hi-rez audio over standard Internet connections -- and indeed, Tidal is currently streaming MQA files. I’ve seen Tidal stream files of resolutions up to 24-bit/352.8kHz, and I understand that MQA can handle up to 768kHz.

Details: Written by Jason Thorpe; Created: 01 August 2017

I’m a sucker for the double-down solid-state power amp. But to explain what this means and why it’s important to me I need to start about 30 years ago.

While I’ve always been passionate about home audio, I used to be rabid about car audio, and three decades ago I became very good friends with Colin Kay, owner of Autoworks Car Audio, here in Toronto. Colin introduced me to such esoteric concepts as tube monoblock amplifiers and external DACs (this was about the time Audio Alchemy pioneered the affordable DAC). He also infected me with Mobile Bass Disease.

Details: Written by Garrett Hongo; Created: 15 July 2017

In Japan, the branch of esoteric Buddhism called Shingon (“the true words”) practices Goma, an intricate ritual of consecrated fire dedicated to destroying negative energies, detrimental thoughts and desires, and impure variations of the true words of this spiritual discipline. The flames of the Goma can reach several yards high, and this miraculous fire, combined with mass chanting from the assembled priests and accompanied by the pounding of huge taiko drums, can induce a sublime, trance-like state that’s said to heal the sick, summon rain, improve harvests, exorcise demons, avert natural disasters, and just brang that funky music to the worried heart. It’s supposed to present the pure spiritual Emptiness that is the true nature of reality, and to directly communicate the inner experience of Dharmakaya: the true self of the Buddha present in all beings.

Details: Written by Aron Garrecht; Created: 01 July 2017

Founded in Brilon, Germany, a small town some 90 miles north of Frankfurt, Audio Physic has for 30 years been earning accolades for producing high-quality, highly resolving loudspeakers under the slogan “No loss of fine detail.” More recently, AP’s reputation for quality, performance, and unique applications of loudspeaker design and materials has generated a lot of buzz on both sides of the pond -- in fact, their provocative products are one of the reasons I became a reviewer. So when I had the opportunity to review Audio Physics’ latest loudspeaker, the Codex, I jumped.

Details: Written by Howard Kneller; Created: 15 June 2017

It’s been almost a decade since my last review of Furutech products: their G-314AG-18 and Absolute Power-18 power cords. I noted then that Furutech tries to squeeze every last ounce of performance from its products, not only through the use of innovative technologies, but also with obsessive devotion to detail and build quality. It seems that no improvement in sound quality is too small to be worth achieving, and no product can be overbuilt.

Details: Written by Jeff Fritz; Created: 01 June 2017

Reviewers' Choice Vivid Audio’s chief designer-engineer is Laurence Dickie. You’ve probably heard of him -- many reviews of Vivid speakers mention Dickie in the context of the work he did at Bowers & Wilkins years ago. Remember the B&W Nautilus? That was Dickie’s project. Since 2004, Dickie has been designing the loudspeakers manufactured by Vivid Audio, which he co-owns with CEO Philip Guttentag. Vivid speakers are designed in the UK, where Dickie lives, and are made in South Africa, where Guttentag oversees the factory.

Details: Written by Vade Forrester; Created: 15 May 2017

In March 2011, I reviewed Audio Research’s DAC8 DAC on SoundStage! Hi-Fi, which used a now-ubiquitous asynchronous USB 2.0 input to play files of sampling rates higher than 96kHz. For a conservative company like ARC, that feature was somewhat innovative, it having only recently emerged as the sonically preferable way to play recordings at what was then the highest resolution available: 24-bit/192kHz. That was before files with such exotic initials as DSD, DXD, and MQA appeared. The DAC9 is ARC’s first standalone, popular-level DAC since 2010 -- in DAC years, an eternity -- and, like most DACs, it doesn’t include the latest development in digital audio playback: the ability to decode Master Quality Authenticated (MQA) files. It can, however, play DSD files; previously, the only ARC component that could do that was the GSi75 integrated amplifier.

Details: Written by Peter Roth; Created: 01 May 2017

Reviewers' Choice “Arguably, in the last few years, the most competitive segment of the ultra-high-end speaker market has been models retailing for $50,000 to $70,000/pair. This price range includes such prominent models as Wilson Audio Specialties’ Alexia ($52,000/pair), Magico’s S7 ($58,000/pair), and Vivid Audio’s Giya G1 ($68,000/pair), to name just a few. In short, there are lots of tough competitors.”

Details: Written by Howard Kneller; Created: 15 April 2017

A few years ago, I fell in with a bad audiophile crowd -- hardcore computer-audio enthusiasts who ran high-end DIY music servers. Using up to three component cases, these servers featured specially made or modified parts and performance-enhancing software like AudiophileOptimizer, Bughead Emperor, and Fidelizer.

Details: Written by Aron Garrecht; Created: 01 April 2017

Reviewers' Choice In the audio industry, build quality isn’t just synonymous with how well a piece of equipment is assembled, nor is it a measure of how expensive the materials are which constitute the end product. A product’s build quality stems from its innate scientific fundamentals and resulting design, into which are incorporated quality materials and refined assembly processes, to produce a component of high quality and high performance. Build quality is something British speaker manufacturer Monitor Audio takes very seriously, as evidenced by the many successful products they’ve produced since their founding, in 1972.