Michael Fremer

Sort By: Post Date | Title | Publish Date
AudioQuest 7000 Fe5 MC phono cartridge
Phono Cartridge Reviews
Michael Fremer  |  Dec 02, 2007  |  First Published: Apr 02, 1996  |  0 comments
You know what's the first thing they teach you in dental school? Don't ever say "Oops!" Even if you stick one of those hooked teeth scrapers through the patient's cheek, you don't say "Oops!" "Don't move!"? Yes. "Oops!"? No. That's the big day-one lesson—and given the cost of medical malpractice insurance today, a damn good one.
Continue Reading >
AudioQuest Niagara 7000 Low-Z Power Noise-Dissipation System
Audacious AudioPowerline Accessory Reviews
Michael Fremer  |  Feb 09, 2016  |  5 comments
Are you old enough to remember when the wires connecting speakers to even the most expensive and sophisticated electronics were 16-gauge, multistrand lamp cord, and the terminals on speakers and amplifiers were just little screws? Sometimes those screws wouldn't even secure all of the wires' strands, but as long as loose strands from one screw didn't touch loose strands from the other, it was good enough . . . and back against the wall went your bookshelf speakers.
Continue Reading >
AudioValve Baldur 70 monoblock power amplifier
Tube Power Amp Reviews
Michael Fremer  |  Apr 23, 2006  |  0 comments
In this hobby, nothing's for nothing. To get that gorgeous midrange, with its harmonic depth and inner detail, tube-amp enthusiasts are willing to give up some things in the bass. Tube folks put up with heat and occasional maintenance—routine or otherwise. To get the ideal middle, fans of single-ended triodes are even willing to shave off considerable dynamic range and settle for ultra-efficient speakers that often have limited response at the frequency extremes. Those who say nothing is lost by preferring tubes are in denial.
Continue Reading >
AVM Ovation PA 8.2 modular preamplifier
Solid State Preamp ReviewsTube Preamp Reviews
Michael Fremer  |  Nov 29, 2018  |  0 comments
The digital ground seems to shift weekly. While firmware and software updates over the Internet somewhat slow the constant upheaval, when you do buy something, you just know that as soon as you plunk down your cash, something new will come along.

So, especially with preamplifiers, why not produce a design based on modules that the user can swap in and out, to custom-configure the preamp to that user's current needs while leaving room for later expansion? Why pay for six inputs' worth of stuff when at present you need only two? Upgrades? New features? No problem—swap out a module. Or, if a circuit in one module malfunctions, you can send only that module back for repairs, not the whole thing.

Continue Reading >
Ayre Acoustics DX-5 universal disc player
CD Player/Transport ReviewsHi-Rez Disc Player/Transport ReviewsAudacious Audio
Michael Fremer  |  Dec 13, 2010  |  2 comments
The old Saab slogan, "Find Your Own Road," was so good that the old General Motors, which once owned Saab, had to kill it—just as the newly revived GM tried, in a "Call It Chevrolet" memo, to kill "Chevy." GM did a U-turn on that one the very next day, but "Find Your Own Road" never returned, and is available for Ayre Acoustics to use. I can't think of a better slogan for a company that I admire almost as much as I do Saab.

Consider this: While Ayre calls its new DX-5 ($10,000) a "universal A/V engine," the disc player doesn't have a coaxial or a TosLink S/PDIF input. That appears crazy to me, but to Ayre, no. They've found their own road.

Continue Reading >
Ayre Acoustics K-3 preamplifier
Solid State Preamp Reviews
Michael Fremer  |  Sep 01, 2020  |  First Published: Jul 01, 1998  |  0 comments
The challenge for Ayre's Charley Hansen was formidable. Having already designed a world-class preamplifier—the highly acclaimed $7100 K-1 (see Wes Phillips' review in March 1997)—Hansen set out to offer audiophiles "80 to 90%" of the K-1's sound and build quality at a price more of them can afford. Not that the new K-3 is a piece of "budget" gear. It's not. But at $4500, the fully loaded K-3, complete with phono section and remote control, is within reach of many.
Continue Reading >
Ayre V-1 power amplifier
Solid State Power Amp Reviews
Michael Fremer  |  Sep 04, 1999  |  0 comments
I've heard my share of Krells, Levinsons, Rowlands, and the like in other people's systems—expensive solid-state amplifiers are not my usual beat. With the exception of an inexpensive Adcom a few years back, for more than a decade I've owned and reviewed only tube amps. In fact, until the $7500 Ayre Acoustics V-1 showed up, I'd not had one in my system. Similarly, I'd had only tube preamps until I reviewed the Ayre K-3, which so impressed me that I asked to hear the more expensive K-1—and ended up buying it.
Continue Reading >
B.M.C. Audio Amplifier C1 integrated amplifier
Integrated Amp Reviews
Michael Fremer  |  May 03, 2012  |  0 comments
B.M.C. Audio GmbH (the initials stand for Balanced Music Concept) designs its high-performance audio products in Germany, where the company was founded in 2009, and has them manufactured in its own wholly owned factory in China. The design team is headed by Carlos Candeias, whose earlier designs included a belt-driven CD transport for C.E.C. and, for Aqvox, a high-performance, current-gain–based, balanced phono preamplifier that's reasonably priced. These have won him a lot of attention, and made him something of a celebrity in certain sectors of the audiophile world.
Continue Reading >
B.M.C. Phono MCCI phono preamplifier
Phono Preamp Reviews
Michael Fremer  |  Aug 26, 2013  |  First Published: Jun 01, 2013  |  1 comments
In July 2008 I reviewed the intriguing Phono 2Ci moving-magnet/moving-coil phono preamplifier from Aqvox Audio Devices. Though it then cost only $1400, the Phono 2Ci's current-input circuitry represented a high-tech departure from the typical voltage-gain circuits used by almost everyone else. Although keeping its retail price so low resulted in some sonic compromises, it sounded remarkable, and tough to beat at the price.
Continue Reading >
Balanced Audio Technology Rex line preamplifier
Tube Preamp Reviews
Michael Fremer  |  Feb 23, 2008  |  0 comments
If any single link in the audio chain should be free of sonic personality, it's the preamplifier. Though a preamplifier's basic job description is "source selector with volume control," from hi-fi's earliest days preamps have been the designated dashboard: the more dials, switches, and lights, the better. All that control came at the cost of quiet, transparency, and tonal neutrality. Still, the quixotic quest for the mythical "straight wire with gain" continued to lead to minimalist designs, including impractical unbuffered "passive" preamps, in which cable length, thus capacitance, affected frequency response.
Continue Reading >

Pages

X