Herb Reichert

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Wharfedale Diamond 225 loudspeaker
Budget Component ReviewsStand Loudspeaker Reviews
Herb Reichert  |  Feb 23, 2017  |  23 comments
In the United Kingdom, the first seeds of perfectionism in audio separates were sown by Goodmans Industries, founded in 1925. Then, in 1930, Garrard (est. 1722) produced its first commercial gramophone. Shortly thereafter, England experienced the Great Slump, the British name for the worldwide catastrophe known in the US as the Great Depression. Near the beginning of this economic downturn, in 1932, Gilbert Briggs founded Wharfedale Wireless Works—and the first British "high-fidelity" audio amplifiers began being manufactured by H.J. Leak & Co. Ltd., founded by Harold Joseph Leak in 1934.
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Gramophone Dreams #14: Rega Planar 3
Budget Component ReviewsGramophone DreamsTurntable Reviews
Herb Reichert  |  Jan 31, 2017  |  11 comments
UK, 1976: Upon its release, Rega Research's original Planar 3 turntable became the poor man's Linn Sondek LP12. It opened a gateway of affordability to the exotic world of high-quality British record players. Forty years later, the new Planar 3 turntable and its "light and rigid" engineering aesthetic, as conceived by Rega founder Roy Gandy, still occupy an admirably working-class, pro-music position in an audio world increasingly populated by gold-plated tonearms and quarter-ton turntables.
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Schiit Audio Yggdrasil D/A processor
Digital Processor Reviews
Herb Reichert  |  Jan 18, 2017  |  24 comments
Right now, I swear, Schiit Audio's Mike Moffat and Jason Stoddard are sitting there in California, smugly smirking at me and John Atkinson. While JA was struggling to properly measure Schiit's Ragnarok (Fate of the Gods) integrated amplifier for my review in the May 2016 issue, I sent Moffat an e-mail: "Are you smiling?"

"Yup," he replied. He'd known in advance that the Ragnarok wouldn't look good on standard tests. But he hadn't warned us: The Ragnarok's output-stage bias program responds to music sources, not signal generators.

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Increcable TIA-280R Integrated Amp
CES 2017
Herb Reichert  |  Jan 13, 2017  |  0 comments
Besides the TIA's thick copper top deck (and copper remote handset), the 280R features full point-to-point-wired, dual-mono construction with one GZ34 rectifier tube per channel…
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Emotiva XPA Gen3 Modular Amp
CES 2017
Herb Reichert  |  Jan 12, 2017  |  3 comments
Emotiva looked so direct-sales, street-wise smart—and everybody was talkin’ about how musical Emotiva’s stuff sounds: “It sounds good—and they're givin’ it away!” I couldn’t wait to try one of their products.
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Octave Audio V 80 SE
CES 2017
Herb Reichert  |  Jan 12, 2017  |  0 comments
Both sides of the Atlantic are making tube products that (again) sound at least a little like actual vacuum tubes and less like high-strung solid-state racing cars. Both cultures now want genuine tube sound but demand 21st century tube longevity and reliability—and, of course, a discrete headphone amplifier.
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App-Controlled SE Amp from Rogers
CES 2017
Herb Reichert  |  Jan 12, 2017  |  0 comments
The one that has me the most stoked is the Rogers High Fidelity 65V-1 class-A, single-ended EL34/KT88 integrated amplifier ($3999). Not to mention: I have never seen an amp painted with industrial-black crinkle paint that I didn't love.
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DeVore and Sugden and the Dap-Kings
CES 2017
Herb Reichert  |  Jan 12, 2017  |  2 comments
Today, in Vegas, DeVore's super-sensitive Orangutan O/96 loudspeakers ($12,000/pair) were powered by Sugden's Masterclass LA-4 line preamplifier ($3750) and Sapphire FBA800 40Wpc class-A amplifier ($7500). The system was playing Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings (on Daptone Records) with super cool but hot-running LP joy.
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Technics SU-G700 DAC-Integrated Amp
CES 2017
Herb Reichert  |  Jan 12, 2017  |  2 comments
Technics spent all of 2016 re-emerging into the Euro-American audio market—and they did it with full-on high Japanese style and connoisseur-level sound. At last year's CES, Technics introduced their Grand, Premium, and Reference class audio products—including the 100 percent new SL-1200GAE/G/GR turntables! They made a big splash then, and now they're doing it again.
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Ampsandsound Mogwai
CES 2017
Herb Reichert  |  Jan 12, 2017  |  4 comments
Look at that photo, with the beautiful wood-plinthed KT88 amp. What do you notice? That's not a dCS digital stack lying on the table bottom-right: It's an iPad. A fancy red cable, whose name I forgot to get, is connecting a portable music source to the line-level input of a $1850 single-ended stereo integrated headphone amplifier called the Mogwai.
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