LATEST ADDITIONS

Estelon's new entry-level Aura loudspeaker ($19,900/pair) is as notable for its sound and unique design as for its departure from premium pricing. Every driver in the Aura, from the Scanspeak 1" soft-dome tweeter to its two 5" SB Acoustics mid-woofers and 10" Faital woofer, is new.

Despite the ton of equipment from Burmester and others shown in the photo, the YG Acoustics set-up I heard involved just two speakers and a single control module. That's because the company's Vantage 3 Live active loudspeaker system ($65,600/pair), which contains amplification by Bel Canto as well as optimized DSP, a digital preamplifier, and a phono stage, is pretty much all-in-one.

Quite the well-conceived display, don't you think? I have to say the same about the sound, one of whose high points, on Gabriel Rios's "Swing Low," was a wonderfully large and captivating soundstage.

Grimm's new MU2 music streamer/DAC/analog preamplifier ($18,000), which will start shipping in October or November, is already back-ordered.

There were several reasons why I was extremely eager to hear this system. First and foremost, given the high price of Wadax digital gear, I wanted to get a sense of what the Wadax Atlantis Reference DAC ($166,420), Wadax Atlantis Reference Server ($68,800), Wadax Atlantis Reference Transport $115,000), and Wadax Atlantis Reference PSU ($52,700) might sound like in the context of the MOC's challenging acoustics. Second, while I don't have good sense of the ultimate potential of Magico M6 loudspeakers ($185,000/pair), which I haven't heard as many times as I hope I will, I certainly know the sound of the D'Agostino Momentum HD preamp ($42,500) and D'Agostino Momentum M400 MxV monoblocks ($79,950/pair), both of which grace my reference system. So, with a big thumbs up to Wadax for having the smarts to go head-to-head with dCS by using the same electronics they're often paired with, and for also now offering an optional higher-priced all-black finish which greatly alters their gear's appearance, I had to listen.

Before offering a few modest observations about the music, life, and times of David Lindley, a man who never met a stringed instrument he couldn't master and who died on March 3, I'll make two points, both somewhat contrarian.

In the flood of obituaries and tributes that have appeared since his death at age 78, one reads ad nauseam that Lindley, a lifelong Los Angeles resident whose most productive years were the 1970s and '80s, "help[ed] shape the sound of West Coast soft rock," as Guitar Player's writer put it. While Lindley's impact on Jackson Browne, Linda Ronstadt, and other Southern California soft-rockers was indeed considerable, he was equally, if not more, a firebrand, especially on his favorite instrument, the lap-steel guitar, which he essentially introduced to mainstream rock.

Even if Darren Myers's name isn't familiar, you still may have heard—or at least heard about—hi-fi components he designed, including the PS Audio Stellar phono preamp, which garnered Stereophile's Analog Product of the Year Award in 2020.

After working on projects for Classé and Bowers & Wilkins, Myers was hired by PS Audio, where he ended his tenure as senior analog design engineer. Myers recently joined Parasound (footnote 1) following the company's acquisition by David Sheriff.

After a lot of hard work, Vitus Audio arrived in Munich with a new Signature DAC, the SD-025 Mk.II (€26,500), and new SM-103 Mk.II monoblock amplifiers (€70,000/pair). Allied with other Vitus equipment), the system offered bountiful color, snap, and excellent low bass on a CD of Mathias Heise performing "Quadrillion." Having just viewed a bit of a Heise's live performance of the piece, I find myself extremely grateful for the opportunity to close my eyes and focus solely on the music.