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I view poetry as more than a literary genre. It's a worldview and a state of being that frames my daily experience in the supernal. I've consumed a lifetime keeping my senses peeled for authentic, manmade mysteries, especially in art and music. Music is my favorite hunting ground, and nowhere have I found mysteries as DNA-deep as the 59 takes of 29 songs recorded in only five days by Delta blues legend Robert Johnson (1911–1938). I've played the Columbia Records 1961 anthology King of the Delta Blues Singers (Columbia LP CL 1654) 100 times since my days in Chicago as a teenager, and I still…
HiFiMan's Dr. Fang Bian recommends the Audivina, above and right, for studio and mastering work.
HiFiMan's wood-cup mania
I've been using two very different HiFiMan headphones: the newer, $1999 Audivina, which was released in March 2023, and the older HE-R10P, which costs $5499 and was released in spring 2021. Both are wood-cupped closed backs with "Supernano" planar-magnetic diaphragms. Each time I use one of them, I pause, surprised again by how just right it sounds. ("Just right" is an audio descriptor that needs no explanation. You'll know it when you hear it, I promise.)…
The last time I had to box up my roughly 2600 records, during a move, I cursed up a storm and drank almost an entire bottle of tequila. I struggled to keep the vinyl alphabetized and kept running out of boxes, markers, and tape. And I discovered that I had more LPs of music by Miles Davis and Bach than by anyone else. In third place was George Jones.
The vectors of tradition, originality, and talent came together in Jones to produce a strange and unlikely gift. His music can make you feel things as suddenly and deeply as just about anyone's, but on top of this Jones had the greatest…
My initial impressions of the review unit weren't encouraging. The company's website shows two integrated amplifier models named the Silver Luna Prestige that appear to be largely identical except for the casework: the one from the Evolution line looks natty and modern, with rounded corners and clean lines. I saw several of these Fezz Audio amps at this year's High End Munich and found them to be downright lovely. I'd like to say that the unit I received, from the (ostensibly older) Legacy line, looks industrial, but that's a kinder word than the one that popped into my head.…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Push-pull, class-AB1, autobias, tubed stereo integrated amplifier with tetrode/pentode mode switch and two sets of outputs for compatibility with 4 ohm– and 8 ohm–rated speakers. Tube complement: 4 EL34 (power output), 2 ECC83/6N2P (preamp and driver). Inputs: 3 single-ended on RCA. Max output power: 35Wpc (15.44dBW into 8 ohms, 12.44dBW into 4 ohms). THD: <0.35%. Frequency response: 15Hz–77kHz, –3dB. Power consumption: 170W. Available accessories: Remote control, tube cage.
Dimensions: 16.1" (410mm) × 6.5" (165mm) × 12.6" (320mm). Weight: 33.…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Analog sources: Garrard 301 turntable in a Box Furniture Co. plinth; TW-Acustic Raven GT2 turntable and Raven 12" tonearm; Thomas Schick 12" tonearm and headshell; Dynavector Te Kaitora Rua, Miyajima Shilabe, Hana Umami Red, Ortofon Cadenza Bronze, Ortofon SPU Classic G, and Zu/Denon 103 cartridges.
Digital sources: Sonnet Pasithea and Morpheus DACs; Lejonklou Källa streamer/DAC; Sonore ultraRendu streamer; Denafrips Iris digital-to-digital converter; Small Green Computer sonicTransporter i5 server running Roon Core.
Preamplification: Prima Luna EVO…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
I performed the measurements of the Fezz Audio Silver Luna Prestige amplifier with my Audio Precision SYS2722 system, confirming some of the results with the higher-performance APx500. I carefully installed the tubes, following the numbered guide that had been packed with the amplifier. I carried out a complete set of tests with the 12AX7 tubes that AH had told me he preferred, with the output stage in both pentode and tetrode modes. I then repeated some of the testing with the alternative 6N2P small-signal tubes. I powered down the amplifier before changing the…
Manufacturer's Comment
Thank you to Alex Halberstadt for his thorough, informative, and enthusiastic review of the Fezz Audio Silver Luna Prestige integrated amplifier. I enjoyed listening to George Jones, who I was not familiar with, on YouTube while reading the review.
Fezz Audio incorporates many design features that make owning a tube amplifier a great choice, especially in these times of resurging interest in analog, vintage audio, and high-sensitivity loudspeakers.
Fezz amplifiers are noted for their European build quality as well as their excellent low-noise…
Stereophile writers and website commentors often speak to the topic of the ongoing rise in retail pricing at the upper levels of the hi-fi market. Companies producing cost-no-object designs make regular appearances in the hardware reviews published here. However, a countervailing vector is also at play in the consumer hi-fi sector: a trend toward bringing to market products that are smaller and more economical than the competition while offering an ever-increasing variety of features and continually improved performance, notably in terms of measurable specifications.
This dialectic can…
Whacking weeds
In a recent chat with Stereophile Editor Jim Austin at a listening event in Manhattan, Jim mentioned something he'd been hearing from audio retailers: that the biggest product-support challenge they face these days is customers' networking problems. I am right there with that demographic. Plugging in the replacement NEO Stream, though, my karma seemed to improve. The unit started up and connected just as the online user manual said it should. Time spent reviewing other streaming hardware prompted me to use a wired Ethernet connection for setup, direct from my home…