This year at FLAX was no different. The room’s system consisted of a Studer A810 reel-to-reel with extended response heads, Doshi Evolution Series Tape Preamplifier ($22,000), Doshi Evolution Series Line Preamplifier ($22,000), and Doshi Evolution Series Monoblock amplifiers ($45,000/pair), driving Joseph Audio Pearl Graphene Ultras ($52,000/pair).
Digital got its due via an Aurender N30SA media…
With Oneiros designers Jerry Bloomfield and Graeme Bridge in the room for in-depth explanations, the system began with the mighty VPI Avenger Direct turntable, featuring a VPI Gimbal FatBoy tonearm mounted with a DS Audio Grand Master optical phono cartridge ($17,500). This fed into the new DS Audio TB-100 tube equalizer ($20,000) and a DS Audio Grand Master PH-001 phono cable ($2500), which in turn directed an Audio Research Reference 6SE line stage preamp ($22,…
A Tourbillion T-RX reel-to-reel player and power supply ($52,000), atop a Tourbillion custom stand ($8000), traded analog duties with the Perambulator turntable, which features a hybrid solid aluminum/acrylic platter and an external motor ($29,000); it was coupled with a Combobulator tonearm, made of solid titanium with silver internal wiring ($9000).
A Solitaire integrated amplifier (150Wpc, custom color, $41,000) performed tag…
Along with a vintage tape deck and top-flight digital components, the room’s Bayz Audio Courante 2.0 loudspeakers look and sound like no other. But first, here are the system details.
A ReVox/Sonorus PR99 vintage reel-to-reel tape machine, Accustic Arts Player III CD player ($14,990), Aurender N20 network transport music server/streamer ($12,500…
A question that gains urgency as more audiophile reissues arrive and prices rise is, are they worth the price? The answer depends on the answer to another question: How much better is a $100-or-more reissue gonna sound than the original, major-label 150gm pressing? Add to this the fact that the word "audiophile" has become an en vogue marketing buzzword, which in the case of the ever-increasing number of European public…
Dave Stryker's career spans 40 years and 37 albums. But he has never attempted anything as ambitious as Stryker with Strings Goes to the Movies. It employs 30 musicians, including a…
To that end, a Naim CI-Uniti 102 streamer ($1499) served as the source for a pair of Focal Kanta No.1 standmounts ($3999/each) that looked lonely; they didn’t get much love.
But the large, wireless Focal Diva Utopia loudspeakers ($39,999)—which Mark Henninger and I covered back in NYC—blasted beautiful sounds for…
An international affair, room 419 held a Serbian made Soulines TT42 turntable ($14,500, tonearm and cart not included), Norwegian Electrocompaniet ECP 2 MkII phono stage ($2900), Electrocompaniet ECM 1 MKII High End DAC and streamer ($5700), Electrocompaniet EMC 1 MKV Reference CD player ($6800), Electrocompaniet EC 4.8…
As a back-catalog label, Rhino was active early in the vinyl revival—and it continues to be. Rhino quickly learned that a popular older album, when released as a high-quality physical artifact—whether it's an LP, a CD box, a multichannel Blu-ray audio…