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Since I reviewed it in Gramophone Dreams #79, the EVO 100 has refused to make my system sound warm, soft, or second-harmonic thickened. It defies all clichéd descriptions of what tube amplification sounds like. Instead, it plays clean and fast and corners like a race car.

When Kevin Deal emailed asking if I was ready for a "free" EVO 100 "upgrade," I asked, "What's wrong with the way it is?"

He responded, "It's a parts upgrade and circuit tweak. We could do the MKII BS to raise the price, but we don't roll that way. Our job is supplying joy, not cashing in. Doing it free…

The speakers are made on the Chesapeake Bay by local artisans who use a local mill to provide wood for their hardwood designs, which borrow from local nautical history, according to the company’s Buff Colchagoff.

EBS’s Southwind standmount ($1450/pair) is a mass-loaded Voigt pipe (mass-loaded horn) designed for the Markaudio CHR-90 5½” full-range drive unit. The cabinet’s inner box is ½" Baltic Birch plywood, and the outer box is ¼" Walnut, with Maple and Cherry hardwoods.

“Both the alloy…

The setup saga began when Moon co-owner Costa Koulisakis traveled to Port Townsend from Quebec to help remove two 861 amplifiers from their sturdy flight cases and set them up. (We also set up the Moon 891 Network Player/DAC, which I'll review next month, with and without the 861s.) First, he noted that Moon designed the 861 to rest…

Details
The Moon 861's attractive front panel is blessedly free of bells, whistles, and unnecessary clutter. It includes a discretely placed button that toggles the amp between "active" and "inactive" modes (ie, on and standby), and a status indicator light that differentiates between powering up, normal operation, and firmware update status. The light's unusual placement and shape add to the amp's distinct aesthetics.

There's more action on the rear. Beyond two pairs of speaker output posts and single pairs of balanced and single-ended inputs, the rear panel holds toggle…

Description: Dual-mono power amplifier bridgeable to mono. Inputs: Stereo pair balanced (XLR), single-ended (RCA), 15A IEC. Outputs: Two pair spade-lug binding posts. Output power, stereo: 300Wpc into 8 ohms, 600Wpc into 4 ohms (both 24.77dBW); mono: 800W into 8 ohms (29dBW), 1400W into 4 ohms (28.45dBW). Input sensitivity: 1.4V at full rated output power. Input impedance: 47k ohm. Gain: 31dB. Frequency response: 2Hz–100kHz (+0/–3dB). Crosstalk: –119dB. THD, 1W: 0.002%; 200W: 0.001%. IMD: 0.006%. S/N ratio: 119dB. Damping factor: 900. Power consumption: 85W at…

Digital sources: dCS Vivaldi Apex DAC, Vivaldi Upsampler Plus, and Vivaldi Master Clock; Innuos Statement Next-Gen Music Server and PhoenixNET network switch; Ideon Absolute Stream Meta Edition (2024) music server and Alpha Wave; Small Green Computer Sonore opticalModule Deluxe (2); Broadcom/Avago AFBR-5718PZ 1GB SX-SFP, Gen 5 Fiber Optic modules; Nordost QSource linear power supply (2); Sonore Audiophile Linear Power Supply; Synology 5-bay 1019+ NAS with Ferrum Hypsos linear/switching hybrid power supply; Linksys MR9000 mesh router and Arris modem; Apple…

Simaudio's Moon 861 can be operated as a conventional two-channel amplifier or, by bridging the two output stages, as a monoblock. I performed a complete set of measurements in both modes on a different sample from those auditioned by Jason Victor Serinus. Mine had the serial number 311A22426220. I mainly used my Audio Precision SYS2722 system for the testing, repeating some of the measurements with the magazine's higher-performance APx555 system. I preconditioned the Moon 861 by following the FTC's recommendation of running it in stereo mode at one-eighth the…

Warwick Acoustics had two setups on active display. One, the flagship Aperio system featuring their headphones’ Balanced Drive HPEL Transducer, a symmetrically driven variant of the company’s High Precision Electrostatic Laminate transducer. Each one of these…

The system comprises a German Transrotor Dark Star turntable ($5490), running a Japanese Shelter Harmony cartridge ($4900), expressing its analog feelings into a Japanese Accuphase E-800 integrated amplifier ($19,975), and/or an Accuphase E-5000 integrated amplifier ($18,975). Digital entered this global conversation with the Las Vegas, Nevada-made HiFiRose RS-150B Reference HiFi network…

In Room 325, Gestalt presented a TW Acustic Raven GT2 turntable ($12,500) running a PrimaryControl FCL tonearm ($29,995), mounted with a Fuuga MC cartridge ($9995), into the debut Portugal-made Cinnamon Galle phono amplifier ($29,995).

Further amplification included the TW Acustic RLS-100 linestage ($25,000), feeding a SW1X Amp V Titan integrated ($22,500). Another debut product, the open-baffle, 97dB/1W/1m at 10 ohms Cinnamon Ellipticum…