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On the third and last day of the Florida Audio Expo, I realized I hadn't listened to Von Schweikert speakers in donkey's years. With only 35 minutes to spare till closing time, I made my way to the third-floor room where, according to the show literature, I should hear a pair of Von Schweikert Endeavor floorstanders ($31,000) being driven by a generous complement of multikilobuck tube components in a room cosponsored by Scott Walker Audio. Sure enough, the candy-apple-red speakers were there, tethered to a VAC Master Signature preamp ($44,000 with a phono stage) and VAC Master 300 monoblocks…
A friend had advised me to go listen to the single-ended Auris Nirvana IV headphone amplifier ($5700), deeming it "in some ways" an improvement over Auris's beloved Headonia model. Mission accepted.
I found the Nirvana IV in the Moon Audio room, where Moon founder and CEO Drew Baird set me up with Audeze LCD-5 headphones, the successor to the (heavier) LCD-4s that I occasionally still rock if my poor neck can bear it. Associated equipment consisted of an Aurender ACS10 streamer ($6500) and the iconic Chord Qutest DAC ($2125). Cables were Moon Audio's own Black Dragons; tubes were…
I've drifted away from using headphones in recent years, not because I don't enjoy them but because I enjoy them a little too much. That is, I tend to get into the swing of things when I wear them, and am soon inclined to turn up the volume as my excitement rises. That way lies tinnitus, which isn't a lot of fun.
While my collection of personal audio is pretty much complete (with high-end entries from HiFiMan, Audeze, Focal, and Sennheiser), I'd consider an addition from Britain's Warwick Acoustics if I were currently in the market for further headphone bliss. Warwick's Aperio Black (…
Although TAD is a Japanese brand, there's something dry, almost German about the name, which stands for Technical Audio Devices. It's comparable, in my book, to T+A, one of Germany's leading high-end companies, whose initials mean Theorie + Anwendung—that's Theory + Application. I like this just-the-facts approach, as long as the products leave room for emotion . . . maybe even a spot of sorcery. On that score, no worries about either brand.
After a years-long absence, TAD is back on the US market, represented by Dave Malekpour of Massachusetts' PAD Hifi Distribution (PAD stands for…
Poor Tom Graham. At the Florida Audio Expo, the amiable Naim product specialist found himself hamstrung by the two rooms at his disposal: one a small boîte with an orange pair of Focal Sopra 3 speakers ($26,000) powered by Naim electronics, and an only slightly larger adjoining space where 300,000 dollars' worth of Naim Statement gear did its best to make Focal's rather beefy Maestro Utopia EVOs sing.
I auditioned the $76,000/pair Maestro at two audio shows in 2022. In Chicago, they occupied a ballroom-type hall; in Seattle, a few months later, they stood in a low-ceilinged but pretty…
In Tampa, Latvian brand Aretai made another very good impression with its 100S speaker, a 2.5-way standmount in a sealed box ($9000/pair). Visually this speaker was among the more arresting offerings at the Florida expo: a neodymium-magnet tweeter in a handsome white horn sits atop a 16"-tall, matte-black enclosure. (The 100S is also available in piano gloss and various wood veneers.) Each speaker has two 6" drivers that deliver bass down to about 32Hz. The low-frequency onslaught that is Massive Attack's "Angel" sounded remarkably tight—a consequence of the sealed design, explained founder…
Those of us who aren't wealthy must often sell something before we can buy a new piece of hi-fi gear, and it's usually another piece of hi-fi gear. Selling in order to buy makes a great deal of sense because, after all, you only need one of everything (or two in the case of speakers) at a time in a two-channel system.
Another secondary-marketplace incentive: As I pointed out a couple of Re-Tales columns ago, the higher prices rise on new equipment, the more appealing pre-owned gear becomes.
Hi-fi dealers know this, and they've known it for a long time. "Typically, the onus is on…
As an upstart journalist-flâneur, my basic urge is to step on the gas and let my '54 Buick careen down the freeway, crashing into guardrails on both sides. Old Buicks were built for that, and I would love to take readers on one of those kinds of rides.
But when I write this monthly column, I find myself aiming for a different feel, more like driving cross-country in a '70s Ford station wagon, documenting motels and gas stations. A trip where it's fun to roll easy, take in the views, and stop at every car museum, snake farm, and stalactite cave.
This month, I'm going to put some…
Listening
I began my critical listening to the well-broken-in XX-2 MKII with some Frank Sinatra: Only the Lonely (Capital LP SW1053). My mind bypassed Frank's tone, phrasing, and lyrics, which is all I usually notice, and went behind him to Nelson Riddle's orchestra, which sounded exquisitely detailed, every instrument getting its due and sounding distinctly like itself. I had never previously experienced such a lucid, sharp-focused view of these background instruments. I wondered why.
Maybe because with the XX-2 into the transimpedance SUTZ, feeding Tavish Design's Adagio…
Luxman occupies an unusual place in the hi-fi world. While many of the brands chasing ultimate performance will battle it out in the bleeding-edge design stakes, Luxman makes what I like to call luxury equipment. Everything they produce is beautiful, not just to the ear, but also to the eye and hand. Their design aesthetic keeps one foot firmly planted in the style of classic audio equipment from decades past—for example, many of their amplifiers have tone controls and big power meters, features reminiscent of topflight gear from 40 years ago—while the other foot is up to date with the latest…