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Before I tested one of the Dan D'Agostino M400 MxV amplifiers, serial number 5879, with my Audio Precision SYS2722, I preconditioned it by following the CEA's recommendation: I ran it at one-eighth the specified power into 8 ohms for 30 minutes. At the end of that time, the side-mounted heatsinks were hot, at 106.1°F (41.2°C), and the top panel was hotter, at 110.5°F (43.7°C). After testing the amplifier at high powers, the temperature of the top panel had risen to 120.4°F/49.1°C. The M400 MxV needs to be well-ventilated.

The D'Agostino's voltage gain was…

In the capability and flexibility of its digital platform, the Inspiration CS 2.3 hunts with the big dogs. I asked John Woo of Bluebird Music, distributor for AVM in North America, to describe the capabilities of the AVM X-STREAM Engine, which is new for the CS 2.3 model; X-STREAM is a powerful digital processor/controller, powered by an ESS 9038Q2M chip. He told me that the CS 2.3 supports hi-rez streaming up to 24/192 and DSD 256 natively. It is Roon capable and supports Tidal Connect (but with no MQA support), Spotify Connect, Qobuz, and AirPlay 2. All are accessed with the AVM RC X…

Description: Solid state, class-D, stereo streaming integrated amplifier with DAC, CD transport, phono preamp, class-A headphone amplifier, remote. Analog inputs: 4 pair RCA (2 line, phono, phono loading). Digital inputs: HDMI ARC, USB-A, LAN, 2 Coax, WLAN, Bluetooth antennas. Analog outputs: 1 pair RCA variable, 1 pair RCA fixed. Loudspeaker outputs: stereo pair 3-way binding posts. 1/8" (3mm) unbalanced headphone. Input sensitivity: 275mV. Power output: 140Wpc (18.45dBW) at 1% THD+N into 4 ohms. Tone controls: Balance, Bass, Treble, Loudness. Standby power…

Analog sources: Pro-Ject Debut Carbon-EVO turntable, Sumiko Rainier & Sumiko Olympia cartridge.
Digital sources: Cary Audio 308T CD player, Musical Fidelity M1CDT transport.
Integrated amplifiers: Peachtree Audio Nova integrated, McIntosh MA252 Tube Hybrid integrated.
Loudspeakers: Sonus Faber Toy, Harbeth C7 ES-3 XD, REL T2 subwoofer.
Headphones: AudioQuest Nighthawk, Sennheiser HD 560 S.
Cables: Interconnects: AudioQuest Cobra & Sky. Speaker: AudioQuest Rocket 88 & Robin Hood.
Accessories: Mapleshade equipment rack,…

I measured AVM's Inspiration CS 2.3 using my Audio Precision SYS2722 system,1controlling the amplifier with the AVM RC X app on my iPad mini. As the AVM is a class-D design, and class-D amplifiers emit relatively high levels of ultrasonic noise that would drive the analyzer's input into slew-rate limiting, all the measurements other than frequency response were taken with Audio Precision's auxiliary AUX-0025 passive low-pass filter. (The AUX-0025 mitigates noise above 80kHz and eliminates noise above 200kHz.) Without the filter, there was approximately 400mV of…

Then it hit me. When I first started attending audio shows, there were only two big games in town: the late and lamented Stereophile Show, which moved around the country, and CES in Las Vegas. Nor was CES a monolith. For many of us, the parts of CES we loved the most and flocked to were not the exhibits in the jam-packed, noisy Las Vegas Convention…

This was one of several rooms to partly rely on the excellence of tape, here played on a SonorouS ATR 10 Mk II tape deck ($32,000). When I entered, the gentlemen were…

The sound was quite warm and notably lively on the CD layer of a Challenge Classics hybrid SACD…