Digital sources: Aurender A20 streamer and DAC, Grimm Audio MU1, Evernote DMP-A10, Sony S9000ES SACD player, 16" MacBook Pro M1 Max running Roon 2.0, Lenovo ThinkCentre running Roon ROCK.
Preamplifier: Unison Research Reference Pre, Benchmark HPA4 line stage.
Integrated amplifier: Pathos InPoL Legacy.
Loudspeakers: Focal Utopia Scala Evo, Estelon X Diamond Mk II.
Cables: Speaker: AudioQuest Thunderbird Zero and Bass. Interconnect: AudioQuest Black Beauty RCA, Clarus Crimson XLR. Digital: WEL Signature AES3; AudioQuest Coffee S/PDIF;…
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Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Mono tube power amplifier operating in class-A with a double parallel single-ended output stage. Tube complement: Four 845 power triodes, one ECC82, one ECC83. Inputs: one RCA, one XLR. Output power: 80W into 8 ohms (19dBW). Frequency range: 20Hz–30kHz. Feedback: 14dB. Input impedance: 47k ohms RCA, 10k ohms XLR. Output impedance: Two taps, 4 ohms and 8 ohms. Power consumption: ~400VA.
Dimensions: 19.3" (490mm) W × 30.5" (775mm) D × 11.2" (285mm) H. Weight: 155lb (70.3kg).
Price: $49,998/pair. Number of US dealers: 31.
Serial numbers of…
Costing just $899, Shanling's top-loading ET3 CD transport (footnote 1) appears to have been designed by people who recognize the multitude of big and small fails (or lost opportunities) of previous CD transports. In use, the ET3 felt like a distillation of what I've always wanted in a transport: strong, solid, compact, cool-looking, and feels good to use. Everyone knows I like pro-audio cool with no froufrou. This Shanling deck looked so damn smart and felt so good to touch that it kept my mind repeating, "Yep! That's how a CD transport should be built!"
The ET3 uses Philips's…
During the reviewing period, I started to worry that the sound, as good as it was, was compromised by EMI. That's when I remembered the Grand Prix Formula Shelf (footnote 6) that sat unused under my couch. With assistance from Off Islanders Audio Society members Stan Delles and Paul Rickert, I installed the platform between the Stromtank and the Jubilee power supply, with the HRS Damping Plates and Wilson Audio Pedestal on top. We all sat amazed at the degree to which extra isolation enhanced the Jubilee's presentation. I stuck with this setup for the remainder of the review.
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Way back in the age when Stereophile's print magazine was the size of a theater playbill, common wisdom declared that the tube preamp was the ideal complement to solid state amplification. That axiom was rooted in two assumptions: (1) Tube equipment produces softer, warmer, more flowing and pleasing sound than solid state, and (2) transistor-based devices need some softening because their sound is often hard, brittle, and mechanical. The trope was the high-end audio equivalent of the yin/yang stereotype that depicts women as soft, gentle, pliable, and flowing and men hard, harsh, and…
Every product listed here has been reviewed in Stereophile. Everything on the list, regardless of rating, is genuinely recommendable. Occasionally we get complaints from manufacturers who object to being included in, say, Class B. That's their error: Inclusion in Class B is a significant honor.
Within each category, products are listed by class; within each class, they're in alphabetical order, followed by their price, a review synopsis, and a note indicating the issues in which the review, and any subsequent follow-up reports, appeared. "Vol.48 No.9" indicates our September 2025 issue,…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
I performed a complete set of tests on a different sample of the Octave Jubilee from that auditioned by JVS; mine had the serial number 6119179. I used my Audio Precision SYS2722 system for the tests, repeating some of the measurements with the magazine's APx555 system.
I was initially confused by the presence of a pair of balanced inputs on the rear panel labeled "Phono," as I had understood that the Jubilee was a line preamplifier. However, a look at the manual revealed that the "Phono" input is a line-level input intended to be used with an external…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Digital sources: dCS Varèse five-piece music system, dCS Rossini CD/SACD transport; EMM Labs DV2i DAC, Meitner MA3 Integrated DAC; Innuos Nazaré Music Server and PhoenixNET network switch; Small Green Computer Sonore opticalModule Deluxe (2); Broadcom/Avago AFBR-5718PZ 1GB SX-SFP Gen-5 fiberoptic modules (2); Nordost QSource linear power supply (2); Sonore Audiophile linear power supply; Synology 5-bay 1019+ NAS with Ferrum Hypsos linear/switching hybrid power supply; ASUS AX6000 and RT-AX88U Pro mesh routers and Netgear Nighthawk modem; 2023 Apple iPad Pro…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Zero feedback, hybrid (tube/solid state), two-channel preamplifier with external power supply and remote volume control. Optional discrete Stepped Attenuator (47 Position, 0.1dB channel matching) volume control and HT bypass. Tube complement (4×) ECC82 (12AU7). Balanced input with input transformer, Ground Lift. Inputs: 2 pairs balanced (XLR), 4 pairs unbalanced (RCA). Outputs: 2 pairs balanced (XLR), 2 pairs unbalanced (RCA), 1 pair unbalanced Monitor/Tape (RCA). Frequency response: 3Hz–100kHz, ±1.5dB. Input impedance: 2k ohms balanced (XLR), 100k…