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Soulnote S-3 Reference SACD Player & X-3 Clock Generator

Details: Written by Edgar Kramer Edgar Kramer; Category: Reviews Reviews; Published: 01 July 2023 01 July 2023

Hey, they say there’s something about a name. When an audio company chooses ‘Soulnote’ for its branding, it’s making a powerful statement right from the outset. Soul… Note… Conjuring expectations, right? The company name hints at products aiming for the ethereal core of music, connecting art, the artist and along the creative chain to the music lover. Will the Soulnote S-3 Reference SACD Player and X-3 Clock Generator under review here fuse the spirit of music with the fundamentals of sonic performance?

Polk Audio Legend L600 Loudspeakers

Details: Written by Steven JM Polley Steven JM Polley; Category: Reviews Reviews; Published: 15 June 2023 15 June 2023

Back in 1972, Mathew Polk and a team of big dreamers with just $200 between them set out on a wildly determined voyage to bring engaging, immersive sound to the masses of music lovers. With no interest in producing esoteric “cost-no-object products”, Polk’s real challenge was to deliver a truly great audiophile experience at a cost most people could afford. This established its founding philosophy of sound and design. Do the newest generation ‘Legend Series’ L600 speakers reaffirm the over 50-year-old mandate?

YBA Passion PRE550 MkII Preamplifier & Passion A650 Power Amplifier

Details: Written by Mark Busby Mark Busby; Category: Reviews Reviews; Published: 01 June 2023 01 June 2023

This review covers two chic looking products from French audio designer Yves-Bernard André who started the YBA brand in the early 1980s. A multi-faceted and thoroughly modern pre amplifier, the YBA Passion PRE550 MkII and a powerful solid state amplifier, the Passion YBA A650 Power Amplifier. The PRE550 caters for analogue and digital sources and has its own twin DACs on board. How will these French audio fashionistas perform?

Audio Research I/50 Integrated Amplifier

Details: Written by Peter Katsoolis Peter Katsoolis; Category: Reviews Reviews; Published: 15 May 2023 15 May 2023

I opened the crisp white shipping carton of the new Audio Research I/50 integrated amplifier and did a double take. Staring back at me was a user manual bedecked in bold block primary colours in the manner of Piet Mondrian – and Shonen Knife. I have been fortunate to own a few ARC models in the past, not in the least an SP-10 preamplifier and the criminally underrated CD2/DAC3MkII digital combo. Each came with a plain wrapper manual that, like 1970’s Letraset, would not have been out of place on founder William Z. Johnson’s boffin bookshelf. Here from the get-go was a statement of clear intent on the part of the freshly independent Audio Research. Had it come wrapped in red towelling and tied with some cool plastic dice you might have thought the I/50 was shipping from fellow Minnesotans, the ultra-hip ZVEX guitar effects company. ARC is the granddaddy of American tube audio equipment. But the I/50 integrated ain’t gonna be your granddaddy’s tube amplifier.

Totaldac d1-triunity Digital to Analogue Converter

Details: Written by Edgar Kramer Edgar Kramer; Category: Reviews Reviews; Published: 01 May 2023 01 May 2023

A few years ago, after having a Totaldac digital-to-analogue converter in for review and being seduced by its sonic excellence, no doubt due for the most part to its proprietary discrete R2R ladder digital conversion technology, I enthusiastically added the review sample to my then reference system. That was Totaldac’s d1-core and it’s the company’s entry point to this day. It was killer. Yes, killer. In defiance of its relatively modest price, its sound had an almost intangible magic and a certain… rightness. Even juxtaposed, at the time, with my own high-end CD player which employed multi-bit DA conversion (the legendary TDA1541 chip). Ever since, I’ve been using Totaldac’s converters exclusively as the blood source of my reference system’s central nervous system. Four years later, d1-core stepped aside for the purity and tonal precision of the d1-direct. Now, the Totaldac story progresses with a new, just announced chapter. The d1-triunity. Will the story of dominance lead to a new possession?

VYDA Laboratories Orion Silver Line HFC Cables

Details: Written by Edgar Kramer Edgar Kramer; Category: Reviews Reviews; Published: 15 April 2023 15 April 2023

Among the very best audio systems I’ve heard, say in the top 5, was the reference setup in the sound studio at loudspeaker specialist Magico. Actually, the word “studio” may infer to a small, cosy space, where Magico’s is a large, custom-built, single purpose acoustically treated environment. There, with MSB Technology, Pilium and Taiko electronics up the signal chain of the majestic M9 flagship, I heard both truly moving and thoroughly precise music. After collecting my jaw from around my feet, I scouted around the system, noticing elegant all-black python-esque cables stringing the entire system together. When Magico’s CEO Alon Wolf, with some enthusiasm, told me he chose these over many others because of their overall excellence, my ears pricked-up like an Aussie Blue Heeler’s. After all, he could have any cable he desires. These tethering wonders were VYDA Laboratories. I just had to hear more…

Dellichord Loudspeakers FR6 Speakers

Details: Written by Edgar Kramer Edgar Kramer; Category: Reviews Reviews; Published: 01 April 2023 01 April 2023

Here’s a not-so-fun fact: Manufacturing in Australia is super-expensive. In any industry. Aside from the obvious reasons, such as our high labour costs and parts freight to these shores (oh, the “tyranny of distance”), our R&D is meticulous and we mostly tend to have a very high level of craftsmanship – both are dollar multipliers. Time is money… But what if a new loudspeaker product, fully manufactured in Australia and using as many Aussie components as possible, was to launch presenting a high value, relatively low cost proposition? What if even its most expensive part, the cabinet, was precision CNC-machined in sunny “beautiful one day, perfect the next” Queensland? Those aspects and many more are the M.O. of the new FR6 from neonatal Dellichord Loudspeakers.

432 EVO Aeon Mk.3 Reference Music Server

Details: Written by Edgar Kramer Edgar Kramer; Category: Reviews Reviews; Published: 01 April 2023 01 April 2023

The space for server and streamer products has been steadily expanding for a few years now. While many brands have augmented existing lines of electronics to include servers and streamers, there are also a multitude of digital specialists purely dedicated to that singular product type. Most offer components with or without built-in DACs. While a select few have developed proprietary playback software and dedicated apps in support, all conform to music providers like Tidal, Qobuz, Spotify and others. Most are open to the wonders of Roon and other playback software. Less common, however, are the sorts of streaming/server products which can offer one-box solutions. Belgian company 432 EVO is a high-level digital specialist with a solid portfolio offering an entry-point all-in-one and a further three streamer/servers which provide comprehensive feature sets while allowing connectivity to your own beloved DAC. Below the flagship, ‘Master’, sits Aeon Mk.3 Reference Music Server, a music playing solution promising the highest level of sonic performance.

Aspire Audio Belgravia Equipment Rack

Details: Written by Edgar Kramer Edgar Kramer; Category: Reviews Reviews; Published: 15 March 2023 15 March 2023

Coincidentally located in the Blue Mountains not far from SoundStage! Australia HQ, in a village 10 minutes away and a couple of elevation notches down towards Greater Sydney, new company Aspire Audio brings to market Belgravia, a wisely and maturely conceived first-spawn product. At this neonatal stage, Aspire Audio is solely dedicated to producing hi-fi racking systems of impeccable quality at the mid-tier price bracket. For this review, we gently placed our cherished vibration-sensitive valve preamplification and disc players upon the Aspire Audio Belgravia rack to determine whether music can indeed soar as it’s freed from the potential fuzz of droning vibrational distortions.

Aurender A15 Music Streamer/DAC

Details: Written by Barry Jones Barry Jones; Category: Reviews Reviews; Published: 01 March 2023 01 March 2023

Jimmy Hendrix once asked ‘Are you experienced?’ It’s a good question. Collecting experiences is a great way to make one’s life more than a little richer. So, when the opportunity to audition and experience the difference Aurender’s A15 mid-level streamer would make in my system, I leapt at the chance.

Revival Audio Atalante 5 Loudspeakers

Details: Written by Steven JM Polley Steven JM Polley; Category: Reviews Reviews; Published: 15 February 2023 15 February 2023

The French have a saying, “pièce de résistance”. It is a term I am quite familiar with from my culinary background and in its origin means, “the chief dish of a meal”, or “the most noteworthy item of a group.” Since 1789, this French phrase has been used in English and in modern times can refer to anything as being “an outstanding item”, “a masterpiece” or “a memorable moment in one’s career”. It’s not a term I use lightly. Even in the culinary world I would rarely do so but, as I discovered during my time listening and evaluating Revival Audio’s Atalante 5 speakers and reflecting over all my notes, “pièce de résistance” is the ideal phrase that comes to mind. Even the drivers developed for the Atalante models could be deemed the most noteworthy among their peers and an outstanding achievement in this audio veteran’s long career. Could the Atalante 5 speakers be worthy of 3 Michelin Stars?

Harmonic Resolution Systems DPX-09545 Damping Plate

Details: Written by Barry Jones Barry Jones; Category: Reviews Reviews; Published: 01 February 2023 01 February 2023

I have to admit I was a little sceptical about reviewing the HRS Damping Plates. I figured that, like a lot of tweaks, there’s often not a great deal of science to support the claimed benefits. In addition to that, I’ve often thought that advocates of such tweaks tend to hear differences mainly because they want to hear differences. Since I was pretty much indifferent rather than wanting to or expecting to hear an improvement, I explained to a friend that this might be the first review assignment I’d refrain from engaging in… Better to say nothing than to say something negative right? With that in mind I figured that rather than research the product, the company, the engineering philosophies (if any), I would first conduct my listening tests and remain as free from influence as possible so, despite a desire to delve deeper, I exercised self-restraint. Which means that despite the next few paragraphs, you should know that the actual listening tests were conducted first!

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