The Latest
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- Written by Edgar Kramer Edgar Kramer
- Category: Features Features
- Published: 15 December 2024 15 December 2024
The SoundStage! Australia Products of the Year Awards 2024
I feel fortunate to live in Katoomba, more fondly referred to by locals as K-Town, a history-rich town an hour-and-a-bit from Sydney central. K-Town teethers on the edge of ragged, rocky escarpments which put on a daily show of breathtaking beauty and drama… each scene enriched by an ever-changing palette of natural magnificence. It’s where coarse, high sandstone cliffs are often veiled by rising, ghostly mists which are there… and then not. Where dense gum-bush lines the rocky edges of shimmering waterfalls. Where the unique wildlife can be cute, or savage, or… deafening. Cicadas. This spring, after a seven year hiatus, the hordes are back in ridiculous numbers. The orange-tinged ‘Eastern Double Drummer’ is as boisterous as Danny Carey on steroids. Yep, near-120dB! Shouty, aroused males, throating a piercing chorus underlying the soundtrack to the SoundStage! in-room Insta reels. Heck, I’ve even had post comments pointing to that communal, ringing mayhem. Yet, here I am, presenting to you the antithesis of all that racket. I’m talking the best audio of 2024. How’s that for a segue?
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- Written by News Editor News Editor
- Category: News News
- Published: 09 December 2024 09 December 2024
Lumin Introduces T3X Network Player
Lumin’s new T3X Network Player amps-up technologies and electronic design in its highly acclaimed, award winning T3 streaming/DAC platform.
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- Written by News Editor News Editor
- Category: News News
- Published: 06 December 2024 06 December 2024
Gold Note Debuts HP-10 Headphone Amplifier
Italy’s high-end audio marque Gold Note continues to expand its compact half-sized ‘10’ series components with the addition of the new HP-10 headphone amplifier.
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- Written by News Editor News Editor
- Category: News News
- Published: 06 December 2024 06 December 2024
McIntosh Laboratory Announces New MSA5500 Streaming Integrated Amplifier
The new MSA5500 integrated amplifier promises superb versatility encompassing an extensive suite of McIntosh Laboratory’s proprietary amplification and the latest digital technologies.
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- Written by Barry Jones Barry Jones
- Category: Features Features
- Published: 01 December 2024 01 December 2024
Restoring a Memory: Tandy Electronics Mach One Loudspeakers
I’m at a friend’s place, one evening, and after dinner we sit down to watch a few eps of the latest Trek “Strange New Worlds” when Pat points at his beloved speakers. Sadly, he tells me his wife is “making me get rid of them”. Pat’s hearing isn’t the best these days, so it kinda makes sense. It was actually through Pat that I first became interested in hi-fi, and it was Pat who gave me my first job. I used to ride my bike down to the local shopping centre after school some days to buy the latest Top 40 compilation LP record. One day, on the way out, I discovered the Tandy Electronics store (Radio Shack in the USA). Pat was the owner, and he had set up what was to me an absolute killer system. On that day, he was demonstrating it to a customer…
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- Written by Edgar Kramer Edgar Kramer
- Category: Reviews Reviews
- Published: 15 November 2024 15 November 2024
Monitor Audio Gold 100 6G Loudspeakers
What audiophile and music lover worth their mettle would forget the near-iconic Studio 20SE from UK’s Monitor Audio? Hearing that speaker back in mid-1990s at a now defunct audio store in Sydney, triggered a personal reassessment of the sweet spot in performance versus cost within the high-end loudspeaker space. Large enough to provide adequate low frequencies, expertly balanced with a marvellous blending between the mids and highs, and finished in the most luxurious veneers, the Studio 20SE was once heard, never forgotten. The company has exponentially blossomed since those days, as has its product portfolio. Here, I’m evaluating the brand new Gold 100 6G, Monitor Audio’s largest standmount speaker. Will the new speaker carry, and indeed build upon, its predecessor’s classic DNA imprint?
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- Written by News Editor News Editor
- Category: Features Features
- Published: 13 November 2024 13 November 2024
SoundStage! Talks Australia Video: Hi-Fi Brands & Products that Experts from Gryphon, Harman, Nordost, Linn Admire
The idea was this: Get reps from major hi-fi companies to gather in the same room, at the same time, for a podcast-style chat about their favouite products, competing brands and the industry's future. We made it happen!
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- Written by News Editor News Editor
- Category: News News
- Published: 07 November 2024 07 November 2024
Wilson Audio Unveils Alexx VFX Loudspeakers
Alexx V, the penultimate model in Wilson Audio’s loudspeaker offerings, receives a substantial styling transformation via aesthetic redesigns and luxurious new finishes.
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- Written by Barry Jones Barry Jones
- Category: Reviews Reviews
- Published: 01 November 2024 01 November 2024
dCS Lina Network DAC and Master Clock
When peering into the stratosphere of DAC technology one quickly meets dCS, who provides a range of exquisitely crafted and engineered ‘listening experiences’. At the pinnacle lives the recently released Varèse, along with Vivaldi, Rossini, and Bartok, products upon which dCS has built its reputation (and rumour has it a new flagship Varèse SACD/CD transport is around the corner). And now, Lina, a relative newcomer in as little as one, or as many as three pieces (Network Streaming DAC, Headphone Amplifier and Master Clock) which dCS claims represents a new frontier in music playback. I had the Lina Network DAC and Master Clock for evaluation as the subjects of this review.
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- Written by Edgar Kramer Edgar Kramer
- Category: Reviews Reviews
- Published: 01 November 2024 01 November 2024
ZenSati #1 Cable Loom
I first came across ZenSati cables at CES in Vegas many, many moons ago. There, at the Venetian, that year, company founder Mark Johansen exhibited a full line of his cables in a system which was one of the standouts. Naturally, I ended up spending quite a bit of time in that musical oasis. I got to know Johansen, whose passion for music was evident, as was his enthusiasm for its accurate reproduction. While, of course, the sum of the components was the ultimate manifestation of the excellent sound, it was the system’s musicality which drew me to consider the interface between each piece of kit. Being such honestly neutral conduits, ZenSati cables were toll-free highways to a musical destination. Through the subsequent years, I went on to review many of the company’s products, with the crowning bunch being the sublime sILENzIO range. Now, ZenSati has produced a new design, a more attainable model in the company’s Hash Tag range, which is crowned by the voluminous #X. Enter the new, and sparkly-silver #1.
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- Written by News Editor News Editor
- Category: News News
- Published: 30 October 2024 30 October 2024
Boulder Amplifiers 1151 Mono Power Amplifier
The new 1151 monoblock is the latest addition to Boulder Amplifiers’ range and expands the Colorado company’s exalted 1100 series high power amplifier selection.
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- Written by News Editor News Editor
- Category: News News
- Published: 25 October 2024 25 October 2024
McIntosh Laboratory Announces PS1K Powered Subwoofer
Following the release of McIntosh Laboratory’s flagship PS2K subwoofer system, the company now announces its more affordable PS1K powered subwoofer sibling.
