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47 Labs Shigaraki System Review by Sandy Greene
SONICFLARE REVIEW: 47 Labs Shigaraki System
4716 CD Transport ($1980), 4715 DAC ($1480), 4717 Integrated Amplifier ($1980)
Sakura Systems
by Sandy Greene
COMMENTS (1) | Permalink | DACs $1k to 5k , Disc players $800 to $2k , Integrated Amp $1k to 3k , Writer: Sandy Greene | Posted by Josh Ray on Dec 06 '07
Sandy Greene Reviews the Red Wine Signature 30
For a couple of months now I have had the pleasure of listening to silence. Eh? Yep, silence from the noise we’ll hear through the typical power path. Typical being your typically grounded outlet through probably your nicer-than-stock power cord to your typically toroidal transformered source and active transformer amp. None of that typical stuff here.
Keep reading for more on the Red Wine Signature 30 integrated amplifier...
COMMENTS (5) | Permalink | Integrated Amp $1k to 3k , Writer: Sandy Greene | Posted by on Dec 15 '06
No-brainer Audiophile Holiday Gifts (in the $1,000 to $2,000 range) by Sandy Greene
Sarcastic… a little. But if you look at the average cost of approved audiophile fare, you’re looking north of $2k easily.
I’ve got some gear in house now and have just started writing reviews of them for SonicFlare. I didn’t want you all to miss the opportunity to get these pieces on Santa’s wish list.
The Red Wine Audio modded Olive Symphony (base unit: $899 + RWA mods: $649 = $1,548). This is an iPod in a box that also includes a CD player/ripper/writer, analog-to-digital recording capabilities and even a Squeezebox to get other music on your wireless network including internet radio. Red Wine Audio does some audiophile part upgrade magic, but more importantly takes the AC line out of the sonic picture as the unit run off a battery. Unbelievably silent. Combined with the part upgrades, this unit has a really musical, revealing and organic character that competes with CD players that cost the same and more and offer no where near the functionality and fun. A great swiss-army knife audio gift that adds fun to the listening experience.
What better to take advantage of all that quiet battery-powered sonic goodness than another battery-powered piece of kit? That would have to be the Red Wine Audio Signature 30 amplifier ($1,399). Golden-eared Srajan Ebaen from 6moons.com just loves this amp as it makes his “Best of 2006” list. I’m also a huge fan of this amp. It’s physically smaller than average, very well built with a very clean and classic visual design. It sounds fantastic running the Omega Super 3 XRS’s, the Audio Note AN-E/Lx’s and the recently arrived...
Duevel Planets ($1,195 pair). These super cool little guys just arrived this week and I can’t stop listening to them. They sound so much bigger than they are for many reasons. This omni-directional experience is new to me. It’s surround sound without the extra speakers. Listening to “Via Chicago” from Wilco’s live, Kicking Television cd, it’s like you’re in the middle of the audience. That’s “you are there” if there ever was! Couple the enlightening musical experience with an attention grabbing cosmic product design: chrome atoms floating above a grey monolith, and you have the ultimate living room entertainment conversation starter. Even better, they let everyone in your listening room enjoy good sound no matter where they sit.
Now make sure you’ve been nice... or if you haven’t, then make nice. Ah... Give or get the gift of gear.
| Permalink | Hard Drive Servers , Integrated Amp $1k to 3k , Speakers $1k-2k , Writer: Sandy Greene | Posted by on Dec 13 '06
HE2006: Neat Motive 2 and Exposure 2010 S Series Take the Cake
And now for my favorite room of the show: Neat Acoustic and Exposure hi-fi. The gear is not outrageous looking or wildly expensive. Nor is it going to pimp up your rap superstar wanna-be lifestyle. It's just killer non-audiophile sound in a package that, shockingly, will actually look good in your living room.
Shown were the British Neat Motive 2 speakers ($1995) and the Exposure 2010 S series CD player and 75 watt integrated amp ($1250 each). That's a complete package for $4500 sans cables. Heck, use your iPod, Squeezebox or computer and you're in the high-performance audio club for only $3250.
BlueBird importers also showed the Neat Ultimatum MF7 speakers and ultra-expensive Chord electronics in the same room. Check out our coverage. While the Chord/Neat powerhouse dominated, it was the little Neat/Exposure system camped out in the corner that was the most interesting and, really, got the most love from average show-goers. Probably because it was a system people could see putting in the back of their sedans and driving away with.
The camera distortion is deceiving because those Neat Motive 2 speakers are absolutely tiny. Only 28" high and just over 6" wide with a slightly swept back styling and sexy wood finishing, they are speakers that are clearly expensive without being in your face. As for sound, Neat uses a modified titanium Focal tweeter with a foam surround and a custom mid/bass driver. Bass is listed at 35Hz and I believe it. They put the speaker port on the bottom and vent it through the base plinth to really hit those low notes. It's kinda shocking, actually, how low and smooth these little speakers perform.
For me, the traditional American audiophile equipment lacks a lot of the qualities that make music killer. The demo music sounds great, but when I put on something other than easy listening jazz, I'm not impressed, nor are people new to this industry hearing the gear for the first time. As the good "journalist" I am, and purely for scientific purposes, I struck up conversations with the comely show staff and asked them what they thought of the equipment in various rooms. It was mostly "eh, it's okay." And they were right, so-and-so $100,000 American super system sounded just okay. Sure, it did a lot of classic audiophile things right, but it was boring with modern music. It's a taste issue, of course, but when the greatest of the great systems in our industry only elicit an "eh, it's okay" from the new (and attractive) generation, there's a serious problem.
One person hypothesized that traditional American companies voice their gear for the the easy-listening jazz and lite classical sound that is so ubiquitous in the American audiophile community while Brit and some Euro countries voice for a more contemporary sound. It's an interesting idea and could be true. I know I have a different taste in gear and the Neat/Exposure system was giving me the eye. It was a system that got people to coo like babies while the traditional audiophile goods got shrugged shoulders.
In fact, I believe the Neat/Exposure combo to be HE2006's most important system -- killer non-audiophile sound, suave styling and, at $4500, you get to keep both kidneys. This is what the future of hi-fi should look like.
Permalink | Comments (35) | Posted to Disc players $800 to $2k | Integrated Amp $1k to 3k | Shows and Expos | Speakers $1k-2k
Rogue Tempest II Review
Rogue Audio, one of the new generation of tube design houses, gets some love from Positive Feedback. Where Manley is all about Harley Davidson, Rogue's Mark O'Brien is a superbike racer. What's up with tubes and motorcycles? The Zu guys are dirt bike fans, so there must be something going on...
In any case, you're looking at the $2695 Tempest II integrated, the mid priced product with the $1795 Cronus integrated taking the entry level slot. KT-88 tubes are hidden in the chassis for 90 big watts. So what makes Rogue Rogue?
This amp is clearly a tube amp, sounds like a tube amp, does all the tube amp things that people who like tube amps want. However, it sounds thoroughly modern in that there is no "warmth" about it (whatever that means, but tube amps are always being accused of sounding "warm"). It does not roll off the top end, fatten up the bottom end or obscure details, or do any of the negative things that tube amps can do if poorly designed. From that standpoint, this amp might help non-tube-amp people to understand why tubes are still so prevalent in high quality audio today.
Read the review for more and hit up their site for all their goods. If the word on the street is anything to go by, these amps rock and should get a world of press in the future. Interestingly, there seems to be a definite trend towards tube gear that doesn't really sound like tubes and solid state gear that doesn't sound like solid state. Of course, then there's the pseudo class-D boys that are said to sound like both tubes and solid state at the same time. Everyone confused?
Permalink | Comments (2) | Posted to Integrated Amp $1k to 3k
Cary sli80 Integrated Amp Review
Review of the Cary sli80 integrated amp over at Positive Feedback. $2800 gets you tank-like build quality and switchable pentode and triode modes. For aspiring tube heads, pentode (aka ultra-linear) offers higher wattage (80 watts in this case) while triode offers better sound but fewer watts (40). Quite the conundrum, isn't it? The Cary sli80 sports live switching between the two modes. Here's how it sounds:
Switching to pentode brought more drive, but the slightly glassy sound from mid-treble upward was consistent with all of the speakers I tried, and the loss of intimacy and tonal richness was simply too high a price to pay. High-efficiency speakers are mandatory to get the best of what the Cary has to offer.
In my experience, the above results hold true for any amp that offers switchable modes. Pentode manhandles the speakers while triode is butter. Manhandling isn't bad, mind you, but triode always seemed to be the preferred flavor. After listening to an amp like this, I can't help but to feel I want the best of pentode and triode in one package.
Permalink | | Posted to Integrated Amp $1k to 3k
Almarro A318B Integrated Amp Review
Positive Feedback takes a peak at the Almarro A318B, something of an oddity coming out of Japan in that it only costs $1850. I don't know about you, but when I think of Japanese tubes, I think of Wavac, Shindo, Zanden, AirTight, Harmonix, and other more-expensive-than-sin heirloom products. Almarro has received a lot of attention from the new wave of publications for their $800 A205A integrated. Here's what PFO says of the A318B:
Beautiful in appearance, Almarro's A318B tube integrated amplifier represents a sonic miracle of sorts. Possessing the finely hewn texture and burnished midrange that is the purview of SET designs, the Almarro amp transcends their power and current delivery limitations.
A sonic miracle? That's what I like to hear. Power is 18 watts but, yeah, sounds like a lot more. I did have a chance to hear this amp paired with some Cain and Cain speakers at an audio show and it was really impressive. A number of people I talked to at the show were quite taken aback by this amp. Read the review for more.
Jon Acton of PFO also reviewed Almarro's $2300 M2A speakers not too long ago and gave them high marks. Check them out.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Posted to Integrated Amp $1k to 3k
Cyrus Sleek Components
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Let's hope this marks a trend in component manufacturing. British company Cyrus uses a half-chassis only 8" wide rather than the ubiquitous 17" wide for their $1795 8vs integrated amp as well as the whole Cyrus line of components. Naturally, it's much easier to pitch 8" over 17" to the significant other, not to mention the ease of placement and aesthetic values. Stats include 70 stereo watts, 6 inputs, and a full function remote.
Cyrus is also blazing trails into the wireless audio world, both with their CyrusLink wifi enabled devices as well as wireless speakers. Not completely wireless, you still need an outlet, but the amplifier and wifi transmitter are all housed in the cabinets themselves. Can't get much more room friendly than that.
Cyrus 8vs Integrated Amp Review [Stereo Times]
Cyrus Audio
Permalink | | Posted to Integrated Amp $1k to 3k
Underground Tube Amps From PFO
Positive Feedback is all over unusual tube gear and here are two reviews of amps from companies deep in the audio underground. First up is the $2k Piano integrated from Jasmine Audio. 34 watts per side, two reviewers at PFO like what this amp dishes out and offer lots of reviews in comparison. Nothing terribly out-of-this-world great but "audition worthy," as they say.
Also up is a tube hybrid amp from Germany's AcousticPlan. Recently gaining in popularity, these hybrid integrated amps normally use tubes for the preamp section and solid state for the actual juice. Here, AcousticPlan's Santos is a pure amp with both tube and SS circuitry in an unusual design that the reviewer breaks down in an informative article complete with heaps of praise. Nothing is ever cheap, of course: 5200 euros for the amp. AcousticPlan also has companion preamps and integrateds as well as a couple speakers.
Jasmine Piano Review
Jasmine Audio
AcousticPlan
Permalink | | Posted to Amplifiers $3k to 6k | Integrated Amp $1k to 3k
Raysonic SP-100 Versus DK Design VS.1
Bad review time. The Raysonic SP-100 gets hammered by SoundStage! in a comparison to DK Design's beastly VS.1 Reference Mk II. Now, the DK is $2995 while the Raysonic is $1799. That's a difference of a massive $1200. Combine that with the VS.1's 150 watts of solid state power to Raysonic's 40 tube watts and this review is anything but fair. The DK killed the Raysonic? You don't say...
There is a second opinion from another reviewer who likes the Raysonic when compared to similarly priced tube gear. Really, though, any comparisons to DK's way-too-cheap hybrid giant seem just a bit unbalanced. I don't know why DK was sold to LSA considering they were a young company with tons of great press. But if the stunning sound and massive industrial construction is any indication, DK couldn't have been making the margins needed to survive.
LSA does produce parts of DK's stable but I'm told they've been tweaking the hell out of DK's goodies since their acquisition which strikes me as strange considering how well all their products were received in the first place.
Permalink | | Posted to Integrated Amp $1k to 3k
Vegas - Tri and Micropure
Tri (Triode Corporation Japan) and Micropure exhibited their goodies at Alexis Park, showing off a slew of new and cool equipment. Tri is, obviously, all about tubes. They demoed their new TRV-35se integrated (45 watts x2, $1800), TRV-CD2 cd player ($1800) and the big boy 88 Signature integrated (75 watts x2, $5000).
The speakers from Micropure are new prototypes facing a few hurdles before going into production. They use full range drivers with a super tweeter for 65-100k Hz. Without the super tweeter, they go for $800 under the Studio name. The super tweeter is from MuRata which got a lot of love this last year. MuRata is putting up a bit of a battle with dropping the price of the tweeter and, thus, forcing the price of the speakers up to $3000 a pair.
More pictures after the jump...
Permalink | Comments (2) | Posted to Integrated Amp $1k to 3k | Integrated Amp $3k to 6k | Shows and Expos | Speakers $2k-5k
Eastern Electric M520 Integrated and MiniMax
Eastern Electric is on a roll. They blew up the indie scene last year with their micro-powered components (review here) and this year they came out with their M520 integrated amplifier. Fown-Ming Tien over at PFO says this:
Christmas is right around the corner, so you should include two items on your list for Santa to bring you! The first is the $1799 Eastern Electric M520 integrated tube amplifier and the other is the $1499 Eastern Electric MiniMax phono stage.
Yeah, he likes the set something fierce. The M520 bumps 24 stereo watts while he favorably compares the MiniMax phono stage to such legends as the Manley Steelhead. Oh, and the M520 includes a full remote. Read the full review for much more useful details.
Eastern Electric M520 Integrated and MiniMax Phono Review [PFO]
M520 Review [6Moons]
Eastern Electric Shop
Permalink | | Posted to Integrated Amp $1k to 3k
Rogue Audio Tempest II Integrated Review
SoundStage has posted a review of the $2695 Rogue Audio Tempest II integrated amp and says this:
...it is also at a price point where many people are considering separates instead of an integrated amp, but you should only do that if you’re getting better performance for the same money. I’d say listen to the Tempest II before making up your mind.
Good point, integrated amps should, theoretically, surpass separates at the same price. With int-amps, the manufacturer decides what matches sonically, both in hardware and in cabling. Take the tweaking out of the equation, I say.
Despite looking like a solid state giant, the Rogue Tempest II has tubes all around. Four KT88s tubes churn out 90 stereo watts. Remote control with just two big volume buttons included.
Rogue Audio Tempest II Integrated Review [SoundStage!]
Rogue Audio Home
Permalink | | Posted to Integrated Amp $1k to 3k
VTV EXPO - Imagine HiFi
The Imagine HiFi room got a lot of love for their Almarro/Cain & Cain combo. General raves revolved around the $800 Almarro A205A integrated with 4.5 stereo watts and the big brother Almarro A318B at $1850. When the $1500 Abby speakers and $1500 Baily subwoofer were running, a number of people gave the old "which speaker is playing?"
Permalink | | Posted to Integrated Amp $1k to 3k | Integrated Amp under $1k | Shows and Expos
Pacific Creek SE300i Part Deux
Back in September we posted an article from Enjoy the Music absolutely slamming the Pacific Creek SE300i $1899 integrated. Like a brutal car accident, you try to look away but can't, the horror of it all is just too fascinating.
Well , with Hollywood ending at hand, Tone Audio, a new internet publication with really nice presentation, giving the Pacific Creek a whole lotta love:
"Even in stock form, the Pacific Creek SE300i is a great amplifier and a great value...highly recommended."
It appears Enjoy the Music received a defective model -- faulty transformer, etc. etc. So with Pacific Creek redeemed, here's our obligatory "read the full article for all the dirt on this great new company."
Tone Audio [download the PDF magazine to read the review]
Pacific Creek
Permalink | | Posted to Integrated Amp $1k to 3k | Tube Amplifiers
