HifiZine publishes independent reviews of a range of audio equipment. We don’t impose budgetary constraints – equipment is reviewed at the interest of our reviewers.
In the world of consumer audio, you don’t usually find both high style and remarkable performance embodied together in a “budget” product. Distinctive industrial design is largely reserved for the Very High End, where vast planes of aluminum, hardwood, copper or glass are milled into an over–spec’d behemoth. Despite that broad generalization, there are exceptions
Sometimes, it pays to do research…I had a problem that needed fixing. To be frank, it was a rather trivial, First World Problem. Join me in a lengthy tale of woe, you may find it an interesting process…
Oliver Masciarotte spends time with the Spatial Audio M3 Triode Master open baffle speaker, and quizzes designer Clayton Shaw about his design choices. Oliver concludes: “The M3 Triode Master is a outstanding example of OB design; exacting imaging combined with broad uncolored off-axis coverage and an airy, expansive soundstage. It… lends itself nicely to rooms large and small.”
Patrick Dillon enjoys a change of pace with the Audioengine A5+ wireless speakers, trying them out both with bluetooth and wired via computer and external DAC. His conclusion? “I could envisage a pair of these serving as an almost one-stop audiophile rig, paired with whatever digital device you have. Throw in some stands and you could be rockin’ the joint and having personal late night sounds for comparative chump change in the audiophile universe.”
JWM Acoustics aims to deliver custom-designed products to meet the needs of individual audiophiles who purchase for the long haul. Patrick Dillon spends time with their standmount Alyson AML speakers and finds them capable of performance that marries unique style to exceptional musical resolution.
When PS Audio set out to build a world-class power amplifier, nobody anticipated them using tubes in a design for the first time. The resulting hybrid monoblocks are big and powerful but how do they sound? Patrick Dillon takes a listen and feels the new amps are the best he’s heard in his rig.
“The Charisma 103 moving coil cartridge delivered rich, full-bodied sonics that made me spin record after record in simple enjoyment,” writes Patrick Dillon in his review of this modified Denon 103 from Charisma Audio. “It came alive without fussy adjustment or tweaking, a boon to vinyl lovers no matter their rigs. Whichever way you slice it, the Charisma 103 is great value. Unhesitatingly recommended.”
Patrick Dillon visits the world of Class A amplification with the Valvet A4 monoblocks. His conclusion? “When you hear them over an extended period of time on music you love, you come to realize there is something quite special about these amplifiers. … The Valvet A4s are capable of delivering musical reproduction that is as good as I can remember hearing. Class A all the way.”
Patrick Dillon test-drives a pair of Bybee RCA adapters. He finds them position-dependent. But where they work, he concludes that “It’s these small incremental improvements in tone, timbre and decay that the Bybees repeatedly provided that has me quite impressed with their value. Taking them out is as noticeable as putting them back in.”
Patrick Dillon explores the range of cables from father-and-son business IceAge Audio in his own rigs. Impressed by their performance-price quotient, he nominates them as a new value leader. “No magic here, no spoof science, just well chosen material, solid workmanship, and really sane prices.” The review concludes with a short Q&A with proprietor Rick Parker.