Interesting Stories about Audio & Home Entertainment technologies

Last update: May 02, 2012

Recently reviewed in avmentor.gr

Of all the products we recently reviewed, these proved to be the most interesting. To our opinion that is… The links will drive you to the Greek domain where you can have a look at the photos, the measurements and download the listening session files (where available). If you have any questions about any of these, please do not hesitate to contact us directly.

KingRex UC192 Digital Interface
This digital-to-digital converter offers coaxial S/PDIF, AES/EBU and IIS audio format output form a USB connection, therefore it is a useful tool for any audiophile who wants to stream her audio data stored in a computer. It proved to be transparent, with great jitter susceptibility and reasonably priced.

Lavardin IT integrated amplifier
This is probably the first amplifier based on Gerrard Perrot's work in relation to analysis of memory distortion. The relevant paper was published more than 15 years ago and the fact that IT remains at the top of Lavardin's range since then, could not be attributed to chance… Indeed, albeit its moderate power rating, the amp exhibited a very interesting sound character.

Danish Audio Design DAC-10/CAP-10
To be honest, we haven't heard about Danish Audio Design or Ole Nielsen before offered the opportunity to lay our hands over this DAC, but the company from Denmark appears to know how to design a good digital conversion circuit by, simply, sticking to the rules. Nevertheless, the absence of a USB input is not a good choice these days…

Quad QC-twentyfour/II-eighty preamplifier/power amplifier
Peter Walker's spirit meets Tim DeParavicini style in this pair that could be regarded as a future classic. These amplifiers offer a good balance between vintage aesthetics (just look at the cooling openings at the top of QC twentyfour), paying homage to good design (with the coupled cathode output stage) and the sound quality one expects from Quad products.

Naim Audio ND5 XS Network player
As more and more audiophiles begin to trust a file-based system to deliver standard and high resolution audio, the network player -a device capable to stream these files from a storage location- seems to be a justifiable choice as a digital source. ND5 XS accomplishes this mission, offering a clean user interface and the sound quality Naim is well recognized for.

Devialet D-Premier Integrated Amplifier
A groundbreaking design, with excellent aesthetics and a great web based user interface. Could be a viable proposition for the 21st century integrated amp architecture.

Ayre QB-9 USB DAC
An asynchronous USB/DAC capable of 192kHz streaming based on Ayre's custom DSP software. We liked it, but we missed an S/PDIF input…

Antelope Audio Zodiac+ / Voltikus USB DAC and Power supply
The Zodiac + appears to be a Swiss knife for anybody interested in high resolution audio and high quality DACs. The Voltikus external power supply offers a sound upgrade too.

Bryston BDP-1/BDA-1 Media player and DAC
Top build quality and a great sound. But we feel that the user interface does not stand up to the rest of this system. Please, Bryston, do something asap.

Audio Note Jinro Integrated Amplifier
A dream machine for the tube circuit lover. It seems that the Ongaku spirit lives through this integrated amp. A must-see, must-listen-to piece of equipment.

M2Tech Young DAC
The Italian firm makes a step forward after the highly accepted HiFace Evo, introducing a full DAC capable of streaming audio files up to 32bit/384kHz.

Bluetone Sirene 35 Loudspeaker
This is a well engineered loudspeaker from a newly formed Greek company. Interesting sound, a thoughtful inverted pyramid cabin design and very good aesthetics indeed.

Playback Designs MPS-5 CD/SA-CD player
Based on Andreas Koch algorithms, this CD/SA-CDp/DAC proved to be a great digital source both as a disc player and as a DAC. Nevertheless, the 16bit/48kHz limited USB (there was an upgrade afterwords) was quite a bad surprise.

MSB Technology Data CDIV/Platinum DAC IV CD player/DAC
Custom made ladder d/a conversion, heavy DSP and a variety of upgrade paths made this digital system from MSB a serious proposition for serious audiophiles.

Burmester 100 Phono Phono Preamplifier/ADC
An extremely versatile, top quality phono/preamplifier with an a/d converter for those who are patient enough to digitize their LPs and do it properly.

Group Testing…

Group tests, the review of a number of products with similar pricing and/or similar functionality is among the most interesting things to do. Sometimes there are surprises hidden in the details, if you study carefully the data, sometimes there are not.

Pre/Power Amplifier pairs

We reviewed 8 preamplifier/power amplifier systems with a price range between 2,000 and 4,400 euros, including solid state, hybrid and pure tube designs from companies such as NAD, Quad, Parasound and Tsakiridis Devices.

S/PDIF cables

Well, this was a little bit controversial but, also, an interesting thing to do. Thirty pieces of cables, designed to transfer digital signals according to S/PDIF protocol with a price tag between 30 and 1,000 euros were measured, listened through and recorded.

Phono Preamplifiers

Fourteen phono preamplifiers in a price range between 400 and 2,000 euros.

Turntable/cartridge Sets

Good for the vinyl lover. Includes some very well-known names, like Dual, Thorens, Rega, Pro-Ject and Clearaudio.

Bookshelf Loudspeakers

Small loudspeakers are good for small spaces and for medium -to - small listening distance. This test involve ten pairs, from manufacturers like Leema, ProAc, Aliante, ATC and Audio Spectrum.

Integrated Amplifiers

Eleven integrated amplifiers including the Cambridge Audio 840A, Harman/Kardon HK990, NAD C375, Naim Audio Nait XS, Red Wine Audio Signature 30.2 and XTZ Class 100D3.

D/A Converters

Thirteen digital to analog converters including Cambridge Audio DacMagic, YBA WD202, Benchmark DAC 1 HDR, Bryston BDA-1, Naim Audio DAC and North Star USB dac32.