The market for Digital Audio Players is fiercely competitive with new brands entering the fray constantly. As such a new product has to either offer excellent for money or sound cut above the competition. At £290 the ATC HDA-DP20 comes in at a mid-priced product which could be a good choice if the sound quality, build and ease of use are on a par with more expensive units. Janine Elliot takes a listen.

“The HAD-DP20 is the most expensive the company produce, though at £289.95 is still a small sum for a top model. The build and specification of this device is first class, and surprisingly good for a first generation of machines; just look at how primitive early generations of number of DAPs were and how much better they are now, as is the same with Kia and Hyundai cars! This is seriously well made audio and well worthy of review…”

Read the full review here

The AVID Hifi Reference Four is a £15 000, British designed and manufactured standmount that weighs in at an impressive 40 Kg including dedicated stand. Janine Elliot takes a listen to this innovative design. 

AVID Hifi is a company that doesn’t scrimp on metal or components to produce the very best in audio. Their turntables are heavy beasts and their amplifiers and speakers require significant muscle to move about the house.

At £15000 their Reference Four might well be the baby of the family but this heavyweight is still 40kg including the stands (25Kg speaker plus 15Kg stand). It also includes much of the technical developments from its bigger siblings. Made from 10-20mm machine tooled aluminium (and 30-40mm on Ref 1 and 2!), this is not small in weight, nor is it in sound or technological prowess.

CEO, Conrad Mas will not be new to readers who have previously read my reviews on their turntables and phono-stages. At my visit to the company a year ago I was fortunate enough to listen to their Ref 4 before it hit the road, and said then that I wanted to review it. It was well worth the wait. AVID Hifi started its life back in 1995, and from turntable manufacturing the company it has over the years extended its expertise into phono stages, loudspeakers, preamps, power-amps, cables, alignment equipment, racks – the list just goes on – and very soon three tonearms and cartridges. The AVID HIfi banner also extends to the design and manufacture for other companies within the audio, automotive, medical and military industries. Their manufacturing base in Kimbolton, near Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, is soon to extend to a second building for research and development, product training and of course that all-important listening. The site even had a coffee machine supplied with the building, which will be good news when I visit in the 2018! The facilities might be enlarging but the commitment to creating the best quality, whatever the cost, is something that sets them apart from many companies economising on design and technology just to make big profits.

Conrad Mas has had a life of working in engineering and hifi, with his interest in hifi going back to his purchase of a Connoisseur BD1 with its Acos Lustre arm at the age of 16 and spending hours trying to improve it. This led eventually to him creating his first Acutus T turntable in 1995. His varied career has included insurance and glazing, Musical Fidelity, and sales at Harrow Audio and  Acoustic Arts in Watford; the successor to the KJ LeisureCentre shop I spent many hours drooling over the hifi on my way to piano lessons, and which gave me the bug to collect and then review audio.

Einstein, Sinks and Damping

There are two kinds of energy of interest to an audio engineer; one is good and the other is an unwanted by-product of things such as resonances and distortions.  In moving coil loudspeakers only 0.1% (one thousandth) of the acoustic energy makes itself into the music. 99.9% goes up in heat and other bi-products. In horn loudspeakers efficiency is still less than 2%. What links all AVID Hifi products is that famous conservation of energy law I grew up learning in science lessons at school, that ‘nothing can be created or destroyed only transferred or transformed’. Where I might turn my own spare energy into talking or making music, AVID Hifi turntables dissipate that unwanted energy away from the important playing area, and their loudspeakers similarly dissipate the energy created by all the vibrations, which would normally result in unwanted sound. Their Reference range of speakers “collect” all the unwanted vibrations and remove them before they have a chance to build up and affect the music. Historically the standard method of reducing the effect of unwanted resonances is by adding some form of mechanical damping – by choosing some kind of ‘lossy’ material or by adding mass with the intention of shifting the resonances outside of the audible frequency range. However the energy is still building up inside, and needs to be transferred into something that won’t affect the sound. Simply changing the resonant frequency of a device or adding damping doesn’t get rid of the energy, it will still be trapped in the device and when it does “escape” you’re going to hear it, albeit possibly now reduced in size.

Conventional wooden cabinets vibrate, and no matter how well braced or glued will still leave some unwanted attributes. In the perfect world the only sound produced should be made directly by the movement of the cone, but in reality the same amount of energy into moving the cone will be put in to the chassis. In the case of a loudspeaker this means that the same amount of energy will be put in to the chassis and cabinet as into moving the cone itself. Many manufacturers use carbon fibre or metal to brace it all but that energy still needs to be released; often ending up back-firing into the drivers and colouring the sound if it can’t escape through heat or ports.  The good thing is that energy will find its weakest point and escape through that point, and AVID has spent its years in the business looking at controlling that energy flow. What the company soon realised was that there are good and bad vibrations at source and that the bad energies should be given the path of least resistance to get to what it refers to as an “energy sink” from where it can quickly and harmlessly be converted to heat. In their turntables, AVID create a path of low resistance for the energy to travel from the record to the massive main chassis and away from the delicate record/cartridge interface, and in their speakers it is the ‘Tuned Mass Damping System’. What AVID want to do is get that energy and take it somewhere where it won’t affect the music, and they do that by adhering to yet another law of physics that states that everything will find its weakest link; if you create an easy path for that unwanted energy to exit then you will find it simpler to remove, a bit like a car having a crumple zone that takes all the energy on impact, whilst protecting the driver.

After much experimentation this took the form of a large mass added to the rear of each drive unit, the   distinctive ‘Tuned Mass Damping System’. This metal damping plate is free to move (vibrate) inside the cabinet – energy, transferred to it via flexible couplings, including a pad between the driver and the plate and decoupling spacers between it and the front baffle. According to Conrad energy “Simply has no option other than to convert to heat within the cabinet”.  As the damping system is decoupled from the driver, unwanted vibrations are allowed to dissipate and turn into heat freely without affecting the all-important audio chain.

The drivers themselves are sourced from Morel and consist of titanium 160mm woofer and 28mm tweeter. Instead of using the more conventional screws to hold the drive unit in place AVID Hifi use a clamping plate to compress and sandwich the drive all around its circumference to the front baffle. This with the more rigid than usual cabinet prevents the vibration from the driver entering the cabinet. It then passes back through the driver chassis and magnet into the Tuned Mass Damper..importantly keeping it away from the cone or cabinet. Each driver in the AVID design has the mass damper optimised to the specific driver – as is the damping material set between the driver and the damper. This ensures optimal performance throughout the full frequency range covered by the loudspeaker. The mass damper also incorporates a tapered internal port which allow ensures smooth, unrestricted airflow from the rear of the driver, enhancing linearity and dynamic performance.

Of course, we can go further and discuss loss of energy and transmission of vibrations through floor or even from the floor up to the speaker – I regularly use a seismometer app on my phone to check that I am not influencing the sounds when I walk around or when the washing machine is busily spinning away! But, and this is a big but, the sound to your ears should be the defining reason for my liking or not a product, because sometimes we can get so carried away with technology, new ideas and specification that we don’t independently use our ears to decide if the product is actually good or bad. Luckily, I spent more time listening than reading and learning, and wasn’t disappointed by these loudspeakers.

The Morel drivers use very large diameter voice coils which surround the whole ring magnet assembly rather than just fitting inside the magnet’s inner circumference. This creates a larger surface area, and therefore the cooling area for the heat generated and also improves the ventilation, thereby reducing heat and air pressure. Less air pressure gives for more freedom of movement of the driver, creating more sound and less friction, and I noticed significant detail of sound including greater dynamics and no stress from whatever I played. I was lucky to use the very quick and accurate Music First Baby Reference passive preamplifier and their very new 100W mono-blocks, themselves designed specifically to allow a speedy and precise sound to match that of their preamplifier.  My Krell KAV250a was used as alternative power for this review; that particular amplifier has a lot of grunt but not so tight a sound.

I was pleased to learn that the crossover was a relatively simple affair on these loudspeakers; a 2.5-way, 2nd Order design, largely because the two drivers work so well together. Having myself redesigned a few crossovers in the past, rather than using the complicated 3^rd and 4^th order OEM designs in some major bookshelf and floor-standers I have owned, I can vouch for simplicity where that is possible, and of course if it all works, a lot depending on accuracy and integration of the different drivers in the loudspeaker. Where complicated 18dB/24dB designs might give a very accurate frequency range for each driver, it invariably means less dynamics and speed; yet more wasted energy. The Tuned Mass Damper means that the drive units behave much more like their theoretical ideal, and this allows AVID Hifi to use a very simple (four high quality component) crossover design; two filters that blend the two drive units together in musical harmony. The result is an elegant crossover that has minimal impact on the audio signal.

The cabinet is equally well thought out being made from 10mm and 20mm aluminium throughout, with machined designs on the sides to match with those of the AVID Hifi amplifiers. Internally there are two baffles also acting as internal bracing and placed in such a way as to break up internal standing waves that a square box would create and so that they won’t head back to the driver and thus affecting the sound. The crossover is fitted to the rear of these two braces.

The Sound

First noted was the detail and speed of sound. This might be 15K for a relatively small box, but the sound (and weight) was by no means lightweight. Playing Pink Floyd “Astronomy Domine” provided a strong atmosphere of guitar, drums vocals and musique concrète that filled my personal ozone with detail, precision and power. The early 1967 recording on this 4-disc vinyl remastered Echoes compilation covered all frequencies with equal depth of detail and soundstage. The helicopter opening of “Another One Bites the Dust” was particularly realistic (especially at loud levels) even waking my usually unflappable cat, Toby, who had been sleeping on the ground to look up at the ceiling. If only I had a camera to hand.

Only when turning to one of my favourite discs, ‘Love Song’ from the Christian band of the same name did I feel the bass was slightly less than I expected; it wasn’t that anything was missing, just that the detail from the excellently mic’d drum kit seemed to transcend everything else being played, meaning bass guitar and piano lower notes were not as clear. Those cymbals are just so good, so fast and detailed. That said, the pulsating bassline in the first track of side four was faster than I had heard before. Just as the soundstage was notably vast front to back as well as side to side with Pink Floyd, here too in this live recording the vocalist could have been in the room, and each musician placed around and behind him.

Turning to Andre Previn, in Prokofiev’s excellent and lesser known ballet ‘Cinderella’ (EMI, London Symphony Orchestra) was a chance to put a whole orchestra in my living room. The orchestra and orchestration is vast and the instruments were placed magnificently across the soundstage, particularly the strings and horns to left and tubas and the rest of the brass section at the very back and right. Similarly the drums had their position set, and although the volume of sound wasn’t large, their positioning helped to give a detailed performance.

Whilst the Reference Four worked on all types of music I played, it was particularly large classical works that gave me the most enjoyment; that clarity, speed and ease of portrayal of the music was compelling, and it worked well at both low and high volume levels. Turning back to Pink Floyd “Echoes”, that percussion from Nick Mason might not be forceful – it is played with a great deal of compassion – but it was so clear and detailed that my attention was placed on this rather than the organ and guitar lines. Only in the later instrumental part of the track did that percussion take over and show me just how quick and good the bass is from this diminutive Morel driver.

The Four has a downward firing reflex port with a 360 degree diffuser on the stand allowing bass to exit in all directions just several inches below the driver, itself creating a very focused sound from bass to highs, and those tight bass thuds from the kick drum were able to penetrate the room with aplomb. I have never liked rear facing ports as they restrict speaker positioning, and similarly front ports can be a pain. The AVID Hifi flared diffuser distributes the airflow, controlling maximum air velocity. This is achieved by spreading the moving air “over a wide area, with no constrictions”. This resulted in a very precise, undistorted and unrestricted bass-end, at whatever levels I played. The percussion in the Pink Floyd tracks didn’t get in the way nor sound muddy, resulting in much reduced noise normally caused by non-laminar airflow. Whilst the Reference Four is only available in black it does come in a choice of black, red or copper feet that sandwich it to the stand, leaving space for that bass port diffuser. Although I did find the best positioning of the speaker was 2 feet from a wall, this speaker was less critical than many I have had the (mis)fortune to have to place in my living room.

AT A GLANCE

Conclusion

I was very impressed with this loudspeaker. It might be a stand-mount but it had the frequency response and clarity that I normally hear in larger speakers.

The speed of delivery and accuracy of sound in all music, but particularly percussion and classical music, was very inspiring.

Sound was pure, and I guess that ‘Tuned Mass Damping System’ must be part of that. If you are serious about your music you should seriously consider the Reference Four.

Build Quality:  Exceptionally good build quality and components.

Sound Quality:  An exceptionally fast, detailed and honest portrayal of the music particularly lower bass and top end.

Value For Money:  At £15,000 including VAT this is not a cheap unit but every penny is money well spent.

Pros: Fast and accurate portrayal of the music. Excellent at all frequencies; especially distortion free and quick at lower end, and detail at the top.

Cons: Colour options (any colour) come at a premium.

Janine Elliot

Specifications

Linn’s Klimax DS is a dedicated streamer with just an ethernet input to connect to your music library and yet it costs almost £16 000. Can Linn justify this high price with an equally stunning performance? Dan Worth finds out. 

2007 saw the release of the very first Klimax DS from Scottish audio giants Linn. The first DS, much like future products, utilises first class audio components confined in their clam-shell chassis which is itself milled from a single billet of aluminium.  Throughout the years Linn have pushed forward, advancing and refining their design on a hardware and software basis, continually striving to be a leader in digital audio playback with today’s Klimax DS being the 4th incarnation.

The launch of Linn’s 4th generation Katalyst DAC Architecture within the newest of Klimax DS dedicated streamers is notably more mature in its ability to take absolute control over critical elements that lie in the heart of the analogue signal’s creation – offering what Linn state to be their most accurate reproduction ever from a digital source and “completely devoid of noise”. 

Completely independent isolated power supplies are employed for each process in the Klimax DS, ensuring that there is zero feedback from each of the processes to interfere with the next, making for a far greater reduction in overall noise distortion.

Linn have their own proprietary optimisation stage employed in the Klimax DS, detailed specifics are not available but Linn say that along with Master Clocking with independent power supply the “optimisation stage prepares the digital signal before any conversion takes place, which maximises error control and reproduction accuracy right at the start of the process.” 

Linn’s newest ultra-low distortion Analogue Output Driver prepares the analogue signal before output. Much the same as Input Signal Optimisation completes its task, the Analogue Output Optimisation removes any final noise distortion and dumps it before the pre-amplification stage in order to enhance signal purity and stability.

System Installation and Integration

Installation of the DS is simple, a somewhat more closed design is apparent over the companies DSM variant which has 7 digital inputs, DS being optimised purely for the on-board streamer via a single Ethernet input to link to local network libraries and streaming services. I was a little concerned to say the least about such a closed architecture until Linn pointed out that they were offering the use of their Katalyst DAC with any other digital source on their DSM module, all be it at a premium of £3,100 extra on top of the price of the DS at £15,800.

With fully balanced XLR outputs and single ended RCA the connectivity of the Klimax DS is pretty much complete apart from some further RJ45 Exakt Links. 

Fit and Finish 

Some may regard Linn’s product line up as being a little understated in the looks department and may suggest you are not getting enough bling for your buck. I tend to disagree, not everybody wants huge shiny boxes dressed like a Christmas tree. It’s modest styling is sleek and inoffensive in any decor. Looking at a piece of Linn’s electronics in a photograph on the internet or in a brochure has no real bearing when confronted with the sleek lines of the physical product and when one handles one of their products an undeniable appreciation for precision build quality is immediately realised.

Set Up 

Linn recommend using a NAS drive as the music source library to support the Klimax DS, offering me a Netgear Ready Nas for use during the review, I already have two of these for data backup for all my system,  alongside a Melco N1a/2 which is my main music library for its benefits outlined in previous reviews. My pre-amplifier is the Audio Music RT-1 which is a great partner to my Gamut d200 mk3 power amplifier and Ayon Seagull Ceramic loudspeakers, all items have carefully selected modifications.

Ethernet in, Analogue RCA out and the flip of a power switch on the Linn and essentially everything is ready to go. Nice and simple! 

Linn Kazoo Control App 

Linn have upgraded many hardware and software aspects inside the new Klimax DS, as well as employing a new control app called Kazoo – over the older Kinsky app. Kazoo is available on Mac and Windows along with Android and iOS devices through their relative app stores or via the Linn website. Installation couldn’t be easier and in use Kazoo is extremely informative. Users have the benefit of choosing the player/source and accompanying local library where the music is stored, alongside being able to enter their login credentials for Tidal or Qobuz.

Playing back music offers all relevant album information as well as displaying any associated artwork and the overall screen layout can be set as a list or tiles. Playlists can be built and songs can be queued for a relaxing and fuss free evening of music without needing to intervene with this already very simple way of enjoying ones favourite tunes. I especially like the black theme that Kazoo has from the outset, it prevents eye strain in darkened rooms and also looks sleek.

The Sound 

Normally I’d begin this section with information based around the burning in of a product. Today I feel like that is an unnecessary topic to touch on – needless to say there is of course one, but when a Klimax DS is installed into a system the immediate impact it has is such a joy to behold that anything other than the music becomes irrelevant.  Most notably for me on first listen was the amount of organic information displayed around the timbre of instruments. An acoustic guitar has a more meaningful description of each note’s connection with the room and of course the instruments body. During Derrin Nuendorf’s ‘Ghost Train’ tonality was reinforced by its incredibly detailed natural timbre, which uncannily didn’t feel as if the music was slowing down as my brain adjusted to the plethora of information on offer. When masses of information is communicated to the human brain it naturally has a slowing down effect. Life changing experiences such as accidents are always reported by an individual to have happened almost in slow motion – of course, time hasn’t slowed but the attention and analytical nature of the brain comes into play allowing for potentially better reactions and assessment of the situation.

Linn’s Klimax DS easily puts the listener into the acoustic space and firmly into the heart of the performance from the outset. The evening I first installed the DS was with my girlfriend – she loves hearing new equipment and is very interested in their mechanics, but her true passion lies with the music and its reproduction – she has a very broad taste. We started to trawl through a range of music we both enjoy (which was mainly acoustic during the first evening) and I could quickly see how soon she wandered off into the presentation of the system.

Listening to the Damien Rice ‘O’ album my impressions of Rice’s vocal in comparison with my usual reference of the Melco and the DiDiT DAC was an obvious cleaner approach, there was still great balance in tonality, with a fluidness that gave the lyrics meaningful expression. The cleaner tonality allowed for an added layer of realism, or in the room sense of presence of the music as a whole.

The following day whilst my partner was at work I had some more time listening to the Klimax DS at higher volumes than the previous night, curious to hear if I could trip the DS up whilst listening out for any sharp tones lurking in its sea of cleaner, well rendered rendition of notes. I threw a bunch of material at it, more acoustic, some jazz, a bunch of 80’s rock music along with some electronica and pop.

I’d like to convey my admiration for the way the Linn deals with jazz; I’m not a huge fan at all of the newer funky jazz or any of its other derivatives, I’m more in favour of traditional jazz, Anker Bilk, Frank Sinatra, John Venturi, Earl Hines etc. I remember when my brother-in-law used to have a shop in London and he sold LP12’s and the Klimax DS gave me fond memories of the Sondek setup, the undeniable musicality and bounciness it lent to jazz and the playfulness it conveys still to this day is pretty much unrivalled by any other deck. I don’t know how Linn have managed it but I have searched and searched and I cannot find where inside the DS they have managed to hide the LP12 and it seems that Linn are being very tight lipped about this too! My speakers, being of an all ceramic array of drivers, conveyed this fun loving appeal very well, but undoubtedly paper cones would have been even more thrilling. It’s a very fine balancing act to produce a piece of equipment which portrays great accuracy and extended amounts of detail, especially in bass registers, without delivering an incredibly tight bass that feels just too dry. The Klimax DS doesn’t deliver as rich a tone as my current front-end setup, but then it is tailored to my system to create a terrific balance. However, the balancing act between exceptional tonality in timbre and extraction of detail on all levels of bass notes dignifies the company’s prowess in being one of the leaders in digital music reproduction.

Music from the likes of Bon Jovi, Genesis, Meatloaf, Fleetwood Mac etc filled me with great joy also. I have always had a place in my heart for this kind of music, having grown up with these groups, listening to them in the evenings and weekends as my Mum prepared meals for us. You would often catch her dancing around the kitchen, having a good old sing song with pots and pans boiling away as if she was appearing on Stars In Their Eyes! At the time I always remember her red cylindrical AM/FM radio cassette player and every now and then it would beep and chatter when the portable phone was about to ring, I even used to be able to pick up police radios on it with careful tuning. My point is that that time of my life contained some of my greatest memories, I loved where we lived, music was always playing, no matter what it was played from and my life was just so adventurous and care free as a small child. The Klimax DS is one of a few pieces of equipment that had transported me back to my childhood  and this is due I think to the undeniable signature it brings to the music and nothing to do with price. I found myself toe-tapping, singing along and inadvertently searching for the next song on a reminiscence basis rather than, “ I bet this recording will sound good on it”. And that’s what it’s all about really, I don’t care if something costs £50 or nearly £16k, any piece of equipment should be created ultimately to reproduce music and not just an array of over-embellished, over-detailed sounds. Each pricepoint as we climb the cost ladder needs to offer more insight and resolution, of course, but the fundamental factor in any music lovers system has to be the connection to the music and what it means to you personally. The Klimax DS achieves this – it has a heart!

My mid to late teens took me heavily into electronica and dance music, in fact it pretty much took me over for a while. I craved dynamic transients, huge punchy bass notes and synthesised sounds that enveloped me. My systems at the time moved from simple two channel receivers to multi-channel, multi-speaker arrangements that got me in trouble with my parents and neighbours alike. I moved out at a young age and when I got my first place I remember my Mum visiting to instruct on where things should be placed and what furniture I required. My reaction to this was simple, “I’ll setup the system first, then we’ll work out where everything else needs to go”. This made absolutely no sense to her “it’s a home not a nightclub” but for me music has always taken a priority. Again, this story isn’t something I reminisce about often, but it’s a story that was brought to the fore again by the Linn Klimax DS. I can imagine that within the four walls of their Scotland factory they have the technology and the know how to create pieces of equipment that can champion a whole range of attributes that would lend their abilities to very specific criteria; whether a vocal and acoustic masterpiece, a big band or orchestral masterclass or a dynamically astute enthralling wizard on the dance floor, how on earth can you get all of these specialties into one box though? Ask Linn, because they really have achieved it.

I already had a strong appreciation for the Klimax DS’s way of naturally rendering transients and harmonically its decays can be playful or subtle, in this case, however, the inner child was reborn and the pressure levels in the room increased dramatically as did the volume.

Most likely untested by many, within the factory or out, the Klimax DS’s sonic signature and effortless reproduction was absolutely on the money with this genre of music. It took on a new level of control with heaps of confidence – details were astonishing, kick drums were tight and fast and the midrange when vocals were included were simply exhilarating. The Klimax DS will have enthusiasts of all ages and tastes lost in their favourite genres. With the correct amp/speaker combination to tailor to one’s room and tastes, Linn’s Klimax DS will change the game for many, and in many respects it could be the last source that you will ever need (with the caveat, that if you don’t require any further digital inputs). It’s infinitely transparent, agile, textured, informative as well as being subtle and delicate in its approach to reproducing any music, but also ready to let its hair down and party.

Whether listening to Tidal, Qobuz or music from your own local library in standard or higher bit rates, the Linn Klimax DS will deliver. Newer, higher resolution formats from either of the above services shine through the intricately constructed and outstanding on-board Katalyst DAC, yet never left me wanting when listening to my large 16bit libraries. The Linn adds an authority to the music that is often overlooked and delivers a rarely surpassed performance with its associated features and app support making for a seamless integration into any system, and not just an all Linn arrangement. To be able to deliver this much charisma and character without influencing tonal colour is an achievement in itself, but to be able to combine this without becoming stale and uninteresting is testament to what Linn have achieved here. 

AT A GLANCE

Conclusion 

I’ve pretty much concluded this review above, so I will discuss the realities of owning a streamer which costs little under £16,000. First, the market for such a product is far smaller than that of the typical £2k to £7k high-end streamer, which in most cases carries more features.

The Linn Klimax DS has a very closed architecture and if one desires an array of digital inputs for other devices there is that £3k premium to add for the privilege of the DSM model. Personally, I feel that for this sort of money the DS should have at least one further digital input, with my preference being for optical. The addition of Bluetooth would have been a fantastic addition too.

What you do receive though is a dedicated and isolated streaming peripheral that at its heart has one of the most wonderfully implemented DACs on today’s market, connecting directly to the renderer, with absolutely no eyes for anything else whatsoever.

In Hifi terms this approach tends to make the purists happy and others who want maximum flexibility and less boxes not so. I’d imagine that consumers in the market for a dedicated streamer such as the DS would indeed favour the dedicated version over the DSM and those who want more flexibility in this price bracket at least have the option of knowing that with Linn’s “Input Signal Optimisation” and “Output Driver” technology they are in safe hands.

There are strong arguments all day long for and against both implementations and I don’t believe that these will ever combine to one universal trail of thought, so for now we need to simply accept the reality of this product and its target market.

Build Quality: Absolutely stunning!

Sound Quality: Heart felt, engaging and engrossing, very transparent and insightful.

Value For Money: I’ll let you be the judge of that.

Pros: Bespoke parts throughout. Incredible attention to detail, physically and sound-wise. Exceptional DAC integration. Genre flexibility. Transparent and engaging. Most of all musical!

Cons: Expensive enough to be positioned at a specific sector of the market, but then Linn do offer more reasonably priced models. Should have had at least one digital input or perhaps even Bluetooth.

Price – £15,800

Dan Worth

Musical Fideity’s M6 Encore Connect is a ripper, streamer and preamplifier all in one handy, if substantial box. It costs £3629 and Lionel Payne hooked it up to his system to see if it came up to scratch. 

The Musical Fidelity M6 Encore Connect Multi Format Audio Streamer is quite a mouthful! From now on in this review I will simply call it the Encore Connect.

The Encore Connect is what is often referred to as an “All-In-One” although this particular model has preamplifier but not power amplifier facilities. However, Musical Fidelity also produce a variant with in-built amplification (using dual mono amplifier modules from the M6Si providing 225watts at 8 Ohms) called the Encore 225. Available in black or white, the review sample arrived in the black variant and proved to be no lightweight as it tips the scales at over 16 kilograms, this being a good indicator of the build quality of the unit which is particularly sturdy. To either flank are substantial heatsinks which I assume are only really required for the Encore 225 but as both variants wear the same clothes they remain on the Encore Connect.

The Encore Connect has a rather extensive feature list. It is an audio preamplifier/source component allowing you to keep all of your music in the one place. It can be connected to almost any source component whether analogue or digital and it is also compatible with many network speakers such as Sonos. There is official support for Tune-In Radio, Tidal, Qobuz and Spotify, the latter two having just been added within a major software update. These updates come at fairly regular intervals and prove that the Encore Connect is ever evolving and improving.

There are three available analogue inputs (via RCA), the Encore Connect provides fixed and variable outputs, and these remain completely analogue throughout. There are no less than four S/PDIF digital inputs (2 coaxial, 2 toslink) as well as four USB type A connections, one of which has high current capacity for charging phones or tablets. There is also a USB type B connection but this is limited to use in future expansion. There is a slot-loading CD player and upgradable 1TB hard disk drive for storage which is enough for approximately 2500 CD’s. A quarter inch socket for headphones is provided and this proved to be of high quality when tested. At the heart of the Encore Connect is a 64 bit Intel CPU with 2GB of RAM. This specification is far more than is required and as well as ensuring superb performance it allows for continual upgrading of its facilities and makes the Encore Connect virtually future proof.

It’s not often that the manufacturer sends a representative to make sure its product is installed correctly for the review but this was the case with the Encore Connect – thank you Andrew, it was good meeting you. I was told that installation is quite complicated but I’m sure I could have handled it without any serious problems and any potential purchasers should not be deterred. The biggest problem Andrew and I had when installing the Encore Connect was discovering that my RJ45 network cable that travels from my ground floor router up to my second floor mancave must have been damaged when new carpet had been installed on hall, stairs and landings last summer. We overcame the problem by setting up downstairs directly to the router and then installing upstairs without it being hard-wired to the internet. The RJ45 network cable was then replaced a couple of days later and everything worked as it should. It should be noted that not hard-wiring the Encore Connect limits its functionality somewhat.

I have been contemplating the task of ripping my CD collection to FLAC for some time. The main reasons that I haven’t so far are that it would be rather time-consuming as it is a rather large collection and I could never be 100% sure that a new format wouldn’t be introduced to make my FLAC files obsolete. Once the Encore Connect had arrived and I had ripped a few CD’s to its’ 1GB hard drive I saw the opportunity to tackle the task.  I never quite imagined it being so easy! Using the Encore Connect for ripping couldn’t be easier, simply load the CD and the ripping begins. In fact playing a CD is a little more complicated than ripping it as you have to access a sub-menu and select to play a CD before you put it into the slot-loader. At first I have to admit that this seemed counter-productive but once I had spent a little time with the Encore Connect it made absolutely perfect sense. The first thing to realise is that once you own an Encore Connect you will be very unlikely to want to simply play a CD with it. Much more likely is that you will wish to rip it to the hard-drive and use the FLAC file in all subsequent use.  When I compared the playback of a CD against the playback of a ripped CD from the hard-drive I found a small but not insignificant improvement in the sound of the ripped CD. This can be explained by the fact that the ripped CD is virtually bit-perfect whereas playing the CD will incur error correction being involved during. Ripping a CD takes around 10-12 minutes and the Encore Connect will automatically search for the artwork and metadata to accompany the FLAC file. One or two of my less well-known CD’s weren’t recognised and I had to input the data manually but this was made very easy by the fact that the Encore Connect can be found through the use of Google Chrome on your laptop or PC. This allows you to manually input artist, album and track titles as well as drag and drop artwork to accompany the FLAC file. Using this Google Chrome interface also allows you to drag and drop large audio files directly to and from the Encore Connect. It also allows complete control of the Encore Connect and I personally found this fantastic and my much preferred alternative to using the multi-function remote control or the available free app (available for iOS and Android devices). The remote control works extremely well but I found it to be a little lightweight, being made of plastic, for a machine costing so much.  The downloadable app also works very well and may well be the first choice for many users. However, I absolutely loved using the Encore Connect with the Google Chrome interface and there are several extra very useful features with this including Random Mix, Alarm Clock and Don’t Stop The Music which allows you to set up so that you never have silence.

The sound quality of the Encore Connect is beyond reproach. When it first arrived my immediate thoughts were that it seemed bright but that was simply my own brain needing to become accustomed to the extra detail on offer. The Encore Connect is not bright but rather, it delivers wonderful sound quality throughout the whole sound spectrum with oodles of detail on tap. As a subscriber to Tidal (hifi quality) I was keen to listen to the same albums I had already ripped to the hard drive and determine whether there was any significant difference between the two. In most instances I found it difficult to determine which I was listening to in blind listening tests as both formats excelled. However, on a couple of occasions I found the Tidal offering far better than the CD rip and I can only assume that this was due to me having a poor quality recording on the CD in the first place.

AT A GLANCE

Conclusion

I don’t imagine that the Encore Connect is for everyone, but for those looking for an all-in-one such as this with top sound quality being the main objective, I cannot recommend it highly enough.  It sat perfectly within my system hooked up to my Tri Vista 300 integrated amplifier, by the same manufacturer, and set as a source by using the line level outputs so that the Tri Vista controlled the level of volume. The sound from my resident Monitor Audio PL300ii’s or any of the loudspeakers I had in for review during the period never failed to satisfy or excite. In fact it became my “go to” source for most of the time it spent with me.  I can also imagine it would be ideal at the heart of an audiophile’s office or second system. It could simply be hooked up to a pair of active speakers or an amplifier and passive speakers to produce a remarkably engaging system. Heartily recommended!

AT A GLANCE

Build Quality : Built like a tank and should last for years.

Sound Quality : Up there with the very best with outstanding detail.

Value For Money : When you add up what is available within the one box and take into account the sound quality, perceived value is astonishing.

Pros: A very well thought out package which offers true audiophile quality.

Cons: A remote control with a more luxurious feel would be welcome and care should be taken with amplifier matching as the Encore Connect’s detail may grate with a bright sounding amp and speakers.

Price : £ 3629.00

Lionel Payne

Specifications

Inputs

3 x Line Level RCA 300mV nominal 2V typical up to 7V rms

2 x optical S/PDIF 24 bit inputs up to 192kHz

2 x coax S/PDIF 24 bit inputs up to 192kHz

1 x USB 3.0 type ‘A’ connector

1 xUSB 3.0 type “B” connector (for future expansion)

3 x USB2.0 type ‘A’ connector (1 front, 2 rear) 10/100/1000 Base-T Ethernet connector

Outputs

1x line level PREAMP variable outputs (>6V rms max)

1x line level FIXED 2.0V @ 0dBFS (300mV rms nominal, >6V rms max) (Preamp gain, line input to PREAMP outputs is 4.5x (13dB) at maximum volume)

Headphone output suitable for headphones impedance 8 ohms to ∞. (Headphone output features independent volume setting)

Speaker outputs 1 pair 4mm banana plugs per channel

1x optical S/PDIF 24-bit output up to 192kHz

1x coax S/PDIF 24-bit output up to 192kHz

Internal storage 2.5” 1 TB SATA II hard disk (included) or SSD (future upgradeable)

General

Dimensions – W x H x D (mm): 440 x 125 x 400

Weight (unpacked / packed): 16.6 kg/ 21.3 kg

Albedo are a Poland based company that go to great lengths (excuse the pun) with their cables’ manufacture. This goes all the way back to smelting the metals and drawing their own conductors. Dominic Marsh listens to their Monolith Reference Speaker and Interconnect cables to see if is all worth their effort. 

Albedo have been making audiophile interconnects for over 20 years now and I say too few people have heard of the brand which I think is a great shame. That is partly due to being manufactured in Poland and distributed by a global dealer network.

There is very little that is radical in their designs with the exception of some unique conductor geometry, however they do use only the finest materials available and pay particular attention to construction.  Albedo smelt all of their own metals, draw their own conductors through specialised dies and build everything in house, so they could never be accused of buying reels of generic wire and repackaging as their own.

Hifi Pig reviewed an earlier version of the Albedo Monolith cables back in 2012 and this set of cables reviewed here are evolved and updated models, plus I have owned a pair of Flat Gold interconnects in the past myself and as I recall I was very pleased indeed with their sound characteristics.

Construction

Both the interconnects and the speaker cables use very high purity soft annealed monocrystal silver in their conductors, in this case forged and fastidiously manufactured by Albedo themselves into very thin ribbons and separated by using air as a dielectric with antistatic materials added. 

If you have the perception that “silver cables are bright sounding” then that couldn’t be farther away from the truth.  The only “silver” cables I have heard with a tendency towards brightness have been silver plated, poor quality silver wire (as in recycled), or hard annealed silver wire.

All the connectors are manufactured by Albedo themselves to their own specifications and are of very good quality, all fitting snugly into their respective sockets.

The notable difference between the Reference model over the previous incarnations is that they are now built as individual cables rather than being coupled pairs.

The outer sheath is an expandable nylon braid in a pale silver/grey colour, with plastic attachments named with “Albedo Reference”.

Speaker cable priced at 2450 Euros for a 2 metre pair whilst the balanced XLR interconnects are priced at 1950 Euros for a 1 metre pair.

Sound Quality

I don’t need to be told that the Albedo Reference cables are made from soft annealed pure silver wire, as their sound characteristics told me what they are made from – soft annealed high purity silver.  Treble had a sweet delicacy about it without any fizz or harshness and the bass is as fulsome and insightful as you could wish for.  Treble errs a tad on the side of warmth if we are to be honest about it, but nevertheless these cables are truly excellent at reproducing both macro and micro dynamics.

So, to translate these observed sonic snippets into some music some of you might be familiar with, I put Supertramp’s Crisis, What Crisis? in the CD drawer and pressed play to hear my favourite track on the album, ‘Lady’.  This track has raw edges to it that comes straight at you in a direct way, which was not unexpected.  The vocals sounded like they were recorded elsewhere like in a cavern, there is so much echo and reverberation added, but they still sounded yards deep throughout the entire track, while bass and drums are recorded to the foreground and form the underpinning of the track.  Kick drum was solid and tangible almost, cymbals are represented by high hat beats which never vanished into the mix even when the band was playing at frenetic levels.  The last one third of the track is comprised of the bass guitar in a 1 – 3 repetition, the high hat beat, clicking of fingers and simple vocals.  Delightfully simple, but not exactly challenging either, so I suppose it is part of that track’s charm.  Track 8 is another favourite on this album called “Just a Normal Day”.  A slower pace perhaps, a touch on the melancholy side as well, but the track has piano, saxophone, violins and a haunting vocal that either touches your emotions or leaves you cold, depending on how well it all hangs together, which the Albedo cables mastered well.

This was also evidenced in Fink’s “Wheels Beneath My Feet” live album, where each venue during one of the band’s many European tours has a unique atmosphere and acoustics at each location.  The Albedo cables captured this phenomenon very well indeed with a notable lack of background noise for good measure.  Bass had a powerful taut punch to it and especially so during the driving Floor Tom whacks the drummer inflicts on that instrument which fair made my listening room vibrate with the power delivered.

Imaging abilities are also noteworthy, no doubt due also to that lack of background noise, with top class width, height and depth, the audience on this album being extremely well reproduced so it sounded like you were sitting around five rows away from the stage.

AT A GLANCE

Conclusion

I apologise now for this review not being an endless parade of superlatives to describe the Albedo Monolith Reference cables.  Having said that, I could find no fault either and that makes a rather refreshing change for a seasoned reviewer of cable confections.  Most of the cables I have reviewed for Hifi Pig have had areas of strengths and weaknesses with a general set of compromises incorporated into the design, which we either live with or we don’t, arrived at under the guise of “synergy”, as in matching to the system and of course our own listening preferences.

I would sum up their sonic characteristics as being neutral, that is there isn’t one area of the audible spectrum that is either recessed or overblown, all of that audible spectrum is dare I say, almost ruler flat in response but you shouldn’t interpret those words as these cables being boring or lacklustre, far from it in fact . On the contrary, they offer sparkle and dynamics, but in a rather grown up sophisticated kind of way, which I am sure will find many admirers, myself amongst them.

Build Quality: The looks and build are above average, but that’s not the reason you would buy these cables.

Sound Quality: I will give this rating in reverse:  I couldn’t fault them in sound terms.

Value For Money:  Very good bang for the buck product and you wouldn’t want to upgrade.

Pros: The best thing about these cables is they live at the back of the rack and simply do the job they were bought for, with no fuss or fireworks.

Cons: Sound, build, value, all good, but come resale time they are not fast sellers because of their unfamiliarity in the market – regrettably and hopefully this review addresses that in some small way.

Price: Speaker cable 2450 Euros for a 2 metre pair and Balanced XLR interconnects priced at 1950 Euros for a 1 metre pair;

Dominic Marsh

The AVID Hifi Reference Four is a £15 000, British designed and manufactured standmount that weighs in at an impressive 40 Kg including dedicated stand. Janine Elliot takes a listen to this innovative design. 

“AVID Hifi is a company that doesn’t scrimp on metal or components to produce the very best in audio. Their turntables are heavy beasts and their amplifiers and speakers require significant muscle to move about the house.

At £15000 their Reference Four might well be the baby of the family but this heavyweight is still 40kg including the stands (25Kg speaker plus 15Kg stand). It also includes much of the technical developments from its bigger siblings. Made from 10-20mm machine tooled aluminium (and 30-40mm on Ref 1 and 2!), this is not small in weight, nor is it in sound or technological prowess…”

Read the full review here

Linn’s Klimax DS is a dedicated streamer with just an ethernet input to connect to your music library and yet it costs almost £16 000. Can Linn justify this high price with an equally stunning performance? Dan Worth finds out. 

“2007 saw the release of the very first Klimax DS from Scottish audio giants Linn. The first DS, much like future products, utilises first class audio components confined in their clam-shell chassis which is itself milled from a single billet of aluminium.  Throughout the years Linn have pushed forward, advancing and refining their design on a hardware and software basis, continually striving to be a leader in digital audio playback with today’s Klimax DS being the 4th incarnation…”

Read the full review here

Musical Fideity’s M6 Encore Connect is a ripper, streamer and preamplifier all in one handy, if substantial box. It costs £3629 and Lionel Payne hooked it up to his system to see if it came up to scratch. 

“The Musical Fidelity M6 Encore Connect Multi Format Audio Streamer is quite a mouthful! From now on in this review I will simply call it the Encore Connect. The Encore Connect is what is often referred to as an “All-In-One” although this particular model has preamplifier but not power amplifier facilities. However, Musical Fidelity also produce a variant with in-built amplification (using dual mono amplifier modules from the M6Si providing 225watts at 8 Ohms) called the Encore 225. Available in black or white, the review sample arrived in the black variant and proved to be no lightweight as it tips the scales at over 16 kilograms, this being a good indicator of the build quality of the unit which is particularly sturdy. To either flank are substantial heatsinks which I assume are only really required for the Encore 225 but as both variants wear the same clothes they remain on the Encore Connect…”

Read the full review here

Catch up on all the Hifi News and Hifi Reviews that we covered in the first month of 2018…

SA Lab Lilt Range Of Amplifiers

Metaxas & Sins GQT Portable Recording Device No.1

Pioneer XDP- 30R And Onkyo DP-S1 DAPs Get USB-OTG

Sound Carrier 807 Integrated Amplifier Released

Sennheiser New Products Launch At CES 2018

Avantgarde Acoustic Room Selector

Auralic Introduce Spotify Connect

New Technics Turntables At CES 2018

Voxtok And Elipson Bring Vinyl To Your TV

Audeze iSine LX, $199 Planar IEMs

Chord Electronics Launch Qutest DAC At CES 2018

Nordost Launch Red Dawn USB Cable

Amare Musica Diamond Firefly Loudspeakers

New Tellurium Q Statement Level Cable Range

A Look Inside The Gold Note IS-1000 ‘Super Integrated Amplifier’

Elipson Includes Google Chromecast Audio With New Wireless Facet Speakers

KEF Release Q50a Dolby Atmos Enabled Surround Speaker

Transcriptors Turntables Cease Production

Bryston Unveils Flagship Active Loudspeaker Systems

Elite Audio Supply Burson Audio Exclusively In The UK & Ireland

Audio Analogue AAcento Integrated Amplifier, First Of New ‘PureAA’ Line

Longdog Audio PH1 Moving Magnet Phono Stage

New Generation PIEGA Premium Series Loudspeakers

Black Rhodium Symphony 18 Announced

2018 Is Ortofon’s Centenary Year

Exposure Add HP Headphone Amplifier To XM Series

Cyrus Announces ONElinear Loudspeaker System 

Munich High-End 2018 Latest News and CanJam Partnership

ATC Launches CDA2 MK2 CD/DAC Preamp

Monitor Audio Launches New Monitor Series Loudspeakers

James Loudspeaker Unveils 2.1 Format LR-S Sound Bars 

Bowers & Wilkins In-Car System For McLaren Senna Hypercar

Western Electric 300B Valves Back In Production This Year!

KEF Launch Black Edition LS50

Ortofon Concorde MK II Cartridges Launched

Leema Hydra Anniversary Now Available

Gamut Joins Raidho And Scansonic  As Part Of Dantax

AXPONA Announce 2018 Show

Gryphon Audio Designs Sonett Phonostage Released

Kii Three Loudspeaker System launched

High End Audio Manufacturers Join Forces At AXPONA 2018

Manger Audio Release Linn Exakt Filter Designs For Passive Loudspeaker Models

Leading Rock Star Chooses Parasound

Aurender Joins Ravenna Community

And the hifi reviews:

ATC HDA-DP20 Digital Audio Player

AVID Hifi Reference Four Loudspeakers

Linn Klimax DS (KATALYST) – Dedicated Streamer

Musical Fidelity M6 Encore Connect Multi Format Audio Streamer

The NEW LOOK Hifi Pig and GadgetyReviews is out and ready for FREE download.

NEWS – A new look, easy to read format that will display better on more devices.

INTERVIEW – Kostas Metaxas: The creative powerhouse behind high-end brand Metaxas & Sins. As well as his wonderfully inventive “High-end audio sculptures”, he has an extensive collection of concert recordings from some of the top names in the music world.

Not limiting his imagination to the audio world, Kostas also designs for some of the most well-known luxury brands in the world.

HIFI REVIEWS

MUSICAL FIDELITY M6 ENCORE CONNECT

LINN KLIMAX DS STREAMER

AVID HIFI REFERENCE FOUR LOUDSPEAKERS

ALBEDO MONOLITH REFERENCE SPEAKER AND INTERCONNECT CABLES

FLARE AUDIO PRO IN EAR MONITORS

ATC HDA-DP20

FREE download.

LIFE THROUGH A SCREEN. A MODERN DAY ADDICTION? -Our obsession with screens shows no signs of slowing down but what does this mean for the future of high quality music in the home and on the go?

STU’S VIEWS

It’s all well and good having a thousand and one records in your collection, but how do you go about organising them and making sure you can put your hands on specific recording you want to play?

In recent weeks this very subject has been to the fore of Stuart’s thoughts given his burgeoning record collection and here he shares some possible solutions to deal with this perennial problem.

BIRD’S EYE VIEW

I was browsing through Facebook earlier, flicking through some of the Hifi and audio related groups that I am a member of, and something caught my eye. The cover photo for this one group was a close-up of a loudspeaker driver, instantly recognisable, without any branding or names visible, it was the KEF Uni-Q driver.

SERIAL BOWL RECORDS

So, you want to launch your own record label but don’t have the funds, don’t have the know-how and frankly haven’t a clue where to start?

Hifi Pig has a chat with Serial Bowl Records, a label collective based in Sunderland in the North East of England to get the low down.

David Blumenstein takes a look at how 2018 is starting out musically.

MUSIC INTERVIEW

Dale Jonathan Perkins “Voice Without Words Parts 1-3 (Ishikawa) plus Interview with this innovative and somewhat avant-garde musician 

LIVE MUSIC

Slalom D and The Damned by Fiona Duncan 

BOOK REVIEW

Lou Reed: A Life by Anthony DeCurtis 

LIVING THE HiFi LIFE

A Behind the scenes glimpse of life on the road with Rune Skov of Raidho whilst he visits the US.

FREE download.

GADGETY REVIEWS

iFi NANO iDSD BLACK LABEL PORTABLE DAC/AMP

KZ ZS6 LOW COST HYBRID QUAD DRIVER EARPHONES

NINETY7 VAUX SPEAKER FOR ECHO DOT

HONOR 7X – FLAGSHIP LOOKS, MID-RANGE PRICE

BRAINWAVZ B200 DUAL BALANCED ARMATURE EARPHONES

WiZ SMART LIGHTS – VOICE CONTROLLED ILLUMINATION

FOOBOT SMART AIR QUALITY MONITOR

TiBAG COMPACT LAPTOP BAG

ROCCAT KHAN PRO GAMING HEADSET

FREE download.

Vibrating stylus cleaners are not a new concept, but the Flux Hifi Sonic stylus operates at a lower frequency to older types, which, say the company, makes it perfectly safe to use on your precious cartridge. 

I got this funky little unit passed to me at Munich last year but if truth be known it has sat on the side of the Hifi rack up until a couple of months ago when I finally plucked up the courage to give it a whirl on the Gold Note Tuscany Red cartridge. Why the hesitation? Well, liquids that have big Achtung/Caution stickers on their bottle and five grand cartridges make for a worrying combination. Add into the mix a small vibrating pad that I envisaged shaking the cantilever lose and you can see why I might be a tad worried. The Flux Hifi Sonic is not a new concept, there have been vibrating stylus cleaners around for years, but the manufacturers say that it operated at a lower frequency to the older models and as such said to be much safer and more effective.

The Flux Hifi Sonic is a battery operated (2 AAAs included) teardrop shaped affair that has an on off button, a little pad (the vibrating part) and a light so you can see your stylus getting the treatment. Whilst it’s not going to win any front covers the little unit looks nice enough and is well made – in Germany no less. Underneath you have a couple of knobbly pads to stop it moving about and other than the aforementioned bottle of liquid, that is your lot.

The instructions tell you to place a drop of liquid on the pad (which is made of PE fibres and moves in a 3D motion) and carefully lower your stylus into the drop ensuring your platter doesn’t move about. Press the button, let it do its stuff for fifteen seconds and that’s it.

Between records I’d been using a DustBuster which gets most of the visible gunk off the stylus, but after a fifteen second clean with this the stylus was visibly cleaner, even to the naked eye. Sound-wise there is less surface noise and a feeling you are getting more information out of the grooves with a slightly more dynamic sound to when the stylus had been cleaned using my previous go-to method. That said, many will prefer the quicker, simpler and relatively effective DustBuster. 

Given that it comes with a three-year guarantee and is from a reputable company, I have not worried about my cantilever or stylus dropping off since taking the leap of faith – there’d be harsh words if it ever did.

The unit costs £115 with extra fluid coming in at £29, though you get a lot of drops in the little bottle provided.

Overall this is a good, effective and speedy stylus cleaning method that does go a little deeper than the DustBuster and is less hassle than using brushes and less worrying than the magic eraser method. On the downside it is a considerable investment, but one that I think is worth it.

Stuart Smith 

Integrating a subwoofer into a 2-Channel Hifi system is often far more difficult than adding one in a Home Cinema setup. Both require fine tuning in order to convey a cohesive response and unilateral load of the room, but in order to achieve the speed, poise and polish needed for convincing musical playback, the task of joining the lower frequencies of a subwoofer to the main speakers can be extremely frustrating, yet ultimately rewarding. Dan Worth integrates the £1000 REL T9i Subwoofer into his system.

Over the past 20 years or so I have had numerous subwoofers in both AV and Hifi sound systems, some can be fantastic for speed and punch and others great for huge impact and pressurised room interaction – or high spls. Cone size, cone material, cabinet structure, amplification type and strength, feet type, platform material and overall positioning all play a part in overall performance.

Technologically, subwoofers have come on a bundle since the earlier incarnations of bolting a high wattage A/B plate amplifier to a carpeted box or slapping a huge driver into a coffin sized enclosure. These days performance is obtained from notably smaller and stiffer enclosures, stronger drive units and more rigid baskets, along with, and in the majority of cases, Class D amplification, requiring lower output power supplies – which in turn generate less heat, ultimately making them more efficient and also offering the end user greater flexibility in placement.

In comparison to the larger coffee table sized subwoofers of yesteryear REL have dedicated their abilities to all of the above and the result is a new-look line up, designed for maximum performance from as small a footprint as feasibly possible.

I remember owning a few of REL’s older behemoths, including the Stadium – an isobaric loaded twin 10” Volt driver monster which could in theory strip the artex of ceilings in neighbouring streets, not just adjoining homes. A Strata III – a single 10” long-throw, downward firing unit utilising REL’s ABC filtering circuitry and 100W DC-coupled MOSFET amplifier, which was a step up from previous versions in speed and ultimate control – and a Storm – I can’t remember which model it was but I think was a 10” driver, 100W and weighed around 30kgs or so. I’ve had many other subwoofers in my time, some dedicated for just one format and others which crossed over into both music and cinema systems – some better than others.

Fit and Finish 

The fit and finish of the latest range of REL subwoofers is stunning, if not somewhat limited in colour choice. My first comments to the U.K. Sales Manager was “just black or white gloss?” and I literally answered my own question as he began to speak. It quickly dawned on me that specific wood veneers would be hard to match with main speakers and it’s better to have a contrasting sub than one that’s kind of close. He elaborated by saying “Yes, your speakers are a light cheery, now the English light cherry is significantly different to say a Scandinavian or American light cherry, it’s better to have something pretty in its own right, making its own statement, rather than trying, yet failing to match the main speakers correctly”. I’ll give REL 10/10 for common sense here, I completely agree with the approach.

There are companies that vinyl wrap items, you can take them a sample piece or a photo of something you wish to match (much like buying paint) and they can in high-definition repeat the colour, or perceived texture and wrap your subwoofer for a very reasonable price, which in turn protects the original finish for further system changes or resale as these vinyl wraps go on as easy as they come off, leaving nothing but REL’s twelve pass multi-direction deep lacquer finish. Just as it was when it came out of the box.

All knobs/dials along with the rear heat sink are finished in a matching satin, slightly darker than neutral anodisation, which adds to the overall high quality finish and attention to detail, with matching engraved alloy square feet which have a sorbothane pad at the bottom, rated to weight. REL do not favour spikes as they can concentrate vibrations rather than eliminate room interaction on a structural level and I agree with their choice. For me, I would still pursue further isolation with possible granite, bamboo or mica type platforms – possibly on sorbothane, especially for those with floorboards in order to add some further reinforcement to low level extremes.

What is interesting about the feet on their subwoofers is that they are all of differing sizes and heights dependent on model and frequency tested for best integration of the downward facing passive bass radiators.

The badge on the top of each subwoofer has varying sizes, as this is not just a simple panel mounted badge, it’s actually a structural asset. The badge is a plug, a metal shaft that proceeds into the cabinet walls and acts as a ‘null point’, curbing and eradicating structural borne vibrations in order to keep the chassis more inert. 

Basic Installation

 This can always be tricky but extremely rewarding with some patience and a good array of music.

The first step is to ascertain an initial preferable position for the subwoofer to live and I advise a little flexibility on its specific placement but I’m lucky enough to be able to work my room around a system and remodel if necessary.

Connecting the REL subwoofer is a breeze. Ensure that you use the high-level input and not RCA, especially for 2-Channel. Refer to the manual for the colour coded wire identifications of left and right channels pertaining to the ‘high level input’ cables provided – these connect directly to the output speaker terminals on the main amplifier and have bare wire ends. I’d advise to attach spades or bananas to these, which would be the opposite to what you already have your main speakers terminated with. If your main speakers already have bananas, then add spades, unscrew your binding posts a little and insert the spades, ensuring that once screwed back down tightly you double check the bananas are pushed fully back in. Likewise for main speakers that already have spade terminated loudspeaker cables.

Note: REL do not provide a left and right phono input jack on their current range of subwoofers.

If the main speakers are actives and if the preamplifier or DAC/pre has a second set of outputs then a Y-Splitter Cable can be used to send both channels of information to the line level input on the subwoofer, or I’m instructed that a single phono cable, preferably from the right channel output will suffice – I actually tried a single cable during the review with a line level from just the right channel and I must say, the presence and drama of the sub was fantastic in this configuration, although the high level connections to both stereo channels superseded any of the aforementioned alternatives. REL include a 10m stereo cable for this purpose which has a ‘speakon’ plug at the sub end – a locking socket used in PA gear. Other aftermarket variants and lengths are available and making your own if you are a bit of a tweaker like myself is a very simple task.

A very standard, what I and many call a ‘throw away’ power cable is included in the package; I’d like to see something a little more heavy duty and nicer for the more expensive subwoofers, but then I could say that about every manufacturer of high end gear – the included cable is certified and more than fit for the job electrically.

Note: give some forethought to possible subwoofer placement and how long you may require the power cable to be, there’s nothing worse than sitting there with you nice new shiny subwoofer and nowhere to plug it in. 

Tuning 

On the rear of the T9i are inputs for line level, LFE (dedicated subwoofer output) and the high level, which would be fed by the left and right outputs from the speaker binding posts on the amplifier – which is how I have the subwoofer setup.

Controls for gain, crossover frequency and phase will tune the T9i into any setup. This is where patience, positioning and lots and lots of listening comes into play. 

Note : Don’t get frustrated if you have dedicated a good amount of time to trying to dial in the sub and aren’t getting great results, because sometimes it’s only when you place the sub where you would either least expect it to work or wasn’t planning on aesthetically having it that all of a sudden everything makes sense.

• Put on a piece of music that you know very well to begin, preferably a piece with a good bass response and turn the gain on the subwoofer to just over half way.

• Toggle the phase control switch from 0 – 180 degrees finding the loudest of the two settings, in most cases this will be 0 degrees. Leave the switch here.

• Begin to play some music and have a walk around the room to identify any bass nodes (accumulated areas of too much bass).

Some people like to then dial the gain on the sub back to what they believe is a reasonable level and others like to start at zero gain and work their way up. There’s no right or wrong way here, but the idea is to have the gain set to a level where you cannot hear the sub as a defined speaker, you simply want to have it merged ever so gently in that you do not notice it’s there until you switch it off altogether.

• Continue to play the same piece of music, adjusting the gain level until you can just hear the sub as a more localised point and then turn the gain back a notch.

Adjusting the crossover next – this will allow you to have the sub integrate its first point of integration to where your own loudspeakers trail off. REL I think have been extremely clever here in not marking the frequencies around the dial. Most people have a preconceived idea of where a sub’s crossover point should be due to the spec sheet of their speakers. However, in the real world and with roll-off and room acoustics, the same speakers will respond differently depending on environment and placement. 

Note: ensuring that your loudspeakers are positioned correctly first of all and your sweet spot is even to the listening position. This is extremely important for linear bass response. You will be surprised at how many rooms require one speaker slightly more forward than the other and how effective a non-symmetrical toe in can be, so again, take your time and explore this thoroughly. 

• Leaving the numbers off the crossover frequency dial takes away any preconceived ideas about where the dial should be set, again I’d suggest setting it initially to half way and work your way back a click or two at a time.

What your listening out for here is a moment where you feel that all of a sudden an overlapping, over pronounced bottom end, or hump disappears into a more linear and cohesive extension of what your main speakers already achieve in the bass regions.

• Once at this point turn the sub off and on again, repeating the same music over and over, as you get to the lower end of your crossover adjustments – you may find that you now need to add a click or two upwards on the gain to compensate for the lower bass notes which do not sound as loud now.

When you get to this stage the ultimate fine tuning comes into play and the fun for me really begins.

Fine Tuning 

The following couple of sections will explain a little more of the fine tuning of the subwoofer into your room.

Any audiophile who is truly committed to having the most linear response from his or her setup will love the really nitty-gritty of ultimate fine tuning. This is where the smallest adjustments in positioning and dialing in the crossover and gain gives the biggest rewards.

It’s a wise decision to have some musical material that isn’t your normal listening fodder too, this can help to throw a spanner in the works and bring you back down to Earth when you find yourself so heavily invested in getting one genre correct, to only find the next time you come to listen and play something else that you’re not beating yourself around the head and thinking that you need to start all over again.

Remember – your tuning a bass speaker to your loudspeakers and room, not to a particular type of music. 

Your previous efforts should have now found a good dB level and fairly accurate crossover point to compliment a wide range of music as the sub will now be fairly well tuned to the speakers. One of the most exciting aspects of this new-found synergy is that as well as obtaining extended bass from the main speakers a richer midrange and vocal will be heard. Also, the top-end will be under-pinned with more perceived body and richer undertones, fleshing out the entire frequency range is the key ability of a well-made sub.

Considering Room Nodes 

It’s time to walk around your listening space again. With your newly configured settings the hope is that you will not find any points where bass is gathering and giving a boomy effect.

• If you find any large over-bearing areas of boom, the solution is to slightly move the subwoofer’s angle, on axis firstly and then secondly off axis to a new location. Try initially by pivoting the subwoofer’s toe-in angle, spinning it slightly and keeping one back foot stationary and re-checking the node(s).

In most situations this will increase of decrease the size of the node(s).

• Angle the sub to remain where the node(s) are at their lowest and begin moving the subwoofer a few inches left, right, backwards or forwards and re-check your node(s). Very often they will be cured with very small amounts of adjustments to positioning.

I myself had two large nodes in my room, toeing and small movements of the T9i increased and decreased them to such a degree that the feedback I was given warranted me to actually move the unit around a foot and a half in total with an extra 30% toeing to my initial setup position, although my gain and crossover levels remained very consistent.

Ensure that you listen to your room and what feedback it is giving you, rely on the settings installed to the subwoofer from the and don’t allow any frustration to doubt your initial intently setup parameters.

Once you have lowered the room node(s) to a non-obtrusive level, you can again very fine tune a notch at a time the gain and/or crossover as the room will respond more linearly, these adjustments will be super fine and usually just to preference after following the initial setup steps. 

Some may prefer a little more bass than others do, but I stress again, for the most natural reproduction any subwoofer should simply disappear, should not be able to be localised and for any 2-Channel system is simply to extend and enhance frequency response, not overall thump levels so to speak. If you can only tell that a subwoofer was present in the system once switched off then you have integrated it correctly.

The Sound

REL’s T9i sits at the top of the Ti range and alike 99% of REL’s subwoofers is an infinite baffle design or closed non-ported box, making the unit very fast and expressive. Once configured correctly my Ayon’s became very well fleshed out and richer in tonality through their entire frequency range.

I played London Grammar’s ‘Hey Now’ as one of my first pieces of music, simply to hear what the T9i offered to the clarity of the rubber ball used to strike the skin of each of the five consecutive bass notes. I was pleased that the leading edges of these notes remained defined and without any blunting due to the woofers integration – something that would no doubt happen when integrating a subwoofer with a ported enclosure or simply setting the crossover incorrectly. Each decay made way for the next leading edge and Hannah Reid’s vocal had the usual amounts of tonal accuracy, with the T9i adding an extra portion of texture to her sultry tone.

I played one of my usual test tracks – Rachelle Farell’s ‘I Can’t Explain’. Now I have refrained from talking about this track of late but it was very important for clarification of the T9i’s abilities in a stereo system. As previously mentioned Rachelle has a world record for her vocal range and with the subwoofer in place it felt as if I was, for the very time so much closer to hearing her live. My Ayons would always reproduce her beautiful vocal with incredible range and articulation but now with the T9i in place I had the pleasure of greater tonal accuracy and a good sprinkle more emotion. Another pertinent point to mention on this piece of music was the “colour” of the piano. I would say that previous to having a decent subwoofer with the Ayons, the piano sounded a little more heavy in overtones, whereas now it was underpinned with a new found room acoustic that made the musician feel so much more alive and real in his ability to manage attention on his instrument and not just being overshadowed for five and half minutes whilst Rachelle wails into the microphone.

I had enjoyed my system very much since integrating the T9i – initially before getting the pairing correct there was a clear lack of synergy and I’d say within about an hour/hour and a half of careful listening, tweaking of levels and placement of the modestly sized sub the results were really paying off.

I switched the REL off again after some time of recreational listening, where I had put the iPad I use to write on to one side whilst getting lost in the music to be somewhat understandably disappointed with the lack of body and tonal richness I was left with just listening to the main speakers alone, which are reported to go down to a respectable 35hz and never have conveyed any lack of body – previous to pairing with a sub, which I had only ever done twice before with these speakers, which was a complete let down if I’m honest – one the same cost as the T9i and another three times the cost.

It’s been a long time since I used a REL subwoofer and from memory I’d say that the performance of today’s offerings really are in another class if the T9i is anything to go by. Tighter, more expressive and more controlled at their frequency’s lowest extremes.  One concern that kept poking at me was that I was using a thousand pounds worth of subwoofer with speakers that cost a hell of a lot more, even before their £3500 crossover upgrades. With the inspiring level of performance I was hearing, my thoughts immediately wondered to thinking about how the companies ‘S’ range of subwoofers would sound and how much more intricate the details of the lowest abilities of an ‘S’ range sub would factor in.

I will indeed convey my thoughts later this year once I start to explore more from the latest range of REL subwoofers, but for now let’s curb my wandering imagination and get back to the product in hand.

With the notable speed and accuracy of the T9i sub I played a range of Pop and Electronica. Impressive could be considered an understatement. I’ve always been a kid at heart and I’ve always had that little adrenaline rush come over me when I go back to some of the heavy dance and trance music of my late teens. I’ll say thanks to REL here as I was certainly transported back to my happy place where nothing else mattered but the music and the nights were long.

Pressure levels in my room were to the point where the room seemed to have its own pulsating heartbeat and transients were fast and impactful – especially when following quite passages, but the most impressive aspect of the whole system was the timing, the undeniable accuracy and speed of the sub that kept up so well with my all ceramic array of drive units. There has only been a handful of nightclubs I ever remember having really good sound systems, with most being overly bright, grainy and so poorly timed, with bass nodes aplenty. The T9i was just what the Ayons needed to flex their muscles and portray a captivating experience that brought some real fun to this review and really proved that with a little patience, the careful setup period undertook to bring the REL into the system so cohesively had certainly paid off.

Talking about fun – one of the most important factors of building a system for me and integrating a subwoofer is achieving good bounce from the bass. Good bounce keeps the music flowing, it’s essentially the primary factor in what makes us toe-tap and makes us want to sing and dance along to the music. This is where the high-end can often fail to impress a lot of us. Often equipment can be too detailed, over accurate and just lose any real flow, stopping us from enjoying the music. I’ve owned many cheaper systems and also heard many cheaper systems that, in comparison to a lot of the more expensive setups I’ve heard, lack the overall resolution, focus and dynamics but absolutely excel on music, fun, bounciness and emotion.

Having a review system is an extremely tricky setup to put together – for one it has to be transparent and effective enough to outline any product inserted anywhere in the chain and two it still has to reach you personally. Now many will say “it must sound good he’s a reviewer” but believe me, we have a harder job of keeping consistency in our systems than anybody else. There is the constant upheaval of products coming in and out. Opinions from manufacturers and industry professionals, as well as friends and our biggest critics – ourselves! The only tip I can give anybody is sheer perseverance and the ability to walk away and come back another day if things aren’t sounding right. I have had some hideous times with my system in the past through a number of factors or bad influences, but in time we all learn how to setup correctly and trust our own ears, that’s why it’s a hobby. So, my advice is just have fun with it and take your time.

When the U.K. Sales Manager for REL – Rob Hunt arrived with a T9i in hand, of course the sensible thing to do was to have him sit down for a good period of time and understand what my system does before we integrate the sub. I must admit I was very flattered when he said “this has to be one of the best review systems I’ve ever heard” adding “even though it would warrant one of our better subs realistically, I think that you will be amazed at what the T9i is going to add once we configure it”. Once added and with a huge smile I remember saying to Rob, “I don’t know about the best system you have heard Rob, but I’d defiantly say that this is the best I’ve heard this current setup – when can I try the ‘S’ range?”, we both smiled and had a little laugh before we just sat there quietly going through various tracks from different genres.

And that’s my point you see, it doesn’t matter how much something costs, it’s the way it connects the music to you and how lost you can get in the emotional qualities of a performance – whether it’s JS Bach or Bastille, the reward is in the time you take to find equipment that focuses on the performance and how well you can integrate all the component parts. For me, I was very happy with my system and adding the T9i from REL with an open mind gave me another layer of tonal colour, richness, undertones and musicality that was first noticeable in added bass extension but was just as quickly apparent in fleshing out every part of the frequency range in such a natural and impactful way, that it actually took me a while after taking the T9i out of my system to adjust back to my normal presentation.

AT A GLANCE

Conclusion

I’ll be the first to admit that I didn’t hold out much hope in being able to integrate a subwoofer so easily into my current setup. Primarily due to not accounting for one over recent years and placing more and more furniture into the space, which in turn decreased the ability of positioning for such an addition.

But I have to give great credit to the guys at REL Acoustics for creating a subwoofer which A. has the perfect range of controls to seamlessly take on the remaining last couple notes in the bottom end so well as well as fleshing out the midrange and treble very naturally and B. has such a fast and agile responsiveness that it kept up with the speed of my ceramic drivers.

Once the careful tuning and positioning was achieved, a whole new layer of tonality brings music more to life. Every detail from top to bottom gained a more organic feel and the overall presence of vocals, whether female of male took on a more life-like appeal. I urge anybody considering a subwoofer in their system to take a look at what is affordable to them within the vast range at REL and even though a final fit and finish sub for me to compliment my main speakers would be somewhere a little further up the line, I could honestly say that the T9i was an act I would visit again without hesitation. As stated above careful integration is key, with the results being incredibly rewarding.

Build Quality – excellent finish, right down to the knobs and feet

Sound Quality – once integrated well the T9i will surpass expectations

Value For Money – great!

Pros – attractive and well finished, with a sound quality that matches, impactful, delicate and cohesive

Cons – as with all subwoofers, integration is dependant on room configuration and can take some patience to evolve the speaker into a strong cohesive match

Price – £1000

Finishes – Goss Black, Gloss White

Dan Worth

Based around Auralic’s Lightning DS Streaming Platform, which is one of the most intuitive and responsive software systems around for devices of this type, Polaris incorporates a wired/wireless streamer, a music server – via additional HDD/SSD, a DAC, a moving magnet phonostage, a preamplifier and a stereo power amplifier. Dan Worth tries out this £2875 box of tricks.

Polaris utilises AURALiC Flexible Filters and Femto Master Clock, supports quad-rate DSD and PCM up to 32 bit/384kHz. The powerful internal stereo amplifier module can deliver a continuous 120 watts per channel into 8 ohms or 180 watts per channel from its on-board, high power, high efficiency Class D modules.

The diminutive 33cm x 26cm x 6.5cm Polaris is packed with enough connectivity to make even most separate systems feel vulnerable in the flexibility stakes. Boasting a vast range of digital inputs including AES/EBU, Coaxial, Toslink, USB device to computer, 2 x USB host to storage and DAC, RJ45 Gigabit Ethernet and 802.11b/g/n/ac Tri-Band WiFi along with two pairs of analogue inputs and one pair of analogue outputs.

Streaming options aren’t overlooked by Auralic either – as well as having the option for an on-board HDD/SSD storage, USB drives can be added and support for Tidal, Qobuz, Roon, Network Shared Folders on PC/Mac/Linux or a Network Attached Storage Device (NAS), AirPlay, Bluetooth, Songcast and Internet Radio are all supported. There is no support for Spotify but by now most of you will indeed have migrated to Tidal or Qobuz I’d imagine, and remember that if you don’t already use an iOS device then you will require one for Lightning DS to control any Auralic product and all of its features.

Fit and Finish 

Being dinky, very well constructed and having a little bit of weight to it makes the Polaris feel substantial and its cosmetics are great too in either of the two finishes – black or silver. I remember having a little jab or two at the Aries for its looks, calling it the “Hunchback of Auralic” but the guys have really made up for it with the Polaris with it’s all aluminium chassis which falls in line with the Altair Streaming DAC and Vega DAC – exuding quality and putting it into a more lifestyle category of products but with a Hifi pedigree to boot. I really like the design a lot. 

Setting Up 

Auralic’s product setup is a cinch! I hooked up to my Ayon loudspeakers, a power cable and an Ethernet cable to complete the oh so tricky task of physical setup and as long as you have an iOS device on hand the initial software setup takes 5 minutes or so, with each consecutive use from there on taking a mere few seconds to enter you into the Lightning DS portal of features. It’s incredibly easy to flick between streaming options, local radio and onboard or off board storage , leaving you stress free and eager to listen to some music.

The Sound 

With any Auralic product, the sound quality for the cost is quite generous – along with its feature packed design. Using the onboard amplifier offers a clean, distortion free sound that even at higher volume levels remains very stable and engaging.

The unit gives a good impression of transparency and resolution as my first pieces of music proved. I generally start by playing some acoustic and vocals and both female and male vocals to gauge a balance of the sound and these were dealt with very well indeed, giving me a strong projected vocal that sat slightly forward of the accompanying band members. A very powerful female vocal may at times suffer from a lack of absolute body, offering a more detailed texture over colour tonality in the lower end of the midrange but this is not a criticism, rather an observation of the sonic implementation of the class d amplifier and if you have ever spent a great deal of time with class d you will understand this this is a sonic signature of the technology. Upper midrange which can make or break a lot of designs in my experience was very well controlled, allowing soaring vocals to stay away from any harshness or grain whether I was streaming locally or via the Internet.

Nils Lofgren’s playful guitar work conveyed great precision and leading edge sharpness from the strings was very accurate and polished, with decays well rendered into the acoustic space. When things speed up the Polaris keeps up, it can do intricate and complicated passages justice and with the correct speaker will flesh out accordingly making for a very pleasing listen.

Having everything at your finger tips with the Polaris is a joy – apart from vinyl playback, which is what it is and something that I don’t use so I cannot comment on the onboard phonostage.

I did however use the radio feature a fair bit and although the sonics are dependent on the station listened too. I find that when we accept that there are going to be limitations on certain aspects of sound we stop criticising them so much. In turn I did find myself enjoying radio playback as more of a background thing and often turned the volume up more when a song I liked came on and admittedly had the odd little bop or two listening to a few stations I like.

120 watts per channel from this small box of tricks has the ability to push out beat driven music from most speakers very well, with a soundstage that has good strong width and a very good front to back presentation. I played a substantial amount of electronica through the Polaris that gave great energy and weight to the sound, punchy and detailed in the bottom end that had me turning up the dial more than usual as the in-built amp is just so clean and distortion free.

I’ve heard many class d amplifiers to date now and always champion them in subwoofers and although I enjoy them very much in their own rights I still prefer a good A/B for myself, in a main system – especially with my current speakers which are clean in presentation themselves. What Auralic have to offer from the Polaris is the ability to tonally match the amplifier to a better degree as the unit is an all in one, taking away the user’s own trial and error matching equipment and in my case primarily being a streamer of local and internet based files is the perfect match.

I actually ended up keeping the Polaris for longer than I normally would a piece of equipment due to this and used it fairly often. For me this was key to adjusting and appreciating the unit more. Oh so often we can fall into the trap of hearing something and passing judgement too quickly on its sound, whether it’s an initial wow and then a subsequent let down over time or a rash decision based on different imparting an impression of not being correct. I liked the Polaris from the outset but I must admit it really did grow on me further the more I used it. A smoother speaker cable and some good paper cones will exploit the abilities of the Polaris to a greater degree, retaining all of its detail and transparent poise but allow for a little bit more of a warmer tone – if that’s something you want from your sound.

AT A GLANCE

Conclusion

The Polaris is an agile sounding and rich feature packed piece of equipment from Auralic – who over the past couple of years have really stamped their own mark on the market. Combining their Lightning DS app with carefully implemented electronics and almost a fail safe, ready to use every time switch on and go unit, it just makes you feel that Auralic have cared for you in every aspect of simply enjoying your music without any faffing about.

The sound of the Polaris is very informative and detailed – class d may not be to everybody’s tastes but Auralic do their implementation of the technology well and just like any other piece of equipment synergy is key to getting the best out of a product. I’d say as far as all in one diminutive designs go the Polaris is a terrific piece of kit that should be considered as one of your list’s leaders when looking for a unit of good pedigree, overall design, features and ease of use.

Build Quality – Very well made, with a lovely laid out rear panel and small easy to integrate size

Sound Quality – Expectantly clean, informative and distortion free

Value For Money – Really quite generous, offering a plethora of features for the price

Pros – Good clean sound, agile, detailed with a great amount of features and of course the great Lightning DS app

Cons – Requires a little care for ultimately matching speakers if you outdo like a richer warmer tone

Price – £2875

Dan Worth

Specifications: 

Type: integrated amplifier, streamer & DAC

Power output: 120W/180W (8ohm/4ohm)

Frequency Response: 20Hz – 20KHz, +/- 0.5dB (precise filter mode)
THD+N: <0.01%, 20Hz-20KHz at 1W
Streaming Inputs: Network shared folder, USB Drive, Internal Music Storage (with optional 2.5-inch HDD or SSD), UPnP/DLNA Media Server, TIDAL and Qobuz streaming, Internet Radio, AirPlay, Bluetooth

Digital Inputs: AES/EBU, Coaxial, Toslink, USB device to computer, 2x USB host to storage and DAC, RJ45 Gigabit Ethernet, 802.11b/g/n/ac Tri-Band WiFi
Analogue outputs: Single-ended RCA(6mV @0dBFS), loudspeaker binding posts

Supported File Formats: AAC, AIFF, ALAC, APE, DIFF, DSF, FLAC,
MP3, OGG, WAV, WV and WMA
Supported Digital Formats: PCM from 44.1KS/s to 384KS/s in 32Bit, DSD64, DSD128, DSD256
Control Software: Lightning DS for iOS, RC-1 remote handset, OpenHome compatible, uPnP compatible control software, Roon
Power Consumption: Sleep – <10W, Playback –  450W at max.
Dimensions WxDxH: 330 x 260 x 65mm (13 x 10.2 x 2.6 inches)
Weight: 4.5kg (10lbs)

Albedo are a Poland based company that go to great lengths (excuse the pun) with their cables’ manufacture. This goes all the way back to smelting the metals and drawing their own conductors. Dominic Marsh listens to their Monolith Reference Speaker and Interconnect cables to see if is all worth their effort. 

“Albedo have been making audiophile interconnects for over 20 years now and I say too few people have heard of the brand which I think is a great shame. That is partly due to being manufactured in Poland and distributed by a global dealer network”

Read the full review here.

Vibrating stylus cleaners are not a new concept, but the Flux Hifi Sonic stylus operates at a lower frequency to older types, which, say the company, makes it perfectly safe to use on your precious cartridge. 

“I got this funky little unit passed to me at Munich last year but if truth be known it has sat on the side of the Hifi rack up until a couple of months ago when I finally plucked up the courage to give it a whirl on the Gold Note Tuscany Red cartridge. Why the hesitation? Well, liquids that have big Achtung/Caution stickers on their bottle and five grand cartridges make for a worrying combination. Add into the mix a small vibrating pad that I envisaged shaking the cantilever lose and you can see why I might be a tad worried. The Flux Hifi Sonic is not a new concept, there have been vibrating stylus cleaners around for years, but the manufacturers say that it operated at a lower frequency to the older models and as such said to be much safer and more effective”.

Read the full review here

Leema Acoustics, based in Wales have launched an Anniversary edition of their well received Tucana II integrated amplifier. Hifi Pig takes a listen. 

I recall having evaluated some Leema products before for Hifi Pig, namely their Elements integrated amplifier and Libra DAC, then more recently the Tucana Mark II integrated amplifier.  I was pretty impressed with the Tucana II, so while the memory of that amplifier’s performance was still fresh in my recollection Leema sent me over their “Anniversary Edition” for review.   It is a statement product to celebrate 10 years of being in business and my word the company has moved on in leaps and bounds during that relatively short period and their passion is clearly evidenced in their products, particularly so this product.

CONSTRUCTION

Like all other Leema electronics, the Tucana Anniversary Edition amplifier is built like the proverbial out-house and there is nothing at all flimsy or cheap in it’s build quality.   Ergonomically too it is an absolute peach to operate, with all controls and indicators working flawlessly and reliably too for good measure. I particularly loved the volume control with it’s circle of LEDs to indicate the exact setting.  Not the approximate setting mind, but the EXACT setting, which I will explain in due course, but I will say it is just about the best I have found on a modern amplifier with a digital volume control, as I hate with a passion any volume control that needs the skilled hands of an open heart surgeon to get an accurate volume setting.   Very well done, Leema.

Outwardly, the new Tucana amplifier looks no different to either of it’s two predecessor (Tucana Mark 1 and 2), but the Anniversary Edition moves up a big notch over the “Tucana II” model, with a shiny badge denoting that it is the Anniversary Edition and bright silvered Leema logo on the faceplate, which easily sets it apart from the Tucana II which has neither of these adornments.

Taking a tour around the outward physical aspects then, the volume control knob is surrounded by 2 small coloured LED’s marked HEAT and PROTECT which are self explanatory and the PROTECT LED flashes 3 times during power up to show the circuitry is working, then the 32 small blue LED’s which flash 8 times during the power up sequence.  It is interesting to note that the volume control is quite a complex circuit consisting of a 32 bit microprocessor plus an expensive high resolution encoder and some complex mathematics to arrive at 0.5dB increments on the volume control, which in use is utterly seamless.

To the left of the volume control we find two 3.5mm sockets for headphones connection and MP3 signal input, then to the right of the volume control we find the infra red remote control window, then to the centre of the front panel we find a series of four illuminated push switches labeled “GAIN”, “BAL”, “MUTE” and “TAPE”.  To the right we have a set of seven illuminated push buttons for source selection, labeled “BALANCED”, “CD”, “TUNER”, “AUX”, “MULTI 1”, “MULTI 2 / MP3“ and “AV DIRECT”.  Finally, we find the mains power/standby button which has a blue LED which illuminates in standby mode, which thankfully isn’t too bright in ambient light although it throws quite a pencil beam across the room as I discovered one night when I went into my darkened listening room for a pair of glasses and didn’t switch any lights on.

To the rear we find reading from left to right, a pair of loudspeaker binding posts for the right hand speaker, then two LIPS sockets which connects to other Leema products with the same connections for system control, then a mains IEC inlet socket, then a pair of balanced XLR input sockets, then below these connections we find a row of single ended RCA sockets labeled “TAPE” (input and output), “AV”, “MULTI 2” and “MULTI 1”, “AUX”, “TUNER””CD” and “PRE OUT”.  All of the inputs have individual gain settings.  Finally there is another pair of loudspeaker binding posts for the left hand speaker.

On the subject of speaker binding posts, I found some clear plastic shrouds fitted to the posts which prevented me using my main speaker cables with spade connectors fitted and the handbook/instruction manual clearly states that banana plugs are to be used for speaker connections to the amplifier.  I can only presume that some jobsworth safety “experts” have deemed that using spade connectors to an amplifier now poses a serious health and safety risk in some way so they have been banned.  It was more than annoying when they decided to put plastic plugs into speaker binding posts to stop the use of banana plugs, but if they have now added spade connectors to that banned list or so it appears, then how the heck are we supposed to connect loudspeaker cables???? I despair at the so-called nanny state, I really do.  Because the amplifier produces 35 volts with immense current delivery at the speaker terminals, so US and EU rules dictate these shrouds must be fitted, so if I ever became fortunate enough to own one of these amplifiers I would remove them immediately and Leema can supply instructions for safely doing so.  That of course is the owner’s decision and at their own risk, but Leema are simply complying with these statutory directives.

A silvered logo and a shiny badge doesn’t exactly justify a £1,000+ price hike over the price of a standard Tucana II model, so that begs the question what have Leema done to the product to differentiate it from it’s cheaper sibling?

The components are not rolled on the thighs of dusky maidens dressed in coconut shells and grass skirts during production, if that’s what you are thinking.  No sir.  Under the hood there is a list of worthwhile enhancements going on, like extra thick gold plated copper tracks on the PCB’s for increased conductivity, all capacitors within the signal paths are upgraded to Nichicon Muse, mains transformers are much bigger Noratel Xtraquiet types wound for low mechanical and electrical noise and Leema’s own 16 core Reference 2 cables are used as hook up wire to connect PCB’s to external connectors.  I am told they are not the easiest cables to strip and solder, with no less than 64 cable ends to prepare, so the production build team deserve a medal for their patience and fortitude.

Included with the amplifier is Leema’s new Focus remote control handset and this too has Leema’s fastidious attention to detail written all over it. It took me a while to familiarise myself with the button layout, as the volume adjustment buttons are spang in the middle amongst other buttons and I had to look before pressing to make sure.  Not one microgramme of plastic here folks, it is a heavy lump of alloy casting supported on four small rubber feet, with buttons that work positively and a nice touch for me was the LEDs which light up on the function selected. It is rather heavy and has it’s own microclimate surrounding it as well, as even in a warm room it is still cold to the touch.  The weight is impressive too and I amply demonstrated that when my dog tried to steal my digestive biscuit, but a light tap on the cranium with the remote control meant he desisted immediately and slunk off, sans biscuit and didn’t risk another attempt at cookie larceny.  No animals were permanently harmed during the writing of this review.

I was inspecting the underside of it and noted the lack of a battery compartment cover and any visible screws to change the batteries which are 2 x AAA type.  Checked the owner’s manual and no mention is made of battery replacement, but the secret is to unscrew the 4 rubber feet and voila, the rear panel comes off complete.  Leema will hopefully now include that information in the owner’s manual, as it has already perplexed some owners apparently.  The remote is built from scratch in house, using miniature push switches rated for 10,000,000 presses and let me assure you all I didn’t put that claim to the test.  The case is machined for Leema by a company in Oxfordshire and the text is laser etched in Hampshire.  Bead blasting and anodising is carried out in Buckinghamshire.  Boy, is this thing engineered and well travelled too for good measure it seems.

I found the external appearance of the amplifier very refreshing in not being the same boring flat sided rectangular box with knobs on the front, as it was running outwith of the mainstream herd’s appearance and instantly recognizable as a Leema product.  Sort of reminds me of the Monty Python sketch “How to recognize a Larch tree from a distance”, so all I had to do was swap the word Larch for Leema.  Not a Python fan?  Please yourselves.

SOUND QUALITY

Press the standby button on the front panel and the amplifier begins it’s powering up routine.  The Protect LED flashes 3 times, then the 32 blue LEDs surrounding the volume control flash 8 times and the volume resets to a preset low level.

With a specification rating capable of delivering 150 watts per channel in to 8 ohms and 290 watts into 4 ohms and can also muster 520 watts into 2 ohms no less, it would suggest a very powerful amplifier and so it proved to be during the listening sessions.   Lee Taylor (The LEE of LEEMA) tells me that the amplifier is impervious to load impedance vagaries and will easily drive those “difficult” speakers whose impedance curve drops below 1.5 ohms, in fact he says it will drag music out of a rusty nail if needs be.  I will take his word on that, but I get his meaning, if not in the strictest literal sense of course.

In one word I would describe it as “muscular”, but not in a brutish way at all and you could liken that level of power with a champion bodybuilder, in that you wouldn’t start a fight with him as you know you would lose before you began and him knowing his own strength so he doesn’t have to prove it to anyone, least of all you.  Just measure his biceps and be very nice to the man.

That solid power of course manifests itself in bass output, whereby a drum sounds like a drum at close range, losing none of the heft and power that’s there, including the harmonics generated by the drum’s shell.  My resident power amp is rated at 200 watts per channel, but it easily lost to the Leema unit in the way the power was delivered, with a firm depth of solidity that was perceived as just slightly lacking in my own amplifier.  Both amps could deliver the “punch in the guts” power from a kick drum beat, but the Leema took that one stage further by allowing you to hear what the drum skin and shell was doing, very clearly and very concisely, plus whether a hard or soft beater was being used.  All the while the amplifier is dealing with delivering high power for bass energy, it still does not lose the plot in nuances and fine details and as such it is pretty much unruffled whatever genre of music you throw at it and that is in essence why the Leema Tucana Anniversary Edition has so few rivals.

With the arrival of a pair of Audiovector SR3 Avantgardes for review, this was a pairing that just HAD to happen.  I had a brief hearing of these speakers at the 2017 Bristol Hifi Show being driven by a compact Exposure system.  During this particular visit to the show I had lurking in my prized Hifi Pig pink shoulder bag some of my own CDs in the hope some exhibitors could tear themselves away from their library of specially selected plinky plonk music and give my offerings a whirl.    Of course, I had in my bag Fink’s “Wheels Beneath My Feet” album which I was itching to be played and the results I heard at Bristol were nothing like what I was used to at home with the exception of one room, the Exposure room using the Audiovectors.  That began my quest to review a pair of these speakers and happy to say Audiovector were more than happy to oblige, so look out for the full review of these speakers soon in Hifi Pig Magazine.

The Leema amplifier and the Audiovector SR3s were a very sweet listen indeed.  Notice I use the word “sweet” here and they were a joy to listen to.  Smooth flowing, very powerful and yet highly controlled, bass in particular was a solid as a brick wall, completely unshakeable in fact.  I never once found the sound lacklustre or laid back either let me add, this pair didn’t fatigue either and I could listen for many hours and be completely absorbed by the sound. The very top end treble didn’t have the clarity and dynamics for my own personal listening preferences, but I do know many of our readers intensely dislike sharp defined treble registers, so if you belong to this group of people, then be heartened in the knowledge this pairing would please you tremendously.  As an add-on to this although not entirely relevant to this review, I recently bought a Lyngdorf power amp with 200 watts on tap and the bass sounded decidedly off with the Audiovector Avantgarde SR3s and worse still, I couldn’t fathom out why.  This hifi caper has it’s inexplicable quirks at times.

Another pair of speakers in for review was a pair of hORNS Aria 1 speakers, so it would be rude not to harness them to the Leema amplifier as well while they were here.  In my resident system, the hORNS had a rather subdued bass offering, with sublime treble and midrange which more than compensated for that.  Paired to the Leema amplifier though, the bass registers certainly perked up, producing a better balanced sound from top to bottom ends of the spectrum. Synergy at play here methinks and I would say that the bass softness of the Arias were better matched to the strong power delivery traits of the Leema amplifier.

I also have a pair of Roksan TR5 speakers here and they too were connected to the Leema amplifier.  I was amazed that out of the 4 pairs of speakers connected to the Leema, these were the best tonally balanced out of the 4.  Neither bass nor treble dominated proceedings and they managed to walk that fine line between exciting and dynamic and overblown and overpowering.  This meant you could enjoy an extended listening session without becoming jaded or fatigued.

Then we move on to my current resident speakers, the Pylon Diamond Monitors I reviewed earlier this year for Hifi Pig and had to have after hearing them in action.  These speakers deserve the epithet “Monitors” and really do live up to their name.  They are fast, dynamic, insightful and tuneful, with a bass output that you wouldn’t expect from a box of their relatively small size and they easily ousted my then floor standing speakers with ease.  The best thing about these speakers is they are a great reviewing tool as well, because what you feed into them is very clearly heard, warts and all.  When plumbed up to the Leema amplifier, the character of the Leema changed completely.  What perked up the hORNS speakers and was “sweet” with the Audiovector SR3 Avantgardes was no more, instead I got a lively and punchy amplifier with a tremendous amount of accuracy and refinement in the midband and treble region, with micro dynamics portrayed excellently.  I love these speakers because of their in your face, bite your shins kind of presentation and they pull no punches which I personally adore, but may not be to other’s tastes and I am very comfortable with that.  As with the hORNS Aria 1 speakers the Leema amplifier addressed and married well with the speakers, whereas with the Pylon speakers it was the other way around in my perception with the Leema amplifier then was a prime case of ripping of the sheep’s clothing and finding the wolf hiding underneath.

Needless to say, the Leema comfortably passed every benchmark recording I fed into it and when it came to Fink’s “Wheels Beneath My Feet” album, I kid you not I played that album five times in a row just for the sheer pleasure of it and the thought of using the album as a “test” soon disappeared.

AT A GLANCE

CONCLUSION

My recollection of the Tucana Mark II amplifier was that it was just a tad finicky about what speakers it was paired with to give of it’s best.  The Tucana Anniversary Edition was happy with whatever speakers it was paired with and the best part for me was being able to crank up the volume control with not the slightest trace of blare, no matter how high the sound level increased, in fact my hearing was at it’s topmost level of tolerance, yet the amplifier sounded like it wasn’t even breaking into a sweat.  I cannot recall any amplifier being able to do that, although some have come close.

The sound is truly effortless in every respect and I really do admire it’s ability to untangle really complex music and keep it all firmly in it’s place without getting knotted up in the slightest.

I personally gave the Leema Tucana II a highly, highly, highly recommended nomination, as it justly deserved it, but this amplifier is far more than that, therefore  has to be handed over to a second reviewer for their analysis before we start thinking about an Outstanding Product award from Hifi Pig.

Build Quality:  In the price band the Tucana occupies, it is a class leading amplifier.

Sound Quality:  Peerless.

Value For Money:  I can easily see this as a long term keeper amplifier, so will save money during it’s lifetime by not “upgrading”.  The build is worth every penny on it’s own.

Pros:  Superb build and sonic attributes make this a must audition product.

Cons:  Not cheap by any means, but true quality never is.  Refine your busking skills or sell a kidney if you are a true audiophile.

D Marsh

Dominic was impressed enough by the Leema Acoustics Tucana II Anniversary Edition to put it forward for a Hifi Pig Outstanding  Product award.  To qualify, the amp had to be reviewed by a second Hifi Pig reviewer and so the Tucana II Anniversary Edition was passed to John Scott for his thoughts.

Domonic has already done a sterling job in describing the background to the Tucana II Anniversary Edition, its features and operation so there is no point in me repeating any of that, although I will provide a few impressions of the amp’s appearance and set up.

UNBOXING AND SET UP

I wasn’t at home when the Tucana II was delivered and apparently the delivery man was none too happy at having to lug it up the garden path.  When my better half answered the door, he asked her to sign for receipt and then clearly intended to leave it on the doorstep.  When Mrs S explained that she wouldn’t be able to move it from there, he grudgingly carried it the extra 2 feet into the hallway where I found it awaiting my arrival when I got home.

There’s no denying that in its sturdy cardboard packing case the Tucana II is a bit of a handful but I manhandled it into the living room without too much difficulty and proceeded to unbox it.  The amp comes cosseted in a drawstring bag which is useful if you need to store it temporarily for any reason.

As Dom has mentioned, the amp is solid in every respect and the build quality is first class.  It has the look of something that would be at home in a recording studio but its  understated elegance also fits in perfectly to a domestic environment.  Set up was as straightforward as you would expect an integrated amplifier to be and I had it up and running in a matter of minutes.  I knew that as it had been tested extensively by Dom that it would not require any run in time but I gave it a couple of hours just to warm up anyway.

SOUND QUALITY

Dom has explained above about the 32 blue LEDs that surround the volume control.  I should explain that these LEDs start at roughly the 7 o’clock position, at which the volume is zero, round to roughly 5 o’clock, at which maximum volume is produced. I have a pretty big listening room by modern standards but  at no time during the weeks I spent with this amp was I able to get it past the 9 o’clock position – The Tucana II is capable of some serious volume!

Volume aside, the Tucana II’s defining characteristic is detail. It is, in fact, the most forensically detailed amp I have encountered; this was particularly notable in the way in which it revealed reverberation tails and details of room acoustics that had been previously hidden.  This aspect of its performance proved initially to be slightly disconcerting; I’d settle down to enjoy an album I knew well and find that it sounded different to how I remembered it – sometimes not necessarily better and sometimes not necessarily worse, but decidedly different and It took a few listening sessions before I got used to this.

I found myself being drawn more to the electronic music in my collection as the Tucana II revealed new tones and textures in the synthesised  instruments; The Ballet Of The Chicks In Their Shells from Isao Tomita’s version of Mussorgsky’s Pictures At An Exhibition fairly burst from my Audio GE Sincerous 80 floorstanders and danced around in front of me in a way I hadn’t experienced before.  Every second of the ride on Kraftwerk’s Autobahn, from ignition to journey’s end was a thrill.

Christy Moore’s version of The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face has some deep bass which can, in the wrong system, swamp the playback entirely and render it, boomy, muddy and generally unlistenable.  The Tucana II kept tight control, delivering the bottom end in its entirety but never at the expense of Moore’s and Declan Sinnott’s guitars and vocals.

The Tucana II makes “spot the mistake” a fun game to play; the join between two different recordings at 1:24 in John Lennon’s Working Class Hero from the Plastic Ono Band album is  more clear to  hear than ever.  Similarly, in Steve Winwood’s While You See A Chance from his Arc Of A Diver album, there’s a dodgy overdub at 3:54 that stands out like the proverbial sore thumb.

AT A GLANCE

CONCLUSION

Leema Acoustics’ Tucana II Anniversary Edition amplifier delivers an audio performance that is as solid as its build quality.  It will bring out the best, and the worst, of whatever other bits of kit you partner it with and with the recordings you play through it.  For that reason I’m just slightly more guarded in my enthusiasm for the Tucana II than Dominic is as I believe that correct system matching will be critical to how it performs in your listening room.  That said, the amp’s honesty and transparency means that it will be a component that will happily deliver great performance now and will maximise the benefits of any upgrades you may make in the future.  On this basis, I am more than happy to support its nomination as a Hifi Pig Outstanding Product.

Build Quality – As solid and well-finished as they come at this price point.

Sound Quality – Effortlessly revealing, this amp just tells it like is.

Value for Money – Not cheap but if you like what it does,  it’s a keeper.

Pros – That honesty and transparency thing.

Cons – That honesty and transparency thing; it doesn’t suffer fools gladly and it won’t be to everyone’s taste.

John Scott

SPECIFICATIONS:

Output Power: 150W rms 8 Ohms/Channel

Output Power: 290W rms 4 Ohms/Ch

Output Power: 520W rms 2 Ohms/Ch

THD: 0.004%

Noise: < -100 dB

Frequency Response: 5 Hz – 100 kHz (+0/-3 dB)

Number of balanced Inputs (XLR): 1

Number of un-balanced Inputs (RCA): 6

Tape Input: 1

Tape Output: 1

MP3 Inputs: 1

Headphone Outputs: 1

Pre-out Outputs: 1

Channel gain adjust for each individual input

Mute Button: Yes

Balance Adjust: (left/Right)

Thermal Protection: Yes

LIPS® system: Master or Slave

LIPS® system: Master or Slave

Dimensions: 440*320*110mm

Carton: 590*450*210mm

Weight: 18Kg

Integrating a subwoofer into a 2-Channel Hifi system is often far more difficult than adding one in a Home Cinema setup. Both require fine tuning in order to convey a cohesive response and unilateral load of the room, but in order to achieve the speed, poise and polish needed for convincing musical playback, the task of joining the lower frequencies of a subwoofer to the main speakers can be extremely frustrating, yet ultimately rewarding. Dan Worth integrates the £1000 REL T9i Subwoofer into his system.

“Over the past 20 years or so I have had numerous subwoofers in both AV and Hifi sound systems, some can be fantastic for speed and punch and others great for huge impact and pressurised room interaction – or high spls. Cone size, cone material, cabinet structure, amplification type and strength, feet type, platform material and overall positioning all play a part in overall performance…”

Read the full review here

David Blumestein take a listen to the iFi Nano iDSD Black Label Headphone Amp/DAC costing £199.

Rarely, if ever, have I classified a piece of gear, in this case a transportable rechargeable battery powered headphone amp/DAC as a no brainer. Sure, the unit has some flaws, nobody’s prefect, but at the price £199 you cannot fault it for what it is able to do in such a small package. I’m well aware of the gravity of that opening statement, but I stand by it.

DSD256, PCM 384, MQA, DXD, headphone amp and 3.5mm output capable of running on a battery charge for 10 hours which is impressive and should suffice for most days out and about. The headphone amp has TRRS balanced wiring and claims to offer all the advantages of balanced wiring, despite the actual amp being single-ended. It does everything it claims, and when was the last time a piece of gear delivered on so many promises.

The nano iDSD Black Label lets you choose between the ‘Listen’ (Minimum Phase Bezier Filter) and ‘Measure’ (Linear Phase Transient Aligned Filter) options and is switchable from the rear of the unit. The large front mounted analogue pot felt solid accurate. On the front you get a direct output and a iEMatch output. The latter is designed to reduce background noise, improve dynamic range and improve the control of volume on sensitive headphones.

Did I mention that it built like a brick outhouse and over the last week the unit, I am here to testify I hit it hard, slammed it into my satchel on the bus, on the train, in the underground, in the wet, in the cold, in the snow, (as much as that’s possible in London) and it took the abuse without complaint or missing a beat.

For the review period I had at my disposal a choice of six DAPs which I dutifully connected and disconnected from the iFi nano iDSD Black Label. I could not get the device to hiccough. It functioned like a trooper. All of these players were connected via a generic OTG (On The Go) to Micro USB cable. The cables are easily available online and come at no great cost. In the scenarios in which tested the unit on the go, the generic cable performed admirably. I proceeded to connect my Samsung Android phone and eventually my Apple iPhone 6+ with Apple’s proprietary and more expensive cable. Same results, no better no worse in comparison, especially out and about.

Besides my travel Koss Port-a-Pro headphones, I tested with pairs of Audioquest Nighthawk and Meze Classic/Neo headphones. As much I enjoyed listening with the bigger, more expensive headphones, I felt the Koss provided a more realistic scenario for my testing purposes. The nano iDSD BL will output 20mW at 600 Ohms, 285mW at 30 and 200mW at 15.

I feel very confident in the iFi nano iDSD Black Label as a transportable workhorse DAC/headphone amplifier solution, but let’s not stop there.

I could envision a situation where I would be visiting a friend where I’d be the one bringing high resolution files and having to supply the DAC. Not being sufficiently motivated, taking my system down is NOT an option. I would want to find the path of least resistance: Enter the iFi nano iDSD Black Label. I set the device up in people’s home connected to their main systems, their computers, their powered speakers with myself and my partners in these endeavors being pleasantly shocked by the outcome. Listening to a full system where the DAC was transportable and battery powered did not seem to phase the systems or us. Am I ready to give up my full size traditionally powered DACs in favor of this transportable one? No, but, those without the benefit of such systems were really enjoying the sound, the spaciousness of it all and I was left wondering if many would be more than satisfied without investing more in their music playback system in the home?

I was not expecting the unit to be more than advertised, and as a headphone amp it did the business. The sound was appropriately loud and full, carrying its weight while simultaneously punching above it.

My DAPs sport just about every genre of music: Classical, Jazz, Funk, Acid Jazz, Pop, Ambient, Percussion, World Music and that dreaded Miscellaneous folder for all that defies description. Without the Black Label I was happy, with the Black Label I was getting lost not only in the music, but space and time. I missed stops on the train. I was late to appointments. Almost did without my favorite pizza in London.

Across the spectrum of the music, I was being treated to more of a show. This year, this month alone has been for new album releases and music. As I’ve been ankling about these past two weeks in London, the following have been in HEAVY rotation:

• Django Django – Marble Skies,
• Beth Hart & Joe Bonamassa – Black Coffee
• Jamison Ross – All For One
• Nils Frahm – All Melody
• Black Rebel Motorcycle Club – Wrong Creatures
• Venetian Snares (Aaron Funk) – She Began To Cry Tears of-Blood Which Became Little Brick Houses When They Hit The Ground
• First Aid Kit – Ruins
• Bahamas – Earthtones

Listening to these new releases with and without the iFi Nano iDSD Black Label how much deeper the sound. The highs and lows were so much more defined. I was expecting this with the higher resolution and the devices DAC capabilities, but on traditional Redbook (16 bit 44.1 kHz) files the qualitative difference was/both startling and evident. You don’t expect to hear the instruments, so as to separate them, especially on the go, but this was indeed possible on the move: buses, trains and walking about town. Contrary to popular belief, you CAN take it with you…the Black Label brings . i-Fidelity to transportable gear at an every-man price.

AT A GLANCE

Conclusion

iFi has created a portable workhorse of DAC/Headphone amplifier. At the price, I can heartily recommend the unit. Yes, the sound may not be to everyone’s exact preference, but headphones play a big part there. A lot of factors at play here: headphones model/brand, DAP model/brand and lastly individuals’ level of hearing.

Build Quality:  The unit is built to last. It is sturdy and rugged. If I were to choose something portable/transportable with which to concuss, the iFi Nano DSD Black Label would be high on my list.

Sound Quality:  It is not just a portable/transportable solution. I could very well see some folks using this product as their desktop/system DAC. There are several sub £500 DACs out there which should be quaking in their boots right about now.

Value for Money:  At £199 this item is a steal, an absolute no-brainer. Even if you don’t own a DAP (portable player) it is great to be used with headphones connected to a phone/tablet /computer

Pros:  All of the above

Cons: The price makes it hard to quibble, like other manufacturers it would be nice to have a Micro USB cable in the box

David Blumenstein

Each month we bring you the fantastic, and free Hifi Pig E-magazine.  The whole month in an easy to read format with exclusive new content. This month there is an in-depth interview with Holger Fromme of German Horn manufacturer, Avantgarde Acoustic.

Also read the newest Hifi and music articles including Bird’s Eye View, on why ‘Real men like white speakers’, ‘Living the Hifi life’ with Colin Pratt of Chord Electronics, ‘What do we mean by Hifi?’, lots of Hifi news and Hifi reviews and much, much more… Click the link or the picture to download now.

Hifi Pig review of the latest cable from innovative UK company Wire On Wire. This time it is their 660 speaker cable that has, to say the least, an interesting, and configurable, geometry. Contains a video of the owner of Wire On Wire explaining the concept behind his cables. 

Regular Hifi Pig readers may recall that I reviewed the Wire On Wire interconnects a while ago and so we now move on to their Experience 660s loudspeaker cables.

CONSTRUCTION

As the loudspeaker cable’s construction follows along a similar path to their interconnects, I have copied some paragraphs from the interconnect review:

At first look it looks like something a drunk spider has fabricated after a generous glug of some home brew with what appears at first sight to be a haphazard weave pattern, but look past that and you find a cable that obviously has great attention paid to its construction.  Anyone can do a simple three strand plait weave blindfolded, but this cable is a lot more complex than that and according to the designer Chris Bell it took an inordinate amount of research and experiment into arriving at this final design. The resultant geometry is called “REDpurl” and I understand that a patent has been applied for and pending  (GB1602578.5).

Most of us will (hopefully) know that  resistance, capacitance and inductance are all traits inherent in any speaker or interconnect cable and whilst resistance remains fairly constant dependent on wire metallurgy, tamper with capacitance parameters and inductance falls victim to that and vice versa.  Some designers rely on those two parameters to shape the final sound but it is fixed once the cable is manufactured into the final product.  Wire On Wire decided that there was an opportunity to manipulate these parameters in their favour and also allow the end user to do likewise by a simple yet ingenious method of adding or subtracting spacers to vary the geometry of the weave pattern. These spacers are not introduced randomly, they are allocated at predetermined intervals or “nodes” along the length of the cable.  A well laid out handbook explains where within in the cable length the spacers should be introduced (or subtracted) as required.

Wire On Wire have chosen silver plated copper conductors despite this configuration having a reputation for having a sharp edgy treble performance, but that is mostly earned by cheap silver plated copper wires and many leading cable manufacturers also use this combination of silver plating and copper core to good effect, so that reputation is rather too generalist, applied with a very broad brush and perhaps not applicable to all silver plated copper wires.  Although not actually measured, the conductors themselves appear to be of different diameters, some with a red outer insulating jacket to preserve polarity for termination, which can be either 4mm banana plugs or spade terminals. Insulation is by PTFE.  The spacers are manufactured from black plastic and appear to be a custom molding.

SOUND QUALITY

The review sample was received in a “naked” state with no spacers actually installed, with spacers attached by cable ties in the appropriate places to make my life a bit easier for the initial listening tests.

My first impression of them was very good, the sound being evenly balanced throughout the audible spectrum, nothing untoward manifesting itself in the sound, which before any running in period was commendable.  Without any instructions to the contrary, I allowed 50 hours of running in time before I commenced the actual evaluation.

My resident speaker cables are by Studio Connections and the Wire on Wire Experience 660s almost  matched them in sound quality, much to my surprise. I then had to ask the question could I wring some more performance from the Experience 660 cables by tailoring the sound with the spacers in situ?

Bearing in mind that other people’s results may vary considerably, with many factors to consider like system components and listening preferences to name just two. The best I can therefore achieve is to convey to you the results that I obtained.

Now for some music and into the CD drawer went my reference recording in the shape of Fink’s “Wheels Beneath My Feet” live album and that has many cues that puts any hifi components through their paces for me. The first is the ambiances recorded at each venue of Fink’s European tour to perform this music selection where each has its own unique reverberation and of course, each audience too has its own signature in the way they cheer and applaud the performance. I would expect to hear each as unique and the Wire On Wire cable performed this with ease, so you could easily tell the capacity of each theatre by that ambiance. Imaging width and depth was very good, with steady instrument placement in the sound-stage.  Bass however was just the tiniest fraction behind my resident cable and almost mustered the definition and shape of bass notes the resident cable can portray down in the lowest registers.  Mid-band was equally as clear and lucid – male and female voices too for that matter was certainly on a par between the two cables. I went through most of my CD collection over a period of two weeks and then I felt the time was right to introduce the full “spacered” up variant of the Experience 660 speaker cables.

The sound to me was a fair bit away from what I heard from the “naked” cable;  what was a sweet and natural sound from the bare cable took on a tiny amount of edginess and that didn’t surprise me at all because the Quadral speakers already ran that knife edge of treble detail between just perfect and leaning towards a slight brightness artifact.  Very similar results in the mid-band too which I attribute entirely to the Quadral’s ability to seek out even the smallest details and inflections.  Bass definition and coherence was always right on the mark no matter what spacers were installed.  However, Wire On Wire suggest inserting the spacers into nodes 5, 12 and 26, which sure enough produced a marked uplift in image definition and depth.

Thankfully, Wire On Wire thoughtfully provide a handbook that shows how to tune the cable by subtracting and adding their plastic spacers to the cable, the nodes being numbered and counted off from the source end, no matter which way round the cable is initially installed.

AT A GLANCE

CONCLUSION

Wire On Wire’s website has an anecdote about Chris Bell’s cables which says their product HAS to sound good or the man will be locked in the shed until it does. He obviously has been let out on good behavior.

I recall that the Wire On Wire Experience 680 interconnect I also reviewed sounded at its best in my system without any spacers being added at all in the final analysis.  To be honest I didn’t altogether relish another review which meant I spent many a long hour putting spacers in and out with the Experience 660s speaker cable, only to find I preferred it best sounding with no spacers at all in the “naked” configuration, like the interconnect.  Having such a revealing speaker used during the evaluation that was already running at peak performance showed up how little change was needed to provoke the sound a bit over the top, which with any other “normal” run of the mill speaker wouldn’t exhibit.

I will then sum up this review with the statement that it was a real pleasure to evaluate a cable that actually did what it said on the tin it would do, at least during the time I had them.  That increase in image definition and depth was claimed and executed so that is a real milestone in a reviewer’s experience of cables and makes worrying about “synergy” almost redundant.

Build Quality:   A real tour-de-force in hand-built cable geometry.

Sound Quality:   It isn’t a static entity like other cables, so it’s within your power to achieve the sound you want. Hifi Pig’s editor Stuart was very impressed with the WoW demo at the Cranage 2017 hiffi show.

Value For Money:  Good quality wire hand built with a complex weave pattern from scratch will never be cheap.

Pros:  Great sound already and able to be tuned to suit, so what’s not to like?

Cons:  Cannot think of any.  Get them on your audition list, I say.

Price: (2m length pair with 4mm banana plugs) £480.00.

D. Marsh

Submitted by email for editing and publication 21st February 2018. 

Watch the video of Chris Bell explaining the concept of his cables