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Simaudio Moon 390 Preamplifier-DAC-Network Player
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- Written by Diego Estan Diego Estan
- Category: Full-Length Equipment Reviews Full-Length Equipment Reviews
- Created: 15 March 2019 15 March 2019
Simaudio, or Moon by Simaudio as they prefer to be called -- or just Moon -- was founded in 1980 in St-Hubert, Québec. As a proud Canadian, I’ve long admired their products but had never had the opportunity to use one in my system. And ever since I recently became engrossed in HBO’s dramatic series Sharp Objects, in almost every episode of which a full stack of topflight Moon electronics is prominently displayed, I’ve had Moon on the brain.
The Best of Florida Audio Expo 2019
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- Written by Doug Schneider Doug Schneider
- Category: Monthly Column Monthly Column
- Created: 01 March 2019 01 March 2019
As I talked with exhibitors and other audio writers at the inaugural Florida Audio Expo (February 8-10), I got the impression that almost every one of us had arrived in Tampa asking ourselves this question: Will this be a complete waste of time?
Bowers & Wilkins 705 S2 Loudspeakers
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- Written by Diego Estan Diego Estan
- Category: Full-Length Equipment Reviews Full-Length Equipment Reviews
- Created: 01 March 2019 01 March 2019
Note: Measurements taken in the anechoic chamber at Canada's National Research Council can be found through this link.
I remember the moment I was first exposed to -- and instantly hooked on -- the experience of high-quality sound reproduction. Still in high school, I heard a pair of lowly Bowers & Wilkins bookshelf speakers, the 201s. I then bought a pair of them, with money I’d saved from my part-time job. Ever since -- some 25 years now -- I’ve been an owner and fan of B&W speakers, from those original 201s through the 202, 610, 630, 640, Matrix 805, Matrix 804, Matrix 803, Matrix 802 S3, and 803D (first generation). After the 803Ds came a divorce, immediately followed by a period of imposed fiscal restraint during which I had to sell the 803Ds and a Bryston 4BST amp, and which has (temporarily) led me to my current speakers, SVS’s Ultra Towers ($2000 USD per pair).
Recommended Reference Component: Focal Stellia Headphones
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- Written by SoundStage! Hi-Fi Editors SoundStage! Hi-Fi Editors
- Category: Components Components
- Created: 01 March 2019 01 March 2019
Focal’s Stellia headphones carry a hefty price of $3000 USD, and are Focal’s second-from-the-top headphone model, just below the Utopias ($3999), introduced in 2016. Nonetheless, Brent Butterworth’s review of the Stellias, published on SoundStage! Solo on February 20, 2019, was briefer than most he’s written. “With every review of headphones or earphones I write, I always find something to complain about,” he wrote. “Not this time.”
Parasound Halo JC 5 Stereo/Mono Amplifier
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- Written by Roger Kanno Roger Kanno
- Category: Full-Length Equipment Reviews Full-Length Equipment Reviews
- Created: 15 February 2019 15 February 2019
Note: Measurements can be found through this link.
Like its designer, John Curl, the recently discontinued Parasound Halo JC 1 mono amplifier is something of a legend. Introduced in 2003, the JC 1 was still considered one of the best values in a high-end, solid-state power amplifier when the last production unit rolled off the line in 2018, at $4495 USD each. Since the introduction of the JC 1, Curl has designed many other highly regarded amplifiers and preamplifiers for Parasound, including the less expensive Halo A 1 series of power amplifiers, of which I reviewed the three-channel Halo A 31. I loved its big, rich sound -- and with the stereo version, the A 21+ ($3150), the A 1 series has received universal acclaim for providing exceptional performance at real-world prices.
The Best Got Better: Revisiting EMM Labs' DA2 Reference Digital-to-Analog Converter
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- Written by Doug Schneider Doug Schneider
- Category: Monthly Column Monthly Column
- Created: 01 February 2019 01 February 2019
Have you ever taken your car in for a complete tune-up and, when you picked it up, it worked so much better that it seemed like a different vehicle? A similar thing happened to me with EMM Labs’ DA2 Reference digital-to-analog converter, which I reviewed in July 2017.
Boulder Amplifiers 508 Phono Stage
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- Written by Oliver Amnuayphol Oliver Amnuayphol
- Category: Full-Length Equipment Reviews Full-Length Equipment Reviews
- Created: 01 February 2019 01 February 2019
When I started out in audio, hi-fi gear from Boulder Amplifiers always seemed like so much mythical unobtanium to this perennially cash-strapped, wide-eyed teen. It wasn’t just the five-figure prices that put their gear out of my reach: No dealers in my neck of the woods carried the line, thereby making auditioning impossible. Still, neither of those high hurdles kept me from salivating over Boulder’s visually arresting, no-compromise wares, including its now legendary, dual-chassis, model 2008 phono preamplifier, which, on its debut almost 20 years ago, sold for the almost unheard-of sum of $29,000 USD.
PSB's Alpha P3 Loudspeaker: Paul Barton Aims for High Sound Quality at a Very Low Price
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- Written by Doug Schneider Doug Schneider
- Category: System One System One
- Created: 01 February 2019 01 February 2019
Want a great meal from a Michelin-starred chef? You’ll never get one for the cost of a McDonald’s Happy Meal. Want to buy a hand-tailored shirt created by a famed fashion designer? You won’t find it at Costco, or anywhere at a Costco price. Want a loudspeaker from one of the world’s greatest speaker designers? Now, that you can have, and for about as much as you’d pay for a mass-market wireless speaker.
The Industry Is Doomed
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- Written by Ken Kessler Ken Kessler
- Category: SoundStage! UK SoundStage! UK
- Created: 01 February 2019 01 February 2019
Rather than the anticipated miserable, soul-destroying post-mortem to the catastrophe that was the high end at CES 2019, it’s worth recounting some of the optimistic notes that prevailed. But that is not my way. I haven’t been this depressed since 1970. Still, there was one positive note: bizarrely, amidst the palpable gloom of the Venetian, where the whole of the high end wouldn’t have filled even one corridor -- let alone a floor -- I chanced upon a well-placed individual with the ear of the CEA or CTA, or whatever they are called.
Recommended Reference Component: VPI Prime Signature Turntable
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- Written by SoundStage! Hi-Fi Editors SoundStage! Hi-Fi Editors
- Category: Components Components
- Created: 01 February 2019 01 February 2019
Until now, the Rega Research RP8 has been the only turntable listed in our Recommended Reference Components. But that was destined to change after the publication on December 15, 2018, on SoundStage! Ultra, of Jason Thorpe’s review of the VPI Prime Signature turntable.
