The Latest Features
Hegel Music Systems H590 Integrated Amplifier-DAC
- Details
- Written by Hans Wetzel Hans Wetzel
- Category: Leaked Leaked
- Created: 15 October 2018 15 October 2018
Note: Measurements can be found through this link.
My relationship with Hegel Music Systems has now spanned six years -- almost all of my admittedly brief reviewing career. While the Norwegian company has been around since 1997, its dramatic uptick in popularity seems to have coincided with my own introduction to the brand in 2012, through their H300 integrated amplifier-DAC ($5500 USD, discontinued). Integrated amplifiers with built-in digital-to-analog converters are now commonplace, but it’s fair to say that in 2012 Hegel was one of the first to make one. At the time, $5500 was no more chump change than it is now -- but cramming a top-shelf DAC, a high-quality preamp, and a 250Wpc (into 8 ohms) amplifier into a minimalist box of standard size (17”W x 4.7”H x 15”D) and including a nice, all-metal remote control was genuinely good value -- so much value that I bought one for myself.
Added to that $926.95 System: A $289 Turntable and $359.94 Worth of Speaker Footers?
- Details
- Written by Doug Schneider Doug Schneider
- Category: Monthly Column Monthly Column
- Created: 01 October 2018 01 October 2018
In this month’s photos of the system I wrote about last month in “A Feature-Rich, Fully Modern Hi-Fi System You Can Begin, Live, and Grow With -- for $926.95,” keen-eyed readers will notice two additions: a turntable, and footers for the speakers. The turntable shouldn’t be a surprise -- I mentioned last month that I was thinking about adding one -- but as you’ll read below, for this system update the turntable and footers go hand in hand.
Pro-Ject Audio Systems Classic SB Turntable
- Details
- Written by Jeff Stockton Jeff Stockton
- Category: Full-Length Equipment Reviews Full-Length Equipment Reviews
- Created: 01 October 2018 01 October 2018
Pro-Ject Audio Systems, of Vienna, Austria, makes a turntable model for everyone. Their lower-priced models range from the Essential ($299 USD) through the Debut Carbon ($449, the model I bought) to the Esprit ($599) and beyond. The features and bundles vary -- claimed improvements in motors, platters, and cartridges account for the rises in price. Visually, however, many of Pro-Ject’s turntables look similar, with 8.6” tonearms (though of varying materials), and glossy, rectangular plinths of MDF, the latter sometimes available in colors other than red, black, and white (as in the Debut). Many models come with the same dustcover.
Baby Boomer Box-Set Bonanza
- Details
- Written by Ken Kessler Ken Kessler
- Category: SoundStage! UK SoundStage! UK
- Created: 01 October 2018 01 October 2018
After hi-fi became populist in the 1960s, thanks to Japanese imports bringing down the prices of hi-fi separates, an unfortunate “disconnect” manifested itself. It was the creation of a chasm between the two elements of music playback that should never have exhibited anything other than total cooperation. I am referring to the massive gap between the major music labels and the high-end audio community, the latter consisting of both audiophiles and manufacturers.
Recommended Reference Component: Muraudio SP1 Loudspeakers
- Details
- Written by SoundStage! Hi-Fi Editors SoundStage! Hi-Fi Editors
- Category: Components Components
- Created: 01 October 2018 01 October 2018
The Muraudio SP1’s 42”-tall cabinet looks like a cylinder cut in half lengthwise, set atop a 15”-high integral stand bolted to the cabinet’s bottom panel. There are two 6” midrange-woofers at the bottom of the front panel and two more at the top, the two drivers of each pair positioned side by side. Between these pairs is an electrostatic panel about 21”H by 11”W, inset a little and looking like a window with a shallow sill. Most will agree that, even in one of Muraudio’s many nice finishes, the SP1 is an unusual-looking loudspeaker.
Gryphon Audio Designs Diablo 120 Integrated Amplifier-DAC
- Details
- Written by Uday Reddy Uday Reddy
- Category: Full-Length Equipment Reviews Full-Length Equipment Reviews
- Created: 15 September 2018 15 September 2018
Note: Measurements can be found through this link.
The Gryphon. Just say it -- the name rolls regally off the tongue, sounding as mythical as it is. How do you live up to such a name? By producing audio components that look and sound beautiful. Gryphon Audio Designs’ reputation for excellent sound quality had for years been on my radar -- when offered the opportunity to review their Diablo 120 integrated amplifier-DAC ($15,450 USD as reviewed, with DAC option), I couldn’t say no.
A Feature-Rich, Fully Modern Hi-Fi System You Can Begin, Live, and Grow With -- for $926.95
- Details
- Written by Doug Schneider Doug Schneider
- Category: Monthly Column Monthly Column
- Created: 01 September 2018 01 September 2018
In the last few years I’ve reviewed some very expensive hi-fi gear (all prices in USD): Constellation Audio’s Revelation Taurus Mono amps ($40,000/pair) and Revelation Pictor preamplifier with optional DC filter ($23,000); EMM Labs’ DA2 Reference digital-to-analog converter ($25,000); Muraudio’s SP1 speakers ($14,700/pair) -- and, still to come EMM Labs’ Pre preamplifier ($25,000) and MTRX2 monoblock ($85,000/pair).
T+A Elektroakustik DAC 8 DSD Digital-to-Analog Converter
- Details
- Written by Erich Wetzel Erich Wetzel
- Category: Full-Length Equipment Reviews Full-Length Equipment Reviews
- Created: 01 September 2018 01 September 2018
Herford, a town in the lowlands of northern Germany, is the home of T+A Elektroakustik. T+A -- aka Theory and Application in the Field of Audio Technology -- is an engineering- and science-based, family-owned and -operated business that has been designing and building audio equipment in Germany since 1978, and collaborates with universities and technical schools in the design of powered speakers and digital signal processing (DSP). Other than the music itself, their current product lines include just about everything required for the reproduction of two-channel audio: turntables, media players, disc players, DACs, amplifiers, integrated amplifiers, loudspeakers, interconnects, speaker cables, power cords, and power strips.
Days of Future Past
- Details
- Written by Ken Kessler Ken Kessler
- Category: SoundStage! UK SoundStage! UK
- Created: 01 September 2018 01 September 2018
Despite the best efforts of certain brands, and in the waning years of our beloved hobby/passion/industry, high-end audio remains one of precious few fields with zero respect for its history. There are museums for peanut butter, rubber bands, sex toys, and shoes, alongside the obvious motorcar, aviation, watch, and other museums. Hi-fi’s lack of regard for its own achievements isn’t simply a disappointment; it’s a worry.
Recommended Reference Component: Simaudio Moon 888 Mono Amplifiers
- Details
- Written by SoundStage! Hi-Fi Editors SoundStage! Hi-Fi Editors
- Category: Components Components
- Created: 01 September 2018 01 September 2018
Each measuring 22”W x 14”H x 27”D and weighing 230 pounds, and priced at $118,888 USD per pair, the Simaudio Moon 888 mono amplifier is as big and heavy as it is expensive and powerful. Simaudio says it can deliver at least 888W into 8 ohms or 1776W into 4 ohms from a typical 120V, 15A power source. But it wasn’t all that power, size, weight, or cost that most impressed Aron Garrecht, who reviewed the Moon 888 this month on SoundStage! Ultra -- it was that “Their sound quality is beyond anything else I have heard.”
