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Triangle 40th Anniversary Comète Loudspeakers
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- Written by Diego Estan Diego Estan
- Category: Full-Length Equipment Reviews Full-Length Equipment Reviews
- Created: 15 September 2021 15 September 2021
Note: measurements taken in the anechoic chamber at Canada's National Research Council can be found through this link.
I’m pretty sure that 45, my current age, is too young to retire—at least for all but the luckiest among us. So 45 must also be too young to come out of retirement—yet, this is how I felt writing this review.
SoundStage ! Network Product Awards: Less Confusion at the Hi-Fi Store When You Know More about Our Tiers
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- Written by Doug Schneider Doug Schneider
- Category: Monthly Column Monthly Column
- Created: 01 September 2021 01 September 2021
On August 15, we published a report that highlighted the EISA 2021–2022 award winners for that organization’s Hi-Fi and Home Theatre Audio subgroups. EISA stands for Expert Imaging and Sound Association, a group of 60 websites and print publications spanning 29 countries.
Denafrips Terminator-Plus Digital-to-Analog Converter
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- Written by Evan McCosham Evan McCosham
- Category: Full-Length Equipment Reviews Full-Length Equipment Reviews
- Created: 01 September 2021 01 September 2021
Note: for the full suite of measurements from the SoundStage! Audio-Electronics Lab, click this link.
Denafrips shipped their first products in 2012. However, my research indicates that the brand has already amassed a loyal following for its wide range of products: digital-to-analog converters (DACs), preamps, power amps, a headphone amp, and reclockers for syncing digital clocks across multiple components. All Denafrips products are made in Guangzhou, China, and are distributed and marketed worldwide by Vinshine Audio, which is based in Singapore. Worldwide shipping is included in the prices, listed in Singapore dollars (SGD).
Back to Inexpensive Basics—KLH Albany II Loudspeakers
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- Written by Doug Schneider Doug Schneider
- Category: System One System One
- Created: 01 September 2021 01 September 2021
Note: measurements taken in the anechoic chamber at Canada's National Research Council can be found through this link.
In my previous “System One” installment, in May, I wrote about Rotel’s RA-1572MKII integrated amplifier and Sonus Faber’s Lumina III loudspeaker. The Rotel sells for $2099.99 (all prices in USD), while the Sonus Fabers are $2199 for the pair. Their prices are a little more than twice what I thought to be an upper limit—around $1000—for each component when I launched this column.
Ken Kessler's New Stereo System: Part Four
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- Written by Ken Kessler Ken Kessler
- Category: SoundStage! UK SoundStage! UK
- Created: 01 September 2021 01 September 2021
Those who noticed a teaser a couple of columns ago that the speakers would be discussed the following month will have to wait until October 1, as I am holding them back as a surprise. Since we have so far discussed the power amplifier and phono stage (with output-level control, to serve as a preamp for the time being), I figured it was a perfect time to deal with the source, especially since some remaining hardcore flat earthers—hi-fi’s version of the Taliban—consider the front-end to be the most important element of all, the rest of the system be damned.
Recommended Reference Component: Paradigm Founder Series 100F Loudspeakers
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- Written by SoundStage! Hi-Fi Editors SoundStage! Hi-Fi Editors
- Category: Components Components
- Created: 01 September 2021 01 September 2021
Paradigm’s 100F floorstanding loudspeaker, which Doug Schneider reviewed on this site in July, is part of the company’s new Founder Series line. As Doug detailed in the review, the Founder models—there are two more floorstanders, a stand-mounted design, a center-channel, and an LCR (left/center/right) model—are the first to be released “since Scott Bagby, one of the company’s two cofounders, and his son John, bought back full ownership of Paradigm from Shoreview Industries, which had come in as a partner in 2005, when cofounder Jerry VanderMarel left.” Scott Bagby was instrumental in leading the design of the line, and even delayed its release for about a year until he was satisfied with the results. It seems that he made the right call—in his review, Doug declared the 100F to be a “bona-fide hit” and “a high-water mark for Paradigm.”
EISA's Best Products of 2021–2022
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- Written by Doug Schneider Doug Schneider
- Category: 2021-2022 2021-2022
- Created: 15 August 2021 15 August 2021
In May 2018, SoundStage! Hi-Fi joined the European Imaging and Sound Association (EISA). Editors from five European photography magazines had formed EISA in the 1980s to get together to select and recognize the best camera of the year. Over the years, the organization has evolved to include audio equipment, which is where SoundStage! Hi-Fi fits in. All the publications that originally belonged to EISA were based in Europe, but in September 2018, the name was changed to Expert Imaging and Sound Association, keeping the acronym everyone had come to know but reflecting that EISA had grown into a global entity. Today, the EISA organization is made up of 60 websites and print publications spanning 29 countries.
Lyngdorf Audio TDAI-1120 Integrated Amplifier-DAC
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- Written by Roger Kanno Roger Kanno
- Category: Full-Length Equipment Reviews Full-Length Equipment Reviews
- Created: 15 August 2021 15 August 2021
Note: for the full suite of measurements from the SoundStage! Audio-Electronics Lab, click this link.
I’ve long been a proponent of room-correction software—not only for multichannel home-theater systems, where the technology first took hold, but also for high-quality two-channel systems. Some high-end manufacturers now include such software in their two-channel preamplifiers and integrated amplifiers, including relatively affordable models from Anthem, Arcam, and NAD. Lyngdorf Audio and its predecessor, TacT Audio, have been using RoomPerfect room correction and, before that, RCS speaker equalization, for longer than most other companies. However, Lyngdorf’s products have always been at the luxury end of high-end audio—such as their TDAI-3400, which I recently reviewed ($6499 base price, $7199 as reviewed, all prices USD). The subject of this review is Lyngdorf’s new compact streaming integrated amplifier-DAC, the TDAI-1120, which shares most of the TDAI-3400’s features and a few more, but retails for only $2199.
From Grounded to Getting Going Again—the SoundStage! Video Team Finally Gets to Focus on Paradigm's Founder Series
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- Written by Douglas Schneider Douglas Schneider
- Category: Monthly Column Monthly Column
- Created: 01 August 2021 01 August 2021
On March 6, 2020, I flew from Canada to the UK with our video team to create video content for the InSight, Shorts, and Icons series on our YouTube channel. While we were there, we visited three hi-fi companies in five days: KEF, Vivid Audio, and PMC. You can find the videos we shot during that trip on our channel. But now, looking back on that journey, it’s surprising it even happened—and so were the things that happened along the way.
Rotel Michi X5 Integrated Amplifier-DAC
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- Written by Roger Kanno Roger Kanno
- Category: Full-Length Equipment Reviews Full-Length Equipment Reviews
- Created: 01 August 2021 01 August 2021
Note: for the full suite of measurements from the SoundStage! Audio-Electronics Lab, click this link.
I admit I wasn’t previously aware that venerable but value-oriented Japanese audio manufacturer Rotel began producing its high-end Michi products back in the 1990s. So I received the news of the Michi line’s reintroduction last year more with curiosity than anticipation. However, after reading glowing reviews of new Michi products—a preamplifier, stereo amplifier, and mono power amplifiers—from various reviewers, including our own Aron Garrecht and Edgar Kramer, I was more than a little interested in the company’s more recent announcement about the latest additions to the line: two integrated amplifier-DACs.
