The Latest Features
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.
T+A Elektroakustik MP 8 Multi Source Player
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- Written by Erich Wetzel Erich Wetzel
- Category: Full-Length Equipment Reviews Full-Length Equipment Reviews
- Created: 15 January 2019 15 January 2019
T+A Elektroakustik has applied scientific rigor to its formulation of audio equipment since the company was founded in 1978, in Herford, Germany. The 40-year-old, family-owned business designs and manufactures all of their equipment locally and ships worldwide. T+A’s product lines span nearly all aspects of the audio reproduction chain, from wall outlet to the listener’s ears. Their Series 8 range includes the MP 8 Multi Source Player ($4750 USD), the DAC 8 DSD digital-to-analog converter ($4450), and the AMP 8 amplifier ($3150).
The 2018 SoundStage! Network Products of the Year -- One-Sentence Summaries
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- Written by Doug Schneider Doug Schneider
- Category: Monthly Column Monthly Column
- Created: 01 January 2019 01 January 2019
Here are the SoundStage! Network’s Products of the Year for 2018. The winning products are chosen based on the reviews of them published in the preceding 12 months on our websites: SoundStage! Access, SoundStage! Hi-Fi, SoundStage! Simplifi, SoundStage! Solo, and SoundStage Ultra.
EMM Labs MTRX2 Mono Amplifiers
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- Written by Doug Schneider Doug Schneider
- Category: Full-Length Equipment Reviews Full-Length Equipment Reviews
- Created: 01 January 2019 01 January 2019
First, the elephant in the room: EMM Labs’ MTRX2 mono amplifier sells for $85,000 USD per pair. What’s more, it’s the baby elephant of the two power amps EMM makes -- the MTRX Reference costs $130,000/pair. Those prices are so high that, for the vast majority of audiophiles, including me, these amps are impossible to buy new.
Hands Down . . . or Up? The Q Acoustics 3020i and 3050i Loudspeakers
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- Written by Doug Schneider Doug Schneider
- Category: System One System One
- Created: 01 January 2019 01 January 2019
“Those are really nice speakers -- can we keep them there?”
Those are words seldom uttered by my wife when new speakers enter our home. But that’s what she said when she laid eyes on the pair of Q Acoustics 3020i minimonitors ($299.99 USD/pair) that had replaced the Paradigm Monitor SE Atoms ($298/pair) on the shelving unit in our living room that holds my “System One” components.
