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Hifi Pig December 2013

Magazine

An Atom power amplifier fromTellurium Q worth £1194

PLUS

Tuning Sticks from Akikoworth €496

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Roksan’s LatestIntegrated

Equipment ReviewsAkiko Audio Tuning Sticks

Dynaudio Excite X14 Loudspeakers

Mike New Bearing for Technics 1210

Musical Fidelity MF100 Headphones

QED uPlay Stream

QNKTC AB 1.3 DAC

Roksan K2 BT Integrated Amplifier

Teufel Aureol Real Headphones

Waterfall Victoria EVO Loudspeakers

Issue #1

EXCLUSIVE CONTENT INCLUDING BIRD’S EYEVIEW, READER’S SYSTEM, DEALER’S SYSTEM,

BEHIND THE BRANDS AND MORE…

WIN!

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http://www.telluriumq.com/


Welcome to the new Hifi Pig Magazine.Every month will be publishing a digest ofthe kit reviews we’ve carried out on the

Hifi Pig website in the previous month as well as aselection of our album reviews and exclusive content.Of course the Hifi Pig website will continue topublish reviews and up to the minute hifi news, butwe think that the magazine format will be popularwith those who find themselves away from aninternet connection from time to time or simply wantto enjoy the pleasures of Hifi Pig in a differentlayout.This month we’ve got some great reviews for you,plus a very interesting Reader’s System article, asystem from a dealer with a fascinating philosophyon system building and much more. We’ve also gotsome great prizes to give away.All the Hifi Pig team hope that you enjoy this extralittle addition to the website content and if you’ve gotany comments or want to write us a letter forinclusion then please do get in touch.

Stuart Smith

Hifi Pig

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This Issue

MagazineDECEMBER 2013 Issue 1www.hifipig.comTelephone: +33 (0)2 97 23 70 78E mail: [email protected] - 488 244 898 00018

CONTENTSEDITORIAL

4 Bird’s Eye View

5 Ripping Yarns

6 Readers System

10 Dealers System

REVIEWS

13 Roksan Kandy K2 BT Amplifier

18 Musical Fidelity MF100 Headphones

21 Mike New Bearing for Technics 1210

26 Dynaudio Excite X14 Loudspeakers

31 QNKTS AB-1.2 DAC

36 QED uPlay Stream Digital Streamer

40 Akiko Audio Tuning Sticks

44 Teufel Audio Aureol Real Headphones

46 Waterfall Victoria EVO Loudspeakers

38 COMPETITION

52 REVIEW LINKS

54 ALBUM REVIEWS

58 BEHIND THE BRANDS

http://hifipig.com/

http://hifipig.com/

http://hifipig.com/contact/

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mailto:[email protected]


Bird’s Eye View

The last little rant I had on HiFiPig concerned vinyl andmy....ahem, ‘feelings’ towards

it.It did provoke a lot of comments andI was surprised by just how manypeople agreed with me, on thegrounds of it needing so muchtinkering and fettling to geteverything sounding perfect.I started out my life as a music fandoing what many, many of us did inthe 80’s, making mix tapes andlistening to them on my pride andjoy…the Sony Walkman that was,almost, as big and heavy as a housebrick.Of course making a mix tape was anart form in itself.In the early days I favoured the‘taping Top of the Pops off the telly’method…you may remember this, itinvolved getting your mono taperecorder as close to the lovely woodeffect family TV as you could andtelling everyone to ‘shut up’ so thatyou could capture the latest offeringfrom Duran Duran or whoever elsewas top of the pops that week.

The end result would almost alwayshave the added effect of a whoopingaudience with your dad shouting overit that you should ‘turn that racketoff!’I then progressed a bit, having beengiven a ‘ghetto blaster’ (though Iimagine had I walked through anykind of ghetto with my pitiful Matsuioffering the local inhabitants wouldhave killed themselves laughing!!)with both double tape deck AND abuilt in radio….the luxury!This of course meant that recordingscould be done from other tapes or theradio, the mix tapes were stillpeppered with clunks and it was adesperate race to start and stop thetape before the DJ spoke, but therewas a certain charm to it!

Of course tapes had their downside,who hasn’t spent hours trying to reelin a tangled web of C90 in their time?When CD’s were launched they werethe last word in indestructible,modern technology…..hmm, time hasproven that they canactually be destroyed,quite easily, or at leastruined. How many CDsdo you have that jumpor stick at the best partof a tune?CDs were a lot ‘cooler’than tapes though, andtheir covers looked likemini LPs so you stillhad that feeling of‘owning’ the musicThat’s quite a big thingfor me, actually holdingthe CD in your hand. Flickingthrough a wall full of discs when youwant to find something to listento….the whole thing about havinggreat art on album covers (admittedlyat its best on LPs!)This is what I really do not get withmusic’s latest incarnation….digital. I

really can’t get my head aroundpaying for music…then downloadingit. Never owning the actual disk andnever holding it in your hand.Doesn’t make sense to me!Maybe I’m just a bit old fashioned,and perhaps all the involvement ofactually having to go out and buymusic for yourself from an actualshop (yes, there was a time before theinternet) has left me only seeing thevalue in something tangible.Downloads are really convenient andgreat for people on the move, howmuch better to have all of your tunes,in high quality, on a little musicplayer than have to lug around a bagof CDs or even worse tapes that havedecided to make a bid for freedomand end up like a bird’s nest?

But even so, despite the convenienceand the practicality, maybedownloading is just too much likemaking a mix tape for me tocomprehend actually parting withcash for the pleasure!

There was big talk inthe music industry thatdigital downloadswould totally kill offthe sale of CDs andvinyl.RIP CD? Not really, Ithink there are probablyenough of us out therethat still want to graspwhat they have boughtin their sweaty littlepaws.Once you have actuallygot your CD it can be

ripped and then played on whateverdevice you like…but you still ownthe original, still have a collectionthat can fill a wall.

What really got me thinking aboutthis subject was the fact thatChristmas, like it or not, is on its

way. Having two teenagers in thehouse music tends to be a populargift. Both of them listen to musicin virtual formats, but how onearth do you give a download asstocking filler?It’s not going to be quite the sameon Christmas morning when the

usually bulging Christmas stocking isempty apart from a code for you tolog into itunes and get your gift…itshardly festive is it?I suppose we could just go the wholehog and stick a virtual satsuma andlump of coal in there too!Horses for courses I guess, so I willkeep buying my music on CD. MrHifi Pig can rip them to play throughthe squeezebox, and I’m very happyto have my little digital music playerto listen to while I am out and about.The important thing is that sat on theshelf at home is a whole collection ofCDs so that there is something realand tangible to show for it at the endof the day!

Linette Smith

CDs were a lot ‘cooler’ than tapes though,and their covers looked like mini LPs soyou still had that feeling of ‘owning’ themusic

http://hifipig.com/vinyl-lover-or-hater-mrs-hifi-pig-has-a-bit-of-a-rant/


Well, Linette in her Bird’sEye View seems to berallying against the

onslaught of digital files and streamingwhereas I’m once again embracing thenew format. I had a great time with thelittle QED uPlay streamer I reviewedand this has prompted me to get holdof a Squeezebox Touch again (this will

be my fifth) to see if I can finally get togrips with digital streaming.Many of the reasons I’ve previouslyfallen out with computer stored fileshave been outlined by Linette, but Ijust can’t help thinking that it is downthis path that the future of audio lies.As people are increasingly findingthemselves short of domestic storagespace and they look to declutter theirlives, the advantages of audio storedon a hard drive become increasingly

attractive. The convenience of havingall your music in one place and beingable to access it over a smart phone ortablet computer are also majorinfluencers I think.But where do you start? OK, I’ve triedusing the free Exact Audio Copy to ripmy CDs but I’m not particularlycomputer savvy and found it over

complicates the process. In the end Iwent for the very simple to usedbPoweramp linked to the very usefulBliss software so that all I need to dois plonk the CD in my computer drive,click an on screen button and thesoftware rips to FLAC and finds methe artwork. Simple! Actually I can’tbelieve how simple it’s all been so farand I’m waiting in trepidation for theday when all my files spontaneouslydelete themselves or the hard drive

goes belly up. Come to think of itthere’s one rule of ripping I’ve omitteddespite me harping on to others abouthow important it is – BACKUPYOUR FILES!I can’t stress how vitally important thispart of the process is, I really can’t andI really do need to take myself outsideand give myself a serious talking to.The first time I tried to get intostreaming audio I went out and boughtmyself a 1Tb hard drive and rippedabout 500 or so of my CDs over aperiod of a couple of weeks – hardlythe most interesting of tasks – only tofind a week or so later that my harddrive didn’t want to play with meanymore and I couldn’t get into mymusic at all which resulted in theSqueezebox being sold and meforgetting about the whole idea for awhile.So I will persevere this time and I’ll bewriting about my experiences over thecoming months. Wish me luck!Stuart Smith

Ripping Yarns

only to find a week or so later that my harddrive didn’t want to play with me anymore

http://hifipig.com/


Hifi Pig reader Richard Joyce is aprofessional musician whose weapons ofchoice are the clarinet which he’s beenplaying since the age of six and the piano

he took up aged nine. He holds a ProfessionalPerformers Diploma and a Professional Diploma inMusic Directorship/Conducting from the RoyalCollege of Music, has worked with some very bignames in the industry, has performed with the BBCConcert Orchestra and now teaches Clarinet from hishome in Lincolnshire.In our ongoing and exclusive to the Hifi PigMagazine series we ask Richard to talk to us abouthis current system and his philosophy on whatmakes a great system.


My present system has remained in itscurrent state for a fair few months now.Folk who know me will find that hard

to believe but yes it's true! I've owned kit bothmore and less expensive, and of course mademany mistakes on the way but fortunately a stateof synergy - and therefore musical satisfaction -does 'click' every so often. My listening priorities- and what I therefore want from a hifi system -are very much set in stone, and I'll never deviatefrom that. Music contains a message - it's been aform of communication for centuries after all -and I firmly believe that whilst a hifi system just

cannot recreate the dynamics and sheer presenceof (good!) live music, it can get across - relativelyintact - the joy or sadness, zest or melancholycontained within.As musicians we learn from a very young age tothink of our playing as a string of long-chainmolecules or 'moments' - and the music is the gluewhich binds those moments together. Eachmoment can of course be a wonderful thing in itsown right, but it's only when they're held togetherproperly - arriving at the ear at the right time, atthe right pitch, at the right volume, does it trulymake sense. My present system hopefully gets a

lot of this right. Ofcourse it is alwaysgoing to be lacking incertain aspects - thelittle ProAcs are hardlygoing to set thewindows rattling withsubterranean bassafter all (anddefinitely not whendriven by the dinkyWAD KEL84!).However, after verycareful setting up, anddoing lots and lots oflistening, it is a funlittle system to enjoymusic through andhandles pretty muchany musical genre Ithrow at it - be thatByrd or B-52's. Itholds onto the buildup of tension andrelease in a musicalphrase quite well, andfollowing orchestralscores (handy when Iwas studying for theconducting diploma)it allows a decentamount of nuance tobe heard. Tonal-wiseit is certainly mid-

Reader’s System

World Audio Designs KEL84 Integrated

Plans for the future? Really not surebut I'd very much like to try somemore efficient speakers to use withthe KEL84 valve amp.


forward - more so with the ProAcs than the Q's - but I'd much rather have this than too much bassand/or too bright at the top.

Plans for the future? Really not sure but I'd very much like to try some more efficient speakers to usewith the KEL84valve amp.Despite their low(on-paper)efficiency, itreally does a finejob of driving theProAcs, far betterthan a 15w valve

amp really should to be honest. Itwill get reasonably decent spl's outof them, and doesn't slow-up ondynamic peaks. The Sony ES is abetter amp though, of that there isno doubt in my mind. The KEL isjust such enormous fun though.

If you’d like your systemto be highlighted in Hifi

Pig Magazine then get intouch with us by clickinghere or calling us on +33

297237078

KIT LISTSources:Turntable: Pioneer PL-71 turntable/BenzMicro ACE SL cartridge/Trichord Dinophono amp/+ PSUMacBook (running Decibel Music Player)via async USB into...Teac UD-H01 DACSony CDP-X303ES (as transport)Amplification:Sony TA-F770ESWorld Audio Designs KEL84Speakers:ProAc Super TabletteQ Acoustics 2010iCables by both NVA and Talk Electronics.

Sony TA-F770ES amplifier

it is a fun little system to enjoymusic through and handles prettymuch any musical genre I throwat it - be that Byrd or B-52's.

Reader’s System



Q Acoustics 2010i

ProAc Super Tablette

Richard’s system neatly in place

Reader’s System


In the first of our ongoing monthly DealerSystem features Hifi Pig asked The Future ofAudio to put a great sounding system together

for around £10 000. The company come at the wholesystem building concept from an interestingperspective with Matthew Scott of The Future ofAudio commenting “At The Future of Audio theterm hifi system is not restricted to just the hifiequipment. We offer the best sound we can, not justthe best hifi. We thoroughly believe that a hifisystem can only perform at its best when correctly

set up in the best environment. Therefore, weaddress set up and environment before choosing thehifi equipment. The £10K system budget allowsacoustic room treatment, a decent mains supply(though not mains conditioning) and proper supportmethods to be decently addressed.”The system Matthew put together has the budgetsplit £6432 on the equipment, £565 on interconnectsand speaker cable, £1355 on the hifi rack andspeaker stands and £1645 on room treatment, mainssockets/leads, isolation and mechanical groundingenhancements.We asked why such a large proportion of the budgethad been spent on room treatment, mains etc withMatthew remarking “Re-appropriating the £1645budget for enhancements elsewhere in the systemdoes not sound as good and we believe that

The enhancements £1645 (16.5%)GIK Room Kit 4 acoustic room treatment2x NMA Taguss twin silver plated unswitchedUK mains wall outlet plates3x NMA Merit silver plated 13A UK mainsplug/fuse to silver plated IEC leads1x NMA Platforma MkII Isolation platform (forturntable)9x NMA cones S/S ‘mechanical grounding’ cones(for CD/Amp/Phonostage)4x SSC Contact 200 isolation feet

The support £1355 (13.5%)AudiophileBase BetaBase 4 tier hifi rack1pr Atacama HMS 1.1 600mm speaker stands(filled)

The cabling £565 (5.7%)Analysus Plus Oval 12 6m of speaker cableAnalysis Plus Oval One 1m interconnect (forphonostage)Analysis Plus Copper Oval 1m interconnect (forCD player)

The equipment £6432 (64.3%)Funk Firm LSD/F5 turntable and armFunk Firm Achromat 3mm turntable matOrtofon 2M Black moving magnet cartridgeSonneteer Sedley MM/MC phonostageSonneteer Byron CD playerSonneteer Alabaster 55wpc integrated amplifierCabasse Minorca 3-way stand mount speakers

Dealer’s System

The Future of Audio588 Ashley Road, Parkstone, Poole, BH14 0AQ01202 738882 or 02036 511194 Proprietor: Matthew [email protected]

The Future of Audio’s full system

Cones and isolation feet


Dealer’s Systemwidespread practice in the industry short changescustomers and consumers.”The room was acoustically treated with a GIKAcoustics Room Kit 4 package which Matthew sayseffectively removes, as far as possible, the influencethe room hason thelisteningexperienceand which hesays is anear-openingexperience.

The Cabasse Minorca speakers on Atacama HMS1.1 filled speaker stands are hard spiked to the floorto send unwanted energy from the cabinets to‘ground’. To limit this energy returning to theAudiophileBase BetaBase rack and the equipment

upon it, the rack is ‘floated’ on SSC Contact 200isolation feet rather than onsolid spikes.Each item of the Sonneteerelectronics is then hard‘coned’ to individual shelvesto conduct the internal (microand macro) vibrationsgenerated in theirelectro/mechanical operationto the rack. Not beingmechanically grounded, thefloating rack dissipates thisenergy as movement/heat andout of the system. The FunkLSD/F5/Ortofon 2M Blackturntable sits ‘protected’ on an

We thoroughly believe that a hifi systemcan only perform at its best when correctlyset up in the best environment.

Analysis Plus interconnects

NMA Taguss plug and cable with their unswitched socket


ARE YOU A HIFI DEALER?

Dealer’s SystemNMA Platforma MkII isolation platform on the topshelf of the rack.NMA silver plated unswitched mains outlets andleads then supply the ‘fuel’ to the equipment andequipment and speakers are connected with AnalysisPlus cabling which Matthew says ensures the leastinformation is lost.So what does Matthew believe this ‘ground upapproach brings to the sound of the system? “Webelieve that this approach to system buildingremoves distortion, colourations and reflections butdoes not add anything! This, and all otherequipment will now perform better and sorecordings are heard more clearly; more music, lessmush. This technical approach increases musicaland emotional results. The system has power anddelicacy as required and does not favour a particulargenre of music. It is tonally balanced from top tobottom with vinyl and CD, although crisp anddetailed, has no nasty edges. Bass has excellentweight and extension with control and speed.Imaging, within the confines of the room, is superbin all dimensions; solo piano for example playsevenly left to right not just left, middle and right.The music surrounds you and is not just casuallypresented in front of you. You feel connected withall the people involved in the production andperformance of every recording played. It soundsreal.”

Funk Firm LSD/F5 turntable and arm

Sonneteer Sedley MM/MC phonostage

Sonneteer Byron CD player

Sonneteer Alabaster integrated amplifier

Cabasse Minorca stand mount speakers

If you’re a hifi dealer and would like your system to be considered forhighlighting in Hifi Pig Magazine then get in touch with us by clicking here or

calling us on +33 297237078




Roksan Kandy K2 BTIntegrated Amplifier

Roksan Kandy K2 B2

In anotherWorldexclusive to

Hifi Pig review,Roksan hasoffered us alook at theirnew Kandyamplifierdubbed theKandy K2. BTyou ask? Don’tyou mean theKandy IV? Nowe don't. TheBT stands forBluetooth as theRoksan has theability for usersto streamuncompressedaudio from theirsmartphones,tablets and home computers to the amplifier. This isa great idea as it enables friends and family to bringtheir playlists to parties and if the predecessor to the

Kandy K2 BT is anything to go by, this is a partyamplifier.With its updated power output of 140wpc the BTremains visually in the style of the previous

amplifiers, easily complimenting and upgrading aformer Kandy system from Roksan. On the rearhowever is a small coaxial screw terminal for an

aerial,much thesame as theones whichyou wouldsee on arouter orwifi card

on a pc to allow for the transmission of thoseBluetooth signals.The amplifier has a good solid build and weighs in ata bit of a lump, from memory slightly more than the

Roksan introduced the new Kandy K2 BT to retain elements of their wellreceived K2 amplifier and improve upon it. In a World Exclusive Danny Worthputs the new integrated from Roksan through its paces.

Bass had that wonderful slap andsharpness to it in the upper regions, crispand extended with good roundness…


previous incarnation, most likely due to its largermore efficient power supplies which Roksan claimwill give better bass response and a cleaner clearertop end. Thereare also otherenhanced circuitrevisions andtweaks over theK2 III whichhave been selected to enhance the amplifiers pace,power and precision whilst still retaining its signaturesound.We need to bear in mind that not all equipment issuited to all types of music and component selectionis critical to our own tastes. We may listen to say70% Rock and 30% Jazz and on selecting a systemwhich does both of these very different types ofmusic well is no mean accomplishment. There'salways a sacrifice to be made somewhere, I myselfsacrifice the sheer volume of dance and trance musicfor the timbre of acoustic music and the cleanlinessof beautiful vocals… but that doesn't mean I don't

listen to the former anymore.So to begin with, knowing from previous Kandyexperience, I'm going to go for what I expect thisamp to not cope with as well and then move on towhat I predict to be its strengths.After doing some preliminary listening (once I feltthe amp had come on song after roughly 100 hours ofplay time) I had some initial issues with certain areasof the presentation with more delicate, vocal andacoustic work. So I began to tweak the cablecompliments.I would steer away from silver plated copper cables -even with the expensive Graditech Lumi 3's'Silvered' conductors in place the top end seared too

much for my liking, the 'Solid Copper' was anexcellent choice over the 'Stranded Copper' this timearound, adding body and grunt to vocals, whilst

displaying a more refined treble.A similar scenario was true using the finely silveredcopper interconnects from Graditech, they soundabsolutely magnificent in my main rig, but I felt thesolid core silver Audioquest Sky cables gave theRoksan that little bit of smoothness and refinement itrequired. There was still a bit of a bass hump which Iwas finding difficult to control, so next I swappedout power cables. Firstly I tried a Sablon Audio GranCorona, which actually made the bass larger which iswhat I was trying to steer away from. The DH LabsPower Plus AC and Red Wave cables cleaned thingsup wonderfully but the top end began to sear a little

again which Ihad justmanaged tocontrol. theOriton AC-3was the lastoption or itwas just makedo time, theAC-3 has agreat ability toclean up thesound and atthe same timerelaxing it, itgave the amp a

better and darker background, calmed the humps andmade the amp sound much more natural andbalanced, allowing the system to really sing andsound (to my tastes) more palpable. The upperregions still retained sparkle and transparency, airand openness yet in a more defined manner.Shelby Lynne’s performance of 'Just A Little Lovin''has a very snappy treble line following the trackwhich was clean and natural, there’s great ambienceon the track and the Roksan conveyed this with anenveloping soundstage. Vocals were focused and alittle on the warmer side of neutral with more of afull bodied richness to them. Bass had that wonderfulslap and sharpness to it in the upper regions, crisp

Roksan Kandy K2 B2

In its price class the Roksan is anabsolutely fantastic purchase


and extended with good roundness, a little heavy yetnot bloated.Caroline LoVelle’s 'Spirit' album produces a mixtureof interesting points, deep powerful bass notes,waves of mid to high frequency tones and delicatetreble artefacts which when all combined can veryeasily cause blur. The K2 BT does a pretty good jobof layering these individual portions and I was verysurprised to hear how free the vocal remained, a littletoo projected or forward, but clean and vibrant andtrue to the way the album is recorded. Some finer

details can be a little subdued but this is reallysplitting hairs for an amplifier costing £895.Carmel Gomez' 'Freewheel Blues' showed fantasticvocal clarity from the K2 BT, accompanied withwondrous bass that although a tiny bit loose hadtimbre and naturalness to easily bounce the trackthrough and underlining it with rhythmic musicality.Cymbals were clean and a little unrefined butretained a separate space in the soundstage, allowingfor fantastic dynamics to come from an open andspatial soundstage. Whilst 'Big City' had good tone tothe trumpet work , piano was a little forward andstrangled in the higher notes and less refined thaninstruments within other frequencies. Faster Cymbalwork in other parts of the album was very effective,showing that the Roksan can handle speed andcomplexity without blurring, piano is extremelydifficult to communicate correctly, so we can forgive

the BT here as even in some very high end system itcan still be a struggle.The top end on the Roksan K2 BT can sound a littleexcitable through my Ayons with their ceramictweeters although through the Frugel3's there was amore natural and controlled flavour, I also had theability to have a little play of the amp on mypartner’s Amphion Helium 520's which are a littlemore forgiving by their very nature and theysounded, cohesive and expressive, showing great airand sparkle, with full bodied mids and tuneful bass,

although this was not withmy normal main system - Iused her Teac ReferenceCD Player which was agreat musical match for the

Roksan in my opinion.The Roksan amp really does come to life whenplaying dance music, it is nothing short of anabsolute marvel! 'Mikado' DJ Tiesto was exhilaratingand I’m inclined to think that the Roksan has perhapsbeen tuned by a raver! Music was huge, rhythmic,punchy and bouncy with treble artefacts that filledthe entire room seamlessly, it was beyond a typical'speakers disappeared' confrontation when blastingsome dance and trance - it was completely euphoricpower and got me moving instantly. I don't listen toas much of this type of music anymore as Emilly,bless her with her valves overtones, can do a goodjob but not a great job like the Roksan can.Likewise when listening to Def Leopards 'Hysteria'album it could be said that the amp was tuned by arocker. There was that that edginess, grunt and live

Roksan Kandy K2 B2

Well I must say I was impressed!


sounding flavour that Rock music needs to soundconvincing.I also listened to a vast amount of the very latest Popmusic and the easiest way to do this was with Spotifythrough the Touch. There’s a category for the 'Top100 Tracks' and this allowed me to give the lesserquality MP3 files a whirl. Well I must say I wasimpressed! The Roksan’s natural speed anddynamics lent its hand to this genre much the sameas dance and rock, giving an engaging, fun andenjoyable listen, fantastic forparties. The quality andresolution of the files wasexcellent with the Kandy andeven when turning up the wickand belting out some strongbass into the room the musicremained controlled and enjoyable.I made a comment on the Totaldac review that thedac doesn't do dance or electronica but I’ll eat mywords and say that when partnered with sometransistors that know how to belt it out it certainlycan do these genres.I had begun to feel that the amp perhaps had a slighthump in the upper bass/lower mids and the samewith the very lowest bass, along with a couple peaksaround 10 and 15-16khz, but for this particular typeof music I feel it has been tuned perfectly, giving amore dominating and exciting performance andreminding me of the Cyrus X Signature monoblockswith their attack and grip, pace and rhythm.

BluetoothUsing the Bluetooth feature on the Roksan is so easyI just laughed to myself. I was expecting a little bit offiddling but there was none of it, I simply picked upmy Android phone, turned on the Bluetooth (it foundthe amp named 'Roksan K2' immediately) clickedand I was connected instantly. The same scenariowas true when connecting my iPad, although I didhave to disconnect from the phone first.On both devices I was able to stream music fromtheir onboard players using Spotify and YouTube,with playback starting the very moment the sourcetrack was started. There is no connection code toenter either and you are able to rename the device ifyou wish.Sound-wise… well this ultimately depends on thesource material, the likes of YouTube and lowerquality mp3's didn’t sound as good as losslessmaterial which sounded pretty bloody good indeed.

Obviously there is still a slight loss of qualitythrough the wireless connection but it was not anawful lot with WAV and FLAC files, retaining theKandy K2 BT's character.This feature is such a novelty and I had hours of funflicking through different music and watching a lotof live stuff on YouTube through my iPad. Thefeature is the ultimate party companion - afteralcohol and women of course!Conclusions

I would suggest careful speaker and cable matchingto be able obtain qualities from a lager range ofmusic than those that the K2 BT really excels in -it’s far from impossible but it takes a littlecommitment to finely tune. In the price bracket of theamp along with speakers I have heard in this range Iwould suggest Monitor Audios Silver RX6 or 8which have the newer C-CAM2 tweeter which istamer than the previous incarnations, or possiblysome Tannoy DCT6 which are also a smoothersound that would love the kick up the proverbialwhich the Roksan can offer with its 140wpc into 8Ohms. For a second-hand purchase I adored theAmphion Helium 520's but would definitely huntdown some Ruark Prologue II's, which I feel wouldmake for a match made in heaven.There's no denying that the K2 BT can do largedynamics, speed and attack, convey heavily weightedbass passages with ease and once suitable synergyhas been obtained, the top end can sound refined andexpressive leading down into the mids with greatcoherence.If you’re after an amplifier which bridges the gapbetween a live PA sound and a Hi-fi setup then lookno further.In its price class the Roksan is an absolutely fantasticpurchase and if I was building a system in the pricerange of the K2 BT I would have it as a seriouscontender on my demo list, along with an AudiolabCDQ and probably some Ruarks to get that balancefor my tastes in music… and that Bluetooth feature isjust brilliant!Danny Worth

Roksan Kandy K2 B2

…the Roksan can handle speedand complexity without blurring…


http://www.roksan.co.uk/


Musical Fidelity MF 100

Musical Fidelity MF100 HeadphonesMusical Fidelity take their first foray into the world of over-ear headphones withtheir £119 MF 100 model. Stuart Smith takes a listen to see if they pass muster inthis competitive marketplace.

The Musical Fidelity MF100headphones are an over earheadphone and are open in

design. They arrived for review wellpacked and complete with a choice ofleather or fabric earpads, a velvetcarrying pouch and a mini to quarterinch jack adapter. The headphones areclearly designed for use by the iPodgeneration as they have an inlinecontrol and microphoneapparently…all wasted on an oldcodger like me who just wants hisheadphones to play music, but I’msure the youngens will love thisfeature. They cost £119.They’re well presented, sturdy enoughlooking and have a single shortishcable which attaches to the left handcan – there’s also a little rubberdoodad on the cable to keep it allnicely wound up when not in use.Wearing the MF100s for a couple ofhours with the fitted leather earpads Ifound them a bit “sweaty” and so fittedthe fabric pads… for which procedurethere is clearly a knack I evidentlydon’t have... actually it’s not too bad to fit them and Iam a bit ham-fisted and impatient if truth be known.

The fabric pads are much more comfortable for myears and were snug enough over longer periods.The padded plastic headband adjusts at both left andright sides so you can get the fit just so for yourgiven head size. The headphones are pretty tight onthe ears and were I of that persuasion I’d not hesitateto go out for a brisk jog wearing them – you canshake your head about a good deal without them

budging an inch. Actually I’d have liked them tohave been a smidgen less tight.The cans themselves are pivoted and fold flat so youcan hang them round your neck (I’ve seen the youthon the street do this) when not in use.Isolation is ok but being open they’re not as effectiveas the closed design NAD headphones we testedrecently, but then they were never going to be. Thatsaid this is a pretty moot point as the Musical Fidelityphones appear to be very sensitive indeed and usingthe Schiit Magni headphone amp (fed by their Modi


DAC) reasonably loud levels were achievable at the7/8 o’clock point...at 10/11 o’clock they were as loudas you’d ever need them. This sensitivity is a goodthing for folks using digital media players (MP3players I’ve heard the young people call them) asthey go plenty loud enough without putting unduestrain on theplayer.

SoundWhen I tested theMusical FidelityEB50s sometimeago I reallyenjoyed them andthey have become my headphone of choice when I’maway on business or, heaven forbid, forced to usepublic transport and so I was eager to give theMF100s a bash. As mentioned most ofthe listening was done using the Schiit desktop kitwith Foobar 2000 – all files were ripped to FLAC.Johnny Cash’s “American IV – The Man ComesAround” was presented with an overall nicelybalanced tone. Voice was well projected and naturalsounding, perhaps a little to the fore in the mix,guitar sounded pretty good throughout thefrequencies. You do get a good insight into therecording and vocals in particular sound verycredible.There isn’t that out of the head experience you getwith very good open backed headphones, but thestereo image is pretty well portrayed and there is agood degree of feeling of width and depth for a pairof headphones at this price point. OnJazz (Marcin Wasilewski Trio “Faithful”) there is abelievable presentation of piano and hats and snarehits are snappy and sparkly. You get a good depictionof the louder and quieter passages with most of thedetail being kept intact – there’s a touch of break upat loud volume at the upper frequencies. Actuallylistening at lower levels on these is very enjoyablefor this kind of music and I can see myself donningthem for the late night sessions when I’m shouted atfor turning on the main rig or when working at mydesk. The MusicalFidelity ‘phones go deep as demonstrated with thesynthesised bass on Wolfgang Voigt’s “ZukunftOhne Menschen” and this is perhaps where their realstrengths lay – with electronica. Kevin Saunderson’sclassic “The Groove That Won’t Stop” is bouncy,snappy and with a 303 line that is pretty much as itshould be. On “One Night In Comeme Vol III” bass

is driving, deep and hard-hitting whilst the electronicpercussion is faithful to the sound of the machinesplaying. In fact the more I listen to bass heavy technoand electronica the more I’d say that these are verygood for this genre – there’s a real kick in the bassand explosiveness to the top end – Miss Kitten’s

“Batbox” album sounds fab!!

ConclusionAll in all and for the relatively modest asking priceyou get a good sounding headphone with theMF100s. They’re not the last word in detail orrefinement but then you wouldn’t expect them to befor the money you are being asked to shell out.They are quite tight on the ears, something that hasbeen addressed with final production ‘phones I’mtold, and I found that the most comfortable way towear them was quite far back on the ears so the frontof the cans are raised slightly away from the ear. Ialso found this positioning gave the MF100s a muchmore open and dynamic sound – punchier with betterseparation of the instruments in the mix…much more“out of the head”.Given the release date of these headphones I can seethem being popular with audiophile parents wantingto give their progeny a Christmas gift that will givethem a glimpse into the audiophile world and withthe Musical Fidelity name attached they’re sure to dowell – dare I say the name may even outshine that ofthe ubiquitous Beats by Dre in some circles.That said, I’d also see a good number of people forwhom headphones are not their main listening mediaand who don’t want to spend a fortune on a headfi setup opting to give these a whirl. Forthose that listen to a good deal of electronic musicthen I reckon the Musical Fidelity MF100s would bea good, reasonably priced choice of headphone – hadI heard them twenty five years ago I’d have had themas my monitor ‘phones for DJing. They’re also agood choice for those who want a more “out of thehead” sound they’re used to with in ear monitors andtheir portable music player.Stuart Smith

Musical Fidelity MF 100

Stereo image is pretty well portrayed andthere is a good degree of feeling of widthand depth for a pair of headphones atthis price point.


https://www.mains-cables-r-us.co.uk/


Mike New Bearing

Mike New Bearing for

Technics 1210 TurntableThe Technics 1210 turntable is gaining an enviable reputation as a high-endmotor unit for which there’s a growing and enthusiastic fan base. Stuart Smithchecks out the £445 replacement bearing from Mike New.

I must confess I was a bitworried when I ordered a MikeNew Bearing for the Technics

1210 turntable i'm experimentingwith from David at Mains CablesR Us as I’m certainly no DIYistand it seemed there’d be quite a bitof fiddling to do to fit the newbearing – but I'd fitted the OriginLive PSU without too much hassleso how hard could it be?I needn’t have been quite soworried (read on) – if you candrive a screwdriver and are notafraid of attacking the circuit boardon the 1210 with nail clippers anda tiny file then you should be OK.The UK price for the Mike Newbearing is £445 from the guys atMains Cables R Us.First off a bit of description of thebearing - It’s a weighty 500 grams,it’s made of brass and it lookslike… a bearing. In comparison tothe standard Technics 1210 bearing it certainly looksfar better made and far more substantial - see picturebelow.

The bearing housing (the brass bit) is machined froma solid billet of brass and has three locating pointswhere it is bolted to the main chassis of the turntable.

The bottom of the housing is a little larger than theTechnics’ bearing housing with the intention ofoffering maximum contact (stability) between it and

the turntable chassis.The spindle is slightly longerthan the standard spindle by3mm and this allows the use ofaftermarket mats and clampsetc. The whole of the load(platter, record, puck) is

supported on an 8mm Silicon Nitride ball which“floats” in a 6mm deep cylindrical cavity and itultimately rests on a 3mm solid carbide pad - now

This is certainly an item that I would considerpretty much obligatory for those serious ingetting the very best from the Technics 1210and I heartily recommend it.


you don’t actually get to see any of this as its all in alarge sealed well filled with a synthetic oil at thebottom of the bearing housing. OK, that’s the techybit (no pun intended) over and done with you’ll bepleased to know.FittingI thought it would be a useful exercise to actually gothrough the whole fitting procedure so that those ofyou out there thinking about this as a potentialupgrade path for your Technics 1210 could see if itwas beyond the scope of your DIY/fettling skills.MCRU say the fitting of the new bearing will takefive minutes (I think this is very optimistic) but theyhave a fitting service available should you not feel upto the job.The instructions that come with the bearing areprinted over three and a bit sides of A4 and are clearand easy to follow, though I suggest you familiariseyourself with the procedure mentally beforebeginning to actually get inside the Technics.I’ll assume you know the 1210 a little and have hadthe good sense to remove the Perspex lid, havesecured the tonearm and fitted a stylus guard to yourcartridge.First off you remove the top platter from theturntable by placing a finger from each hand in thetwo holes and lifting straight upwards. Then removethe round black plastic cover by removing the fivescrews around its edge – I’d previously removed thisfrom the turntable when fitting the Origin Liveexternal PSU so didn’t need to do this bit.

Now you’re presented with the inner workings of theturntable, namely a large printed circuit board towhich there are three plugs with wires coming fromthem attached (see picture). You need to detach theseplugs carefully from the circuit board – they are quite

tight but do come out with a bit of gentle persuasion.The circuit board now needs to be disconnected fromthe chassis and to do this you unscrew and removethree self tapping screws. I used a Phillipsscrewdriver and had no problems but you aresupposed to use a posidrive screwdriver.Around the motor coil assembly are three blackscrews and you now need to remove these. These arethe screws that connect the bearing to the body of the

Mike New Bearing


turntable chassis and are pretty long as you’d expect.Now you can tilt the circuit board to the left andremove the old bearing. As I was doing this I actuallythought that all this was a bit too easy and going fartoo well! There’s a black plastic cover over the motorcoil thingy and apparently this is of no use so can beremoved – again it’s a tight fit but does come out.You can now remove the old bearing.Now this is the important bit and the bit where I wasalways going to flounder. I could tell this as thissection of the instructions was printed in heavy typein a “whoop whoop ignore at your peril” sort of way.On the underside of the circuit board you’ve gotthree groups of six wires which stick out of solder(see picture below) and you’ve got to snip thesewires right back to avoid shorting once the newbearing is fitted. I used a set of nail clippers to do this

and whilst I got the wire cut as short as possible thislater proved not enough – in short I fitted the newbearing and ended up with a platter that didn’t turndue to the wires shorting with the new bearing. Thetrick here is that you MUST file each of the wiresyou’ve snipped right down so barely nothingprotrudes – ignore this at your peril!You’re now ready to fit the new bearing which is apretty simple job of pushing it through the hole in thePCB, screwing the three long black bolts through thebearing and onto the chassis, rescrewing the PCBwith the three posidrive screws and refitting the threecircuit plugs you earlier removed (the ones with thewires). Almost there.

Add a few drops of the supplied oil to the reservoir atthe top of the spindle, add a bit of Vaseline or sili-cone grease to the spindle itself and replace the plat-ter. Jobs a goodun!ListeningThe Technics I have was a good condition secondhand unit and up until the bearing being fitted I’dadded an Origin Live external PSU, feet and mat,plus an OL Silver arm and a Audio Technica 33EVcartridge.

Once the bearing was fitted I put the turntable on theshelf and left it running constantly for a few days asrecommended in the instructions – they say 30 hoursbut I gave it a good deal longer.Eventually sitting down and listening to the 1210with the new bearing I was immediately confrontedwith a sound that was clearly an improvement overthe original bearing. There is instantly a feeling thatsomething is very much improved in the overallpresentation. A feeling of solidity.Listening to Concerto Aranjuez (JohnZavardin/Philomonia of London) there is a sensationof there being a greater amount of space betweeninstruments in the orchestra - I know this is clichédbut there’s more of a sense of listening in threedimensions to the music. This piece sounded reallyhuge with each instrument and group of instrumentsbeing perfectly “visible” in the stereo image and witheach instrument having its place in that space - bothleft and right and forward and back - a walk in kind

Mike New Bearing


of quality perhaps. Guitar notes appear to be a gooddeal better defined than with the standard bearing andwith a somewhatmore detailedquality to themwhen listeningclosely.Bass guitar onIsrael Vibration’s“Jericho” feels tobe more precise inits portrayal andwith a tighter morehard-hittingelement to itsstructure – morereal bass guitarsounding if youlike. Again there isan impression thatthe soundstage ismore defined inspace and has a more rock solid base to it – theimage is constant and doesn’t drift.Putting on the brilliant “Techno Picker” by AdrianLegg you get to hear every little detail of his fingerson the fret-board as well as a very good feel that it isindeed an Ovation electro-acoustic he’s playing.There’s a cleaner feel to the way the music is heardand it’s as if another layer of detail has been openedup across the frequency range – “lifting of a veil”hyperbole is taking it too far into hifi pundit jibberjabber but you get my meaning I’m sure.Popping Yello’s “Stella” album onto the platter whathits first is clearly a very 80s production to the album(ther's a better insight into the recording with the newbearing) and that soundstaging thing again is verymuch in evidence. Drums are hard hitting andprecise, bass is deep and defined and there’s anoverall balance to the sound. Good stuff!

ConclusionThe replacement bearing for the Technics 1210 was abit of an eye opener for me – I’m on a journey withthe turntable to see just what is capable from thehumble DJ spinner (which I consider to be anexcellent motor unit and chassis by the way) and wasexpecting some slight improvements, but thisupgrade is certainly a tad more than subtle.

Of course I’ve done other upgrades to the Techyprior to fitting the Mike New bearing, but at each

step I’ve carefully analysed the upgrades andreported on what each of the upgrades brought to theparty.I’d say that the bearing offers a significantimprovement in performance, way above and overthat of the standard bearing and so if you’re lookingto take the 1210 to another level it should certainlybe on your shortlist of things to add sooner ratherthan later.What you are left with is a turntable motor unit thatoffers a very high level of performance and (whenmatched with a suitable arm, cartridge, powersupply, mat and feet) something I think will givemany mid to high-end turntable a good run for theirmoney.I know there are folk out there in Hifi-Land thatdon’t see the point on spending what is aconsiderable amount of dosh on the 1210, but whatyou get with sensible and worthwhile upgrades is tomy ears a very good turntable indeed that oncefettled is pretty much plug and play.This is certainly an item that I would consider prettymuch obligatory for those serious in getting the verybest from the Technics 1210 and I heartilyrecommend it.Stuart Smith

Mike New Bearing


http://www.audioemotion.co.uk/


Dynaudio Excite X14

Dynaudio Excite

X14 LoudspeakersThe £900 Dynaudio Excite X14 is a relatively small loudspeaker in a busymarketplace. Can such a diminutive speaker deliver sonically or will Jerry Jacobsbe left wanting?

Dynaudio's Excite range has beenaround for a while, addressing thelower echelons of the audiophile

loudspeaker market. After a recent overhaul,the 4-strong Excite range now starts with theX14 at £900 and extends up to the 3-way, 4driver floorstanding X38 loudspeaker at £2850,and includes a center speaker for AVapplications.

The X14 are small - 170 x 285 x 255 mm(whd) - standmount speakers weighing in at6.5Kg each. Two way with a fabric dometweeter and mid/bass cone driver, single-wiredwith just one pair of cable posts, and rearported. Quite low in sensitivity at 85dB/W asyou'd expect from a small speaker, but an easy(genuine) 8 ohm impedance load.

The grilles are cleverly designed to attachmagnetically - no unsightly holes orattachment points are visible. I must admitthough, that I found the mid-grey colour of thegrille cloth looked a bit drab against the lovelypristine coolness of the white lacquer cabinetsof my review pair. But I wouldn't keep the grilles onwhile listening anyway - more on that later!

The Excite X14 is available in a choice of real-woodveneer finishes: walnut and rosewood, and also inSatin Black Lacquer and Satin White Lacquerfinishes. The tweeters are protected in transit by aneat (bright orange!) plastic cover that attaches into 3allen bolt holes around the dome. Clever - and alsouseful I would imagine if there are any small fingersaround that might take a curious prod at the temptinglittle domes when the speakers aren't in use. It'sastonishing how few toddlers can resist prodding attweeters, bless them!

Background and some TechnicalitiesFounded in 1977, Dynaudio has been such a fixturein the audiophile speaker market for so long that I forone kind of take them for granted. "Dynaudio? - ah,yes, they're one of those Scandinavian speakermanufacturers, aren't they. Danish, isn't it?"But actually, as well as touching most of the hifiprice brands - from affordable sub-£1k speakers upto the astonishing $100,000 range-topping DynaudioEvidence Master - they are also a technologicallyinnovative brand in ways I wasn't aware of beforedoing some research for this review.Drive-units are developed and manufactured in-


house at their factory in Skanderborg, Denmark.They even use their own cone material (MSP –Magnesium Silicate Polymer) designed to optimisethe balance between stiffness, lightness and innerdamping.Woofers and tweeters use aluminium wire voicecoils. This is unusual, as most other speakermanufacturers use copper. However Dynaudio arguethat aluminium is much lighter and has better thermalbehaviour (it stores less heat). More voice coilwindings than if copper were used, while still

achieving lower mass than an equivalent copper-coiled unit, and increased power handling allows thespeaker to follow the amplifier signal more preciselywithout changing characteristics much when drivenhard. This small speaker could certainly soak uppower and provide a surprisingly full range anddynamic sound - so the theory would seem to beright on this point!Focusing down on to the review model in particular,the X14 has a "high 8 ohm" impedance, that is,without the dips down to 4 ohms or less, commonlyfound in others. So they should be an easy load foran amp to drive.The woofer is a long-throw design with a long voicecoil and a lot of mechanical headroom in thespider/suspension, so while cone area is quite small adecent amount of air can nonetheless be moved!Once again, this technical advantage was obvious onaudition.The tweeter is a 27mm coated soft dome design witha special coating material, and its aluminium voicecoil is damped in a magnetic fluid (ferrofluid).Dynaudio prefers soft domes because of thesuitability of their roll-on/roll-off characteristics withno resonance peaks, allowing an even transition tothe mid/woofer and they say they have an even soundradiation/dispersion, matching that of the mid/wooferdriver.Setup …These are standmount speakers, so, yup, you guessedit, they need stands! Because of the rear-firing port,

shelf mounting is not recommended, they do benefitfrom some space behind them.Dynaudio recommend their own Stand 3X stands,but I didn't have these to hand, so I used some mass-loaded Atacama stands of identical (620mm / 24inch) height.The traditional balance / compromisebetween image focus and soundstaging openness wasoptimised for me by having the speakers point a littleway behind my listening chair. Dispersion is good,you don't need your head clamped in a vice to keep itin a narrow sweet spot to ensure well balanced

sound, andso goodsound isnot limitedto a singlelistener in aroom.

Sound …Oh my - those grilles have just got to go!Transparency and detail are substantially improvedwhen those covers are removed. To my ear, thiseasily doubles the speakers' sonic prowess.Take them off when listening is my firm advice.This is a small speaker in a lower cost band ofDynaudio's extensive range. You cannot expectthem to do everything well, and they don't. But theirconsiderable virtues were rather different from what Ihad anticipated! Read on ..…Soundstaging and imaging is accurately atmospheric.My ultimate test track for this is LoreenaMcKennitt's heart-rending song, Breaking theSilence (a tribute to Amnesty International) on herParallel Dreams album. Near the start there is aflute-like pipe playing, set well back and to the right.So many systems and components totally fail toreproduce this image placement accurately, oftenresulting in an ill-defined amorphous blob of sound.The X14s, though, pretty much nail this with a well-focused image embedded within a natural reverberantacoustic halo. Lovely! So many components fail atthis, they really do.Staying with the Parallel Dreams album, the 3rdtrack - Huron 'Beltane' Fire Dance - is as testing asany when it comes to foot-tapping rhythm. TheX14's performance here was good but not topdrawer. There is a slight lack of midrangearticulation that robbed the music of some of itsfrankly awesome rhythmic swagger. Toes weretapping, but not as fervently as they might!

Dynaudio Excite X14

The X14s, though, pretty much nail this with awell-focused image embedded within anatural reverberant acoustic halo.


Articulation and lucidity ...

As previously mentioned, there is a mild slackness inarticulation and this is noticeable on percussion.Deeper voices, as well, lose a littlelucidity due to this. The trackPlastic Age from the superb 1980pop album Age of Plastic by TheBuggles shows this well. Thepercussive thwacks that underpinthis track (and much of the album!)lack a little in impact and precision.It's not bad at all, and is as good orbetter than many, it's just not upthere in 'best of class'.

To assess resolution and transientspeed in the treble and upper mids,to my mind you really cannot beat awell recorded harpsichord. AlanCuckston's heartwarmingperformance of Handel'sharpsichord suites are an excellentexample. With the X14 speakersthe spangy spikiness was just a littlesmoothed over, the individual notesslightly blending together. It stillsounded yummy, but the excitementof the playing was a little morerelaxed and less immediate than itcan be.

High frequencies were slightlyemphasised, and the last smidgeon of crystallineclarity eluded these speakers. Some listeners willprefer them for that very reason - not everyone wantsto be as close to the music as I do!

Bass ... the X14 are surprisingly full range for theirsize. I played James Blake's Limit to Your Loveexpecting a lightweight rendition that failed to evenbegin to capture the depth and power of that bass-line --- Wrong! I couldn't help but chuckle as thesetiny speakers filled the room with deep vibrant lowfrequencies. No, intestines were not pummeled asthey can be with genuine full-rangers, but this waspretty damn good!

Piano, though, revealed the smaller cabinetslimitations. There wasn't the natural heft and sheerscale that a grand piano emanates at whatevervolume level it is played at. The X14's 50Hz lower

limit is a bit high to capture the full natural resonanceof a grand piano, it's a bit lightweight compared to alarger full range speaker. The new Naxos CD ofclassical works by Marcel Tyberg shows this well -

wonderful music, by the way!

BIG music …

The Chandos recording of Shostakovich's 10thsymphony, conducted by Neeme Jarvi, is one of thefinest recordings of orchestral music that I know -hugely powerful, whipcrack fast, exquisitelytransparent. The symphony's 2nd movement -allegedly a musical portrait of Stalin, full ofaggressive punchy driving remorseless energy - is areal system-buster of a track. Most systems can't getnear this, many a full range speaker has been seen toquake in its boots when this track gets going!Well, this was a surprise of jaw-drop magnitude.The tiny X14s gave one of the best renditions of thismassively dynamic and musically breathtakingtorture track I have ever heard, putting many a largeand far more expensive speaker to shame with their

Dynaudio Excite X14


dynamism, precision and explosive energy.Cor, what an unexpected treat! Genuinely superb.

Blues for Klook, on Eddy Louiss's album Sang Mele,was also excellent, the jump-factor snap well caughtand the deep powerful synth bass chords were, well... deep and powerful! As you would expect, thevery deepest bass from this track was missing,though. Nonetheless, amazing stuff.

Yeah, OK, but can they rock?Nazareth's Hair of the Dog album contains acompletely awesome rock classic that very few folksseem to know about!Nearly 10 minutes long and carrying a hugeemotional punch, the track "Please don't Judas me"was conveyed with power, energy, precision, driveand, all-importantly, passion.

I love the emotional power of this song, and playedappropriately loud it sounded truly fine through theDynaudios.

The view from the distaff side (i.e. what my wifethought!) ....

We had just listened and watched a DVD video ofGilbert & Sullivan's operetta Iolanthe - one of ourfavourites.

"So, what did you think of the little speakers?" Iasked."They really look good and well made, I like them alot" she replied."What about the sound quality?" I inquired.She kind of looked at me. Not usually reticent insuch matters, I was surprised when she asked "Whatdo you think?"."Clarity is good" I opined - "Very good" said themissus."Bass is impressive for such a small speaker" Ihazarded. - "I preferred the bass to your big speakers,I don't like it going so low" she replied. Women!Hah. What do they know?Should I depart this mortal coil sooner rather thanlater, the wife says she may well be onto eBay pronto

to sell my beloved MBLs and would invest in a pairof these little Dynaudios!Hmph. Women, eh.

Amplification can be varied to suit your taste inpresentation. My 250wpc Krell amp really got a gripand the Dynaudios seemed to have a limitlesscapacity to soak up the power. They just got louderas the volume level was upped to lease-breaking

levels, no sign ofdegradation or limiting,let alone clipping.Power handling isspecced at ">150W" -that seems fair.

Everything was rather more relaxed and restrainedwith a 27wpc Topping TP60 t-amp. It wentsufficiently loud in my 4x7m room, but it did lackthe feeling of awesome power and control from thebigger, higher current amp. And some folks willprefer the more relaxed take on the music that thisgives. Make your own choice in amplification, theDynaudios will respond accordingly.

Conclusions ....

The Dynaudio Excite X14 is a small speaker and at£900 a pair excluding stands they aren't at allexpensive as such things go. So it's only fair toexpect some compromises. And compromises youdo get - but probably not those you were expecting!

They don't quite have the fine detail resolution of thebest mini-monitors, and they lack just a little inrhythmic swagger, sounding a tad 'four-square'. Andobviously they don't do really deep bass, althoughthey do surprisingly well for their size.But they image superbly and, counter-intuitively,these little babies excel at large scale music. If youwant big music conveyed with precision, power andpassion from a beautifully presented small speakerand are considering spending a £grand or so, thenthese Dynaudios really should be on your auditionlist!

Review system: MBL 116F speakers, Krell KAV-250a and Topping TP60 power amps, RestekConsens active and Glasshouse passive pre-amps,Vincent CD S7 & McCormack UDP-1 CD Players.

Jerry Jacobs

Dynaudio Excite X14

But they image superbly and, counter-intuitively, these little babies excel atlarge scale music.


http://www.thejadeaudio.com/


QNKTC AB-1.2 DAC

QNKTC AB-1.2 Digitalto Analogue ConverterThe QNKTC AB-1.2 DAC, or to give it its full name the Quantum Noise Killedthe Cat AB-1.2 DAC needs to deliver on sonics if it’s going to get away with aname like that. Danny Worth takes a listen to this curious beast from Norway.

The AB-1.2 lets you play high-resolution audio(up to 24 bits at 192kHz) from Windows,Linux and OS X computers. It is a hardware

implementation of the Audio Widget open sourceproject – a project started by an online group whowanted to develop a good solution for a USB DAC.The AB-1.2 will operate in both USB Audio Class 1(UAC1) and UAC2. In UAC1 it supports more thanCD quality, 24bit/48ksps. In UAC2 it uses up to32bit/192ksps for high quality audio. The actualDAC chip receives 24-bit samples. The USB audioprotocol is asynchronous with both UAC1 andUAC2. That means the analogue part of the AB-1.2minimizes jitter errors. UAC1 is available with built-in drivers on Windows, Mac and Linux. UAC2 isavailable in Mac and Linux. For UAC2 on Windows

you must install a driver. The driver is recommendedeven if you don't need UAC2 playback qualities. TheWindows driver will let you play back high qualityaudio using ASIO capable players such as JRiverMedia Center and foobar2000. Windows UAC2 willnot work in generic Windows programs like webbrowsers. For that you will have to use UAC1. Thegood news about that is that "Pling - You Got Mail"will also not play on Windows UAC2. So with thelisted players you can listen to music on WindowsUAC2 without such interruptions.

The DAC is an open Source product which allows forthe playing around with and modification ofhardware, firmware and drivers.


QNKTC AB-1.2 DACConnected from my Mac Mini the(dubbed for this review) Q DAC wasfed with Wireworlds Starlight 7 USBA to Mini B cable. From the DAC toamp were Chords Crimson VEE 3interconnects, the amp being myEmille integrated with my AyonSeagull Loudspeakers.

A quick click into settings on the Mac,navigate to the sound menu and Q N KT C USB DAC was highlighted withanother quick click and I was good togo creating playlists through Amarra2.5.

Playing Chris Jones' 'No Love For Me'simply spelled out I’ M H E R E andready to boogie! The Q DAC pushedthe track into the room with fantastictop end and mid range transparencycoupled with a large warm undertone to the midrange and a bouncy bass that straight away conveys agrown up sound. Guitar strings were plucked withbeautiful vibrancy and all the small tweaks andstrums were absolutely clear in a large soundstagethat although not as layered and developed as higherend DACs, certainly was far better than I even couldbegin to anticipate in any way from this puny $170single input DAC.'Would not Have It Any Other Way' showed greattone and timbre qualities to instruments, I could justabout go as far as saying the DAC was renderingthem naturally.Chris' vocals had all the body and grunt I'm familiar

with and projected well from a very busy soundstage,reminiscent of a valve type presentation.I literally listened to the entire album of“Moonstruck” before finding something else toconsider for the review dialogue!Fleetwood Mac's 'Little Lies' conveyed all the tracksimmediate dynamic flares and out of phase ambient

backing vocals which really give a substantial 3Dimage. All the dynamic vocal variations in the trackstand out as they should with absolute ease with thatbouncy beat flowing in parallel to the music. Imagingis solid and tracks across the soundstage from right toleft properly.

I actually had to revert to the manufacturers websiteto see if I had got the price correct $170 I said tomyself, nah....it's bloody true I tell you! There it wasin black and white.

Christina Aguilera and Alicia Keys performing'Impossible' kicks straight into a large heavy drum

beat withimmediacy andChristina'svocal justprojects intothe room,controlledbeautifully bythe Q DAC.Her tones were

flowing cleanly from a strong centre focus with anarray of ambient transients really showing off thetransparency and ability to convey what I woulddescribe as a solid, musically convincingperformance. My PS Audio Reference DAC onlybelted out her extended upper mid range a little bitmore controlled.

The Q DAC pushed the track into the room withfantastic top end and mid range transparencycoupled with a large warm undertone to themid range and a bouncy bass that straightaway conveys a grown up sound.


QNKTC AB-1.2 DACBeing super critical the Q DAC will lack the ultimatein smaller delicacies but I haven't heard a DAC eventriple it's price that comes close.

I remember reviewing the Miniwatt USB Headamp

and Dac a while ago at $500 and it's not even in thesame league as the Q DAC I'm afraid to say.

Deep Forests’ album and track of the same namedisplayed great stereo separation and really conveyedall the subtle dynamics across the soundstage and outpast the speakers. There's no overshadowing in areasof music or what we can refer to as smeer, of courseagain being ultra critical and comparing to the likesof the Totaldac there would be comparisons to bemade, but the little Q DAC does more than it shouldto impress me greatly.Jack Savoretti 'Dreamers' produced a much moreupfront position in the room than I was used to, but itwas still enjoyable. I took out the Chord cables andpopped in my Audioquest Sky interconnects, sillymoney with a DAC of thisprice but I wanted smooththings out a little and at thesame time see what effect thecables would have withadded data retrieval.Essentially now my main system in place and just theQ DAC and Wireworld USB.What a result, the forwardness was still apparent onthe track, more so than normal but the increase ininner detail, delicacy and ease of staging was a strongstep up.

Lise Delangea 'All The Answers' appreciated theadded delicacy I would guess with the acoustic guitarand oboe harmonies. Lise's vocal is another favouriteof mine, very strong and country in nature and wasvery enjoyable and not too unlike the way I've heard

on solid state DACspreviously.

Now that it have a gripon the character of theDAC and it's big robust,detailed and gorgeousmidrange with a slightlymore forward nature Ibegan to listen to variousgenres, such as Reggae,R&B (old and new),Electronica and a littlebit of Rock and Classical…I just want to convey afew findings.R&B and Reggae musicsounds terrifically

rhythmic and bass heavy as it should in my eyes, themore modern stuff with its computer generated studioattributes sounds great with the amount of detail theDAC can put across, older stuff had particularly goodinstrument tone.

Electronica and Dance is upfront bold, hugely threedimensional and room filling with strong beats andslam, with female artists soaring through thesoundstage.

Rock sounded edgy, forward and with lots of grunt toheavy electric guitar solos. I don't really listen to a lotof this type of music, maybe some 80's rock but I'mno hardcore rocker for sure but what I did hear waspretty good, maybe a little bit bass heavy on some of

the harder stuff for me.

Classical was surprisingly good, I should haveanticipated this really as there is that fullness in thelower mids and upper bass which I find suits pianowell and also gives great body to wood and stringedinstruments. The Q DAC is also very dynamically

Rock sounded edgy, forward and withlots of grunt to heavy electric guitarsolos.


strong and large orchestral passages were veryintuitive and explored the performance in a morecaptivating and engaging way than any other DAC Ihave heard anywhere near its piece range. I'm suremost classical fans would stick to vinyl for criticallistening, however if you listen to Classical throughthe PC or laptop this DAC would make a greatpartner for you

Conclusions

How would I describe the Q DAC’s sound characterif I had to nail it?

Vibrant, detailed, transparent, fairly largely dynamic,a little upfront and forward, the mids are completelyfull bodied and not strangled in any way, coupledwith fantastic ambience all under-toned with a bigrobust solid bass that just makes it sound so grownup.

If I had any gripes with the DAC it would be itsname, to be honest it annoys me to the point that Iwant to throttle the guy who made it! It is such abeautiful sounding, bonny little thing that even with

the explanation of what all those letters stand for itjust doesn't float my boat, every time in look at thefront panel I can here the clock ticking and me underpressure to see what word I can make out of thecountdown conundrum presented before me.

However, when it sounds as good as it does at theprice it is I wouldn't mind whatever he called it, Ilove it and take my hat off to a man who obviouslyhas his ears firmly in the correct place!With the DACs circuit being open source, if voicedas well as the Q N K T C incarnation, would provefor any mid priced HiFi manufacturer an add oninternal module for an integrated amplifier thatwould give a performance well above it'simplemented costs, the Q DAC for me is an absolutewinner and I would hands down recommend it foranybody wishing to get more from therecomputer/laptop into a current system which doesn'trequire a full blown DAC full of features and inputs.This is my budget product of the year so far and getsa well deserved recommended.Danny Worth

QNKTC AB-1.2 DAC

http://www.josound.net/


http://www.originlive.com/


QED uPlay StreamDigital StreamerThe uPlay Stream is a no frills, £150 streaming device with onboard DAC thatyou can use to stream music around your home. Computer phobic Stuart Smithtakes a listen.

When the uPlay Stream arrived for review a week orso ago I have to say I was a bit apprehensive to saythe least as me andcomputers/streaming andall that kind of stuff justdon’t seem to get on witheach other. Indeed, I hadwarned family membersthat there would no doubtbe shouting.The little uPlay Streamfrom QED comes with awall wart, a short ethernetcable and a minijack tostereo RCA cable. It’sreally small andunobtrusive and has nobuttons on it other than atiny little sync button onthe back. Around the backyou get an ethernetsocket, the input for thewall wart and that’s aboutit. On top you get 3 littleglowing icons to let youknow it’s turned on,connected to the wifi andfunctioning properly.It’s compatible with all themain file formats includingMP3, FLAC, WAV andwhat not and has an onboard Wolfson DAC which is24-bit/96kHz compatible. The uPlay is DLNA/UPnPcompatible and can be controlled from your iPad orAndroid doodad. You can have up to eight of thesebeasties dotted around your house and it will playtunes from your tablet or smartphone, your PC orNAS drive or even from Drop Box and Sky Drive.Now here’s where there’s going to be the shoutingbit as it’s time to get the uPlayer hooked up to the

WiFi and get it playing some tunes. Well therewasn’t ANY shouting at all and set up is very simple

indeed. Download the free app’ to youngest son’siPod Touch (I did need help with this bit), plug thedevice briefly into the router, press a few virtualbuttons on the iPod, unplug from the server and pluginto a free input on the pre amp and we’re off - itfinds the server automatically and tells you when it'sconnected poperly. All that I had to do now was draga few tunes into Media Player and that’s it. Reallyvery simple indeed and nothing for even a ludditelike me to have any fears over.

QED uPlay Stream


Playing tunes is as easy as scrolling through yourtitles on the iPod and pressing play. The app workedflawlessly for me - it's intuitive and simple tonavigate and find your tunes.The onboard DAC is absolutely fine for mostlistening - it’s actually very good indeed - but I wouldhave loved to have been able to bypass this andplug the unit into the VAD DAC in the main system.However, for the modest asking price of £149.90including VAT moaning about this would be churlishin the extreme!There’s actually not a great deal to say about theunit as there’s not a great deal I didn’t really loveabout it. It’s great for when you’ve got visitors roundas you can make up a playlist and play that, it’s fabfor playing tunes whilst doing other stuff and it’s

perfectly acceptable and high resolution enough tosatisfy most folks.ConclusionThis is a wonderful bit of kit that allows you to playall your digital files easily and without fuss and I’mcertain it will be a huge seller for QED. If you are aserious audiophile looking to add the ease of usethat digital files allow to your system, but don’t intendthem to be your main source, this is for you! If youare a music lover who wants to have easilycontrollable and inexpensive access to your digitalmedia around the house then again this is for you.No, it doesn’t have the benefit of a digital out whichwould have made it just perfect, but for the price theuPlay Stream from QED really is a no brainer!

Stuart Smith

QED uPlay Stream


http://epiphany-acoustics.co.uk/


Akiko AudioTuning SticksDutch manufacturer Akiko Audio make some pretty bold statements for theirpassive tuning sticks so we thought we’d give them to Danny Worth to see whatthey are all about.

Akiko Audio Tuning Sticks

Akiko Audio is a Dutch company dedicated toallowing audio enthusiasts to obtain the verybest from their already well constructed

systems by offering a range of products/tweakswhich could give youa couple percentmore positiveattributes from thesound.Such tweaks, I feel,are not and shouldnot be claimed to begame changing in their effects, however when com-bined with a well put together system can prove tohave a beneficial effect on the systems performanceas a whole.The Tuning Sticks themselves are very unobtrusivedevices, slim barrels with a variation of connectorswhich are plugged into a spare socket on a compo-nent and claim to aid in its grounding potential andclean up background noise and thus enhance detail.The AC versions have your country’s designatedpower plug fitted and can be plugged into a sparewall socket or spare socket on a mains extensionblock.Sent to me were a few variations, an RCA male ver-sion (€129), XLR male version (€129), a UK 3 pinAC version (€119) and a pair of Velcro on Tuning

Sticks (€99 each), which are suggested for use actu-ally on cables themselves.Implementation

I began by trying the RCA in the front end, namelymy Squeezebox Touch (SBT) once the amp had beenon for an hour (I always leave my sources switchedon). Yes, I could hear a benefit there appeared to be alittle quieter background and very slight clean up ofgrain around the sound. The top end had a little bitmore of a cleaner and sparklier sound.Instead of adding another straight away I wonderedwhat effect the same stick would have on the amp, soI removed it from the SBT and placed it into one ofthe spare input sockets on the amplifier (Akiko statethat any input or output socket can be used as theyare all connected to the common ground). The effectsof this were very different to the SBT, I could here astronger midrange which held a more defined focus

Treble extension was better controlled as awhole allowing for more micro details anddynamics to come through delicately andcleaner, more easily heard and appreciable.


in the soundstage, accompanied by a little more slapon the upper bass, interesting....Unfortunately I only had one RCA Tuning Stick butthe next best thing was a male XLR version which Icould use with the DAC. I’d have liked to have hadtwo RCA versions to try in combination.So, I popped in the XLR version to the rear of theTotaldac, on the AES/EBU connection which I amnot using. The effect was a stronger interpretation ofwhat I experienced previously with the SBTs andwith the RCA back in the amp (after a quick removalto have a listen) the combination of effect was verypleasant indeed lending its hand to an even deaderbackground, gaps between trackswere virtually silent, with only thesmallest amounts of electricalnoise heard with one ear close tothe speaker.I can imagine many people al-ready beginning to smirk at thisreview and I don't think that isfair. If a person has tried a productthat falls into the category we areaddressing here and it didn’t workfor you then fair enough, butplease don't make assumptionsand make claims against some-thing which you haven't personal-ly tried and tested. There are many cases of this kindof behaviour on internet chat where the person say-ing a product has no effect has not even tried orheard the product. I have a very open mind about an-ything which is sent in for review, I don't make anyassumptions, nor do I read reviews prior to determin-ing my own thoughts and writing them down and Ibelieve this ethos for conducting reviews without anyoutside influence is essential.Up until this review I had never heard of AkikoAudio but from the previous few paragraphs I hopeyou can understand that I am personally appreciatingtheir benefits.Right, next up, I think I will have a go with the vel-cro versions which have the same barrel design butare simply equipped with two velcro cable ties whichpull the barrel nice and snug to the cable they areused on. I placed them onto my Audioquest K2speaker cables but I was dubious them having anyeffect as the cables have the external 72v DBS bat-tery system attached, or even if the sticks could posea potential problem interacting with the DBS.

Akiko assured me when I contacted them that theyhave tested Audioquest cables with DBS before withtheir sticks and there were no issues. Playing musicproved to me there were no issues and also suggestedthat the more of these Tuning Sticks you have in thesystem the more benefits they offer - cleaning upgrain but not adding a brightening effect to the soundand also lowering the noise floor even further.Annie Lennox is always tough to listen to at highvolumes, the Akikos, whilst cleaning up the presenta-tion, gave her higher pitched vocals a better sense ofcontrol and somewhat easier to listen too withoutcringing.

Bass notes werea little bit tauterand the a TuningSticks didn't goso far as makethe bass so tightit became dry.Treble extensionwas better con-trolled as awhole allowingfor more microdetails and dy-namics to comethrough deli-

cately and cleaner, more easily heard and apprecia-ble.Adding the final power plug version of the AkikoTuning Sticks to the spare wall socket made thesmall amount of noise through the speakers all butinvisible, remember I am using an all valve systemso for it to be completely eradicated would be wish-ful thinking! Music sounded organic, more ambientand harmonic, as if someone had rubbed out thechild's pencil from colouring outside of the lines, thepicture still retained the same colours but all the edg-es were clean and the picture had an overall cleanerdescription and was easy to see… or in this casehear.Now as a little last test to see if it was only higher-end systems that could show the effects of a TuningStick I popped an adapter onto the RCA version ofthe sticks which converted it to a 3.5mm jack andtook it into the kitchen and plugged it into myInternet/DAB radio.



I listened to a couple 128kbps stations and felt thatthe sound was definitely cleaner sounding andstreaming music from the NAS to the radio seemedto behave in the same manner, maybe its due to theradio only having a two core power cable that theeffect was more apparent or maybe the Tuning Sticksdo what they do regardless, adding their obviousability to clean up background hash and noise regard-less of situation circumstance?Either way their effect is noticeable and sustainable.

ConclusionThe Akikos are a truly remarkable and somewhatmagical product, there's no snake oil here I don’t be-lieve, just an influential process of increasing greatgrounding without needing to bury twelve foot rodsin the back garden and trailing armoured earth cableinto the listening spot. The effect is that the systemhas a cleaner, clearer response and allows for the mu-sic to really sing. I’d liken this effect to the way inwhich the listener has chosen and tuned a system tohis liking yet to a better more efficient degree. A pos-sible comparison could be the benefits of a linear

regulated power supply over a stock switch modewall wart but on a lesser level. I'm not saying that theAkikos will dramatically transform your system, butas an additional tweak to an already well sorted sys-tem I would conclude that their benefits are worth-while and noticeably positive.To form a preconceived opinion of this product with-out first trying it in your system could be seen as ar-rogance and to allow you to make up your own mindAkiko do offer a money back guarantee.Ordinarily there would be no hesitation in giving arecommended award for a product which I personallyfelt improved overall system performance. Howeverwith the Akiko Tuning Sticks, like some otherproducts on the market of this type they can causecontroversy amongst the hifi community, so based onthis I'm giving them the recommended awardanyway!Try them or don't try them, love them or hate them, Ihave formed my own opinions from my ownexperience with them and what I heard them do.Danny Worth


http://www.akikoaudio.com/en/


http://www.highend-design-loudspeaker.com/



Teufel Audio is a German manufacturer that sells direct to the consumer in a bidto keep prices as keen as possible. Their Aureol Real headphones are just £80 butwill they deliver on sound quality. Stuart Smith

Teufel are an interesting company who begantrading in Berlin, Germany way back in 1979selling loudspeaker components and constructionkits. In 1990 they launched the M-Seriesloudspeaker, selling it directly to the consumer66% cheaper than if they’d have included aretailer in the supply chain. This “sell direct andpass on the savings” philosophy came of age in1997 when Teufel launched their online shopalong with offering customers an impressive 8weeks home test and up to twelve years warrantyon products. Today the company has an entireinternational division and a wide range of audioproducts to choose from.I have to admit to not having heard Teufelproducts before, so when we were approached tohave a listen to their €99.99 (£79.99) includingdelivery Aureol Real headphones for a few weeksI was a little sceptical to be honest.The Aureol Reals are a lightweight designweighing in at just 180g and this is in the main downto their plastic construction - they are however wellbuilt and feel sturdy enough. The lightness of theseheadphones makes them extremely comfortable forwearing for long periods and the soft fabric coveredear pads are also very cosy on the ears. The headbandhas nice padding on the underside, is flexible and the

fit can be adjusted with simply sliding the cans ontheir metal rods. Being quite large the cans do cover

the whole ear which I like!! They are available inwhite or black and I got sent the black ones.The Aureols come with a couple of cables; a 1.3mcable with a minijack plug and a 3m cable with thequarter inch jack. This latter cable is a really usefullength for listening at home whilst the former is great

for use with a portable media player.Cables are easily interchangeable and slotinto the left hand can via a minijack. Thecables are quite thin and manageable andcovered in a woven fabric that looks greatand seems robust enough. There’s also anice little carrying pouch included but the

headphones are quite large and do not fold flat soportability is not as great as with some others.Drivers in the Aureols are 44mm with an impedance

Teufel Audio AureolReal Headphones

At the price I’d say they arepretty damned good value formoney


of 50 Ohms and a quoted frequency response of 20 –22000Hz … the phones are open in design.Some MusicIn the house I used the Schiit Audio Magniheadphone amp and Modi Dac with Foobar 2000playing FLACS. I also used them with the HiSoundStudio media player whilst on the move.At HomeListening to Deadmaus the bass is good, tight, deepand “pumpy” with a nice snappiness to the top end.On to Neil Young’s “A Man Needs Maid”soundstage is agreeably done with orchestralinstruments being well placed in the virtual space.Vocals are slightly recessed in comparison to theupper and lower registers, but not so much as tocomplain about it and overall there’s a good tonalbalance to these headphones, particularly at this pricepoint – they’re certainly very easy on the ear overlong periods. There is plenty of detail in the acousticguitar on “Heart of Gold” and the raspiness of theharmonica towards the end of the track is nicelyconveyed.With Hawkwind’s “Hall of the Mountain Grill” youget a great sense of the stereo effect and there is agood “out of the head” feel in evidence which I like alot. Bass lines are easy to follow and there’s that niceand lively feel to the hats. Again I’d say that mids arenot as to the fore as are the extremes of frequencies.Massive Attack vs Mad Professor’s remix of “NoProtection” sounds great and these phones could havebeen made for this heavy dub style which suggests tome that they’ll be very popular with those that listen

to lots of this kind of music but don’t like the soundof, or don’t want to spend on, Beats By Dre.Out and AboutChanging the cable and plugging the Aureols into theHiSound Studio playing some more Massive AttackI’m again immediately struck at how well theserelatively inexpensive headphones produce bassheavy music - it's not flabby but well controlled andtight. You’re pretty well isolated from outside noise,but then I listen quite loud any way and these canscertainly seem to go loud without getting the mediaplayer flustered in anyway.The beginning of Bowie’s “Five Years” from theZiggy Stardust album has loads of detail to the drumsand guitar and vocals are clear and well defined.ConclusionsBass and treble are to the fore in the Aureols andmany will like this presentation, particularly thosewho enjoy modern electronic music, but that’s not tosay that they don’t produce perfectly acceptableresults over a wide range of musical styles…they do!At the price I’d say they are pretty damned goodvalue for money and if this is what you have to spendon a pair of cans then you should certainly considerthem both for home and out and about. You get an 8week “trial” period, a great guarantee and overall awell made, great sounding headphone. Some will beput off by the plastic construction, the more youthfulcolour scheme and the fact that they don’t fold flatfor transport, but if you can live with this then they’rean excellent buy.Stuart Smith


A TEEN’S PERSPECTIVE Harry Smith

After using the Teufel Aure-ol's for about a week I couldtell that they offered a high-

quality sound and a weightless feel.

These headphones work brilliantly,the bass is punchy, even though thetop end is slightly lacking, but over-all the sound is amazing for the mid-range price point.

When wearing the Aureol's it's al-most as if you are not wearing head-phones. The open-ear design means

that they don’t block a lot of thesound from your surroundings andthe sound leaks out of the back ofthe headphones, which was not a bigproblem for me, although it could bea problem if using these on publictransport as it may annoy fellowpassengers. However, if using thesewhen on your own it would be fine.

The materials used in the making ofthe Aureol's feel high quality al-though I don’t care for the felt ear

pads. I would much rather haveleather pads but this is more of apersonal preference.

Overall the Teufel Aureol's are agreat pair of headphones giving youa high-end listening experience for amid to low range price. They areextremely comfortable and are veryportable. At their price I’d certainlyrecommend these headphones fromTeufel.


Waterfall Audio'Victoria Evo'LoudspeakersThese eye-wateringly beautiful loudspeakers from Frenchmanufacturer Waterfall certainly look the part with theirsleek lines and glass cabinets, but are they a case of styleover substance? Jerry Jacobs finds out.


Well, I don't know about you, but I've seenthe glass-chassised Waterfall Audioloudspeakers in magazine adverts,

skimmed a review or two, even popped my head intoWaterfall Audio dem rooms at hifi shows. But Ihave to confess I've never really taken them at allseriously. I mean, glass cabinets - that's just a blingyfashion statement designed to lure the gullible andmusically unsophisticated, right? - where appearanceis all-important and sonic performance is neglected?They aren'tintended for thelikes of us, whohave experiencedthe musical delightsof genuineaudiophile design,surely?Nope - it's often wrong to judge a book by its cover,or a loudspeaker by its appearance!It turns out that these are very capable high fidelityspeakers with some innovative acoustic designfeatures and they deserve to be taken seriously. Theyhave quite a distinctive sonic presentation that is wellworth your time to experience; the stunningappearance may well then just be the aesthetic icingon the musical cake.Perhaps not surprisingly, both the design and themanufacturing process for Waterfall Audio's range ofsuperbly finished glass chassised loudspeakers tookquite some time to work out, and it was after 3 yearsof speaker design work and manufacture protoypingthat Waterfall Audio started trading in 1999. Theyare based in Provence, in the South of France. Thesubject of this review, the Victoria Evo, is the middleof three in the Krysta line of floorstanding Waterfallspeakers and is currently priced at £3,250. There isalso the smaller £2,500 Iguasçu Evo and, at a bigjump in price, the £20,000 Niagara. Waterfall Audioalso manufactures the very distinctive looking UltraFlat Line in-wall, on-wall and standmount speakersand a series of matching subwoofers.The Victoria Evo is a 101cm tall, 25cmsquare,16.3kg, 4 driver loudspeaker. The drive unitcomplement is sourced from French speaker driverspecialist Atohm - one 20mm soft dome tweeter, two150mm mid/bass cones and a passive bass radiatordriver which faces downwards mounted on thebottom of the speaker in the die-cast aluminiumplinth. Interestingly, additional weights can bescrewed on to the passive radiator to modify itstechnical characteristics - this has quite a major

impact on the sonic presentation, so more on thislater!The two mid bass drivers cover overlapping but notidentical frequency bands. The upper cone coversmidrange and upper bass, the lower driver extendsfurther down into the mid bass.Removable circular grilles are provided for the twomidrange/bass drivers on each speaker, but thetweeter remains exposed.

Glass loudspeaker cabinets - pros & cons ....So, OK. Glass cabinets - many will think that theylook wonderful, or at least interestingly distinctive,but what are the technical advantages of using glassas a loudspeaker cabinet material?I can certainly think of some disadvantages!- all is visible and the internals must look asattractive and uncluttered as possible. So noresonance damping wadding is allowed, no unsightlyinternal bracing, no rat's nest of crossover andconnecting wiring. Even the rear of the drive unitshas to look pretty!- glass is stiffer and denser than the more usual MDFused for speaker cabinets - so while this will likelyreduce the overall level of resonances, this tends topunt the resonances that are created to higherfrequencies. Glass has an often well-deservedreputation for being a bright and brittle soundingmaterial in an audio context.So, what are the advantages then?Slightly tinted, toughened glass is used, the samematerial as in car windscreens. 6mm thick in theWaterfall Audio application, this has a very lowresonant signature. This is the principal reason givenfor the use of glass as an enclosure material. Here'san excerpt from some of Waterfall Audio'spresentation material....

... it is the movement of the driver and not thevibration of the case that gives the sound. In factwhen the case starts vibrating, the quality of thesound reproduction is altered, producingcolouration. This is why many speakermanufacturers use structure reinforcing devices to

Glass cabinets - many will think that they lookwonderful, or at least interestingly distinctive,but what are the technical advantages of usingglass as a loudspeaker cabinet material?

Waterfall Audio Victoria Evo


increase rigidity. The ideal solution so far has beento use inside panels filled with sand, for its densityand inertia. Glass is sand!

So the highly interesting choice of glass is not justfor its aesthetic qualities but also for its extremedensity, so no vibration of the case will come tocolour the sound reproductionWell, I can think of many speaker designs whichtake a very different philosophy -- there's the wholeBritish "BBC monitor" approach, for example, wherethin, resonant plywood is deliberately used as acabinet material. And there's even a speakermanufacturer who adds a resonating external boardor two to their speakers to deliberately induceaudible colourations.--- well, I'm with Waterfall Audio on this one.

Personally, I think that reducing resonances is a goodthing!What, I suspect, turns the glass cabinet from a pretty

sonic failure into a beautifulaudio success story is WaterfallAudio's patented AcousticDamping Tube (ADT). This isthe technology that allowsproper functioning of aloudspeaker driver in a non-damped structure such as a glass

enclosure.This ADT is located at the rear of the mid-bassdrivers, forming a driver sub-chassis with an openmesh at the rear, and limits the return of the backwave from the cone into the glass speaker cabinet.The ADT has 3 main functions:- Damping control of the midrange frequencieswith the integrated damping chamber.- “Hydraulic damping” in the lower frequencieswhich assists in controlling the excessive movementsof the cone, so reducing distortion in that area, andalso increasing the power handling.- Mechanical decoupling of the mid/bass driversfrom the glass structure.

The whipcrack synth transients inEddy Louiss' Blues for Klook areconveyed with very good snap andspeed.



The floor standing Victoria Evo and Iguasçu Evospeakers also use Waterfall Audio's “acculinear”filter technology in the tweeter crossover, intended todeliver a 'very smooth and soft treble', or so says thesales blurb -- we'll see!Cleverly, the internal wiring linking the drivers withthe external, rear mounted binding posts isimplemented using copper traces on the inside of theglass cabinet, so turning apotential eye-sore into anattractive visual feature. Aclever idea, wellimplemented.

Of course, the ultimate and only really relevant testof all this audio technology is the sound produced -how close do the speakers get to sounding like realmusic? When it came to the sound of these speakers,I was expecting "different" but would it also be"better", at least in some ways, and how would theinevitable originality of the designshow itself sonically? I wasgenuinely interested in finding out.…

But first ... a side note on theAesthetics ...Made of high quality subtly tintedglass with a semi-mirrored finishand beautifully bevelled edges,these speaker cabinets remind meof the Italian glass furniture that myart dealer uncle collected. If theyhaven't won design awards, theyshould have done! They really area joy to behold.On entering my music den andseeing these Waterfall Audiospeakers for the first time, my wifeexclaimed "Oh, they're reallybeautiful!".So there you have it - an audiophile loudspeaker witha very high WAF (wife acceptance factor). A dreamcome true for many of us!

The Sound of a Waterfall ....These speakers place you about midway back in theconcert hall - they lack the immediacy and crispnessof some, but they also don't wallow around andsound mushy. Yup, about half way back.

That's not to say they are slow and boring. Thewhipcrack synth transients in Eddy Louiss' Blues forKlook are conveyed with very good snap and speed.Bass doesn't quite plumb the stygian depths of thisdemonstration-class recording, though, but the soundisn't lightweight by any means.

Tonality is good, and clearly of low colouration -very colourful, but not coloured. Woodwinds,

always a harsh test of tonal accuracy due to theirvery distinctive harmonic characteristics, arebeautifully rendered. In the finale of DmitriShostakovich's 10th Symphony, the flutes cutthrough the mighty orchestral swathes with realisticease and bite not to mention tonal colour. Very fine

indeed.Staying with this superb Shostakovich recording, theorchestral heft of the astonishingly energised 2ndmovement of the symphony is conveyed withexcellent scale and authority. The Victoria Evosreally respond well to large scale classical music, thefoundation of which generally resides in the mid andupper bass, so suiting the frequency response of theVictoria Evos.Brass, as well, sears through the orchestral tumult

These speakers place you aboutmidway back in the concert hall



with appropriate abandon. There's a slight warmthand smoothness to the treble ensuring that the musicdoesn't screech at high levels.Following on from the symphony on the CD isShostakovich's Ballet Suite No. 4..... Ballet Suite? - pah, music for girlies, right? Ha! -no way! The first movement contains one of the mostpowerful andextended (and tuneful)orchestral crescendosand climaxes I haveheard in the classicalrepertoire - and it ismagnificentlyconveyed on thisChandos recording.Some systems don'teven come close tocapturing the sheerscale, energy andcomplexity of thistrack; there is so muchgoing on here thatthere is a tendency tolose the plot andsmooth things over, orfor speakers toscreech their headsoff. The VictoriaEvos do better thanmost speakers; thereis a small loss inintelligibility whenthings really getgoing, but the musicalcomplexity is notsmoothed over to asignificant extent and,mercifully, listenerfatigue from an out ofcontrol tweeter is notan issue.Hmm, yeah. Really quite excellent.Moving on to The Buggles wonderful 1980 popalbum Age of Plastic, an early Trevor Horn classic;mid-bass punch on the drums is excellent and theoverall driving excitement of the music isenthusiastically reproduced. Once again you are alittle distanced from the startling immediacy of thisrecording; some will prefer it this way, others willcrave an even more explosive sound.

Power handling and the overall dynamic envelope isexcellent - at 89dB/W sensitivity and 8 ohmimpedance (min 4 ohms) the Victoria Evos are quiteeasy to drive, but they can also soak up the powerwhen it's available. Very high, undistorted volumelevels were easily achievable with a suitable

powerhouse of anamp, such as my250wpc Krell. Butthey were also wellsuited to a 27wpc classD t-amp.Bass is good - solidand quite powerful -down to the mid-bass,but the low bass isn'treally there. Lovers oflarge pipe organs ortechnodance musicwho like theirintestines to resonatewith the musicprobably won't besatisfied, but for mostmusic the VictoriaEvos do just fine.Varying the distancefrom nearby walls alittle can fine tune thebass characteristicsnicely.I've been wheeling outthe big musical gunsso far, so let's relax alittle now and enjoyCaroline Lavelle'svery beautiful songFarther than the Sunon her BrilliantMidnight album. Her

breathy, throaty vocals sound wonderful here - nicelyfocussed and present, and brimming with sad, wistfulemotion. The subtly placed bass synth is well caughtand musically right. Yum.

Soundstaging, as exemplified by the superblyfocused but wonderfully atmospheric track Breakingthe Silence, from Loreena McKennitt's ParallelDreams album is well caught, with the vocalfront/centre and the backing instruments accurately



placed around the singer in depth as well as side toside. So often, this track emerges as an amorphousunfocussed blob of sound, but not with theseWaterfall speakers.

The glass cabinetry does seem to reap rich rewardswhen it comes to low colouration. Vocals inparticular are very naturally presented. Vocalsibilance is not at all exaggerated, if anything it is

slightly subdued.Out came my scrumptious Decca album of Italianbaroque songs, 'If You Love Me', by mezzo sopranoCecilia Bartoli. I had intended to listen to just acouple of tracks from this beautiful album and thenmove on. But no, I sat back and let the album playall the way through - I thoroughly enjoyed thenatural musicality of the presentation.

Setup -- I like a presentation that errs on the up-frontside of neutrality, so for me the circular grille on themiddle (midrange / upper bass) driver comes off fora bit more immediacy and detail. The second grille,over the lower bass driver, can also be removed, butthe gains in immediacy are much less, and I alsopreferred the look of the speaker with just the onegrille removed.That passive bass radiator ...... Small brass weights can be easily screwed onto thethreaded centre of the passive bass radiator; weightsof 27g and 7g are provided. Just lean the speakeronto its side, look at the base and the threadedattachment at the centre of the driver is obvious.These weights extend the lower frequency limit ofthe speaker from 50Hz, to 45Hz and then to 40Hz,respectively.I didn't take to the 27g weight at all - it seemed toslow the whole presentation down. Yes, the speakersdid gain a little in bass heft, but the baby/bathwatersyndrome comes to mind here - too much was lostfor just a small gain. Mind you, some folk like toluxuriate in a relaxed and enveloping sound, somaybe the 27g weights will work for them!

For me, the 7g weight seemed to be a goodcompromise between bass depth and overall detailresolution. With no weights attached to the passivebass radiators the presentation was a touch faster buta little too lightweight and 'boppy' for me.

In SUMMARY, apart from their appearance where Iam sure that many people will agree they aregenuinely stunning, these aren't "Wow Speakers". I

suspect youare unlikely,on firsthearing, tothink "Wow,that's fantasticclarity / bass /imaging /dynamics /

whatever".What the Waterfall Audio Victoria Evo speakers dois provide genuinely good sound quality across abroad swathe of music types. Vocals, in particular,benefit from the low colouration of the glass cabinet.These speakers don't provide the very bottom octaveof bass, so true bass-heads will need to lookelsewhere.They present a mid-hall perspective; not up close andpersonal, but not distant and vague either. It's aslightly relaxed view that can be enjoyed for longperiods with no real danger of listener fatigue.Are you paying a little extra for the fancy glasscabinet? Yep, sure you are.Can you get sound as good for a bit less money?Yep, sure you can.Do they sound good and look absolutely fantastic?Yep, sure they do!For the 'value conscious' music lover who wants toget the very best sound per £, I guess I'd suggest thatthese speakers may not be for you.But if the price range suits you, and you desire verygood sound quality in an amazingly, perhapsuniquely, attractive package, then these fineloudspeakers should definitely be on your auditionlist.______Review system: MBL 116F speakers; Atoll AM-80,Topping TP-60 and Krell KAV-250a power amps;Restek Consens pre-amp; Vincent CD S7 CD Player.RFC Pluto & Oscar's Audio Dark Knight i/c andTellurium Q Black speaker cables.Jerry Jacobs

Do they sound good and lookabsolutely fantastic? Yep, surethey do!



Turntables, Cartridges and Tonearms

A Cacophony of Cartridges (Dynavector Mcs)Shelter 5000 Moving Coil CartridgeSME309 versus Michell TechnoArm (A)A Cacophony of Cartridges Part 2 (Denon MCs)Rega P25, Michell Gyro SE, Garrard 401Pro-Ject Debut CarbonOracle Paris Mk V TurntableLondon Jubilee CartridgeThe Funk Firm Technics SL1200Roksan Radius 5 Mk2 turntable, Nima tonearm &Corus Silver cartridgeOrigin Live Modified Technics 1210 TurntableThe Cartridge Man Music Maker III CartridgeMike New Bearing for Technics 1210 Turntable

CD Players and Transports

Consonance Mini Droplet Linear CDP3.1Cyrus CD8xMHZS CD88Musical Fidelity X-Ray V8 CD plus Triple-X PowerSupplyLampizator “Transport”Unison Research Unico CD PrimoRoksan Oxygene Amplifier and CD Player

Loudspeakers

Infinity RS2.5 Standard Ribbon HybridMBL 116F RadialstrahlerHorning Agathon UltimateAudio Note AN-e/LXAudio Physic Virgo Mk2ProAc Future Point FiveTotem Acoustic ForestCA-Electronics AP10Akkus V1Harbeth Super SHL5Eminent Technology LFT-16aEminent Technology LFT-8bAncient Audio Studio OslohORNS MummyMarshall Choong FS-1Quadral Chromium Style 30Tannoy Turnberry SEAlacrity Audio CaterthunTSAE Evinceelectricbeach Frugel3

German Physiks Unlimited Mk2JoSound CartoucheQ Acoustics' Concept 20Dynaudio Excite X14

Amplifiers

Cary Audio Design 572SE MonoblocsParasound Halo A21 Stereo Power AmpChord CPM 2600 Integrated AmplifierCR Developments Romulus Valve IntegratedAmplifierAmptastic Mini-TRadford STA15 Series 3 Re-Issue AmplifierMing Da MC-7SE Pre-amp, MC-805 Power-ampsConsonance Cyber 10 Signature Integrated AmplifierRadford Revival STA15 Meets the Original RadfordSTA15Absolutor Pre-amplifierCustom Hifi Cables HA10 & HA10SE HeadphoneAmps, DC1 & DC2 PSUsEpiphany Acoustics EHP-O2 Portable HeadphoneAmplifierLinear Audio Research IA30 Mk 2 AmplifierTortuga Audio LDR6 Passive Pre-ampRoksan Caspian M2 Integrated AmplifierPuresound 2A3 Integrated AmplifierClones Audio 25i Integrated AmplifierKing Rex 'Headquarters' HQ-1 Headphone AmplifierPeachtree Decco 65Audio4Soul Xtreme 16Cyrus X200 Signature Mono AmplifiersOnix RA125 Integrated AmplifierTellurium Q Iridium Power AmplifierMistral DT-307a Hybrid AmplifierTisbury Audio Mini Passive PreamplifierRoksan Oxygene Amplifier and CD PlayerBlack Pearls' Birth 100 AmpilfierRoksan K2 BT Amplifier

Digital to Analogue Converters

Audio GD Digital Interface USB to S/Pdif ConverterLampizator DAC Level 4 ReviewHuman Audio Muto DacNeko Audio D100 DACHuman Audio Tabla USB to SP/dif InterfaceResonessence Labs Invicta DAC/Pre-ampAntelope Zodiac+ DAC/Pre-ampDARED EF-99 Headphone Amplifer and USB DAC

Review Links

http://hifipig.com/a-cacophony-of-cartridges-part-1/

http://hifipig.com/shelter-5000-moving-coil-cartridge/

http://hifipig.com/sme309-vs-michell-technoarm-a/

http://hifipig.com/a-cacophony-of-cartridges-part-2-denon-mcs/

http://hifipig.com/one-man-and-his-turnatable-well-three-actually/

http://hifipig.com/pro-ject-debut-carbon/

http://hifipig.com/oracle-paris-mk-v-turntable/

http://hifipig.com/london-jubilee-cartridge/

http://hifipig.com/the-funk-firm-technics-sl1200/

http://hifipig.com/roksan-radius-5-mk2-turntable-nima-tonearm-corus-silver-cartridge/

http://hifipig.com/origin-live-modified-technics-1210-turntable/

http://hifipig.com/the-cartridge-man-music-maker-iii-cartridge/

http://hifipig.com/mike-new-bearing-for-technics-1210-turntable/


http://hifipig.com/consonance-mini-droplet-linear-cdp3-1/

http://hifipig.com/cyrus-cd8x/

http://hifipig.com/mhzs-cd88-cd-player/

http://hifipig.com/musical-fidelity-x-ray-v8-cd-plus-triple-x-power-supply/

http://hifipig.com/lampizator-transport/

http://hifipig.com/unison-research-unico-cd-primo/

http://hifipig.com/roksan-oxygene-amplifier-and-cd-player-4/


http://hifipig.com/infinity-rs2-5-ribbon-hybrid-loudspeakers/

http://hifipig.com/mbl-116f-radialstrahler/

http://hifipig.com/horning-agathon-ultimate-loudspeakers/

http://hifipig.com/an-affair-of-the-heart-audio-note-an-elx/

http://hifipig.com/audio-physic-virgo-mk2-speakers/

http://hifipig.com/proac-future-point-five-floor-standing-loudspeakers/

http://hifipig.com/totem-acoustic-forest-loudspeaker/

http://hifipig.com/ca-electronics-ap10-loudspeakers/

http://hifipig.com/akkus-v1-loudspeakers/

http://hifipig.com/harbeth-super-shl5-loudspeakers/

http://hifipig.com/eminent-technology-lft-16a-loudspeakers/

http://hifipig.com/eminent-technology-lft-8b-loudspeakers/

http://hifipig.com/ancient-audio-studio-oslo-monitors/

http://hifipig.com/yummy-mummy/

http://hifipig.com/marshall-choong-fs-1-loudspeakers/

http://hifipig.com/quadral-chromium-style-30-loudspeakers/

http://hifipig.com/tannoy-turnberry-se-loudspeakers/

http://hifipig.com/alacrity-audio-caterthun-loudspeakers/

http://hifipig.com/tsae-evince-loudspeakers/

http://hifipig.com/electricbeach-frugel3-loudspeaker/

http://hifipig.com/german-physiks-unlimited-mk2-loudspeakers/

http://hifipig.com/josound-cartouche-loudspeakers/

http://hifipig.com/q-acoustics-concept-20-loudspeakers-2/

http://hifipig.com/dynaudio-excite-x14-loudspeakers/

http://hifipig.com/cary-audio-design-572se-monoblocs/

http://hifipig.com/parasound-halo-a21-stereo-power-amp/

http://hifipig.com/chord-cpm-2600-ntegrated-amplifier/

http://hifipig.com/cr-developments-romulus-valve-integrated-amplifier/

http://hifipig.com/do-good-things-come-in-small-packages-amptastic-mini-t/

http://hifipig.com/radford-sta15-series-3-re-issue-amplifier/

http://hifipig.com/ming-da-mc-7se-pre-amp-mc-805-power-amps-mc-phono2006-phonostage/

http://hifipig.com/consonance-cyber-10-integrated-amplifier/

http://hifipig.com/radford-revival-sta15-meets-the-original/

http://hifipig.com/absolutor-pre-amplifier/

http://hifipig.com/custom-hifi-cables-ha10-ha10se-headphone-amps-dc1-dc2-psus/

http://hifipig.com/epiphany-acoustics-ehp-o2-portable-headphone-amplifier/

http://hifipig.com/linear-audio-la30-amplifier/

http://hifipig.com/tortuga-audio-ldr6-passive-pre-amp/

http://hifipig.com/roksan-caspian-m2-integrated-amplifier/

http://hifipig.com/puresound-2a3-integrated-amplifier/

http://hifipig.com/clones-audio-25i-integrated-amplifier/

http://hifipig.com/king-rex-headquarters-hq-1-headphone-amplifier/

http://hifipig.com/peachtree-decco-65/

http://hifipig.com/audio4soul-xtreme-16/

http://hifipig.com/cyrus-x200-signature-mono-amplifiers/

http://hifipig.com/onix-ra125-integrated-amplifier/

http://hifipig.com/tellurium-q-iridium-power-amplifier/

http://hifipig.com/mistral-dt-307a-hybrid-amplifier/

http://hifipig.com/tisbury-audio-mini-passive-preamplifier/

http://hifipig.com/roksan-oxygene-amplifier-and-cd-player-4/

http://hifipig.com/black-pearls-birth-100-ampilfier/

http://hifipig.com/roksan-k2-bt-amplifier/


http://hifipig.com/audio-gd-digital-interface-usb-to-spdif-converter/

http://hifipig.com/lampizator-dac-level-4-review/

http://hifipig.com/human-audio-muto-dac-2/

http://hifipig.com/neko-audio-d100-dac/

http://hifipig.com/human-audio-tabla-usb-to-spdif-interface/

http://hifipig.com/resonessence-labs-invicta-dacpreamp/

http://hifipig.com/antelope-zodiac-dacpre-amp/

http://hifipig.com/dared-ef-99-headphone-amplifer-and-usb-dac/


Epiphany Acoustics E-DAC 24bit Miniature USBDACResonessence Labs Concero DACAudio4Soul Xtreme 16Miniwatt n4 Headphone Amplifier and DACCyrus X DAC SignatureSchiit Modi USB DAC and Magni HeadphoneAmplifierTotaldac D1-tubedacLongdog Audio VDt1 DACAMI Musik DDH-1 DAC and Headphone AmplifierQ N K T C AB - 1.2 DAC

Cables

RFC 'Reference Mercury' Interconnect CablesEpiphany Acoustics Atratus Interconnect CablesBlack Rhodium “Twist” Speaker Cables Part 1, Part2Black Rhodium Interconnect Cables - Opus,Rhythm, Prelude & SymphonyRFC 'Reference Pluto' Interconnect CablesVermouth Audio ‘Black Curse' InterconnectsAlbedo InterconnectsTellurium Q Black Loudspeaker CableTellurium Q Ultra Black Loudspeaker CablesJade Audio Moontails InterconnectsNeutral Cable - Fascino InterconnectsNeutral Cable - Fascino Power CablesOriton Diamond Red and Symphony OrangeInterconnectsGraditech Kide Digital, Kide3 Interconnects andLumi3 Speaker CablesChord Crimson VEE 3, Cobra VEE3, ChameleonVEE 3 InterconnectsTellurium Q Black Diamond USB CableAtlas Ascent 3.5 Mkii Speaker Cables

Digital Audio Players

Hisound Audio Studio-V and RoCoo Digital AudioPlayersAstell and Kern AK100HiSound Audio Nova 1 Digital Audio Player

Computer Audio and Streaming

QED uPlay StreamLampizator “Transport”

Phono Stages

Electrocompaniet ECP 1Ming Da MC-Phono 2006

Headfi

Grado 325is HeadphonesCustom Hifi Cables HA10 & HA10SE HeadphoneAmps, DC1 & DC2 PSUsEpiphany Acoustics EHP-O2 Portable HeadphoneAmplifierDARED EF-99 Headphone Amplifer and USB DACMusical Fidelity EB-50 In Ear MonitorsKing Rex 'Headquarters' HQ-1 Headphone AmplifierBeyerdynamic DT990 Premium HeadphonesMiniwatt n4 Headphone Amplifier and DACBeyerdynamic DT770 Pro HeadphonesSchiit Modi USB DAC and Magni HeadphoneAmplifierNAD VISO HP50 HeadphonesAMI Musik DDH-1 DAC and Headphone AmplifierMusical Fidelity MF 100 HeadphonesTeufel Aureol Real Headphones

Accessories

Reso-Mat LP MatPS Audio Power Plant PremierCA Electronics Isolating FeetDiffraction Begone BafflesSpeaker Angle AppSPIN CLEAN Record WasherRJC Audio ‘Hush’ Turntable Isolation PlatformAudio Suspension ASU-100 Turntable ShelfOriton Support ConesAkiko Audio Tuning Sticks

Review Links

http://hifipig.com/epiphany-acoustics-e-dac-24bit-miniature-usb-dac/

http://hifipig.com/resonessence-concero-dac-review/

http://hifipig.com/audio4soul-xtreme-16/

http://hifipig.com/miniwatt-n4-headphone-amplifier/

http://hifipig.com/cyrus-x-dac-signature/

http://hifipig.com/schiit-modi-usb-dac-and-magni-headphone-amplifier/

http://hifipig.com/totaldac-d1-tubedac/

http://hifipig.com/longdog-audio-vdt1-dac/

http://hifipig.com/ami-musik-ddh-1-dac-and-headphone-amplifier-2/

http://hifipig.com/q-n-k-t-c-ab-1-2-dac/


http://hifipig.com/rfc-reference-mercury-interconnect-cables/

http://hifipig.com/epiphany-acoustics-atratus-cables/

http://hifipig.com/black-rhodium-twist-speaker-cables/

http://hifipig.com/black-rhodium-twist-loudspeaker-cable/

http://hifipig.com/black-rhodium-interconnect-cables-opus-rhythm-prelude-symphony/

http://hifipig.com/rfc-reference-pluto-interconnect-cables/

http://hifipig.com/vermouth-audio-black-curse-interconnects/

http://hifipig.com/talkin-bout-a-revolution/

http://hifipig.com/tellurium-q-black-loudspeaker-cable-review/

http://hifipig.com/tellurium-q-ultra-black-loudspeaker-cables-review/

http://hifipig.com/jade-audio-moontails-interconnects-review/

http://hifipig.com/neutral-cable-fascimo-interconnects-and-power-cables/

http://hifipig.com/oriton-diamond-red-and-symphony-orange-interconnects/

http://hifipig.com/graditech-kide-digital-kide3-interconnects-and-lumi3-speaker-cables/

http://hifipig.com/chords-new-entry-level-interconnects/

http://hifipig.com/tellurium-q-black-diamond-usb-cable-2/

http://hifipig.com/atlas-ascent-3-5-mkii-speaker-cables/

http://hifipig.com/hisound-audio-studio-v-and-rocoo-digital-audio-players/

http://hifipig.com/astell-and-kern-ak100-review/

http://hifipig.com/hisound-audio-nova-1/

http://hifipig.com/qed-uplay-stream/

http://hifipig.com/lampizator-transport/

http://hifipig.com/electrocompaniet-ecp-1/

http://hifipig.com/ming-da-mc-phono-2006-phonostage/

http://hifipig.com/grado-325is-headphones/

http://hifipig.com/custom-hifi-cables-ha10-ha10se-headphone-amps-dc1-dc2-psus/

http://hifipig.com/epiphany-acoustics-ehp-o2-portable-headphone-amplifier/

http://hifipig.com/dared-ef-99-headphone-amplifer-and-usb-dac/

http://hifipig.com/musical-fidelity-eb-50-in-ear-monitors/

http://hifipig.com/king-rex-headquarters-hq-1-headphone-amplifier/

http://hifipig.com/beyerdynamic-dt990-premium-headphones/

http://hifipig.com/miniwatt-n4-headphone-amplifier/

http://hifipig.com/beyerdynamic-dt770-pro-headphones/

http://hifipig.com/schiit-modi-usb-dac-and-magni-headphone-amplifier/

http://hifipig.com/nad-viso-hp50-headphones/

http://hifipig.com/ami-musik-ddh-1-dac-and-headphone-amplifier-2/

http://hifipig.com/musical-fidelity-mf-100-headphones/

http://hifipig.com/teufel-aureol-real-headphones/

http://hifipig.com/reso-mat-lp-mat/

http://hifipig.com/ps-audio-power-plant-premier-mains-re-generator/

http://hifipig.com/ca-electronics-isolating-feet/

http://hifipig.com/diffraction-begone-baffles/

http://hifipig.com/speaker-angle-app-2/

http://hifipig.com/spin-clean-record-washer/

http://hifipig.com/rjc-audio-hush-turntable-isolation-platform/

http://hifipig.com/audio-suspension-asu-100-turntable-shelf/

http://hifipig.com/oriton-support-cones/

http://hifipig.com/akiko-audio-tuning-sticks/



Bird Radio (Mikey Kirkpatrick) is

originally from Hereford, is a

graduate in music from Goldsmiths

College in London and has his own

production company (Avacado

Music) which has produced over 30 recording projects.

The world needs more artists like Bird Radio who are

not afraid to stand apart from the mainstream musical

dross with which we are bombarded on a daily basis.

Bird Radio eschews the X Factor-radio-friendly format

and very much walks his own path. Indeed, he is a one

man band armed with a suit case that takes the role of

kick drum, a flute which he loops in on itself along

with other instruments and an interestingly quirky

vocal delivery that lies somewhere between medieval

troubadour and a wicked Daevid Allen. He sets his

stall out from the very start of the album as being that

little different from the norm - and that's a good thing!

Where the hell do you pigeonhole “The Boy and The

Audience” (out on Strike Force Records) then? - I for

sure have absolutely no idea what-so-ever! The

opening title track is simple affair of voice, tambourine

and a single beat of

a drum which could come from a few centuries ago…

and so could a lot more of the album - there is a nod

to the past with "Who Killed Cock Robin".

At first listen lyrically you’d be forgiven that this was

an album of folk music from the middle ages, but the

content is very much of today and idiosyncratic in its

nature– “Imagine what goes through the mind of an

owl and write it in a letter to the one you love”.

“Devil at the Door” is loops of a simple distorted

guitar lick and a reverberating beating drum and it

casts a dark and eerie musical shadow on proceedings.

It’s menacing and a bit White Stripes…ish…in a sort

of it’s not like White Stripes at all style.

“Black Car” is the most “upbeat” of the tracks on the

album and swings from simple looped claps and flute

to full on distorted guitar and bellowed vocal delivery

– heady stuff and more than a little disturbing!

There are snatches of Jethro Tull here and there –

there’s bound to be as he was inspired to take up the

flute by the music of Jethro Tull and their leader Ian

Anderson – but all in all Bird Radio can be said to be

pretty much unique in both content and delivery – it’s

not electronica, it’s not folk and it’s not indie –

loopfolk perhaps?

“Aeolian Flute” loops and twists in ever increasing

circles around a simple and repetitive theme and defies

categorisation. And this essentially sums up Bird Radio

and “The Boy in the Audience” - you just can’t put

your finger on its style, but like Monty Python it could

only come from the mind of an Englishman. The final

track “Time to Go” (featuring Othon) begins with a

simple and beautiful piano theme with voice and builds

and builds and is a great musical moment on the

record.

If you like your music to be thought provoking and

unconventional then you’ll love this album.

Bird Radio is like a demented Pied Piper cum Cat

Weasel character for the Ableton Live generation - fail

to listen at your peril!

Album Reviews

“The Boy in the Audience” - you just can’t putyour finger on its style, but like Monty Python itcould only come from the mind of an Englishman.

Pearl Jam - Lightning Bolt by Stewart Hall

Of

the slewof'90s/alt/grunge actsreleasingalbums oflate, Pearl

Jam is pretty much the only one whichboasts a steady line-up and a consistenttimeline of releases dating back to theirdebut.

They're late to the party if you choose tocompare the most recent release dates,but they've been omnipresent for the lasttwo decades. This could work either for,or against them; on the one hand themembers' experience and familiarity witheach other may contribute to the album'scohesion, but on the other hand they maybe missing some youthful exuberanceand simply going through the motions...20 years is a long time and Lightning Boltis their 10th album...

The good news is that the phrase "goingthrough the motions" won't be mentionedtoo often in relation to this record, if ever.The band sounds invigorated and driven,the vocals of Eddie Vedder in particular

convey an energy and emotion that can'tbe faked. The band members (all originalI might add) seem to be having as muchfun as they did when they released 'Ten'all those years ago.... or when theygleefully boycotted Ticketmaster...

Besides Vedder's tuneful vocal warble,nothing much on Lightning Bolt bearsresemblance to their early '90s "grunge"works. They've continually grown andevolved over the interceding years andhave become quite simply anaccomplished rock band which now sitssomewhere between Neil Young, U2 andBruce Springsteen. High praise indeed,and well deserved. However, that's not tosay this album is an unequalledmasterpiece...

It's a good effort, but not earth shattering.There are some breathtaking highlightsfor sure, but there are also some prettyhumdrum moments. The first single"Mind your Manners" while initiallysounding tough and uncompromising, onfurther inspection reveals itself to be apretty watered down attempt at hardcorepunk... like a limp Bad Religion. Yeah...don't do that please. I'm not sure theterms "hardcore punk" and "Pearl Jam"ought to be used in the same sentence.

There's a bit of filler material, which isn'tterrible but is far from inspiring. "Sirens","Infallible" and "Future Days" are allreasonable, and along with "Mind YourManners" serve to merely flesh out thedisc... which is still relatively concise at 47minutes so at least they haven'tattempted to strangle every last availablesecond out of it.

However, there are very few (if any)albums that are utter genius from start tofinish, and Lightning Bolt boasts somesuper-impressive highlights. Followingthe irritating "Mind Your Manners" is thefar more interesting (although it bearssome weird similarities to Soundgarden's"Dust") and angular new-wave-esquesound of "My Father's Son". Yes, morelike this please.

"Swallowed Whole" is one of the trackswhich showcases Vedder's vocalprowess. It features a strummed acousticguitar line, an eminently singable (ifyou're a great singer.... I can picturedrunken karaoke participants murderingit!) chorus and a tasteful guitar solo fromMike McReady. Actually the latter is anelement that's effectively utilized but notoverdone on the record... it takes a fewlistens to appreciate it, but it's there.

"Sleeping by Myself" is a quieter track butit's also one of the album's strongest.Great vocal harmonies, inventive chordprogressions (which give it a sombre alt-country feel), and another evocativeguitar solo make a lasting impressionupon the listener and it really showcasesthe band's softer side.

But the winner is...(drum roll please)....the title track! Yeah, easily the album'sbest song, it contains everything greatabout Pearl Jam. Infectious riffing,driving beats, melodic inflections and amagnificent vocal performance fromVedder that could shatter glass. This isan epic track that soars high above therest of the album and is truly one of theband's finest moments to date. Brilliant.

Overall this album is strong. It didn'tnecessarily have to be, the band's namealone is a huge money-spinner; theycould crap on a cd and people would stillbuy it (Lulu anyone?), but after all theseyears they're still driven and creativeenough to put out a record whichconfirms their status as a truly greatband. It's not a masterpiece but it's goodenough and long time fans & newcomersalike should be more than happy with it.

7/10

Bird Radio - The Boy and the Audienceby Stuart Smith


\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\Arcade Fire. The Canadian indieheroes have been pretty quiet oflate... the only murmurs that have

permeated our newsfeeds were allegationsof pop diva Delta Goodrem ripping offtheir classic track "Rebellion (Lies)"...Until they announced they were releasing adouble album!

It's a brave (or very silly) move releasing atwo disc set in the current musical climate.We are as a society increasingly time-poorand more inclined to consume and discardmusical titbits... either via streaming ordownloads, the content of which is oftenrelegated to some dusty hard drive never tobe heard again (or deleted completely)unless it was totally mind blowing. Thereare exceptions of course, die hard musiccollectors and audiophiles are still outthere (this reviewer's musical completismborders on the obsessive compulsive) butthe only artist in recent memory to releasea double album was Neil Young and...well, he's Neil Young.

Inspired in part by vocalist/guitarist WinButler and multi-instrumentalist RégineChassagne undertaking a trip to Haiti, thealbum exhibits a few telltale signs: aCaribbean beat here, a steel drum-esque

synth there,but by andlarge it'sdanceableindie pop...and yes,amazinglygiven theirsuccess, wecan still callthem indie:

Thank you Mergerecords.

Kicking off with theunremarkable titlecut (ignoring thepointless pre-gaphidden track), thealbum gives one afearful notion thatthey are to be boredto death by two discsof meek Canadianquasi-disco,however, the secondtrack "We Exist"leaps quickly to therescue. This trackdemonstrates what isto be the meat-and-potatoes of the

album. Hook laden bass & synth lineswith layers of guitar, multitrackedvocals....and a few more synths for goodmeasure.

Being as most of the band members aremulti-instrumentalists, it's difficult to knowjust who's playing what, but interestinglyfor a rock/pop album, the synth andbasslines drive & shape the songs and arethe heroes of the record. Not to takeanything away from the other instruments,but therein is the pulse of Reflektor.

The first disc is loaded with pop treats andinteresting sonic explorations. "HereComes The Night Time" and "Joan OfArc" both begin with surprisingly quicktempos but glide down to an easier pace inwhat is a really interesting application ofrhythmic dynamism. The latter inparticular begins as if it's gonna be ahardcore punk beatdown, but it quicklymorphs into the swinging tempo that's thebackbone of the song. Initially this leavesyou feeling a little let down andemotionally short-changed, but the track isterrific and the infectious bassline (not tomention the great vocal harmonies)underscores just how important it is to thealbum... and this song in particular.

Ok... disc one is a winner; pure, classy andimaginative pop music. Come on disc two,don't let the team down!

Beginning with the familiar (to those oldenough to remember) ascending cadence ofbloop bloop bleeps that marked thebeginning of side B of certain cassettetapes, the main body of track one follows."Here Comes The Night Time II" is amorbid reprise of its namesake, thesmouldering ashes of part I... hang on... ohno... "part II", "reprise"... oh shit, we'resailing dangerously close to pretentiousconcept album territory...

Following are "Awful Sound (OhEurydice)" and "It's Never Over (OhOrpheus)"... Oh Orpheus?...Oh no! Suites?The pompous spectres of Yes and ELP areupon us! Thankfully "Awful Sound" ispretty decent with a crescendo befitting itstitle, however the cracks are beginning toshow... and become crevasses. Much ofdisc two is really second rate... I mean,with a double album you expect somefiller, but you don't expect it all to becrammed onto the second disc like it was abonus of studio outtakes or some shit likethat. Not a single track on disc twomanages to get its hooks into you likepractically every song on disc one does. Idon't know if this is an anomaly thatapplies only to me... but after the musicalhighs of disc one, what's offered up next isreally quite irritating.

It's not "bad" music exactly; stylistically itfollows suit, but it lacks the focus anddrive of its predecessor. Quite a bit of it isundefined droning synth-slop, which,while not unpleasant, is comparativelyuninspiring and the eject button beckonsincreasingly with every arpeggiated synthline. Take the final track"Supersymmetry"; 11 minutes ofinoffensive, bland and unnecessaryformlessness. No thanks. "Afterlife" isdance worthy but unremarkable and theaforementioned "Awful Sound" has it'smoments, but gimme disc one!

Once again a band reduces the impact ofits work by padding it out excessively.

'Reflektor' is a frustrating release.Fantastic in parts (the first part) andtiresome elsewhere, it would have receiveda much higher rating were the second discup to the quality of the first... or omittedcompletely

6.5/10

Arcade Fire -Reflektor By Stewart Hall

Album Reviews


Album Reviews

There's been a bit of a trend recentlytowards metal supergroups (theheavy music community is

practically salivating at the prospect ofKiller Be Killed), but Mutation is one thatmay slip under theradar. Well I'm gonnado my best to see that itdoesn't.

Describing themselvesas a "collective", theband is comprised of aseemingly disparate group of musicians.Shane Embury (Napalm Death), GingerWildheart (The Wildhearts), Mark E.Smith (The Fall), Jon Poole (Cardiacs),Rich Jones (Amen), Chris Catalyst(Sisters of Mercy), Denzel (YoungLegionnaire), random members of altmetallers Hawk Eyes and Japaneseelectro-terrorist Merzbow.... plus heapsmore which are too numerous to mention.

With that lot cloistered together in astudio, you can bet Error 500 is not gonnabe your average rock record, particularlysince it's being released on Mike Patton'sIpecac label...Aficionados of avant garde rock may havebeen through a bit of a lean patch the lastcouple of years. Mr Bungle & NakedCity are long gone and Fantomas & TheSecret Chiefs 3 have been pretty quiet.Japanese grind popsters Melt Banana havereleased an (excellent) album recently butthat's about it unless you're wicked

underground and arehoarding avant-gemsto yourself.

Speaking of MeltBanana, there's morethan a little of theirapproach spreadacross this release.It's... umm...imagineDeerhoof jammingwith Napalm Deathon Beach Boystracks and you'resomewhere aroundthe mark... exceptway off. This is anextremely hardalbum to pin down.It jumps betweengenres no question,

but unlike Naked City or Fantomas whoare sometimes frustrating in that they'llleap out of a groove just as you werebeginning to dig it, the songs on Error 500have recurring themes and cyclical song

structures. While the overall sound isfairly uncompromising there's nofrustrating musique concrete or phrases ofplain noise for noise's sake.

There are passages of furious grindcore,with blastbeats being applied liberallywhere necessary for sure, but some of therhythmic and melodic progressionsexhibit damned impressive musicianship;their jerky dissonance and unconventionalconstruction is sure to catch the ear of themost discerning prog-ster. If you're oneof those music fans who likes to count,there's enough maths going on here tosatisfy you. Conversely, if you simplyenjoy crushing brutality, fear not. Thereare plenty of distorted and weighty riffsfor the hardened deathster to enjoy. Nodoubt contributing to this heaviness is theinclusion of two bass guitar tracks: ShaneEmbury's filthily distorted rumblingcombined with Jon Poole's cleaner bassiersound.

But perhaps the most surprising elementis that there is also a pervading sense ofmelody and pop catchiness! This recordhas hooks which belie its unorthodoxcomposition. While some of Ginger'sdistorted vocals are hard to interpret (Icould have done with a lyric sheet toaccompany the cd), there are some trulyinspired vocal harmonies floating over theunderlying brutality and complexity. Thisis where the Cardiacs influence is mostevident, "White Leg" and its partialreprise "Sun of White Leg" are among thebest tracks and are harmonically akin towhat Yes might have sounded like if theywere trying to play death metal!

Such is the apparent disparity between thecontributing musicians, I had a horriblesuspicion that this album would be a sortof patchwork quilt of their variousinfluences glued together with Pro Toolstrickery, however it's anything but.Perfectly executed non-linear tempo shiftsand meter changes add to the overallcohesiveness and Error 500 sounds verymuch like the work of a band rather than abunch of hastily assembled musicians.

The album is best consumed as a whole(and at speaker killing volumes) but thestandout tracks are the stop-startascension and chilling breakdown of themagnificently titled "Computer, This isNot What I...", the epic yet infectiousspazzcore of "Innocentes In Mortes" and"Utopia Syndrome" and the virtuallyindescribable (yeah, I tried but it's vagueat best) suite of "White Leg" and "Sun ofWhite Leg"... the latter in particularfeatures a soaring harmonic crescendo ofrhapsodic proportions.Of course this record won't be foreveryone, but for those who enjoy thebands mentioned earlier in the review(and those who feel said bands wouldhave been better if they paid more heed tometal) then this album is not justrecommended... it's essential.A heady cocktail of visionary heavymusic... with a twist o' lemon!8.5/10

Mutation - Error 500 by Stewart Hall

With that lot cloistered together in a studio,you can bet Error 500 is not gonna be youraverage rock record.


Album Reviews

Let me go on record bysaying that I’m a bit of afan of The Polyphonic

Spree. Let me also say that I’m abit of a sucker for all thingsfestive. So I was quite excitedwhen “Sounds of the Holidays VolOne Holiday Dream” droppedthrough the letterbox recently.

However, I’ve put off listening toit as we’re not allowed to mentionthe C word until after 23rd

November – it’s a long andcomplicated story I won’t boreyou with here.This is the first time the specialedition package, resplendent withits two bonus tracks and DVD ofthe band live in London, has had aEuropean release so I was prettypleased to have received it.Basically what you’re getting withHoliday Dream is a collection ofthe band’s favourite Christmastunes given the trademarksprinkling of Polyphonic Spreefairy dust.

The stand out track for me is thebands rendition of Lennon’s‘Merry Xmas (War is Over)’ butto be fair if you want to get intothe whole spirit of the seasonthere’s not a bad track on therecord at all.The DVD is a nice touch but I’mnot a huge fan of music videos soit got a cursory skimming over andnothing more.This CD will certainly be gettingan airing on Christmas morning inthis household and if you want toget in the mood for the season all Ican suggest is you sit up in frontof the fire, pour yourself a largeglass of whatever tipple takes yourfancy, break out the mince piesand pop this album on the oldmusic centre. Instant Festivitiesand highly recommended!

Polyphonic Spree - Holiday Dreams

mailto:[email protected]


How did you get into/what was your first job inthe industry?

I started on the 12volt side building demo vehicles,testing products, sales director and consultant andtook the plunge to work from home almost 4 yearsago.

Who or what was the biggest influence on yourcareer?

Two people come to mind immediately, Alon Wolf(Magico) when he was really designing and buildingpieces that were cutting edge, but mainly Josh Stip-pich from Electonluv. Literally right after the firsttime I saw his tube amps I was out in my shop build-ing

Proudest moment/product you’re most proud of?

It was the day that my father asked me to make him aset of loudspeakers as it was him who got me intohome audio 25 years ago.

What was your very first system?

First semi real system was a Sony STR-DA1ES re-ceiver, Sony CDP-C7ES cd player, Infinity Kappa200 Bookshelfs and all IXOS cabling.

What component/product do you miss themost/wish you had never got rid of?

Boulder 865 Integrated, as it was on loan from Boul-der and had to give it back.

Best system (or single component) you have everheard (no brands you represent please…!)

This still has to be my father’s old rig, Coda preamp,California Audio Labs CD player, Threshold andAdcom amplification and Nelson Reed loudspeakersand subwoofers. This has always been my bench-mark.

Tell us about your current system(s)

The main test rig is an Oppo BDP 105 player, KoratoKVP-10 tube preamp, Belles 150A amplifier, BPTconditioner, Audience interconnects, Skograndspeaker cable and Randall K Sentinel loudspeakers

What's your view on the valve renaissance of thepast 20 years or so?

I love it; I am a fan of both topologies (Tube or Sol-id State) and enjoy either. There is some magicthough that I have heard on a tube rig that can’t bereplicated in my humble opinion.

Behind the Brands

Randy Kunin is the owner ofand driving force behindRandall K Designer HiFi.

The company was started a little undera year ago with one mission; to makeaudio cool again and get peoplepassionate about wanting to sharemusic and audio the very same way itwas infused in us.They are currently looking for 10-15Dealers in the US and 10 -15International Distributors that wouldlike to offer the Randall K designs.


Behind the BrandsWhat are you views on the state of theindustry/where is it going/what will it look like in5 years/what will typical systems look like?/Whatwill happen to prices?/What will happen to thehigh end – will it carry on regardless?

Our industry just like any other goes in cycles,though I feel our cycles tend to be longer. I think theproblem with ours is relevance and an inability toconnect with the next generation. Companies thesedays are all fighting over the same every shrinkingaudiophile demographic because they don’t knowhow to create product and market to people outsidethe audio circle. I think we will also continue seeinga huge separation in pricing from accessible to outra-geous and a decreasing middle market. I think majorplayers in the high end market will carry on but needto figure out how to justify pricing other than namerecognition or huge price tag

What are the industry’s biggest con(s)?

Just the all-out snobbery in all levels. From manufac-turing, retail and media. And it’s those people who

complain that the market is shrinking. They have yetto figure out that we all need to work together togrow our numbers. The good news is that there is aregime change going on with the next generation ofpeople like myself taking over or creating companiesthat are accessible and just good people.

Presuming the measurements are fine, what doyou listen for when assessing products?

In regards to my own, I listen for coherency and en-closure coloration. When you have both of thesethings addressed, speakers disappear and you startobtaining a performance and not playback.

Your sound preference -‘Smooth, listenable musi-cality’, ‘forward, driving, ‘foot-tapping’, involv-ing sound’ or ‘detailed neutrality andtransparency’?

I am a beauty is in the imperfections person. Whenyou are on the edge of your seat listening and notic-ing every imperfection instead of sitting back andgetting involved then IMO you need to pack up your


If you think Hifi Pig readers would be interested in finding out who’sbehind your brand then get in touch with us by clicking here or calling us

on +33 297237078

Behind the Brandsrig and get into something else. I feel that your sys-tem should impose as little coloration as possiblewithout sacrificing emotion.

Your preference - Full-range floorstanders orfreestanding mini monitors with a sub?

I believe you can have the best of both worlds. Peo-ple feel that you can’t get a disappearing act with afloorstander than you can with a mini monitor. I havebeen proving that theory wrong a lot lately.

What is your favourite recording?

Louis Armstrong playing St. James Infirmary on theSatchmo Plays King Oliver pressing

Tell us about your 3 most trusted test recordings.

Buddy Guy (Anna Lee), Dianne Reeves ( Feeling ofJazz), Nils Lofgren Band (Bass & Drum Into Live)

What are your most embarrassingrecordings/guilty musical pleasures?

A Japanese Throat singer called Yat-Kha doing cov-ers

Having safely ushered your loved ones out of thehouse as it is burning down to the ground, youignore all standard safety advice and dash backinside to grab just one recording – what is it?

TOOL (Undertow) on vinyl.

Involved in the Industry?



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