THE REVIEWS
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THE MEZE STRADA - REVIEW
First, the STRADA unlike Meze’s planar headphones will need, at least, 50 hours and nearly 100 hours to sound their best. The initial listening session, prior to their burn-in, was very concerning. I initially thought I had happened upon a bad Meze headphone. Well, no I hadn’t. It is, however, crucial for a good, thorough burn-in before listening for pleasure and certainly before reviewing them.
SHANLING ET3 DIGITAL TRANSPORT - REVIEW
The Shanling ET3 Digital Transport is surprisingly good and especially so for $895! And while it worked very well with the Border Patrol SE-i, it scaled beautifully with the best of the best DACs and did not, at all, embarrass itself. In fact, it shined with the Grimm Audio MU2 Streamer/DAC and the combo and put some very expensive streamer/DAC combos on notice of their, well, less than stellar performance. Or, in other words, the combo fired them!
ACCUPHASE E-700 INTEGRATED - REVIEW
The E-700 is built to a standard of excellence not seen in most brands, Japanese or other. I consider it a cost–no–object work at an affordable price (for some). Not for me, certainly, but if you’re looking for the multipurpose heart of a traditional higher-end two-channel system, this brawny beast from a time–honored marque might just be your ticket to a better-quality listen.
CANOR DAC 2.10 - REVIEW
The Slovakian brand Canor has made its presence known over the past several years, and the DAC 2.10 is a world-class source component, regardless of topology. But the fact that Canor pays fanatical attention to detail, even designing their own boards, and has found a way to incorporate a flawless tube output stage with their digital design, makes the DAC 2.10 a unique and highly desirable digital source component.
WARWICK ACOUSTICS BRAVURA AND SONOMA M1 - REVIEW
The Warwick Acoustic Bravura & Sonoma M1 represent the classic and well sought after electrostatic sound, like the transducers—Quad ESL 57, Martin Logan CLS—that began this rather exceptional modality!
PARASOUND HINT 6+ INTEGRATED - REVIEW
I really enjoyed the Parasound Halo Hint 6. I mean really enjoyed it. It exudes class, sounds wonderful, and is built to a high standard. I also really like the price. For $3200 you get an amp designed by John Curl that will drive any speaker, a DSD DAC, a phono preamp, and numerous other bells and whistles.
ANTICABLE SUITE - REVIEW
ANTICABLE has long touted its cables as giant killers and so it appears that they are, as was demonstrated throughout this review from cable type to cable type against a very expensive competitor and a competitor of equal pricing, both well known to the audiophile cognoscenti.