THE REVIEWS
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MCINTOSH C8 PREAMPLIFIER - REVIEW
Making a success of any consumer electronics venture is an exceedingly hard thing to do. The high-end audio industry roots out incompetence and mediocrity with a ruthless vengeance. Very few audiophile OEMs reach their tenth anniversary. Founded by Frank McIntosh in 1949, McIntosh Labs™ has now been in business for 75 years(!). No, that’s not a misprint.
DVA DIGITAL PREAMPLIFIER - REVIEW
AVA’s DVA Digital Preamplifier is an excellent example of what current technology is capable of when applied to a thoughtful design. It combines some of the organic aspects of an R2R design with just a touch of the desirable detail that a ΔΣ (delta-sigma) oversampling architecture brings to the party.
ATMA-SPHERE MP-3 PREAMPLIFIER & S-30 AMPLIFIER - REVIEW
Outstanding! Consider every technical benchmark—resolution, transparency, staging, dynamics, tone/timbre, etc.—checked, along with musicality, and the ability to present the music beyond stereo playback to that of a performance, checked. The sum total of this with the Atma-Sphere MP-3 Preamplifier and the S-30 Stereo Amplifier combo is one of the most engaging listening sessions that I’ve ever had.
ATMA-SPHERE MP-3 PREAMPLIFIER & CLASS D AMPLIFIERS - REVIEW
The Atma-Sphere MP-3 Preamplifier and the Class D Monoblocks are a hybrid combination, a class above a good deal of the rest. They brought continual enjoyment to both working listening sessions and personal listening sessions and my attention was alway rapt. As reviewers know, after working listening sessions, one generally needs a break from listening altogether.
ALLNIC L-10,000 SIGNATURE EDITION - REVIEW
For those in the market for a state-of-the-art linestage, we strongly recommend, if not insist, that it would be prudent to take a listen to the Allnic L-10,000 Signature Edition It will open an astute audiophile’s ears to what is capable at the highest levels of tube preamplification.
AIR-TIGHT ATC-5S & ATM -1E - REVIEW
The Air Tight ATC-5s preamplifier and the ATM-1s amplifier provide an “old school meets new school” approach to rendering one’s music, which, as earlier mentioned, results in lush and beautifully textured music that is spatially astute, with superb transparency, resolution, detail, and brilliant musicality.
PASS LABS HPA-1 HEADPHONE AMP - REVIEW
I did not expect to be as impressed as I am with the PASS LABS HPA-1, given its 2016-17 introduction and the various technical improvements that have come to other headphone amplifiers made in the interim, but time has not touched the viability, technical prowess, or wonderful musicality of the PASS LABS HPA-1. In truth, it has few rivals among those I’ve reviewed in recent years, regardless of price.