THE REVIEWS
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ASTELL&KERN SE180 - REVIEW
A DAP that travels and that does not leave one yearning for one’s home-based desktop or even one’s HiFi system! I would have thought the SE180 the Astell&Kern TOTL DAP when judged by its abilities, but it is not. Are those above it that good? Or does the employment of new technologies in the SE180—TERATON ALPHA Audio Technology and Astell&Kern’s Next Generation AMP Technology—push it beyond them?
SHANLING M8 DAP REVIEW
The Shanling M8 is an extraordinary “Portable Music Player” more detailed and extended than the DX220 AMP1 MkII, more musical and engaging than the Cayin N6II/A01, and it is as powerful as some desktop systems (and more transparent). The iBasso and the Cayin are both quite stellar, highly rated DAPs, the M8, however, is on another level altogether in what it brings to the rendering of one’s music.
ASTELL&KERN SR25 REVIEW
The Astell&Kern SR25 provides superb transparency, musical engagement, exceptional bass and treble extension, and 21 hours of playback! It is genre agnostic and it will scale beautifully with higher priced IEMs. The SR25 does this in a small, avant-garde form, for a fraction of the price of a number of top of the line DAPs.
IBASSO AMP9 MODULE REVIEW
The iBASSO AMP9 module is unique in that it utilizes “high current vacuum tubes” for power generation. The tube in question is the sixth generation, Korg and Noritake Nutube vacuum tube, which clearly reflects the “old is new again” adage. And, in this respect, the AMP9 module brings an analog sound signature as opposed to an analog-like sound signature.
IBASSO DX220/AMP1 MK II REVIEW
We were initially going to review only the iBASSO DX220 as aligned to the AMP9—a tubed module wherein there was great consensus that it would fall within our “sound niche.” But then we took a cursory listen to the iBASSO DX220 with the prix fixe AMP1 Mk II card with several headphones/IEMs, well, ‘it was on!’
CAYIN N6ii/E01 REVIEW
In the E01 module Cayin has embraced a duality, that sees a “Warm/Transparent” tuning, reminiscent of EL34’s, “shacking up,” so to speak, with a “Reference (like)/Transparent” tuning. Said duality is, by the way, available on-the-fly—touch screen enabled. Sweet!
CAYIN N6ii/A01 REVIEW
The Cayin N6ii’s/A01 ($1,119) sound is reminiscent of some of the best, classic analog—Thorens TD-125 MK II, Linn LP12, Garrard 301/401—as married to the best in today’s high-end digital offerings…