Innholdsfortegnelse for September - October 2016 i Australian HiFi

Listening sessions. What are they really for? Contrary to a belief that’s unfortunately gaining traction, a listening session is not so you can ‘discover new music’, listen to whatever’s trending at the time, or even to hear your favourite music played to its best advantage. The sole purpose of any listening session, either at a hi-fi show or in a dealer’s showroom, is to enable you to hear how accurately a component reproduces the true, unamplified, unprocessed sound of acoustic musical instruments and human voices. In these days of amplified voices and instruments, that’s becoming harder to do, but it’s not impossible. The reason for using only acoustic instruments and voices is that in order to judge if any hi-fi component is adding or detracting from sound quality, you need…

Panasonic’s eagerly awaited 4K UHD Blu-ray player, known as the DMP-UB900, has now launched in Australia. Recently we were lucky to have Panasonic’s own Japanese based Chief Engineer, Kazuhiko Kouno, in the Showroom for a technical briefing and to take us through the considerable technical achievements they’ve packaged into their flagship player. From what we’ve seen of its specs and fron witnessing its operation first hand, it is clearly a cut above the rest. This is a 4K Blu-ray disc player that has been built with high-end user tastes in mind, especially for fans of high-end audio formatting. It certainly looks the premium item. The glass-cut finish and mirrored front panel is designed to match expensive flat panel TVs. The remote comes with classy backlighting – very handy when you’ve…

Bose has released its QuietComfort 35 around-ear active noise-cancelling (ANC) headphones which also offer Bluetooth wireless operation. ‘These new QuietControl 35 headphones shatter the limitations of existing wireless noise cancelling headphones with an entirely new experience for travelling, commuting, creating, studying, or relaxing,’ said Max Sides of Bose Australia. ‘The QC35 lets you tune out completely with a remarkable silence thanks to microphones positioned inside and outside the ear cups which collect sound to send to the proprietary noise-cancelling circuitry so it can create a precise, equal and opposite signal in less than a fraction of a millisecond. In an instant, the noise of your train, bus or car—or plane—will all but disappear.’ The Bose QC35 also has a dual-microphone system that rejects background sounds when using your phone, so…

Wavetrain has been appointed the Australian distributor for the decorative high-end acoustic panels hand-made in Portugal by Artnovion, a company founded by Jorge Castro. Artnovion makes three different types of devices for use in high-end audio applications: Absorbers, Diffusers and Bass Traps. The popular Artnovion ‘Andrea’ absorption panel is designed with contrasting densities of fabric, fibreglass veil and foam plus there’s a rear air-gap to reduce the velocity of sound as it exits the panel. This provides the Andrea with an absorption coefficient of 1.23 and means it’s more than 30 per cent more efficient at absorbing sound than an equivalently-sized block of foam. Artnovion’s Eiger model bass traps are tuneable, so users can easily target eigentone issues that arise in rooms due to their dimensions. Unlike many acoustic solutions,…

Model S Don’t let the size fool you – the Model S series is an incredibly powerful system, a dense, solid and incredibly inert speaker ready to withstand the rigours of even extremely high outputs. Recognised with numerous awards and accolades, its innovative AER dipole tweeter design produces a spacious and live effect throughout the listening room, making it the clear choice for those seeking perfection at a competitive price point. Ask us for an audition of this amazing speaker system!…

Planned obsolescence has never been part of the Gryphon design concept. Hence the original Antileon Signature power amplifiers have been available for a decade and a half, because they were engineered and built, like every Gryphon model, to remain at the forefront of audio performance for many years. Now Gryphon takes a significant step forward, with the Gryphon Antileon EVO, available in stereo and single-channel configurations. Gryphon’s Antileon EVO employs true and pure Class A for this spectacular amplifier, believing that there is no short-cut to the sheer magic of pure Class A’s instant availability of full current at all times. Exceptional peak-to-peak current capability ensures compatibility with even the most viciously reactive loudspeaker loads, permitting the loudspeaker of your choice to perform at its very best. This is a…

We’ve got a keen eye for all sorts of pre-loved equipment, and we’d be happy to either help you purchase a new audio system by taking your trade in, by showing you the latest and greatest pre-owned products we have at an affordable price, or just by helping you move on your existing hi-fi system to make room in your home. We have new products every week, so it’s worthwhile checking back in with us from time to time, as you may find that bargain you’ve been searching for! With one of Australia’s largest range of high quality secondhand audio equipment, we’re sure we can help you, no matter what stage of the audio journey you’ve reached.…

According to Advance Audio, which distributes Wilson Audio in Australia, everyone who assumed that Wilson Audio’s Alexx would replace the venerable MAXX on the basis that it was Wilson’s latest entry into the large speaker segment, just below the Alexandria, should think again. ‘The Alexx is an altogether more complex and sophisticated loudspeaker, incorporating Wilson’s latest thinking on loudspeaker design in the areas of time-domain geometry, driver configuration, and driver development,’ said Nigel Ng, of Advance Audio. ‘The Alexx is the latest beneficiary of Wilson’s ongoing analysis of low-resonance cabinet strategies via laser micrometer and draws from the Alexia and the Sabrina, as well as from the WAMM.’ The Alexx uses a different version of the MTM driver geometry it’s used in past models. The Alexx splits the midrange between…

Classé’s latest stereo integrated amplifier, the Sigma 2200i, uses the same amplifier used in the Sigma AMP2, a Class-D design rated at 200-watts per channel into 8 and 400-watts per channel into 4 and the same front end as used in the Sigma SSP. The Classé Sigma 2200i has conventional analogue wired inputs (one balanced and two unbalanced) as well as digital wired inputs (coaxial and optical) as well as USB (types A and B), HDMI (×4) and Ethernet connections. Although there is no phono input, it’s possible to option one in. Everything can be controlled using Classé’s familiar touch-screen, which also gives access to a tone control, a nine-band parametric equaliser and bass management to control the subwoofer output, all of which is accomplished in the digital domain. It’s…

Stemfoort’s new SF-200 is a stereo Class AB ‘passive line power amplifier’ rated at 100-watts per channel. The ‘passive’ refers to the fact that it’s only the power amplifier section that uses active circuitry: all analogue input circuitry is completely passive except for the input section itself, which is via relays, rather than a passive switch, in order to keep passive signal paths as short as possible. ‘This allows the signal to go straight from your CD player, DAC or streamer through a volume control and direct to the power amplifier,’ says George Neophytou, of Neophonics, which distributes Stemfoort. ‘The advantages of passive input are maximised by a carefully developed high impedance FET input stage on the power amplifier.’ The volume control is motorised so, in addition to the analogue…

Soundsmith is running a promotion for its upgraded Zephyr MIMC Star cartridge where 1,500 purchasers will be sent a Soundsmith product, which could be anything from a set of EZ Mount screws to an SG-210 Strain Gauge Cartridge System. ‘Soundsmith calls this exciting promotional program its “Golden Ticket” promotion,’ said Chris Strom, of Radiance Audio Visual, which distributes Soundsmith in Australia. ‘Every single one of the 1,500 Zephyr MIMC Star cartridges being built for this promotion will come with a randomly allocated small golden envelope that determines the Soundsmith product you will receive, so every single Zephyr MIMC Star buyer will receive something.’ The 1,500 Soundsmith products (and quantities) available are: SG-210 Strain Gauge Cartridge Systems (4); Hyperion Phono Cartridges (6); Sussurro Phono Cartridges (10); Paua Phono Cartridges (15); MCP-2…

Modwright’s SWL 9.0SE line stage was released thirteen years ago and named to celebrate the birth of designer Dan Wright’s son, Spencer, who weighed 9.0lbs when born. The SWL 9.0 Anniversary Edition celebrates Modwright’s own 17th anniversary, and according to Dan Wright is a tribute to the SWL 9.0SE that adds features and higher performance. Features of the new model include an integral headphone amplifier, a home theatre bypass circuit, remote volume control and an optional phono stage. The circuit improvements include a newly-designed power supply and a new analogue stage, though the new model still uses 5687 valve drivers. The headphone amplifier inside the SWL 9.0SE is rated with an output of 1.5-watts per channel into any load from 25 to 600 , while the optional phono stage is…

Newport Test Labs measured the frequency response of the Dynaudio Emit M30 as being 50Hz to 22kHz ±3dB which is not only an excellent response, but also one that’s very close to Dynaudio’s own specification of 40Hz–23kHz ±3dB… so close, in fact, that the high-frequency discrepancy could be due to differences in the positioning of the measuring microphone and the low-frequency discrepancy due to the technique used to measure the –3dB down point. It’s worth noting though, that a 10Hz difference is quite small, even at low frequencies, because whereas a 50Hz extension takes the speaker down to G1#, a 40Hz extension would take it down to D1#, just one and a half tones lower on the tempered scale. The frequency response is not only extended at both ends of…

Frequency response was excellent using both digital standards and also the analogue input Newport Test Labs measured the performance of the Bel Canto DAC2.7 using two different digital standards: the ‘Red Book’ CD standard using 44.1kHz/16-bit digital signals and the AES-17 standard, using 48kHz/24-bit digital signals, plus it also measured the DAC2.7’s performance using its analogue inputs and outputs. In all cases, its performance was superb, but due to the amount of data that resulted, I haven’t included all the results from all the tests, merely a representative sample. Frequency response was excellent using both digital standards and also the analogue inputs. I have shown only the AES-17 digital result, in Graph 7, with an expanded scale of just 1dB per vertical division, and you can see that even despite…

Edgar Kramer : Do you have a first memory, a first unforgettable musical experience that left an impression? Peter Smith: Yes, I remember sneaking into my parents’ bedroom while they were away, as a curious ten-year-old. This was where the stereo was kept. It was an Aladdin’s cave of musical wonders, a preciously guarded altar for the mysterious and joyful all-in-one stereo. At the time, even though my music education had begun many years prior, I saw this as an opportunity to exercise my own choices… to discover new artists and deeper layers of music while in my own world, in that dream-like moment. As the needle dropped, Jim Morrison’s howls and Ray Manzarek’s ‘Light My Fire’ iconic keyboard riff opened a… door. It was a transformation, an awakening. I…

A glorious stand-mount speaker that meets the mandate of wringing the best possible performance from a small, inexpensive design Despite the objectivity of test processes and measurements, audio reproduction from artist to playback system is, ultimately, a process and a chain of subjective ideas. At the design stage, the original concept (or mandate) and the subsequent engineering craftsmanship may be the result of a single visionary or a combined team of engineers… but it’s always steered by a leader. German company Elac celebrates its 90th anniversary this year and it has co-incidentally ramped up its global activities by expanding the product portfolio with electronics to complement its wide range of excellently-engineered speakers. It’s also executed a master-stroke by appointing the highly-respected Andrew Jones (ex-TAD) as its Chief Engineer to further…

We are in quite a fortunate position in the world of audio reproduction, having access to some of the world’s best and most expensive equipment all in one showroom. With access to this equipment comes interaction with some of the best engineers, visionaries and influential people in our industry. Take a look through the past ten years of the events we’ve held and the manufacturers we’ve brought to the country, and you’ll see names like Flemming Rasmussen from Gryphon Audio, Bjorn Bengtsson from Nordost, Ivor and Gilad Tiefenbrun of Linn, Robert Suchy from Clearaudio, and many more – far too many to list here. The time we’ve spent with these figureheads of the industry have taught us a lot about audio and music, as each manufacturer explains the engineering behind…

More than one million satisfied DALI owners in over 65 countries attest to the high quality and sublime sound from this unique Danish company’s speakers. With exclusive driver units designed from scratch by its own engineers, Danish Audiophile Loudspeaker Industries leverages 30 years of experience to create a unique DALI sonic identity that focuses on musical realism and sound integrity. EPICON, RUBICON, OPTICON The EPICON series (main image above) signals exclusivity and simplicity with speakers for the most demanding of music and movie enthusiasts. Their performance is clearly DALI, but taken one step further – true musical passion and escapism for the mind. The RUBICON range (above left) sets a new benchmark in affordable audiophile-quality reproduction in a perfect union of striking design and sound engineering expertise. The result is…

Definitive Technology BP9000 Series The arrival of Definitive Technology’s new BP9000 Series ushers in a new era of true high-performance full-range sound. Redesigned from the ground up with improved acoustic materials, machined aircraft-grade aluminium details and sharper lines to enhance the minimalist aesthetic, the BP9000 Series pushes to new performance levels that other speakers only aspire to achieve. Beyond its striking visual allure, the entire series is tuned to perfection – totally re-engineered with improvements that cascade across the company’s patented audio technologies. From Forward Focused Bipolar Array to built-in powered subwoofers to Intelligent Bass Control, and with seamless Dolby Atmos integration and DTS:X compatibility, the BP9000 Series offers big yet precise room-filling sound, yet offers an elegant footprint that makes every single day of ownership a marvel to behold.…

Sennheiser has upgraded the battery life and microphones on its PXC 550 wireless noise-cancelling headphones. The PXC 550 can now operate for 30 hours continuously on a single charge with both Bluetooth and the active hybrid ‘NoiseGard’ adaptive noise cancellation engaged, and the addition of an extra microphone means that thanks to a beam-forming array, anyone on the other end of the phone line will hear your voice clearly. ‘The PXC 550 now makes being connected on the move even easier, with unrivalled speech clarity for business and personal calls, no matter how noisy the environment,’ said Dr Christian Ern, of Sennheiser. ‘And to ensure travellers have an ideal private space for relaxing or staying focused on work, Sennheiser’s NoiseGard hybrid adaptive noise cancellation seamlessly monitors and adapts to ambient…

Yamaha has expanded its award-winning MusicCast multi-room audio system with two new models, the WXC-50 and WXA-50, which enable users to either connect their existing audio equipment to the Music-multi-room functionality to existing amplifiers and AV receivers, even if they don’t have network connectivity, enabling owners to unlock a wide variety of audio content including music streaming services. Also, because the Expand WXC-50 also shares content with other MusicCast components (via an intuitive app interface), multi-room connectivity becomes possible. The Yamaha Expand Amplifier (WXA-50) is a 2.1-channel amplifier capable of converting any pair of loudspeakers—and subwoofer, if necessary— into a MusicCast-enabled audio solution. Simply connect the Expand WXA-50 to any pair of existing loudspeakers and you’ll be able to send music to them wirelessly from any other MusicCast component anywhere…

Sonus faber has made good on its promise to add new finishes for the speakers in its Chameleon series. The good news, as anyone who owns a model in this Italian company’s ‘Chameleon Collection’ will already know, is that whenever Sonus faber adds a new finish, existing owners can convert their own speakers to the new finish thanks to the use of removable panels. The newest finish to be added is matte walnut. Completely made in Italy, the new matte walnut side panels are enhanced by manually inserted black wood lines and finished in hand-applied lacquer. ‘The new walnut finish adds a touch of vintage charm to the Chameleon family,’ said Phillip Sawyer, of Synergy Audio Visual, ‘and is a complete change from the other more modern colours with which…

The VPI Avenger and Avenger Reference turntables, made entirely in the USA and the newest members of VPI’s ‘Reference’ turntable range are now available in Australia. Both models have a chassis made from bonding an aluminium plate between two slabs of acrylic, with damping material between the layers, all locked together by triple isolation steel corner posts, three bolts, and a massive bearing assembly. The corner posts, which also hold the tonearm(s), have adjustable machined knobs enabling users to easily adjust the height of the turntable, as well as level it. The corner posts connect to the cone stabilisers which sit in a machined Delrin/ball-bearing isolation base reminiscent of the system used on the VPI Prime turntable. The armboards fitted to the Avenger and Avenger Reference are made from 16mm-thick…

But the feature I most liked was that it can be switched to show the sample rate of the incoming digital data. I’ve said it before of Bel Canto’s products, I’ll no doubt say it again, and it certainly applies in the case of Bel Canto’s 2.7 DAC/Preamplifier. It’s superbly engineered, inside and out, but looking at it from the outside, it’s easy to see it was designed by an engineer, rather than a product stylist. But that’s what Bel Canto and its owner and designer, John Stronczer, are all about: solid, no-nonsense electronic and mechanical engineering. THE EQUIPMENT A dead giveaway that the DAC2.7 was designed by an engineer is the headphone socket on the front panel. Instead of the fixing method being invisible, as with most headphone sockets,…

There was power aplenty from the Parasound Halo. I dare say you will never—ever—need more power than the 160-watts per channel available… The arrival of Parasound’s new ‘Halo’ integrated amplifier came as something as a surprise to this reviewer, because Parasound has not built an integrated amplifier since 1986. This doesn’t mean that founder Richard Schram and designer John Curl have been sitting around doing nothing for thirty years. What happened is that after that first integrated amplifier, the two decided to instead specialise in building separate preamplifiers and power amplifiers… which they’ve done with resounding success, winning dozens of awards and literally hundreds of rave reviews over the decades. Maybe the reason they decided to build the Halo is that it’s not ‘just’ an integrated amplifier. This new Parasound…

Some say there is nothing new in the world of amplifier design. They’ve obviously not heard of what’s happening with Class-D amplifiers. But until this Lavardin IT integrated amplifier landed on my doorstep for review, I had certainly never heard of French designer Gérard Perrot, or his theories about amplification, or that when discussing his theories on the internet he supposedly went under the mysterious name of ‘Hephaestus’. I can only assume he assumed a pseudonym because at the time he developed the circuit used in the Lavardin IT he was working for the giant French electronics manufacturer Thompson (now Thales), which perhaps does not permit its employees to make public statements… and in Perrot’s case not least because he was leader of the team at Thompson responsible for designing…

Newport Test Labs measured the overall frequency response of the Elac Debut B6 as 75Hz to 16kHz ±3dB under its standard test conditions. The trace from which this response was derived is shown in Graph 5, where the in-room response below 900Hz has been spliced to the gated high-frequency response. As you can see, the response is overall very linear, though there’s a suck-out at 2.5kHz which is presumably the crossover frequency and the response of the tweeter tails off above 16kHz to be 6dB down at 20kHz. The low-frequency response is 6dB down at 45Hz. The in-room response of the Elac Debut B6 is shown in Graph 1. This response was measured using a pink noise stimulus and the graphing itself only extends up to 10kHz. You can see…

ABOUT US Sydney Hi-Fi Castle Hill has been operating in the Hills district for twenty-five years. We specialise in quality Hi-Fi and Home Theatre products and back it up with many years of industry experience. Top quality brands and accessories partnered with our design team and custom installation options give our customers an unparalleled choice in Hi-Fi, home theatre and outdoor systems tailored to your individual requirements. SERVICE & SUPPORT With six dedicated sound lounges, including a custom theatre, a visit to our store is a true experience for the AV enthusiast. Our audio specialists have spent many years putting together music and theatre systems to meet the requirements of discerning listeners and it remains a true passion that we still enjoy today. Come in store today and experience outstanding…

Momentum Integrated Amplifier The latest stunning addition to Dan D’Agostino’s new company’s line-up is the Momentum Integrated Amplifier – the first integrated design ever to bear his signature. It combines the core audio circuits of the Momentum preamplifier and the Momentum stereo amplifier, both acclaimed by reviewers around the world as among the best audio components ever created. The integrated amplifier is rated at 200 watts per channel into 8 ohms, and 400 watts per channel into 4 ohms. A completely separate power supply, encased in a chassis machined from solid aluminum billet, isolates the sensitive audio circuitry from electromagnetic interference. The Momentum Integrated Amplifier is an audio first – an integrated amplifier designed entirely without compromise. No name is more closely associated with high-end audio amplifiers than that of…

ARCAM A PASSION FOR GREAT SOUND STREAMING • UNIVERSAL DISC PLAYERS • AMPLIFICATION • DACS • HOME THEATRE • SOUNDBARS • SYSTEMS Founded in 1976, Arcam quickly became renowned in the UK and beyond for the quality of its home hi-fi amplifiers, beginning an engineering-led business that is still innovating four decades later to achieve the very best in music and home cinema sound. The company displayed leadership in being one of very few European companies to develop its own CD, DVD and Blu-ray players from scratch; it has been at the forefront of digital radio, and has a world-class reputation for making some of the best-sounding home theatre electronics. Arcam launched the first offboard digital-to-analogue converter in 1988, and continues its unrivalled series of DAC and streaming options for…

What should be the ultimate aim of an accurate sound system? How should technology serve the artistry of the performer in a faithful way? Equally to the point, how many audio manufacturers can hope to maintain their aims along the entire chain of reproduction? Scotland’s Linn is one that can. With its Exakt system, it aims to delete the deficiencies of reproduction and offer the closest thing possible to a live feed from the studio. Smart simplicity The Klimax Exakt DSM system reflects simplicity itself. Attractive floorstanding speakers and a single elegantly-designed component – nothing looks alarmingly technical, nor quite run-of-the-mill, yet these seemingly plain vanilla-flavoured transducers are actually palate-tingling tutti-frutti in their operation and performance. The slimline Exakt DSM is one beautifully-built 24-bit/192kHz-capable network player, able to on-forward packets…