VERTERE ACOUSTICS: News

“Touraj Moghaddam Vertere’s founder and chief designer announced a new high-end Moving Magnet cartridge Sabre at today’s launch. Vertere’s new high-end Sabre Moving Magnet Phono Cartridge delivers an uncompromising musical experience. Sabre is designed and manufactured to exacting standards.    Sabre sits between the budget, but surprisingly musical, Magneto MM cartridge and the beautiful and […]

Read More

PHILIPS: Fidelio L3 headphones review: Seriously sophisticated sound

If you’re looking for a slice of top quality comfort with sophisticated audio quality to boot then the Philips Fidelio L3 delivers one of the most outstanding over-ear experiences of any headphones released in 2021. However, the Fidelio L3 can’t deliver class-leading active noise-cancelling (ANC) – so if you want to more-or-less remove all of […]

Read More

CONVERSATIONS WITH COLIN / Tubes and that elusive sound?

Hello Colin, please be patient with me because although I am an experienced listener I’m not very conversant with the technology that is available today. By this I mean I really just plug in and just listen. However recently I started to think about some of the units I use, In particular a Musical Fidelity […]

Read More
Quill

PHASING: Is it really, really all about this?

I’ve just got a copy of the old “Hifi sound stereo test record” and on the phase tests it seems to indicate that my speakers are out of phase as the image doesn’t come from the centre on the in phase test but does on the out of phase test. I’ve checked all the cabling […]

Read More

STAX: SRA-14s – possibly one of the all-time great pre-amps?

“Finally I was able to acquire an SRA-14S and it has arrived now! No phono equalizer modules however. A previous owner had been cutting copper tracks on the input/switching pcb and added a lot of wires (in different places than the cut traces). Neatly done, but still…. Maybe he had some problem with the switches? […]

Read More

STAX: Using a Japanese specification amp in the UK?

Hi While at the Bristol show last year I had the opportunity to quickly demo a Stax headphone + amplifier set-up (I cannot remember the actual model – the headphones had rectangular-shaped pads and looked like the current 207/307/407 models). I was impressed. I have experience with middle-tier dynamic headphones (AKG, Beyerdynamic, Grado) but what […]

Read More

TRANSPARENT IMAGES

There’s something very wrong with the idea of a transparent image. If it’s transparent it means we can’t see or hear it. And yet, the term has great meaning. Our audiophile lexicon is a wonderful tool for communicating with each other. It does seem to fall a bit short when conveying a sense of what we […]

Read More

ARCAM: The A39 integrated amplifier

They said ….. Arcam’s A39 integrated amplifier represents the pinnacle of Arcam’s audio engineering. We set out to incorporate everything we have learnt in almost 40 years to deliver an amplifier that will set new standards and provide class leading sound quality for the best possible reproduction of your music. Arcam’s A39 integrated amplifier represents […]

Read More

CONVERSATIONS WITH COLIN: What really are computer grade parts?

Dear Colin, Computer grade parts? What are computer grade parts.. such as Computer grade power-supply caps? Are these type of parts an upgrade and/or better than audiophile grade parts? For example, I’ve heard some people say, “I’ve upgraded my power supply caps in my amp to computer grade caps”. I don’t think I’d want computer […]

Read More