Monday, April 24, 2017

Audeze offering limited time promotion price on new headphone

SINE DX ON-EAR OPEN-BACK HEADPHONE
STUNNING SOUND.  HUGE SOUNDSTAGE.  LIMITED AVAILABILITY.

Introducing to the world of SINE: The new Audeze SINE DX!  

You have made it clear: an open-back version of Audeze’s critically-acclaimed SINE closed-back headphone is what you want to hear!  As a company, we make our products for you, the lover of music and audio.  Here you go, the on-ear Sine DX with its​ planar ​drivers optimized for open-back headphone,​ offers an amazingly smooth frequency response, an enormous open soundstage and fatigue free listening.

As a ​special promotion for our discerning customers​, take advantage of a $499 discounted price from the list price of $599. 

This Audeze.com Website-only ​Exclusive Offer Starts: 
Tuesday, April 25th at 12 Noon PDT   

We are only offering the​ initial ​limited run of 80 units in this special offer​, so we hope those who can "grab one before it’s gone" enjoy it as much as we do! 

YOUR MUSIC.  YOUR SOUND.  HEAR MORE.
Open-back planar headphones​, by their nature, sound more spacious and feature a wider, deeper soundstage with more air and separation between performers. The sound is exquisite,​ and pulls you into the soul of music with ultra-low-distortion, hugely deep and driving bass, a gorgeous midrange and sweet highs. At 100dB efficiency and 18 ohm impedance​ you can drive the SINE​ DX with almost anything.

Friday, April 14, 2017

German Physiks available in the US

I've always enjoyed the German Physiks rooms at shows and while I won't be at Axpona, they will be, thanks to now having a US distributor in Larry Borden of Distinctive Audio in NJ. The speakers offer a most uncommon sense of immersion and ease that floats music around you rather than pumping it at you, and in my experience, the speakers are more than a little special. You need to hear this to realize that maybe your expectations of speaker sound is conditioned by too many reviews and not enough hearing.

Anyway, other than the fact that you can now find these in the US, Distinctive Audio is offering a special price on the complete line of speakers by way of introduction for a few months, so check them out if you are in the market.

Monday, April 10, 2017

Bryston to release a lower priced table option

I loved the BLP-1 when I had it in the house for a few months last year and now Bryston have done the opposite of what most companies do when they launch a successful new product, they've come up with a more affordable version by offering a cheaper arm option for the same table and power supply.

Welcome to the BLP.5 ("the point 5")

"BLP-.5 Tonearm– four high
precision micro ball-bearings manufactured by GRW in Germany and then singularly sealed and packed to preserve their integrity and purity at the best: extreme precision is a crucial factor and it allows B-.5 tonearm to reproduce without effort every musical detail.
This will allow our customers to purchase a superb turntable at a much lower price point and will also allow them to upgrade the Tonearm to the more expensive version on the Bryston BLP-1 table in the future if they wish."

Wednesday, April 5, 2017

Chesky announce MQA-CDs

Just sharing the release - no experience myself but there's always a new technology, right?

Sunday, April 2, 2017

Austin Audio Society has lively session

Another good meet up of the newly energized Austin Audio Society yesterday, hosted by the generous Fred Thompson in his Bastrop home. The emphasis this time was two combinations from Raven and JWM Acoustics, two Texan manufacturers offering a highly complementary pairings of amps and speakers, with cabling provided by Austin's own Douglas Connection.

Raven Audio I know about, I reviewed a couple of their integrated amps for the 'Zine and ended up loving the Blackhawk 20w so much I had to buy one. It's a wonderful sounding piece that just encourages intimate, relaxing listening sessions. Yesterday, the more powerful Golden Eagle integrated was in rotation, an 83w model that's not yet listed on their site, likely selling for $7995. It's on its way to Axpona to drive some Legacy Speakers and from what I heard in a small room with JWM's Alyson AML stand-mounts, it sounded very pleasing. Am promised a review sample and I can't wait to give this one a run in my main rig.


Pride of place was given to a main room set-up involving Raven's Shaman monoblocks, their Silhouette preamplifer, and JWM Acoustics' top of the range Jane JKM floorstanders with external crossovers. Cabling throughout (except for the crossover to speaker interface) was by local manufacturer, Douglas Connection, a new name to me, and further proof that some folks are still crazy enough to enter the audio market with products built of personal passion.




Since I came late (and stayed late, sorry Fred), I had two distinct listening experiences. At first I felt the main rig was a little tight sounding, not helped by the lively attendees being in relaxing rather than listening mode when I arrived. However, as the amps warmed up and I got some quiet time in front of the speakers later on, I felt this set up was beginning to sing and had an effortless groove.

The Jane speakers have a beautiful form factor, matched by a musicality and soundstaging capability that suggest they will fit most rooms with ease, visually and sonically. I'd definitely like to give them a run in my main room.  When we swapped in the smaller Alysons later for comparison, I think the smaller speakers might even have a little better resolution even if they didn't quite flesh out the lower frequencies as much. Main difference between the models is the tweeter,  a silk dome in the standmounts as opposed to the beryllium in the Janes, which sort of ran counter to my sonic expectations in terms of resolution but that's what I heard.

With the Shamans providing the power, the Alysons had no problem filling the large listening room easily.  At $8k, they offer a very interesting value proposition. And did I mention they are very elegant to the eye?  No cheap box finishes here. Plans are afoot, Josh told me, to provide a bass module for these that would extend the lower end and replace the stand. That prospect is has significant potential to my ears and offers buyers a chance to upgrade into the future, always an attractive option when it comes to investing in your rig. I like what I heard here, JMW speakers are ones to watch.


The beauty of such meetings is they are low pressure, relaxed gatherings where you hear new gear, some new tunes, in a new room with people who are interested in audio. I don't consider these to be real auditions but you can learn more about gear in these environments than is possible in most stores (remember those?).   For me, also getting a chance to learn a little more about the people behind the gear is fascinating.  I had a good conversation with Josh Miles, chief of JWM, about his work and company. Frankly, as I'd previously told Dave Thomson of Raven, you have to be a little crazy to try making a living as a small specialist audio manufacturer these days but these guys are anything but crazy: they're smart, committed to their products and happy to share their knowledge. Long may they thrive.

My thanks to the hosts and to the manufacturers -- watching these guys move their gear in and out was reminder that this business is real work, it's a good job there was Texas beer there too!