Review: Jamie Biesemans

Review: Jamie Biesemans, | Oct 14, 2024 | 0 comments

Chord's first new integrated amplifier in some seven years combines no fewer than four switchmode PSUs and 125W of stereo power into a very stylish Ultima 3 preamp chassis

First seen in 2023 at Munich's High-End show, Chord Electronics' Ultima Integrated is steadily finding its way into selected hi-fi emporia. Based around John Franks' tried-and-tested amplifier architecture [see PM's boxout, p65], it's the entry point to the Ultima family, whose rollout began with the flagship Ultima monoblocks .

Turntables, Arms & Cartridges

Pro-Ject Pick it MC9

Review: Jamie Biesemans, | Oct 02, 2024 | 0 comments

Designed to take advantage of Pro-Ject's 'balanced' phono preamps, this flag-waving moving-coil marks a departure from the brand's Ortofon-derived moving-magnets

As a major turntable manufacturer, Pro-Ject has a longstanding relationship with cartridge builders. This makes sense, as the brand likes to deliver decks ready to play, which requires an MM or MC. Previously, the Austrian company has bundled cartridges from Ortofon with its turntables in Europe, while Sumiko models are favoured in the US, but has lately been launching its own designs, including tweaked Ortofon models such as the Pick it 2M Silver and Pick it S2 C. The Pick it MC9 on test here is something else, though.

Loudspeakers

Q Acoustics 5050

Review: Jamie Biesemans, | Oct 02, 2024 | 0 comments

The Largest Of Q Acoustics' 5000 Series Speakers Combines Inspiration From The Concept 50 With Ideas Of Its Own

Armour Home's Q Acoustics has been busy in recent years, refreshing nearly its entire portfolio of passive and active loudspeakers, and expanding existing lines. The Concept 50 and 30 models were launched in 2022 to fill out its top-flight range, which includes the Karl-Heinz Fink-designed Concept 500 flagship , and a more affordable 5000 series appeared just before High End Munich in 2023. This didn't arrive fully complete either - the largest 5050 floorstander we're looking at here only finally debuted in the Spring of 2024.

Network Audio Players/Servers Outboard DACs Pre/Power Amplifiers

NAD Masters M66

Review: Jamie Biesemans, | Oct 01, 2024 | 0 comments

Styled and with features to match the Masters M23 power amp, NAD's M66 streaming DAC/preamp takes on all-comers as both a digital and vinyl hub with Dirac onboard

First announced in the spring of 2023, unexpected delays to the arrival of NAD's M66 have only heightened anticipation of this flagship 'streaming DAC/preamplifier' - especially among owners of the company's Eigentakt-based M23 power amplifier who have been waiting for its companion product. And, yes, while the £4499 M66 could add its wide-ranging feature set (including app control and room correction) to any power amp, the M23 makes for an aesthetically pleasing fit.

Network Audio Players/Servers Outboard DACs Pre/Power Amplifiers

Eversolo DMP-A8

Review: Jamie Biesemans, | Jul 20, 2024 | 0 comments

If ever the phrase ‘all-singing, all-dancing...’ could be applied to an audio streamer then Eversolo’s flagship model is the promise given form. The DMP-A8 should take a bow...

Search online and you’ll discover a groundswell of cheap DACs and streamers playing to every (hardware) whim, making it easy to overlook Eversolo’s efforts. But the company, which is the dedicated audio department of Shenzhen-based Zidoo, known for its EISA Award-winning Neo S media player, follows a different, more quality-focused strategy, as the affordable Z8 DAC and DMP-A6 have so far proved.

Integrated Amplifiers

HiFi Rose RA280 Integrated Amplifier

Review: Jamie Biesemans, | May 06, 2024 | 0 comments

More sober than the 'steampunk' styled RA180, and more powerful too, the new RA280 takes HiFi Rose's GaN FET-based Class D architecture into the audiophile zone

HiFi Rose delighted, and in some cases flabbergasted, hi-fi enthusiasts with its RA180 [HFN Jul '22], an amplifier that looked like it had just escaped from the pages of Gibson-Sterling's steampunk classic The Difference Engine. Boasting lots of knobs and dials on the outside, and novel GaN FETs in its Class D power amp on the inside, it was undeniably 'something else'. It was quite an unexpected product from the Seoul-based brand too, as up to that point HiFi Rose was principally known for streamers and DACs with very large touchscreens [HFN Jun '21 and Mar '22].

Loudspeakers

Magnat Signature Edelstein Loudspeaker

Review: Jamie Biesemans, | May 02, 2024 | 0 comments

These super-compact loudspeakers are simply the tip of the iceberg for Germany's expansive Magnat brand whose ranges encompass the gamut of 'lifestyle' to 'purist'

Bigger is better' seems to be one of those unwritten rules of hi-fi that ensures every audio show is packed with speakers towering high above the audience. Unfortunately, out there in the real world most people don't have the space to wheel in a pair of Wilson Audio Alexx Vs [HFN Jan '22] or Focal Grande Utopias [HFN Dec '18]. So, in an age when tiny houses are proclaimed as the way to go, Magnat's Signature Edelstein might be the speakers that better fit the zeitgeist. But these are not especially low-cost petite models. As 'Edelstein', or gemstone in German, indicates, these particular Magnat boxes – priced at £949 – are positioned as small and luxurious.

Integrated Amplifiers

Canor Audio Virtus I2 Integrated Amplifier

Review: Jamie Biesemans, | Apr 11, 2024 | 0 comments

This Slovakian design and production facility takes pride in its tube selection, in-house PCB 'milling' and other innovations. Here's the new flagship 'Premium Line' integrated

Canor Audio, based in Slovakia, is certainly not the most famous of hi-fi brands, but has been around for longer than many will realise. And, cunningly, it sidesteps the minefield of online rage surrounding tube versus solid-state amplification by manufacturing hybrid amps, a solid-state design, and fully fledged tube products. Canor is clearly smart enough to hedge its bets.

Outboard DACs

Musical Fidelity Nu-Vista DAC USB DAC

Review: Jamie Biesemans, | Apr 08, 2024 | 0 comments

The miniature nuvistor 'tube' continues its inexorable march through Musical Fidelity's latest separates, defining the flagship products in its range. Now it's the turn of the DAC

Since Heinz Lichtenegger acquired Musical Fidelity in 2018, the company has appeared truly revitalised, particularly at the upper end of its range. Working with the UK design team, the Pro-Ject boss has resurrected the nuvistor tube-based Nu-Vista line with a slew of new models. And Lichtenegger is a big believer in separates – just in case the many pocket-sized boxes Pro-Ject produces hadn't made that clear – so while on the one hand the EISA Award-winning Nu-Vista 800.2 integrated amplifier [HFN Aug '23] provides a one-stop solution, there's also Musical Fidelity's Nu-Vista PRE/PAS pairing [HFN Mar '23], the Nu-Vista Vinyl 2 phono stage [HFN Feb '24], and now the Nu-Vista DAC.

Headphones Outboard DACs

iFi Audio iDSD Diablo 2 Headphone Amp/USB DAC

Review: Jamie Biesemans, | Mar 21, 2024 | 0 comments

Launched a little after Halloween, iFi Audio's devilish top-of-the-range portable aims to put a bat up the nightdress of the competition. Are you ready to sell your soul?

With its wide range of portable, battery-powered DACs and headphone amplifiers, few companies have done as much as iFi Audio to improve listening on the hoof. Yet the new iDSD Diablo 2, its latest range-topping model and a replacement for the iDSD Diablo of 2021, pushes the envelope of the mobile DAC/amp genre, both by being far from budget at £1299, and large enough for its manufacturer to deem it more 'transportable' than genuinely 'pocket-size'.

Search form

Review: Jamie Biesemans

Pages