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- Category: Components
- Created on Wednesday, 01 May 2013 00:00
- Written by SoundStage! Hi-Fi Editors
It’s just over two and a half years since we began our list of Recommended Reference Components, and in that time no tubed power amplifier has been named to it. That changes this month with the inclusion of the Audio Research Reference 250 mono amplifier ($26,000 USD per pair). Pete Roth reviewed the Reference 250s in Ultra Audio last September. The Reference 250 is the second ARC to make RRC -- the first was their Reference 5 preamplifier, in May 2011, also reviewed by Pete, and currently the only tubed preamp on the list.
Each Reference 250 measures 19”W x 8.75”H x 19.5”D and weighs 77 pounds. Three pairs of matched KT120s tubes are used in the output stage, for a claimed power output of 250W into 8 ohms with <1% THD at 1kHz. Two more matched KT120s are used in the driver stage. Two 6H30 tubes are also used, one in the gain stage and the other as a regulator driver. Finally, one 6550C tube is employed as a regulator. The Ref 250 can accept only a balanced line-level input, so it must be used with a preamplifier offering balanced outputs. The Reference 250 has the classic ARC look, and comes with a silver or black faceplate.
Read more: Recommended Reference Component: Audio Research Reference 250 Mono Amplifiers
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- Category: Components
- Created on Monday, 01 April 2013 00:00
- Written by SoundStage! Hi-Fi Editors
In November 2012, we added to our list of Recommended Reference Components Meitner Audio’s MA-1 digital-to-analog converter. The MA-1 was reviewed in SoundStage! Hi-Fi in May 2012 by Uday Reddy, who was so impressed by its sound that he bought the review sample and made it his personal reference. In addition to the RRC designation, the MA-1 won a Reviewers’ Choice award, as well as a SoundStage! Network 2012 Product of the Year award for Outstanding Performance.
This month we add to this list the MA-1’s sibling and inspiration, the EMM Labs DAC2X. Howard Kneller reviewed the DAC2X in Ultra Audio last month. EMM Labs and Meitner Audio are sister brands -- all of their products are made in the same factory in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. They also share the same designer, Ed Meitner, a legend in Canadian audio circles who is revered for his knowledge of analog and digital circuit designs, and who has, over decades, developed some proprietary technologies, including his own DAC chips, that are unique to Meitner and EMM.
Read more: Recommended Reference Component: EMM Labs DAC2X Digital-to-Analog Converter
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- Category: Components
- Created on Friday, 01 February 2013 00:00
- Written by SoundStage! Hi-Fi Editors
It wasn’t so many years ago that the integrated amplifier was considered merely an entry-level component, something to buy before you could afford more costly separates: a preamplifier and power amplifier. That changed when a number of companies set out to produce uncompromised integrated amplifiers that could compete head-on with separates. When they succeeded, high performance no longer had to be traded off for single-box convenience. One of the newest, most successful examples of this new breed of integrateds is the Moon Evolution 700i ($13,000 USD), from Canada’s Simaudio. It’s Simaudio’s most expensive and ambitious integrated amplifier yet, and Philip Beaudette reviewed it in SoundStage! Hi-Fi last month.
The 700i is a dual-mono, fully balanced design that uses six proprietary Moon output devices per channel. Its transformers, too, are unique to Simaudio. The 700i is claimed to deliver 175Wpc into 8 ohms or 350Wpc into 4 ohms, which makes it powerful enough to drive most loudspeakers used in typical listening rooms. Among the 700i’s many features are five pairs of single-ended inputs and one balanced pair, all individually configurable, via the remote or front-panel controls, for display name, gain (+/-10dB), home-theater bypass, and maximum volume setting. The volume attenuator is Simaudio’s M-eVOL2, a proprietary design with 530 steps, in increments of 1 and 0.1dB, that’s said to attenuate the volume level with no sonic degradation, regardless of output level.
Read more: Recommended Reference Component: Simaudio Moon Evolution 700i Integrated Amplifier
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- Category: Components
- Created on Friday, 01 March 2013 00:00
- Written by SoundStage! Hi-Fi Editors
Focal, of France, was established in 1979 by Jacques Mahul. The company’s first products were loudspeakers for the home, sold under the brand name JMlab (for Jacques Mahul’s laboratory), and drive-units, branded as Focal. Since then the company has branched out into car audio, pro audio, and, most recently, headphones, and a few years ago decided to sell all their products under the Focal name.
Focal’s current line of home speakers is vast, starting with the Chorus 700 V series and topping out with the Utopia III models. Not surprisingly, given the company’s age and the sheer volume of speakers they produce, we’ve reviewed a number of Focal models over the years, but Philip Beaudette’s February 1 review on this site of the Electra 1008 Be 2 stands out from the rest -- based on that review, the speaker earned a Reviewers’ Choice award, and is now being included in this list of Recommended Reference Components.
Read more: Recommended Reference Component: Focal Electra 1008 Be 2 Loudspeakers
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- Category: Components
- Created on Tuesday, 01 January 2013 00:00
- Written by SoundStage! Hi-Fi Editors
The DAC market is hot, with more 24-bit/192kHz DACs available right now than you can shake a stick at. SoundStage! Network reviewers have evaluated many of the newest DACs and have found most of them to be quite good, but in the last year three DACs have stood out as being significantly better than the rest: the Simaudio Moon Evolution 650D ($9000 USD), which Doug Schneider reviewed last March and which was included in the Recommend Reference Component listing in April; the Meitner Audio MA-1 ($7000), reviewed last May by Uday Reddy, and recognized as a Recommended Reference Component in November; and the Calyx Audio Femto ($6850), which Doug reviewed last September and which is this month’s Recommended Reference Component.
The Femto is beautifully built. Its all-aluminum case, measuring 17"W x 4"H x 16"D, is exceptionally well finished and very attractive. It’s the largest DAC Doug has seen, as well as the heaviest at some 40 pounds. On its front panel is a striking glass window framing an orange-tinged display that shows the incoming sampling frequency, the input and digital filter selected, and the volume level (if you choose to use it that way). On the rear are a plethora of digital inputs: two coaxial, two AES/EBU, two optical, one BNC, and one USB, all supporting resolutions up to 24/192. The remote control is designed and built to the same high standard as the main case.
Read more: Recommended Reference Component: Calyx Audio Femto Digital-to-Analog Converter
