The Latest Features
EISA’s Best Product 2019-2020 Awards
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- Written by EISA Staff EISA Staff
- Category: Uncategorised Uncategorised
- Created: 15 August 2019 15 August 2019
Welcome to our announcement of the Best Product 2019-2020 awards, selected by the Expert Imaging and Sound Association. EISA originated in 1982, when five European photography magazines got together to agree on one make and model of camera as their choice for Best Product for that year. Since then, EISA’s reach has expanded far beyond photography -- it is now an international group of more than 60 print and online publications that variously cover photography, hi-fi, home theater, mobile electronics, and car audio, and that each year presents awards in all of those categories. In 2018, SoundStage! Hi-Fi became the third North American publication to be invited to join EISA, alongside Stereophile and Sound & Vision. (At the end of this article is a link to a YouTube video we produced in which Paul Miller, president of EISA, talks about the organization.)
KEF R11 Loudspeakers
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- Written by Diego Estan Diego Estan
- Category: Full-Length Equipment Reviews Full-Length Equipment Reviews
- Created: 15 August 2019 15 August 2019
Note: Measurements taken in the anechoic chamber at Canada's National Research Council can be found through this link.
I first heard KEF’s R Series R11 speakers, however briefly, when reporting on the Montréal Audio Fest for SoundStage! Access. Show demos being inconsistent at best, I wasn’t sure what to make of the R11s, which sounded a bit bright. Then again, the exhibitor was playing them way too loud -- I wondered what they’d sound like in my own listening room.
Heaven 11: Here Today -- But Here to Stay?
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- Written by Doug Schneider Doug Schneider
- Category: Monthly Column Monthly Column
- Created: 01 August 2019 01 August 2019
Debut
Almost every hi-fi show presents a surprising number of startup companies showing a new product, or even a whole suite of new models. But by the time next year’s show rolls around, most of these companies have gone out of business.
Revel PerformaBe M126Be Loudspeakers
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- Written by Philip Beaudette Philip Beaudette
- Category: Full-Length Equipment Reviews Full-Length Equipment Reviews
- Created: 01 August 2019 01 August 2019
Note: Measurements taken in the anechoic chamber at Canada's National Research Council can be found through this link.
Nearly four years ago, I reviewed Revel’s Performa3 M106 minimonitor ($2000 USD per pair). I was impressed by its nicely balanced, well-controlled, squeaky-clean sound -- traits it shared with every other Revel speaker I’ve heard. More recently, someone at Revel had the idea of putting this model and its bigger brother, the floorstanding Performa3 F208, on steroids. Every component part was redesigned, the prices were doubled, and they were made the first and, so far, only members of a new Revel line, PerformaBe. The results began shipping last year: the PerformaBe M126Be minimonitor ($4000/pair) and the PerformaBe F228Be floorstander ($10,000/pair). When Doug Schneider asked if I wanted to review the M126Be, I acceded to his request without hesitation.
Amazing Values: Audiolab 6000A Integrated Amplifier-DAC and 6000CDT CD Transport
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- Written by Doug Schneider Doug Schneider
- Category: System One System One
- Created: 01 August 2019 01 August 2019
Last March, when I mentioned to some colleagues that the market in integrated amplifiers costing less than $1000 is “owned by a few companies,” I was aware that fewer manufacturers these days focus on low-priced integrateds, and of those that do, only a handful come up among our reviewing team. In our minds, Audiolab wasn’t one of those brands. It should have been.
God Bless OCD Audiophiles
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- Written by Ken Kessler Ken Kessler
- Category: SoundStage! UK SoundStage! UK
- Created: 01 August 2019 01 August 2019
Must one suffer from OCD to be an audiophile? Or, to put it another way, does being an audiophile mean that you inherently exhibit OCD traits? It’s taken me years to admit this (and there’s a doctoral thesis in psychology awaiting any student predisposed toward writing about a dying breed), but the evidence is overwhelming.
Recommended Reference Component: Dutch & Dutch 8c Active Loudspeakers
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- Written by SoundStage! Hi-Fi Editors SoundStage! Hi-Fi Editors
- Category: Components Components
- Created: 01 August 2019 01 August 2019
In a passive multiway loudspeaker -- that is, a passive speaker with more than a single drive-unit, and thus requiring a crossover to distribute the audio signal among its various drivers -- the electronic components of the analog crossover appear in the circuit after the signal has been received from the power amplifier, and before the signal is sent to the speakers’ drivers. In an active multiway loudspeaker, the audio signal is sent to the crossover first, before being sent on to the multiple amplifiers that directly power the drive-units.
Mytek Brooklyn DAC+ DAC-Preamplifier-Headphone Amplifier
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- Written by Erich Wetzel Erich Wetzel
- Category: Full-Length Equipment Reviews Full-Length Equipment Reviews
- Created: 15 July 2019 15 July 2019
In the late 1980s and early ’90s, Michal Jurewicz worked as a technical engineer at the Hit Factory and at Skyline Recording Studios, which were then two of New York City’s major studios (Skyline closed in 2012). During his time there, Jurewicz, a native of Warsaw, Poland, saw a need for high-quality digital conversion in the recording of music, and in 1992 established Mytek to design and build the required hardware. Early designs of his were used to record albums by David Bowie, Mariah Carey, Lou Reed, and others. Mytek is based in Brooklyn, New York; with Jurewicz as lead designer, it continues to serve the professional recording industry, and since 2011 has also catered to the consumer hi-fi market.
Blown Away: Three Demos at the 2019 EISA Global Press Convention
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- Written by Doug Schneider Doug Schneider
- Category: Monthly Column Monthly Column
- Created: 01 July 2019 01 July 2019
The trade organization EISA is best known for its annual product awards, which span six product categories divided into Expert Groups: Hi-Fi, Home Theater Audio, Home Theater Display and Video, In-Car Electronics, Mobile Devices, and Photography. Originally called the European Imaging and Sound Association, the organization renamed itself, in September 2018, the Expert Imaging and Sound Association, to reflect its growth from an association of European online and print publications to one that welcomes journals from around the globe. SoundStage! Hi-Fi became a member in June 2018.
AudioSolutions Figaro B Loudspeakers
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- Written by Diego Estan Diego Estan
- Category: Full-Length Equipment Reviews Full-Length Equipment Reviews
- Created: 01 July 2019 01 July 2019
Note: Measurements taken in the anechoic chamber at Canada's National Research Council can be found through this link.
AudioSolutions, a small Lithuanian speaker maker I’d never heard of, was founded in 2011 by Gediminas Gaidelis, who still owns it. Other than that, their website is short on backstory, long on intrigue. On the homepage, the reader is greeted with this: “Development of these fine speakers is a true challenge. We combine laws of physics with design, manufacturing stability and customers’ needs to make perfect speakers. Every smallest part is hand crafted and inspected for any flaws.” From this, it appears that all design and manufacturing are done in house. Very nice. Then: “Years of hard work and research are hidden behind this revealing short name -- not only in the realm of achieving ideal sonic abilities, but also in practical realization of pioneering ideas. AudioSolutions steps firmly into High-End territory.” Intrigued, I took a peek at the images of AudioSolutions loudspeakers. Beautiful! But would they sound as good as they looked?
