Recommended Reference Component: Beyerdynamic T5 (3rd Generation) Headphones
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- Written by SoundStage! Hi-Fi Editors SoundStage! Hi-Fi Editors
- Category: Components Components
- Created: 01 November 2020 01 November 2020
On October 1, for SoundStage! Solo, Brent Butterworth reviewed Beyerdynamic’s T5 headphones. He wanted to review this model, a closed-back design now in its third generation, for several reasons, one of which was: “So much attention in the audiophile headphone biz is devoted to relatively young companies, such as Audeze, Dan Clark Audio, and HiFiMan, that we tend to overlook the three German brands -- AKG, Beyerdynamic, and Sennheiser -- that were making good headphones before the founders of the aforenamed upstarts were even born.” He admitted that he’d “still never spent enough quality time with some of the high-end models from that classic Teutonic trio.” Even Brent had some catching up to do.
Recommended Reference Component: dCS Bartók Digital-to-Analog Converter
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- Written by SoundStage! Hi-Fi Editors SoundStage! Hi-Fi Editors
- Category: Components Components
- Created: 01 October 2020 01 October 2020
It was in 1987, in Cambridge, England, that Mike Story founded Data Conversions Systems (dCS) as an engineering consulting firm doing work on the Blue Vixen radar system for the Royal Navy. In 1989, dCS launched itself on the waves of audio with the 900 analog-to-digital converter (ADC), followed in 1993 by the 950 digital-to-analog converter, which dCS claims was the world’s first 24-bit DAC. In 1995 came the 902 ADC and 952 DAC, which dCS says were the world’s first digital converters to use 24 bits and a sampling frequency of 96kHz.
Recommended Reference Component: Focal Shape 65 Analog Active Loudspeakers
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- Written by SoundStage! Hi-Fi Editors SoundStage! Hi-Fi Editors
- Category: Components Components
- Created: 01 September 2020 01 September 2020
Focal’s Shape 65 loudspeaker sells for $1998/pair (all prices USD), but it’s unusual for an audiophile loudspeaker: It was designed for use as a monitor in professional recording studios. Nonetheless, when Gordon Brockhouse reviewed the Shape 65 for SoundStage! Simplifi on June 15, he wrote that it “looks as if it belongs in a stylish living space,” and that “that’s where its sound belongs.”
Recommended Reference Component: Focal Utopia Headphones
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- Written by SoundStage! Hi-Fi Editors SoundStage! Hi-Fi Editors
- Category: Components Components
- Created: 01 August 2020 01 August 2020
When Tyll Hertsens reviewed Focal’s Utopia headphones in August 2016, that former editor of Inner|Fidelity called them the “World’s Best Headphone.” Wanting to hear how, four years later, they’d stack up against his own current favorite headphones, our own Brent Butterworth reviewed the Utopias in June 2020 for SoundStage! Solo. We’re glad he did. He ended that review by asking, then answering, a question: “Are the Utopias the ‘world’s best headphones’ like others have claimed? No -- well, not now, at least -- but they are among the world’s best headphones.” (Brent’s italics.)
Recommended Reference Component: Rockport Technologies Avior II Loudspeakers
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- Written by SoundStage! Hi-Fi Editors SoundStage! Hi-Fi Editors
- Category: Components Components
- Created: 01 July 2020 01 July 2020
Located in South Thomaston, Maine, Rockport Technologies is a boutique audio manufacturer known for the tremendous attention they pay to every detail of their loudspeakers. As revealed in a SoundStage! Shorts video featuring president Josh Clark, every Rockport speaker is thoroughly checked before leaving their shop to ensure that its finish is flawless; its acoustical output is listened to and measured, and its crossover is tweaked, until its sound duplicates, as closely as possible, the sound of that model’s prototype. Rockport is not a high-volume manufacturer.
Recommended Reference Component: Magico A1 Loudspeakers
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- Written by SoundStage! Hi-Fi Editors SoundStage! Hi-Fi Editors
- Category: Components Components
- Created: 01 June 2020 01 June 2020
Magico’s A1 loudspeaker measures only 15.6”H x 8.5”W x 12”D but weighs 48 pounds -- all of its cabinet walls and internal braces are made of 3/8”-thick aluminum. The A1 costs $7400/pair USD and is as solid-feeling a loudspeaker as you’re likely to find outside of something made of concrete or stone. But its density isn’t its main calling card; instead, as Doug Schneider wrote in his review on this site last month, the A1’s “full, rich, superbly voiced sound belies the speaker’s size.”
Recommended Reference Component: Focal Sopra No1 Loudspeakers
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- Written by SoundStage! Hi-Fi Editors SoundStage! Hi-Fi Editors
- Category: Components Components
- Created: 01 May 2020 01 May 2020
France’s Focal-JMlab has been on a roll in recent years, producing many highly rated headphones and loudspeakers across all price ranges, several of which have received our Reviewers’ Choice award and made it on to our list of Recommended Reference Components. So far in 2019-2020, four Focal products have won both accolades: the Stellia headphones, reviewed by Brent Butterworth for SoundStage! Solo; the Spectral 40th and Chora 806 loudspeakers, reviewed by Diego Estan for, respectively, SoundStage! Hi-Fi and SoundStage! Access -- and, this month, the Sopra No1 loudspeaker, reviewed for this site in March by Diego.
Recommended Reference Component: PSB Alpha P5 Loudspeakers
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- Written by SoundStage! Hi-Fi Editors SoundStage! Hi-Fi Editors
- Category: Components Components
- Created: 01 April 2020 01 April 2020
Last month, we added to our list of Recommended Reference Components Focal’s Chora 806 loudspeaker ($990/pair). This month, we add a speaker that costs less than half as much: PSB’s Alpha P5 ($399/pair, all prices USD). Hans Wetzel reviewed the Alpha P5 for SoundStage! Access in March 2019, when it cost even less ($349/pair).
Recommended Reference Component: Focal Chora 806 Loudspeakers
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- Written by SoundStage! Hi-Fi Editors SoundStage! Hi-Fi Editors
- Category: Components Components
- Created: 01 March 2020 01 March 2020
In August 2019, we reviewed Revel’s PerformaBe M126Be minimonitor ($4000/pair, all prices USD). Two months later, we recognized it as a Recommended Reference Component, and in December we made it one of our 2019 Products of the Year. In fact, the PerformaBe M126Be’s sound is so neutral and transparent that we’ve found it provides an ideal benchmark against which to gauge the sound qualities of other stand-mounted loudspeakers. So last month, when Diego Estan reviewed for SoundStage! Access the Focal Chora 806 loudspeaker and found that, for $990/pair, it came close to matching the M126Be’s sound in some respects and exceeded it in others, we knew this French minimonitor was something special.
Recommended Reference Component: MartinLogan Motion 60XTi Loudspeakers
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- Written by SoundStage! Hi-Fi Editors SoundStage! Hi-Fi Editors
- Category: Components Components
- Created: 01 February 2020 01 February 2020
“It’s fair to say that MartinLogan is at least partially responsible for popularizing the electrostatic speaker,” Diego Estan pointed out in his review of the MartinLogan Motion 60XTi loudspeakers, published last month on SoundStage! Access. But the 60XTi ($3499.98/pair, all prices USD) is not one of the electrostatic models for which the company is still best known. Instead, it’s the flagship of ML’s entry-level Motion series, which comprises speakers with dynamic drivers at prices more people can afford.
