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Equipment Reviews

Ultra Audio's site platform was changed in August 2010. For equipment reviews previous to that, use this link to transfer to the old site.

Spatial Audio Hologram M1 Turbo Loudspeakers

Written by: Sid Vootla
Created: 01 June 2015

My first experience with open-baffle speakers was a few years ago, in Bangalore, India, in the showroom of ARN Systems, which then distributed the speakers made by Emerald Physics. I recall the sound of Emerald’s CS2.3 speakers as being exceptionally dynamic, nearing concert-level realism with a humongous soundstage that filled the large room. The Emerald CS2.3 was designed by Clayton Shaw, who has since moved on and now is the principal of Spatial Audio, based in Park City, Utah. (ARN is Spatial’s Indian distributor.)

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Audio Research Reference 10 Preamplifier

Written by: Peter Roth
Created: 15 May 2015

Reviewers' ChoiceAspiration. Audiophiles and reviewers have it in spades. We aspire to extract ever more from our audio systems: higher levels of performance, greater realism, more emotional connection with the music. Audiophiles are derided (often with justification) for the upgrade merry-go-round that can result from an unchecked conviction that the sound can always be improved; but if we keep system synergies and overall balance in mind, the thoughtful incorporation of new components can indeed give us more of what we aspire to.

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Bryston Middle T Loudspeakers

Written by: Jeff Fritz
Created: 01 May 2015

In 2012, when Bryston launched their first loudspeaker, the Model T, I raised an eyebrow. I wasn’t sure what to expect -- a one-off product that would end up as a back-catalog offering? Or the start of something larger for the Canadian electronics company? Three years later, the answer is clear: Bryston now offers 16 loudspeaker models, including subwoofers, center-channels, surrounds, on- and in-walls, and, of course, floorstanding and stand-mount designs. This wide array of speakers -- it would be impressive for a company that made only speakers -- comprises two lines, T and A. The T models have 8” bass drivers, the A speakers 6.5” woofers. In model-for-model comparisons, the Ts are larger, play louder and lower in the bass, and cost a bit more. I chose to review the second model from the top of the T line, the Middle T ($5400 USD per pair).

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Vienna Acoustics Imperial Liszt Loudspeakers

Written by: Aron Garrecht
Created: 15 April 2015

At the 2008 Consumer Electronics Show, Vienna Acoustics introduced their flagship loudspeaker, the Music. As the top dog in their top line, the Klimt Series, the Music embodied several new design innovations, most obvious of which was a 7” midrange driver of Vienna’s Flat-Spider-Cone design (see below), replete with a newfangled silk-dome tweeter at its center. These coincident drivers, aligned in time and phase, were housed in an independent, pivoting cabinet atop the larger main cabinet, itself home to three transparent 9” Spider-Cone woofers. The adaptable cabinet architecture was intended to permit ideal alignment of both driver arrays in a room and, almost overnight, proved so successful for Vienna Acoustics that, less than two years later, the company began thinking of ways to offer these design principles for much lower prices. At CES 2014, Vienna introduced their realization of this vision, the first speaker derived from the Klimt Music: the Imperial Liszt.

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Exogal Comet Digital-to-Analog Converter

Written by: Jeff Fritz
Created: 01 April 2015

Hardly any other name in the history of high-end digital audio components is as storied as Wadia Digital. If you’ve been around high-end circles for any number of years, you’ve no doubt known an owner of a Wadia DAC, transport, or player. Maybe you’ve owned one yourself.

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NAD Masters Series M22 Stereo Amplifier and M12 Preamplifier-DAC

Written by: Jeff Fritz
Created: 15 March 2015

These are interesting times for an aficionado of high-end audio gear. Consider this: ESS Technology’s Sabre Reference ES9018 DAC chip can be found in products costing over $30,000 that are claimed to be the state of the art -- and just may be. You can find the same chip in products costing under $1000.

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Ascendo C6 Loudspeakers

Written by: Sid Vootla
Created: 01 March 2015

Last summer, Sharath Chandran, the highly knowledgeable proprietor of audio dealership Audire, in Chennai, India, where I live, invited me to attend an audition of the flagship loudspeaker made by German manufacturer Ascendo GmbH, which Audire distributes in India: the M-S Special Edition, with external crossovers. These humongous, man-sized speakers were impeccably finished and visually arresting. I was spellbound by their superb transparency and dynamic capability, and would rank them among the top few speakers that I have heard. They cost a staggering $74,880 USD per pair, and their girth means that they’ll work well only in larger listening rooms. However, as with any other manufacturer, technologies from these vanguard products ultimately trickle down to smaller, more affordable models, and it was one of those -- the Ascendo C6 -- that Sharath Chandran recommended that I review.

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Hegel Music Systems HD12 Digital-to-Analog Converter

Written by: Jeff Fritz
Created: 15 February 2015

Hegel HD12Reviewers' ChoiceNowadays, to get noticed in the entertainment industry, you have to do something flashy or downright bizarre. At least, that’s how it looks from the outside. Take, for instance, the antics of pop-music stars, whose behavior seems to find new lows each week. The argument goes that any press is good press, so these people seem to fabricate ways to get a Yahoo! story written about them -- often ways that most of us would find humiliating and degrading. The interesting thing is that these people seem to revel in the attention, making no distinction between whether their actions are considered positive, negative, or just plain stupid.

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Esoteric Grandioso P1 SACD/CD Transport, Grandioso D1 Mono Digital-to-Analog Converters, and G-01 Master Clock Generator

Written by: Howard Kneller
Created: 01 February 2015

Esoteric P1/D1Reviewers' ChoiceAlmost every month, I hear about a new, midpriced digital-to-analog converter that’s supposedly taking the audiophile world by storm. These flavors of the month typically include the latest, greatest conversion chips and cost $2000-$3500 USD -- sometimes much less. They almost always come with a story about a guy who bought one, got better sound than he was getting with his $125,000 multibox digital stack, sold the latter, and laughed all the way to the bank.

It was just after I’d had a conversation with an audiophile friend about a $500 flavor-of-the-month DAC that Scott Sefton, Esoteric’s marketing specialist, offered to send me for review samples of the company’s new statement models. At the time, the Grandioso line comprised the M1 monoblock amplifier ($21,000 each), the two-box P1 SACD/CD transport ($40,000), and the D1 mono DAC ($20,000 each). There is also, now, the Grandioso C1, a two-box preamplifier ($40,000).

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Blue Circle Audio BC60X1 Power Conditioner

Written by: Michael Wright
Created: 01 February 2015

Blue Circle Audio BC60X1I considered myself lucky. I’d finished reviewing Blue Circle Audio’s PLC Thingee FX-2 six-outlet power conditioner with XOe low-frequency filter module (affectionately known as the 3PO), which enlightened me as to what a well-designed, well-thought-out $500 power conditioner could do. The FX-2 cleaned up the incoming power and made the very best of what I had to plug into it sound better than it had any right to. This at a time when I was having trouble getting my money’s worth after having invested so much of it, and time, in power-line conditioners (PLCs) of various prices but never finding anything that performed to my total satisfaction. I was all set to buy the FX-2 -- I saw no reason not to spend $500 USD for a PLC that performed as well as it did. (See my review of the Blue Circle Audio PLC Thingee FX-2 for a description, and for everything I had to say about its sound.)

Read more …

  1. Octave Audio V 110 Integrated Amplifier
  2. JL Audio CR-1 Active Subwoofer Crossover
  3. fo.Q Damping Products and AB-4045 Audio Board Isolation Platform
  4. Devialet 400 Mono Integrated Amplifier-DACs
  5. Audio Research VSi75 Integrated Amplifier
  6. Triangle Magellan Cello Loudspeakers
  7. Audience Au24 SE powerChords, Interconnects, and Speaker Cables
  8. Zanden Audio Systems 120 Phono Stage
  9. Grimm Audio LS1 Loudspeakers and LS1s Subwoofers
  10. Aurender W20 Music Server
  11. Transfiguration Phoenix S Phono Cartridge
  12. M2Tech Young DSD Digital-to-Analog Converter
  13. Audio Research SP20 Preamplifier
  14. Magico S3 Loudspeakers
  15. Synergistic Research High Frequency Transducer (HFT) and Frequency Equalizer (FEQ) Room Treatments and XOT Crossover Transducer
  16. Ayre Acoustics KX-R Twenty Preamplifier
  17. Resonessence Labs Invicta Mirus Digital-to-Analog Converter
  18. Vivid Audio Giya G4 Loudspeakers
  19. Aurender X100L Music Server
  20. Sonus Faber Olympica I Loudspeakers
  21. Clarity Cable Organic Speaker Cables, Interconnects, Digital Interconnect, and Vortex Power Cord
  22. EgglestonWorks Nine Signature Loudspeakers
  23. Light Harmonic LightSpeed USB Cable
  24. David Berning Company ZH-230 Stereo Amplifier
  25. Esoteric Master Sound Works C-02 Preamplifier
  26. Vivid Audio Oval V1.5 Loudspeakers
  27. Daedalus Audio Argos v.2 Loudspeakers
  28. Octave Audio V 70 SE Integrated Amplifier
  29. KR Audio VA910 Mono Amplifiers
  30. T+A Criterion TCD 110 S Loudspeakers
  31. Birch Acoustics Raven Loudspeakers
  32. Monitor Audio Platinum PL200 Loudspeakers
  33. Essential Sound Products Essence Reference-II Power Cords and Reference-II Power Distributor
  34. JE Audio Dyad S400 Stereo Amplifier
  35. Dynamique Audio Celestial Speaker Cables, Zenith Interconnects, Firelight USB, and Infinite Power Cables
  36. Music Culture Elegance MC 501A CD Player-DAC
  37. KR Audio VA340 Mk.II Integrated Amplifier
  38. PMC IB2i Loudspeakers
  39. Cabasse Pacific 3 Loudspeakers
  40. Sonus Faber Venere 3.0 Loudspeakers
  41. Hegel Music Systems HD25 Digital-to-Analog Converter
  42. EMM Labs DAC2X Digital-to-Analog Converter
  43. Esoteric P-02 SACD/CD Transport and D-02 Digital-to-Analog Converter
  44. Vivid Audio Giya G3 Loudspeakers
  45. PBN Audio Scan-Speak B741 Loudspeakers
  46. Blue Circle Audio BC109 Preamplifier
  47. Dynaudio Confidence C2 Signature Loudspeakers
  48. First Watt J2 Stereo Amplifier
  49. Simaudio Moon Evolution 810LP Phono Stage
  50. Boulder Amplifiers 1060 Stereo Amplifier
  51. SMc Audio VRE-1C Reference Preamplifier
  52. Blue Circle Audio NSL Stereo Amplifier
  53. Audio Research Reference 250 Mono Amplifiers
  54. Von Schweikert Audio VR-35 Export Deluxe Loudspeakers
  55. Vitus Audio Signature SM-010 Mono Amplifiers
  56. YG Acoustics Kipod II Signature Loudspeakers
  57. Vandersteen Audio Treo Loudspeakers
  58. Magico Q1 Loudspeakers
  59. Hemingway Audio Prime Reference Mk.II Speaker Cables, Interconnects, and Power Cords
  60. Synergistic Research Element Copper, Tungsten, and Copper-Tungsten-Silver Interconnects and Speaker Cables
  61. Crystal Cable Arabesque Mini Loudspeakers
  62. EgglestonWorks Fontaine Signature Loudspeakers
  63. AudioQuest Diamond and Carbon FireWire 800 Cables
  64. Artos Audio Sunrise Loudspeakers
  65. Esoteric I-03 Integrated Amplifier
  66. NuForce DAC-9 Digital-to-Analog Converter
  67. Audience adeptResponse aR6-TS Power Conditioner
  68. EAR MC 4 Step-Up Transformer
  69. PBN Audio Montana InnerChoic Liberty Loudspeakers
  70. Simple Design Sonore Music Server
  71. Herron Audio VTSP-3A Preamplifier
  72. Copland CDA825 CD Player
  73. TW-Acustic Raven 10.5 Tonearm
  74. Artisan Silver MC Phono Stage
  75. MSB Technology Universal Media Transport
  76. Well Tempered Lab Amadeus Turntable
  77. Purity Audio Design Purity Reference Preamplifier
  78. Silverline Audio Sonatina Mk.IV Loudspeakers
  79. Ayre Acoustics DX-5 Universal A/V Engine
  80. Coda Technologies 15.0 Stereo Amplifier
  81. LessLoss Firewall Power Conditioner and DFPC Signature Power Cable
  82. Miyajima Laboratory Premium BE Mono Cartridge
  83. Magnum Dynalab MD 309 Integrated Amplifier
  84. Audio Research Reference 5 Preamplifier
  85. VAC Phi 200 Stereo Amplifier
  86. Ortofon Cadenza Mono Phono Cartridge
  87. Ultrasone Edition 8 Headphones
  88. YG Acoustics Carmel Loudspeakers
  89. Atma-Sphere Music Amplifier M-60 Mk.3.1 Mono Amplifiers
  90. AudioPrism Ground Control Grounding Cables
  91. Nordost Norse Frey Interconnects and Speaker Cables
  92. Ayre Acoustics KX-R Preamplifier and MX-R Mono Amplifiers
  93. Raysonic SP-300 Integrated Amplifier
  94. Synergistic Research Galileo Universal Interconnect and Speaker Cells, and Mini Power Couplers
  95. VAC Renaissance Mk.3 Preamplifier
  96. Accustic Arts Reference Tube-DAC II SE DAC and Reference Drive II CD Transport
  97. Silent Running Audio VR fp isoBASE Equipment Platforms
  98. EAR 890 Stereo Amplifier

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210x600 T+A R Criterion S (20240601)
Dynaudio Confidence 20A
 Electrocompaniet - AW300M
Dynaudio Contour 20BE
Vitus Audio
Vitus Audio

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