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The 2023 AXPONA Show: Robert Harley on Electronics

Posted on April 20, 2023 by Robert Harley

This AXPONA was simply essentially the most upbeat, finest organized, and effectively attended present outdoors Munich. But what actually made this 12 months’s occasion so heartening was the variety of the attendees. The halls and exhibit rooms have been filled with younger individuals and {couples} on the lookout for new methods to discover music. Fortunately, this present had loads of inexpensive merchandise for them to see and listen to, and with options and capabilities concentrating on how they wish to entry music.

Here are my picks of essentially the most fascinating new electronics on the present.

5 Most Significant New Products

PrimaLuna EVO 100 Phonostage
PrimaLuna, the corporate recognized for delivering wonderful worth and excessive build-quality, has launched a “swing-for-the-fences,” all-tube phonostage with the EVO 100. Nearly all tube phonostages make use of a step-up transformer or transistor acquire stage on the enter earlier than the tube stage to maintain noise ranges low. Realizing 65dB or extra of acquire with simply tubes can lead to a poor signal-to-noise ratio. PrimaLuna has addressed this problem with a large all-tube energy provide that makes use of a pair of EL34s, a tube often present in a power-amplifier output stage. The EVO 100’s tube complement consists of 4 12AX7s within the entrance finish, a 6922 for extra moving-coil acquire, and a pair of 5AR4 tubes as rectifiers. The EVO 100 presents three acquire settings (52dB, 56dB, 60dB). The first manufacturing models simply began delivery from distributor/retailer Upscale Audio. Price: $3695.

Aesthetix Pallena Preamplifier and Dione Power Amplifier
Aesthetix has a protracted historical past of creating exceptionally musical merchandise, a practice continued within the new Pallena preamp and Dione energy amp. The Pallena is a completely balanced tube preamp with a switched-resistor quantity management based mostly on that of the Calypso preamp. A fantastic characteristic is the flexibility to customise the Pallena to your wants or add functionality later. Specifically, you may add an non-compulsory phono module with acquire and loading changes. These changes may be constituted of the entrance panel or distant management. A second module provides digital-to-analog conversion that helps as much as 384kHz/24-bit PCM and DSD64 and DSD128. The Pallena comes commonplace with a headphone amplifier, or you may go for a completely discrete differential-input headphone amp. The modules are $1250 every.

The matching Dione energy amplifier is a hybrid design with a tube acquire stage and solid-stage output stage. The amplifier options zero suggestions and has differential balanced-bridged circuitry via the output stage. All inputs are provided on each unbalanced and balanced jacks. The energy transformers are, unusually, wound in-house. Power output is rated at 160Wpc into 8 ohms and 320Wpc into 4 ohms.

The Pallena and Dione are priced at $6500 every and are a step up from the spectacularly nice Aesthetix Mimas built-in amplifier that’s Neil Gader’s reference.

Cabasse Abyss Amplifier
One of essentially the most exceptional demos at this AXPONA wasn’t with one of many present’s greatest techniques, however with one in every of its smallest. French speaker maker Cabasse confirmed its Abyss “High-Resolution Connected Active Amplifier,” a 120Wpc built-in amplifier with built-in streaming. What’s particular in regards to the Abyss is the DSP processing inside that may drastically enhance the sound of any speaker, most dramatically with fashions from Cabasse. The DSP lets you inform the system the place your loudspeakers are positioned relative to room boundaries and the DSP will modify the frequency response for smoother bass. You may modify the tonal stability with the integral tilt controls. But right here’s the most effective half: When used with a passive Cabasse speaker, the amplifier will interact a DSP program particular to that speaker to clean out response. The frequency profiles of a variety of Cabasse audio system are programmed into the Abyss; you simply choose which one to interact. The DSP filter has 30 bands, permitting for very exact adjustment. Non-Cabasse audio system profit from a generic DSP algorithm. In addition, the Abyss has a patented processing algorithm known as Dynamic Fidelity Enhancer (DFE) that analyzes the sign’s dynamics and stage in actual time and modifies the sign to revive the music’s dynamics and bass extension at low listening ranges. Price: $1795.

Naim NSC 222 Streaming Preamplifier, NAP 250 Power Amplifier, and NPX 300 Power Supply
Naim confirmed the brand new 200-Series, comprising the NSC 222 streaming preamplifier, NAP 250 energy amplifier, and NPX 300 energy provide. The NSC 222 options Naim’s personal streaming engine that helps each streaming platform, Internet Radio, UPnP servers, and can also be Roon Ready. A front-panel show reveals the album artwork. The new preamp is managed by the Naim App, which additionally offers multi-room management over all of the Naim elements on the community. A high-quality headphone amplifier, inherited from the superb Uniti Atom Headphone Edition, is included. Price: $8999.

The NAP 250 energy amplifier carries the mannequin designation of an iconic Naim amplifier launched in 1975. This new sixth-generation mannequin is, after all, considerably up to date with the most recent expertise and design. It advantages from some circuitry developed for Naim’s quarter-million-dollar Statement energy amplifier, together with discrete power-supply regulation and the equivalent transistors within the output stage. The NAP 250 outputs 100Wpc. Price: $8999.

Finally, the NPX 300 energy provide continues a long-held Naim custom of offering an improve path via a really high-quality energy provide in a separate chassis. The NPX is designed to enhance the efficiency of the NPX 222 by delivering exceptionally clear DC energy to the streaming preamplifier. Price: $8999. I’ve heard a number of demonstrations of Naim’s outboard energy provides, and the advance in sound high quality was vital every time. The three models within the 200-Series share equivalent styling for a unified look. They are additionally housed in superbly machined aluminum chassis with distinctive build-quality.

Balanced Audio Technology VK-80t
MoFi Distribution confirmed the brand new all-tube BAT VK-80t energy amplifier to rejoice BAT’s 25^th anniversary. The VK-80t outputs 60Wpc from the high-current 6C33C-B output tube, the identical tube present in BAT’s flagship REX 3 energy amplifier. This tube has a larger present capability that the 6550 discovered in lots of amplifiers. The enter stage is constructed round a 6H30 “SuperTube.” This new BAT may be operated as a stereo amplifier or a 120W monoblock. An auto-bias circuit simplifies possession. Available in black or silver. Deliveries of the $9995 unit start in Q2.

Auspicious Debuts

Air Tight ATC-7 Line Control Amplifier
The venerable Japanese artisanal producer debuted its reference linestage, the ATC-7 Line Control Amplifier. In growth since 2018, the ATC-7 is Air Tight’s assertion in linestages. The all-tube unit options three unbalanced and two balanced inputs, two pairs of 12AX7s, two pairs of 12AU7s, and a extremely superior new quantity management together with an progressive energy provide. The styling harkens again to traditional merchandise of the previous, with massive front-panel knobs moderately than a digital show. Much consideration was paid to the look and tactile really feel of the knobs; Air Tight wished to convey again the enjoyment of hands-on involvement in working an audio system on this age of touchscreens. In that spirit, the ATC-7 consists of 4 separate changes for tonal stability, two for “Presence” and two marked “Bass Compensator.” These mean you can dial within the sound to your significantly loudspeakers, room, and style. The stability management is a pair of knobs (one for every channel) marked “Gain Trim.” As with all Air Tight merchandise, the ATC-7 is constructed by hand to the best commonplace.

Technics SU-GX70X Streaming Integrated Amplifier
Technics’ new SU-GX70X streaming amplifier is filled with a bunch of superior options. The amplifier is digital, which means it retains digital enter indicators within the digital area all through the amplifier. Digital-to-analog conversion happens as a part of the switching output stage. The unit outputs 40Wpc into 8 ohms and 80Wpc into 4. It options Technics’ LAPC processing that “appears to be like” on the traits of the speaker the amplifier is driving and processes the sign to raised match the amplifier to the loudspeaker load. The SU-GX70X has two line inputs, mm phono, networking, Internet Radio, FM radio, Bluetooth, and each streaming service you may think about. It additionally does DSD as much as 5.6MHz. An HDMI enter is included with Audio Return Channel (ARC) for straightforward integration with a TV. You can management the unit through the entrance panel, distant management, or app. Price: $1999, with availability starting in late July.

AVM CS 5.3 and CS 30.3 All-in-One, and PAS Preamplifier
Udo Besser of Germany’s AVM was readily available to point out me the corporate’s new CS 5.3 all-in-one unit. The CS 5.3 is a community streaming amplifier with each streaming perform possible, HDMI enter for integrating with a TV, a phonostage with adjustable loading and acquire, and a whopping 330Wpc of Class D output energy. The CS 5.3 may be ordered as a hybrid unit with a tube enter stage at $12,800, or with a solid-state enter at $10,000.

If you don’t want that a lot energy, think about the brand new CS 30.3 all-in-one, a part of the brand new 30.3 line that brings AVM’s expertise and build-quality to a lower cost tier. The $5000 CS 30.3 is absolutely loaded functionally however presents 125Wpc of output energy. The 30.3 collection comes with the identical superbly machined aluminum distant management as AVM’s high fashions.

If you have already got an influence amplifier and wish to add extra options to your system, AVM confirmed the PAS preamplifier, which is basically a CS 5.3 with out the facility amplification stage. Price: $8000 with tube enter stage.

All the AVM merchandise are provided in black, silver, and chrome finishes, the latter carrying a small upcharge. Commendably, AVM has written its personal streaming engine software program and invested significantly in making a management app. I noticed a demo of the app and was drastically impressed by its energy, visible class, and ease of use. The app has an ingenious graphic show for multi-room management of an AVM system with a number of elements all through the house.

Rotel Michi Series 2 Integrated Amplifiers and Preamplifier
After a protracted quiet spell, Rotel launched three formidable merchandise within the upscale Michi Series. The first of two built-in amplifiers is the Michi X3 Series 2. The X3 options greater than 90 element upgrades, ESS ES9028PRO DACs, and reengineered energy provides. This powerhouse delivers 350Wpc into 4 ohms and features a full complement of analog and digital inputs, in addition to an mm phonostage.

If you need much more energy, the Michi X5 Series 2 will present 600Wpc into 4 ohms thanks partially to twin, in-house-manufactured, shielded, low-noise toroidal transformers. The X5 additionally advantages from element upgrades and consists of selectable mm or mc phono enter.

Finally, the Michi P5 Series 2 preamplifier options the ESS SABRE DAC tailored to “mono” mode for enhanced efficiency. It presents a full suite of analog and digital inputs together with MQA decoding, DSD as much as 4x, and mm and mc phono inputs. The X3 Series 2 is priced at $5799; the X5 is $7999; and the P5 is $4599. Availability begins in April.

WestminsterLab REI Class A Monoblock Amplifier and Quest Preamplifier
I noticed and heard an formidable new energy amplifier and preamplifier from an organization new to me, Hong Kong-based WestminsterLab. The compact amplifier, known as the REI, operates in Class A to ship 100W; but, the amplifier ran cool to the contact because of the VARI-BIAS expertise and heatsink design. The amplifier can double its output energy because the impedance is halved, all the best way all the way down to 2 ohms. The direct-coupled, no-global-feedback circuitry is absolutely discrete and realized with hand-matched elements. The REI may be bridged for 400W. The minimalist industrial design is uncommon and delightful, realized with CNC-machined aluminum and carbon fiber. The matching Quest preamplifier is equally tweaky, with a dual-mono absolutely balanced design and a discrete stepped attenuator. Prices: $32,900 per pair for the REI, and $25,100 for the Quest preamplifier. WestminsterLabs merchandise are distributed by HearThis in Newport Beach, California.

SoTM sPQ-100 Phonostage
Korea’s SoTM, maker of dozens of high-tech digital elements for community streaming, launched its first phonostage, the sPQ-100. Housed in SoTM’s acquainted wedge-shaped chassis, the sPQ-100 presents banks of DIP switches for high quality changes of the equalization curve. One place on every change is marked “RIAA” for setting the unit to accurately equalize for the worldwide commonplace. No pricing was introduced, however the sPQ-100 is predicted to promote for about $800 plus the price of one of many outboard energy provides provided by SoTM.

Mola Mola Lupe Phonostage and Perca Stereo Amplifier
The acclaimed phonostage constructed into Mola Mola’s Makua preamplifier has now been was a stand-alone unit with its personal energy provide. The new Lupe options three single-ended inputs and one balanced enter, balanced and single-ended output, and a subsonic filter, all housed in a half-sized chassis. Unusually, the mm and mc phases are fully separate; in most phonostages the mc sign merely goes via a further acquire stage. Any of the 4 inputs may be routed to the output to accommodate turntables with a number of tonearms. Price: $9850.

Mola Mola additionally confirmed a brand new stereo energy amplifier, the Perca. It delivers 150Wpc into 8 ohms and may double that score into 4 ohms. Price: $9850.

Leak Stereo 230 Integrated Amplifier
Talk a couple of legendary title from the previous. Leak confirmed, via its U.S. distributor MoFi Distribution, the brand new Stereo 230 built-in amp. The unit options mid-century-modern styling together with a brand new DAC part that gives full MQA decoding, DSD512, and decoding of any PCM sign. An HDMI enter with Audio Return Channel (ARC) permits the 230 to breed tv sound. An mm phonostage and devoted headphone amplifier are included. The 230 is Roon examined, however certification is pending. Power output is 75Wpc into 8 ohms, and 110Wpc into 4 ohms. Price: $1695

Robert Harley’s Best of Show

Best Sound (value no object)
I’ll title three techniques, in no explicit order.

Axiss Audio’s demo of the Gauder Akustik DARC 200 loudspeaker pushed by Soulution electronics with a Transrotor turntable and Air Tight Opus One cartridge. Spectacular dynamics, hard-hitting bass, fast, clear, non-fatiguing, and simply plain musical.

The Acora Acoustics VRC loudspeaker ($218,000) pushed by VAC Statement electronics sourced by an Oracle Delphi Reference turntable and cabled with Cardas all through. The sense of presence and immediacy was beautiful, as was the massive three-dimensional soundstage.

MBL’s not too long ago upgraded 101 Mk.II loudspeaker pushed by all-MBL entrance finish and electronics delivered the same old dose of MBL virtues—a surprising sense of lifelike presence, top-to-bottom coherence, large soundstage, and super bass extension and influence. Because of the 101’s omnidirectional nature each seat in the home was within the candy spot.

Best Sound (for the cash)
The Cabasse Rialto energetic loudspeaker. This small dice combines a concentric forward-facing driver with a rear-firing woofer, integral amplification, streaming, and even DSP room correction. You’ve heard the expression, “Just add audio system.” The Realto is, “Just add music.” The sound was stunningly nice for $4000 a pair. As a showgoer stated, “It’s scary good.” I couldn’t agree extra.

Most Significant Product Introduction
Magico S3. This new $45k speaker brings the sonic qualities of Magico’s flagship merchandise to its less expensive fashions. I might have thought I used to be listening to one in every of Magico’s M-Series audio system.

Most Significant Trend
Great enhancements in app-based consumer interfaces. Once crude and clumsy, the most effective interfaces are quickly changing into slick and highly effective. Examples: Server-maker Innuos’ spectacular customized music-management system and AVM’s app management of its all-in-one techniques with multiroom functionality. That sort of software program growth is extraordinarily costly however delivers a superior buyer expertise.

Most Coveted Product
The Hill Plasmatronics plasma tweeter. Dr. Alan Hill, the physicist who invented the plasma tweeter 40 years in the past, was readily available to witness the primary public show of his driver in 4 many years. The plasma driver, which has no diaphragm and thus no shifting mass, was paired with an Eminent Technology LFT-8c, crossed over at 1kHz. The sound was extremely lifelike and easy—essentially the most pure and reasonable copy of upper-midrange and treble I’ve ever heard. Thanks to Tony Salsich, Joe Galanti, and Ron Hoering for spending the time, effort, and expense to showcase this exceptional expertise and landmark piece of high-end historical past.

The submit The 2023 AXPONA Show: Robert Harley on Electronics appeared first on The Absolute Sound.

World News

The 2023 AXPONA Show: Robert Harley on Electronics

Posted on April 20, 2023 by Robert Harley

This AXPONA was simply essentially the most upbeat, finest organized, and nicely attended present outdoors Munich. But what actually made this 12 months’s occasion so heartening was the range of the attendees. The halls and exhibit rooms had been filled with younger individuals and {couples} in search of new methods to discover music. Fortunately, this present had loads of inexpensive merchandise for them to see and listen to, and with options and capabilities focusing on how they wish to entry music.

Here are my picks of essentially the most attention-grabbing new electronics on the present.

5 Most Significant New Products

PrimaLuna EVO 100 Phonostage
PrimaLuna, the corporate identified for delivering superb worth and excessive build-quality, has launched a “swing-for-the-fences,” all-tube phonostage with the EVO 100. Nearly all tube phonostages make use of a step-up transformer or transistor achieve stage on the enter earlier than the tube stage to maintain noise ranges low. Realizing 65dB or extra of achieve with simply tubes can lead to a poor signal-to-noise ratio. PrimaLuna has addressed this problem with a large all-tube energy provide that makes use of a pair of EL34s, a tube normally present in a power-amplifier output stage. The EVO 100’s tube complement contains 4 12AX7s within the entrance finish, a 6922 for extra moving-coil achieve, and a pair of 5AR4 tubes as rectifiers. The EVO 100 presents three achieve settings (52dB, 56dB, 60dB). The first manufacturing items simply began transport from distributor/retailer Upscale Audio. Price: $3695.

Aesthetix Pallena Preamplifier and Dione Power Amplifier
Aesthetix has a protracted historical past of constructing exceptionally musical merchandise, a practice continued within the new Pallena preamp and Dione energy amp. The Pallena is a totally balanced tube preamp with a switched-resistor quantity management primarily based on that of the Calypso preamp. An ideal characteristic is the flexibility to customise the Pallena to your wants or add functionality later. Specifically, you possibly can add an elective phono module with achieve and loading changes. These changes could be constructed from the entrance panel or distant management. A second module provides digital-to-analog conversion that helps as much as 384kHz/24-bit PCM and DSD64 and DSD128. The Pallena comes normal with a headphone amplifier, or you possibly can go for a totally discrete differential-input headphone amp. The modules are $1250 every.

The matching Dione energy amplifier is a hybrid design with a tube achieve stage and solid-stage output stage. The amplifier options zero suggestions and has differential balanced-bridged circuitry by means of the output stage. All inputs are supplied on each unbalanced and balanced jacks. The energy transformers are, unusually, wound in-house. Power output is rated at 160Wpc into 8 ohms and 320Wpc into 4 ohms.

The Pallena and Dione are priced at $6500 every and are a step up from the spectacularly nice Aesthetix Mimas built-in amplifier that’s Neil Gader’s reference.

Cabasse Abyss Amplifier
One of essentially the most outstanding demos at this AXPONA wasn’t with one of many present’s greatest methods, however with one in every of its smallest. French speaker maker Cabasse confirmed its Abyss “High-Resolution Connected Active Amplifier,” a 120Wpc built-in amplifier with built-in streaming. What’s particular concerning the Abyss is the DSP processing inside that may enormously enhance the sound of any speaker, most dramatically with fashions from Cabasse. The DSP means that you can inform the system the place your loudspeakers are positioned relative to room boundaries and the DSP will regulate the frequency response for smoother bass. You also can regulate the tonal stability with the integral tilt controls. But right here’s the most effective half: When used with a passive Cabasse speaker, the amplifier will interact a DSP program particular to that speaker to easy out response. The frequency profiles of a variety of Cabasse audio system are programmed into the Abyss; you simply choose which one to interact. The DSP filter has 30 bands, permitting for very exact adjustment. Non-Cabasse audio system profit from a generic DSP algorithm. In addition, the Abyss has a patented processing algorithm referred to as Dynamic Fidelity Enhancer (DFE) that analyzes the sign’s dynamics and degree in actual time and modifies the sign to revive the music’s dynamics and bass extension at low listening ranges. Price: $1795.

Naim NSC 222 Streaming Preamplifier, NAP 250 Power Amplifier, and NPX 300 Power Supply
Naim confirmed the brand new 200-Series, comprising the NSC 222 streaming preamplifier, NAP 250 energy amplifier, and NPX 300 energy provide. The NSC 222 options Naim’s personal streaming engine that helps each streaming platform, Internet Radio, UPnP servers, and can be Roon Ready. A front-panel show exhibits the album artwork. The new preamp is managed by the Naim App, which additionally supplies multi-room management over all of the Naim parts on the community. A high-quality headphone amplifier, inherited from the superb Uniti Atom Headphone Edition, is included. Price: $8999.

The NAP 250 energy amplifier carries the mannequin designation of an iconic Naim amplifier launched in 1975. This new sixth-generation mannequin is, after all, considerably up to date with the newest expertise and design. It advantages from some circuitry developed for Naim’s quarter-million-dollar Statement energy amplifier, together with discrete power-supply regulation and the similar transistors within the output stage. The NAP 250 outputs 100Wpc. Price: $8999.

Finally, the NPX 300 energy provide continues a long-held Naim custom of offering an improve path by means of a really high-quality energy provide in a separate chassis. The NPX is designed to enhance the efficiency of the NPX 222 by delivering exceptionally clear DC energy to the streaming preamplifier. Price: $8999. I’ve heard a number of demonstrations of Naim’s outboard energy provides, and the development in sound high quality was important every time. The three items within the 200-Series share similar styling for a unified look. They are additionally housed in superbly machined aluminum chassis with distinctive build-quality.

Balanced Audio Technology VK-80t
MoFi Distribution confirmed the brand new all-tube BAT VK-80t energy amplifier to rejoice BAT’s 25^th anniversary. The VK-80t outputs 60Wpc from the high-current 6C33C-B output tube, the identical tube present in BAT’s flagship REX 3 energy amplifier. This tube has a better present capability that the 6550 discovered in lots of amplifiers. The enter stage is constructed round a 6H30 “SuperTube.” This new BAT could be operated as a stereo amplifier or a 120W monoblock. An auto-bias circuit simplifies possession. Available in black or silver. Deliveries of the $9995 unit start in Q2.

Auspicious Debuts

Air Tight ATC-7 Line Control Amplifier
The venerable Japanese artisanal producer debuted its reference linestage, the ATC-7 Line Control Amplifier. In growth since 2018, the ATC-7 is Air Tight’s assertion in linestages. The all-tube unit options three unbalanced and two balanced inputs, two pairs of 12AX7s, two pairs of 12AU7s, and a extremely superior new quantity management together with an modern energy provide. The styling harkens again to basic merchandise of the previous, with giant front-panel knobs slightly than a digital show. Much consideration was paid to the look and tactile really feel of the knobs; Air Tight wished to convey again the enjoyment of hands-on involvement in working an audio system on this age of touchscreens. In that spirit, the ATC-7 contains 4 separate changes for tonal stability, two for “Presence” and two marked “Bass Compensator.” These mean you can dial within the sound to your significantly loudspeakers, room, and style. The stability management is a pair of knobs (one for every channel) marked “Gain Trim.” As with all Air Tight merchandise, the ATC-7 is constructed by hand to the best normal.

Technics SU-GX70X Streaming Integrated Amplifier
Technics’ new SU-GX70X streaming amplifier is filled with a bunch of superior options. The amplifier is digital, which means it retains digital enter alerts within the digital area during the amplifier. Digital-to-analog conversion happens as a part of the switching output stage. The unit outputs 40Wpc into 8 ohms and 80Wpc into 4. It options Technics’ LAPC processing that “appears to be like” on the traits of the speaker the amplifier is driving and processes the sign to higher match the amplifier to the loudspeaker load. The SU-GX70X has two line inputs, mm phono, networking, Internet Radio, FM radio, Bluetooth, and each streaming service you possibly can think about. It additionally does DSD as much as 5.6MHz. An HDMI enter is included with Audio Return Channel (ARC) for straightforward integration with a TV. You can management the unit through the entrance panel, distant management, or app. Price: $1999, with availability starting in late July.

AVM CS 5.3 and CS 30.3 All-in-One, and PAS Preamplifier
Udo Besser of Germany’s AVM was available to indicate me the corporate’s new CS 5.3 all-in-one unit. The CS 5.3 is a community streaming amplifier with each streaming perform possible, HDMI enter for integrating with a TV, a phonostage with adjustable loading and achieve, and a whopping 330Wpc of Class D output energy. The CS 5.3 could be ordered as a hybrid unit with a tube enter stage at $12,800, or with a solid-state enter at $10,000.

If you don’t want that a lot energy, take into account the brand new CS 30.3 all-in-one, a part of the brand new 30.3 line that brings AVM’s expertise and build-quality to a cheaper price tier. The $5000 CS 30.3 is totally loaded functionally however presents 125Wpc of output energy. The 30.3 sequence comes with the identical superbly machined aluminum distant management as AVM’s high fashions.

If you have already got an influence amplifier and wish to add extra options to your system, AVM confirmed the PAS preamplifier, which is actually a CS 5.3 with out the facility amplification stage. Price: $8000 with tube enter stage.

All the AVM merchandise are supplied in black, silver, and chrome finishes, the latter carrying a small upcharge. Commendably, AVM has written its personal streaming engine software program and invested significantly in making a management app. I noticed a demo of the app and was enormously impressed by its energy, visible magnificence, and ease of use. The app has an ingenious graphic show for multi-room management of an AVM system with a number of parts all through the house.

WestminsterLab REI Class A Monoblock Amplifier and Quest Preamplifier
I noticed and heard an formidable new energy amplifier and preamplifier from an organization new to me, Hong Kong-based WestminsterLab. The compact amplifier, referred to as the REI, operates in Class A to ship 100W; but, the amplifier ran cool to the contact because of the VARI-BIAS expertise and heatsink design. The amplifier can double its output energy because the impedance is halved, all the way in which all the way down to 2 ohms. The direct-coupled, no-global-feedback circuitry is totally discrete and realized with hand-matched parts. The REI could be bridged for 400W. The minimalist industrial design is uncommon and delightful, realized with CNC-machined aluminum and carbon fiber. The matching Quest preamplifier is equally tweaky, with a dual-mono totally balanced design and a discrete stepped attenuator. Prices: $32,900 per pair for the REI, and $25,100 for the Quest preamplifier. WestminsterLabs merchandise are distributed by HearThis in Newport Beach, California.

SoTM sPQ-100 Phonostage
Korea’s SoTM, maker of dozens of high-tech digital parts for community streaming, launched its first phonostage, the sPQ-100. Housed in SoTM’s acquainted wedge-shaped chassis, the sPQ-100 presents banks of DIP switches for high-quality changes of the equalization curve. One place on every change is marked “RIAA” for setting the unit to accurately equalize for the worldwide normal. No pricing was introduced, however the sPQ-100 is predicted to promote for about $800 plus the price of one of many outboard energy provides supplied by SoTM.

Mola Mola Lupe Phonostage and Perca Stereo Amplifier
The acclaimed phonostage constructed into Mola Mola’s Makua preamplifier has now been become a stand-alone unit with its personal energy provide. The new Lupe options three single-ended inputs and one balanced enter, balanced and single-ended output, and a subsonic filter, all housed in a half-sized chassis. Unusually, the mm and mc levels are utterly separate; in most phonostages the mc sign merely goes by means of a further achieve stage. Any of the 4 inputs could be routed to the output to accommodate turntables with a number of tonearms. Price: $9850.

Mola Mola additionally confirmed a brand new stereo energy amplifier, the Perca. It delivers 150Wpc into 8 ohms and may double that score into 4 ohms. Price: $9850.

Leak Stereo 230 Integrated Amplifier
Talk a few legendary title from the previous. Leak confirmed, by means of its U.S. distributor MoFi Distribution, the brand new Stereo 230 built-in amp. The unit options mid-century-modern styling together with a brand new DAC part that gives full MQA decoding, DSD512, and decoding of any PCM sign. An HDMI enter with Audio Return Channel (ARC) permits the 230 to breed tv sound. An mm phonostage and devoted headphone amplifier are included. The 230 is Roon examined, however certification is pending. Power output is 75Wpc into 8 ohms, and 110Wpc into 4 ohms. Price: $1695

Robert Harley’s Best of Show

Best Sound (value no object)
I’ll title three methods, in no specific order.

MBL’s lately upgraded 101 Mk.II loudspeaker pushed by all-MBL entrance finish and electronics delivered the standard dose of MBL virtues—a shocking sense of lifelike presence, top-to-bottom coherence, enormous soundstage, and great bass extension and impression. Because of the 101’s omnidirectional nature each seat in the home was within the candy spot.

Most Significant Product Introduction
Magico S3. This new $45k speaker brings the sonic qualities of Magico’s flagship merchandise to its less expensive fashions. I’d have thought I used to be listening to one in every of Magico’s M-Series audio system.

Most Significant Trend
Great enhancements in app-based consumer interfaces. Once crude and clumsy, the most effective interfaces are quickly turning into slick and highly effective. Examples: Server-maker Innuos’ spectacular customized music-management system and AVM’s app management of its all-in-one methods with multiroom functionality. That form of software program growth is extraordinarily costly however delivers a superior buyer expertise.

Most Coveted Product
The Hill Plasmatronics plasma tweeter. Dr. Alan Hill, the physicist who invented the plasma tweeter 40 years in the past, was available to witness the primary public show of his driver in 4 a long time. The plasma driver, which has no diaphragm and thus no shifting mass, was paired with an Eminent Technology LFT-8c, crossed over at 1kHz. The sound was extremely lifelike and easy—essentially the most pure and sensible replica of upper-midrange and treble I’ve ever heard. Thanks to Tony Salsich, Joe Galanti, and Ron Hoering for spending the time, effort, and expense to showcase this outstanding expertise and landmark piece of high-end historical past.

The submit The 2023 AXPONA Show: Robert Harley on Electronics appeared first on The Absolute Sound.

Uncategorized

Göbel High-End Divin Noblesse Loudspeaker and Divin Sovereign Subwoofer

Posted on April 4, 2023 by Robert Harley

Göbel High-End could also be an unfamiliar title to North American audiophiles, however the German loudspeaker producer has loved huge reputation in its dwelling nation, all through Europe, and in Asia. The firm was based in 2003 by Oliver Göbel, who left his job as lead loudspeaker engineer at Siemens to forge his personal path. Göbel has particular experience in bending-wave transducers and developed an acoustic utility for the know-how for which he was granted a patent. That patent was the impetus for Göbel to begin his personal firm, specializing in high-end loudspeakers and refining bending-wave transducer know-how. This 12 months marks the Göbel High-End’s 20^th anniversary.

Göbel’s firm has grown, transferring in 2022 to a brand new manufacturing facility close to Munich, constructed from the bottom up with Oliver Göbel himself offering the constructing’s architectural design. I had seen Göbel audio system on the Munich High-End present many occasions, however by no means bought an excellent take heed to them as a result of their massive exhibit room was all the time standing room solely. My first actual publicity to the agency’s merchandise got here on the 2022 AXPONA present, the place I heard the $90,000 Divin Marquis demonstrated by Elliot Goldman, Göbel’s U.S. distributor. As I (and Jonathan Valin) wrote in our present stories on the time, the Divin Marquis was one of many present’s finest sounds. It didn’t damage that the system included the Wadax Reference DAC and Reference Server entrance finish and was powered by CH Precision 10-Series electronics—reference-quality parts.

After the present, I did some analysis on Göbel’s know-how and have become intrigued by its Divin merchandise. The firm presents two strains—the Epoque Aeon Series that’s designed for smaller or moderate-sized listening rooms, and the very completely different Divin Series. The Epoque Aeon Series (two floorstanders, an on-wall, and two subwoofers) includes a flat-panel bending-wave driver that reproduces the vary from 160Hz to 31kHz, augmented by an impulse-response-compensated bass array configured in a approach that mates with the bending-wave driver’s dispersion. You can consider the design as an almost full-range driver (the bending-wave transducer reproduces an astonishing seven-and-a-half octaves) augmented by cone woofers. The visible look of the Epoque Aeon line is unmistakable; a skinny column dominated by the big, flat bending-wave transducer flanked by the cone woofers.

The three-model Divin line appears extra typical, however appears may be deceiving. The center Divin Noblesse reviewed right here ($250,000 per pair) has a symmetrical angular hourglass form with a really massive (5.6″) Air-Motion Transformer (AMT) tweeter within the center flanked above and under by an 8″ cone midrange driver and a 12″ woofer. The multifaceted enclosure is ported to the entrance by 4 ports per woofer, symmetrically positioned across the driver. Although the Divin Noblesse doesn’t make use of a flat bending-wave driver, the drivers’ design is knowledgeable by Oliver Göbel’s experience with bending-wave transducers. He used his information of versatile diaphragm conduct to remove inaccuracies within the Divin Noblesse’s pistonic drivers.

Göbel High-End Divin Sovereign Subwoofer

The extra I discovered concerning the Divin Noblesse’s engineering, the extra impressed I grew to become—this speaker is brimming with modern design methods that separate it from simply one other “cones-in-a-box” providing. I’ve gone into some element describing these improvements within the technical sidebar.

Notably, the speaker’s sensitivity is a whopping 95dB, with a flattish impedance curve and an impedance minimal of three.8 ohms (at 100Hz). These traits imply that the Divin Noblesse can be a very simple load for an amplifier and can seemingly work nicely when pushed by lower-powered amplifiers.

The Divin Noblesse was equipped with a pair of Göbel’s model new Divin Sovereign subwoofers ($29,500 every). The sub options an 18″ driver, integral energy amplification, DSP management, and the power to tune the sub’s parameters through telephone or pill from the listening seat.

Listening

Oliver Göbel and U.S. distributor Elliot Goldman visited to put in the system, together with set-up knowledgeable extraordinaire Stirling Trayle. Watching Trayle work is an expertise in itself; he combines unparalleled experience, a perceptive (and quick) ear, and an astounding work ethic to raise the efficiency of a system to sudden heights. Several producers have employed Trayle to put in their merchandise in my listening room (and at reveals), and for good motive—he will get persistently superlative outcomes. You can see what Stirling does at audiosystemsoptimized.com. The set up took a full two days, practically all that point dedicated to loudspeaker placement.

The Divin Noblesse presents two pairs of binding posts for bi-wiring or passive bi-amplification. This suited the CH Precision M10 amplifier; every amp may be configured as a monoblock or as a two-channel amplifier. We operated the pair of M10 amplifiers in passive bi-amplification mode; One channel of every amplifier drove the woofer part, with the opposite channel driving the midrange/tweeter. Of course, the Divin Noblesse may be powered conventionally by a single stereo amplifier or a pair of monoblocks. The Divin Noblesse was pushed full-range, with the subwoofers low-pass filtered. The subwoofers had been linked through a second line-level output from the CH Precision L10 linestage.

Switching loudspeakers after a number of years of residing with the very best loudspeaker I’ve had in my listening room (the Wilson Chronosonic XVX and Subsonic subwoofers) was a bit disconcerting. It took some adjustment to the completely different presentation, however as soon as the Divin Noblesse settled in I got here to understand this speaker’s particular qualities.

First, the Divin Noblesse is really a full-range speaker with huge bandwidth and seemingly limitless dynamic vary. The Divin Noblesse’s most salient attribute is a energetic higher midrange-to-lower treble area that brings element to the fore. This speaker’s decision, transparency, and readability via the midrange and treble had been beautiful; positive element reminiscent of percussion devices, a refined background vocal, or a piano line performed quietly beneath different devices, had been resolved with alacrity. I’ll offer you only one instance that might stand in for a lot of others. I’ve listened to the fabulous 1975 reside Eric Clapton album EC Was Here on many techniques, however by no means earlier than heard on the observe “Ramblin’ on my Mind” that the drummer’s trip cymbal has rivets. Also referred to as a “sizzle cymbal,” rivets give the instrument that shimmering sound and prolonged decay. The Divin Noblesse resolved the complicated microstructure of the cascading transients and decays of the rivets with astounding precision. If you extrapolate this instance to almost each instrument, throughout every kind of music, you’ll get an concept of how the Divin Noblesse presents music with terribly excessive stage of element.

This decision and readability weren’t confined to the treble. The midrange was equally resolved, a top quality that was immensely rewarding within the Divin Noblesse’s replica of the human voice. Vocals had been projected into the listening room with palpability and presence. I used to be startled after I performed the primary observe on Melody Gardot’s album Sunset within the Blue; her voice was projected between and in entrance of the audio system with vivid immediacy. Moreover, the Divin Noblesse revealed very positive nuances of expression, including to the tune’s influence. This observe might function one other instance of the Divin Noblesse’s resolving energy; the gently performed acoustic guitar accompaniment within the background was portrayed with readability in timbre, pitch, and dynamics on each observe. Similarly, the speaker’s energetic midrange rendered vocals extra intelligible. This clearer articulation allowed me to listen to nuances of vocal expression with newfound ease and readability.

Before listening to the Divin Noblesse, I appeared askance on the 8″ midrange driver (most are 6″ at most), notably an 8″ midrange coupled to an AMT tweeter. Nonetheless, after residing with this speaker, I’ve no reservations concerning the design. In truth, I have to conclude that the Divin Noblesse is, via the midrange and treble, the highest-resolution dynamic loudspeaker that I’ve heard in my listening room—its presentation of element and palpability strategy that of electrostats and Magneplanars.

That stated, there’s a positive line between this presentation of wealthy musical element and a vibrant, etched, and fatiguing sound. The Divin Noblesse walks proper as much as that line—however doesn’t cross it, in my judgment. This is a energetic, thrilling, upbeat—even thrilling—sounding speaker, however what stored the Divin Noblesse from veering into the realm of extreme brightness was the speaker’s purity, textural liquidity, lack of grain, and absence of metallic sheen (frequent to hard-dome tweeters). Significantly, the Divin Noblesse didn’t undergo from top-octave tizziness that emphasizes sibilance and imparts an artificial sound to cymbals—a sound likened to that made by a twig can. The top-octave smoothness and liquidity (along with the finely filigreed decision of element) allowed the speaker’s midrange and decrease treble to sound illuminated with out your entire presentation deviating into extreme brightness. It’s a fragile balancing act, however one which the Divin Noblesse pulls off with nearly miraculous ease. The 5.6″ Mundorf Air Motion Transformer tweeter, right here modified by Göbel and mounted in a customized waveguide machined from an aluminum block, is a spectacular transducer. It has super life, air, mild, extension, and velocity, but by no means sounds etched or fatiguing. Jonathan Valin’s evocative phrase, “illuminated from inside,” which he first used to explain the sound of Audio Research electronics, got here to thoughts.

These qualities rendered music with an upbeat sense of life and power. When Joe Pass is available in for the final solo on the observe “Contractor’s Blues” from the Count Basie LP 88 Basie Street (authentic Pablo LP), his hard-swinging entrance prompts the band to kick up their recreation to fulfill him. A number of bars into the solo, the drummer emphasizes the rhythm with rim photographs that lock within the groove, taking the power to the subsequent stage. The Divin Noblesse reveals, with super alacrity, these sorts of nuances of musical expression.

Another advantage of the Divin Noblesse’s energetic higher midrange is its readability of line and talent to resolve particular person devices and notes with out smearing or congestion. The album Mirror Mirror by Brazilian pianist Elaine Elias is a collection of piano duets alternating between her and one among her two musical idols, Chick Corea and Chucho Valdés (the album gained the Grammy in 2021 within the Best Latin Jazz Album class). The at-times fiery interaction between the 2 musicians might sound confused or congested via a lesser speaker, and the energetic Latin rhythms diluted by less-than-precise articulation of every observe. The Divin Noblesse superbly portrayed the 2 9′ grand pianos as separate devices, and in doing so, revealed the marvelously sympathetic interaction between Elias and Valdés or Corea. Each observe was recorded reside within the studio with the pianos dealing with one another; the Divin Noblesse splendidly recreated the sense of spontaneous event of those outstanding performances.

Even with out the subwoofers engaged, the Divin Noblesse went satisfyingly low within the bass, with loads of weight and energy. The subs added that further measure of fullness, bass dynamics, and, in fact, the expanded soundstage supplied by reproducing low-frequency spatial cues. The subwoofers added that “subterranean” element on organ recordings that you would be able to’t get even from the most important full-range audio system, in addition to extra weight and influence to kickdrum. A pair of 18″ woofers can transfer an terrible lot of air within the lowermost octave.

The bass had a pleasant bit of additional bloom and colour, though I wouldn’t characterize the speaker as having a “bottom-up” presentation. Rather, the Divin Noblesse delivered a satisfying fullness within the music’s basis, from the ability vary in orchestral music to the visceral purr of a Fender Precision bass. It is frequent for audio system to sacrifice pitch precision and transient efficiency for this heat and bloom, however that wasn’t the case with the Divin Noblesse. The speaker had very good decision of bottom-end info, with no smearing of transients, blurring of pitch, or dilution of timbral element. Kickdrum was tight and managed, with no overhang or bloat. Bass guitar was reproduced not simply as low-frequency info, however as strings plucked by fingers on the fretboard, with very good decision of the begins and stops of notes and exact interior detailing of the instrument’s texture. The Divin Noblesse superbly revealed the artistry of a few of my favourite bass gamers. The mixture of this stage of decision with weight and fullness was immensely satisfying. An awesome observe that highlights this synergy is the title observe from Spirogyra’s album Down the Wire, which options some funky, virtuoso, body-animating electric-bass enjoying. I used to be stunned by how nicely the Divin Noblesse resolved the pitches and dynamics of bass strains performed on the Hammond B3’s pedals by the late organist Joey DeFrancesco in his visitor stint on Lee Ritenour’s Six String Theory. The Divin Noblesse might get away with its contact of additional bloom and heat within the backside finish just because the bass sounded so exact and detailed.

In this problem’s From the Editor, I observe that high-sensitivity loudspeakers appear to have sure sonic qualities fairly aside from needing much less amplifier energy. One of those qualities is dynamic verve—the sense of suddenness on transients, of a extra vivid projection of the music into the listening room, and of a sense of ease on musical peaks, notably at excessive playback ranges. That just about describes the Divin Noblesse; the speaker had an thrilling, visceral, upbeat immediacy that was paying homage to a horn design however with out horn colorations. In truth, the Divin Noblesse’s dynamic efficiency was one among its finest qualities; it went loud effortlessly, reproduced transients with velocity and articulation however no fatiguing etch, had nearly no overhang or smearing, and by no means sounded congealed even throughout essentially the most complicated passages.

Conclusion

When contemplating a quarter-of-a-million-dollar loudspeaker, the efficiency bar is excessive, certainly. But the Divin Noblesse clears that bar with its excellent musicality. This is an immensely communicative speaker by advantage of its beautiful midrange and treble decision, dynamic verve, and transparency. I had many thrilling listening periods with the Divin Noblesse—thrilling in a uncooked, visceral, nearly primal approach. This isn’t a well mannered speaker that engages the mind on the expense of conveying the immediacy of performers making music within the second.

If you’re out there for a loudspeaker of this caliber, the Göbel Divin Noblesse must be in your quick checklist to audition. You might discover that its mixture of virtues as compelling as I did.

Specs & Pricing

Divin Noblesse Loudspeaker
Type: Three-way dynamic loudspeaker
Driver complement: 12” woofer (x2); 8″ midrange (x2), AMT tweeter (x1)
Frequency response: 21Hz–24kHz (–3dB)
Impedance: 4 ohms (3.8 ohms minimal at 100Hz)
Sensitivity: 95dB 1W/1m
Finishes: Piano black lacquer (customized finishes on request)
Dimensions: 56cm x 168cm x 82cm
Weight: 260kg (572 lbs.) every, web
Price: $250,000/pr.

Divin Sovereign Subwoofer
Type: DSP-controlled, integrally powered subwoofer
Bass extension: 10Hz (–3dB level)
Driver: 18″
Integral amplifier energy: 2500W
Control: iOS or Android gadget
Finishes: Piano black lacquer (customized finishes on request)
Dimensions: 54 x 78 x 60cm
Weight: 145 kg (319 lbs.) every, web
Price: $29,500

GÖBEL HIGH END
Roedersteinstrasse 9
84034 Landshut
Germany
goebel-highend.de
[email protected]

BENDING WAVE USA (U.S. Distributor)
10404 West State Road 84, Suite 10
Davie, FL 33324
(954) 579-7463
bendingwaveusa.com

Associated Equipment
Analog supply: Basis Audio A.J. Conti Transcendence turntable with SuperArm 12.5 tonearm; Air Tight Opus cartridge; CH Precision P1 phonostage with X1 energy provide; DS Audio ST-50 stylus cleaner, Levin file brush, Degritter ultrasonic LP cleaner
Digital supply: Wadax Reference DAC, Wadax Reference Server, UpTone Audio EtherREGEN Ethernet swap
Amplification: CH Precision L10 Dual Monaural linestage; CH Precision M10 Dual Monaural energy amplifiers
AC Power: Shunyata Everest 8000 conditioner, Shunyata Omega and Sigma NR V2 energy cords; Shunyata AC retailers, 5 devoted 20A strains wired with similar size 10AWG; two Göbel AC energy cords (powering the subwoofers)
Support: Critical Mass Systems Olympus tools racks and Olympus amplifier stands; Center Stage² isolation, Arya Audio RevOpods isolation
Cables: AudioQuest Dragon interconnects, AudioQuest Dragon Zero and Dragon Bass loudspeaker cables
Grounding: Shunyata Altaira grounding system
Accessories: The Chord Company GroundArray noise discount
Acoustics: Acoustic Geometry Pro Room Pack 12, ASC 16″ Round Tube Traps
Room: Purpose-built; Acoustic Sciences Corporation Iso-Wall System

The put up Göbel High-End Divin Noblesse Loudspeaker and Divin Sovereign Subwoofer appeared first on The Absolute Sound.

World News

Göbel High-End Divin Noblesse Loudspeaker and Divin Sovereign Subwoofer

Posted on April 4, 2023 by Robert Harley

Göbel High-End could also be an unfamiliar title to North American audiophiles, however the German loudspeaker producer has loved huge recognition in its dwelling nation, all through Europe, and in Asia. The firm was based in 2003 by Oliver Göbel, who left his job as lead loudspeaker engineer at Siemens to forge his personal path. Göbel has particular experience in bending-wave transducers and developed an acoustic software for the expertise for which he was granted a patent. That patent was the impetus for Göbel to start out his personal firm, specializing in high-end loudspeakers and refining bending-wave transducer expertise. This yr marks the Göbel High-End’s 20^th anniversary.

Göbel’s firm has grown, shifting in 2022 to a brand new manufacturing facility close to Munich, constructed from the bottom up with Oliver Göbel himself offering the constructing’s architectural design. I had seen Göbel audio system on the Munich High-End present many instances, however by no means acquired take heed to them as a result of their giant exhibit room was all the time standing room solely. My first actual publicity to the agency’s merchandise got here on the 2022 AXPONA present, the place I heard the $90,000 Divin Marquis demonstrated by Elliot Goldman, Göbel’s U.S. distributor. As I (and Jonathan Valin) wrote in our present reviews on the time, the Divin Marquis was one of many present’s greatest sounds. It didn’t damage that the system included the Wadax Reference DAC and Reference Server entrance finish and was powered by CH Precision 10-Series electronics—reference-quality parts.

After the present, I did some analysis on Göbel’s expertise and have become intrigued by its Divin merchandise. The firm gives two traces—the Epoque Aeon Series that’s designed for smaller or moderate-sized listening rooms, and the very completely different Divin Series. The Epoque Aeon Series (two floorstanders, an on-wall, and two subwoofers) incorporates a flat-panel bending-wave driver that reproduces the vary from 160Hz to 31kHz, augmented by an impulse-response-compensated bass array configured in a means that mates with the bending-wave driver’s dispersion. You can consider the design as a virtually full-range driver (the bending-wave transducer reproduces an astonishing seven-and-a-half octaves) augmented by cone woofers. The visible look of the Epoque Aeon line is unmistakable; a skinny column dominated by the big, flat bending-wave transducer flanked by the cone woofers.

The three-model Divin line appears to be like extra standard, however appears to be like could be deceiving. The center Divin Noblesse reviewed right here ($250,000 per pair) has a symmetrical angular hourglass form with a really giant (5.6″) Air-Motion Transformer (AMT) tweeter within the center flanked above and under by an 8″ cone midrange driver and a 12″ woofer. The multifaceted enclosure is ported to the entrance by 4 ports per woofer, symmetrically positioned across the driver. Although the Divin Noblesse doesn’t make use of a flat bending-wave driver, the drivers’ design is knowledgeable by Oliver Göbel’s experience with bending-wave transducers. He used his information of versatile diaphragm habits to get rid of inaccuracies within the Divin Noblesse’s pistonic drivers.

Göbel High-End Divin Sovereign Subwoofer

The extra I discovered concerning the Divin Noblesse’s engineering, the extra impressed I grew to become—this speaker is brimming with modern design strategies that separate it from simply one other “cones-in-a-box” providing. I’ve gone into some element describing these improvements within the technical sidebar.

Notably, the speaker’s sensitivity is a whopping 95dB, with a flattish impedance curve and an impedance minimal of three.8 ohms (at 100Hz). These traits imply that the Divin Noblesse shall be a very simple load for an amplifier and can seemingly work nicely when pushed by lower-powered amplifiers.

The Divin Noblesse was provided with a pair of Göbel’s model new Divin Sovereign subwoofers ($29,500 every). The sub options an 18″ driver, integral energy amplification, DSP management, and the flexibility to tune the sub’s parameters by way of telephone or pill from the listening seat.

Listening

Oliver Göbel and U.S. distributor Elliot Goldman visited to put in the system, together with set-up knowledgeable extraordinaire Stirling Trayle. Watching Trayle work is an expertise in itself; he combines unparalleled experience, a perceptive (and quick) ear, and an astounding work ethic to raise the efficiency of a system to surprising heights. Several producers have employed Trayle to put in their merchandise in my listening room (and at reveals), and for good motive—he will get constantly superlative outcomes. You can see what Stirling does at audiosystemsoptimized.com. The set up took a full two days, practically all that point dedicated to loudspeaker placement.

The Divin Noblesse gives two pairs of binding posts for bi-wiring or passive bi-amplification. This suited the CH Precision M10 amplifier; every amp could be configured as a monoblock or as a two-channel amplifier. We operated the pair of M10 amplifiers in passive bi-amplification mode; One channel of every amplifier drove the woofer part, with the opposite channel driving the midrange/tweeter. Of course, the Divin Noblesse could be powered conventionally by a single stereo amplifier or a pair of monoblocks. The Divin Noblesse was pushed full-range, with the subwoofers low-pass filtered. The subwoofers had been related by way of a second line-level output from the CH Precision L10 linestage.

Switching loudspeakers after a number of years of residing with the perfect loudspeaker I’ve had in my listening room (the Wilson Chronosonic XVX and Subsonic subwoofers) was a bit disconcerting. It took some adjustment to the completely different presentation, however as soon as the Divin Noblesse settled in I got here to understand this speaker’s particular qualities.

First, the Divin Noblesse is really a full-range speaker with huge bandwidth and seemingly limitless dynamic vary. The Divin Noblesse’s most salient attribute is a full of life higher midrange-to-lower treble area that brings element to the fore. This speaker’s decision, transparency, and readability via the midrange and treble had been gorgeous; fantastic element comparable to percussion devices, a refined background vocal, or a piano line performed quietly beneath different devices, had been resolved with alacrity. I’ll offer you only one instance that might stand in for a lot of others. I’ve listened to the fabulous 1975 dwell Eric Clapton album EC Was Here on many programs, however by no means earlier than heard on the monitor “Ramblin’ on my Mind” that the drummer’s experience cymbal has rivets. Also known as a “sizzle cymbal,” rivets give the instrument that shimmering sound and prolonged decay. The Divin Noblesse resolved the advanced microstructure of the cascading transients and decays of the rivets with astounding precision. If you extrapolate this instance to just about each instrument, throughout all types of music, you’ll get an concept of how the Divin Noblesse presents music with terribly excessive stage of element.

This decision and readability weren’t confined to the treble. The midrange was equally resolved, a high quality that was immensely rewarding within the Divin Noblesse’s copy of the human voice. Vocals had been projected into the listening room with palpability and presence. I used to be startled after I performed the primary monitor on Melody Gardot’s album Sunset within the Blue; her voice was projected between and in entrance of the audio system with vivid immediacy. Moreover, the Divin Noblesse revealed very fantastic nuances of expression, including to the music’s affect. This monitor may function one other instance of the Divin Noblesse’s resolving energy; the gently performed acoustic guitar accompaniment within the background was portrayed with readability in timbre, pitch, and dynamics on each notice. Similarly, the speaker’s full of life midrange rendered vocals extra intelligible. This clearer articulation allowed me to listen to nuances of vocal expression with newfound ease and readability.

Before listening to the Divin Noblesse, I seemed askance on the 8″ midrange driver (most are 6″ at most), notably an 8″ midrange coupled to an AMT tweeter. Nonetheless, after residing with this speaker, I’ve no reservations concerning the design. In truth, I need to conclude that the Divin Noblesse is, via the midrange and treble, the highest-resolution dynamic loudspeaker that I’ve heard in my listening room—its presentation of element and palpability method that of electrostats and Magneplanars.

That stated, there’s a fantastic line between this presentation of wealthy musical element and a shiny, etched, and fatiguing sound. The Divin Noblesse walks proper as much as that line—however doesn’t cross it, in my judgment. This is a full of life, thrilling, upbeat—even thrilling—sounding speaker, however what stored the Divin Noblesse from veering into the realm of extreme brightness was the speaker’s purity, textural liquidity, lack of grain, and absence of metallic sheen (frequent to hard-dome tweeters). Significantly, the Divin Noblesse didn’t undergo from top-octave tizziness that emphasizes sibilance and imparts an artificial sound to cymbals—a sound likened to that made by a twig can. The top-octave smoothness and liquidity (along with the finely filigreed decision of element) allowed the speaker’s midrange and decrease treble to sound illuminated with out the whole presentation deviating into extreme brightness. It’s a fragile balancing act, however one which the Divin Noblesse pulls off with nearly miraculous ease. The 5.6″ Mundorf Air Motion Transformer tweeter, right here modified by Göbel and mounted in a customized waveguide machined from an aluminum block, is a spectacular transducer. It has large life, air, mild, extension, and pace, but by no means sounds etched or fatiguing. Jonathan Valin’s evocative phrase, “illuminated from inside,” which he first used to explain the sound of Audio Research electronics, got here to thoughts.

These qualities rendered music with an upbeat sense of life and power. When Joe Pass is available in for the final solo on the monitor “Contractor’s Blues” from the Count Basie LP 88 Basie Street (authentic Pablo LP), his hard-swinging entrance prompts the band to kick up their recreation to fulfill him. A couple of bars into the solo, the drummer emphasizes the rhythm with rim photographs that lock within the groove, taking the power to the following stage. The Divin Noblesse reveals, with large alacrity, these sorts of nuances of musical expression.

Another advantage of the Divin Noblesse’s full of life higher midrange is its readability of line and talent to resolve particular person devices and notes with out smearing or congestion. The album Mirror Mirror by Brazilian pianist Elaine Elias is a collection of piano duets alternating between her and considered one of her two musical idols, Chick Corea and Chucho Valdés (the album gained the Grammy in 2021 within the Best Latin Jazz Album class). The at-times fiery interaction between the 2 musicians may sound confused or congested via a lesser speaker, and the energetic Latin rhythms diluted by less-than-precise articulation of every notice. The Divin Noblesse superbly portrayed the 2 9′ grand pianos as separate devices, and in doing so, revealed the marvelously sympathetic interaction between Elias and Valdés or Corea. Each monitor was recorded dwell within the studio with the pianos dealing with one another; the Divin Noblesse splendidly recreated the sense of spontaneous event of those outstanding performances.

Even with out the subwoofers engaged, the Divin Noblesse went satisfyingly low within the bass, with loads of weight and energy. The subs added that further measure of fullness, bass dynamics, and, in fact, the expanded soundstage offered by reproducing low-frequency spatial cues. The subwoofers added that “subterranean” element on organ recordings that you would be able to’t get even from the biggest full-range audio system, in addition to extra weight and affect to kickdrum. A pair of 18″ woofers can transfer an terrible lot of air within the lowermost octave.

The bass had a pleasant bit of additional bloom and shade, though I wouldn’t characterize the speaker as having a “bottom-up” presentation. Rather, the Divin Noblesse delivered a satisfying fullness within the music’s basis, from the facility vary in orchestral music to the visceral purr of a Fender Precision bass. It is frequent for audio system to sacrifice pitch precision and transient efficiency for this heat and bloom, however that wasn’t the case with the Divin Noblesse. The speaker had excellent decision of bottom-end data, with no smearing of transients, blurring of pitch, or dilution of timbral element. Kickdrum was tight and managed, with no overhang or bloat. Bass guitar was reproduced not simply as low-frequency data, however as strings plucked by fingers on the fretboard, with excellent decision of the begins and stops of notes and exact inside detailing of the instrument’s texture. The Divin Noblesse superbly revealed the artistry of a few of my favourite bass gamers. The mixture of this stage of decision with weight and fullness was immensely satisfying. An awesome monitor that highlights this synergy is the title monitor from Spirogyra’s album Down the Wire, which options some funky, virtuoso, body-animating electric-bass taking part in. I used to be stunned by how nicely the Divin Noblesse resolved the pitches and dynamics of bass traces performed on the Hammond B3’s pedals by the late organist Joey DeFrancesco in his visitor stint on Lee Ritenour’s Six String Theory. The Divin Noblesse may get away with its contact of additional bloom and heat within the backside finish just because the bass sounded so exact and detailed.

In this difficulty’s From the Editor, I observe that high-sensitivity loudspeakers appear to have sure sonic qualities fairly aside from needing much less amplifier energy. One of those qualities is dynamic verve—the sense of suddenness on transients, of a extra vivid projection of the music into the listening room, and of a sense of ease on musical peaks, notably at excessive playback ranges. That just about describes the Divin Noblesse; the speaker had an thrilling, visceral, upbeat immediacy that was paying homage to a horn design however with out horn colorations. In truth, the Divin Noblesse’s dynamic efficiency was considered one of its greatest qualities; it went loud effortlessly, reproduced transients with pace and articulation however no fatiguing etch, had just about no overhang or smearing, and by no means sounded congealed even throughout essentially the most advanced passages.

Conclusion

When contemplating a quarter-of-a-million-dollar loudspeaker, the efficiency bar is excessive, certainly. But the Divin Noblesse clears that bar with its excellent musicality. This is an immensely communicative speaker by advantage of its gorgeous midrange and treble decision, dynamic verve, and transparency. I had many thrilling listening classes with the Divin Noblesse—thrilling in a uncooked, visceral, nearly primal means. This isn’t a well mannered speaker that engages the mind on the expense of conveying the immediacy of performers making music within the second.

If you’re out there for a loudspeaker of this caliber, the Göbel Divin Noblesse ought to be in your brief checklist to audition. You might discover that its mixture of virtues as compelling as I did.

Specs & Pricing

GÖBEL HIGH END
Roedersteinstrasse 9
84034 Landshut
Germany
goebel-highend.de
[email protected]

BENDING WAVE USA (U.S. Distributor)
10404 West State Road 84, Suite 10
Davie, FL 33324
(954) 579-7463
bendingwaveusa.com

Associated Equipment
Analog supply: Basis Audio A.J. Conti Transcendence turntable with SuperArm 12.5 tonearm; Air Tight Opus cartridge; CH Precision P1 phonostage with X1 energy provide; DS Audio ST-50 stylus cleaner, Levin document brush, Degritter ultrasonic LP cleaner
Digital supply: Wadax Reference DAC, Wadax Reference Server, UpTone Audio EtherREGEN Ethernet swap
Amplification: CH Precision L10 Dual Monaural linestage; CH Precision M10 Dual Monaural energy amplifiers
AC Power: Shunyata Everest 8000 conditioner, Shunyata Omega and Sigma NR V2 energy cords; Shunyata AC retailers, 5 devoted 20A traces wired with an identical size 10AWG; two Göbel AC energy cords (powering the subwoofers)
Support: Critical Mass Systems Olympus tools racks and Olympus amplifier stands; Center Stage² isolation, Arya Audio RevOpods isolation
Cables: AudioQuest Dragon interconnects, AudioQuest Dragon Zero and Dragon Bass loudspeaker cables
Grounding: Shunyata Altaira grounding system
Accessories: The Chord Company GroundArray noise discount
Acoustics: Acoustic Geometry Pro Room Pack 12, ASC 16″ Round Tube Traps
Room: Purpose-built; Acoustic Sciences Corporation Iso-Wall System

The submit Göbel High-End Divin Noblesse Loudspeaker and Divin Sovereign Subwoofer appeared first on The Absolute Sound.

Uncategorized

YG Acoustics Vantage Live

Posted on March 28, 2023 by Robert Harley

Integrated audio techniques—merchandise that mix audio system, amplification, and streaming capabilities—are typically aimed on the client who values comfort, ease of use, and fewer bins over final sound high quality. There have been a couple of wonderful upscale choices within the class—the Image 1 from Gayle Sanders’ Ikon Audio and the Meridian Digital Loudspeakers, for examples—however by and enormous the class is dominated by mid-priced efforts. Despite the inherent technical, sonic, and cost-saving benefits of built-in techniques, these all-in-one packages largely haven’t caught on with audiophiles. Indeed, the hard-core fanatic revels in constructing a piece-by-piece element system completely tailor-made to his room, tastes, and finances, discovering simply the correct amplifier, or reveling on the improve rendered by a brand new DAC. Frankly, the joys of the chase is a crucial a part of the attract of high-end audio.

But what in regards to the well-heeled music lover who simply desires to get pleasure from listening with out all of the fuss? For many individuals, element audio is intimidating to purchase, unwieldy within the residence, and tough to make use of every day. What does the high-end trade provide this music lover? How can we deliver the uncompromising ethos of efficiency audio to a a lot bigger group of individuals, who love music and have the means to amass a top quality system? How will we save these shoppers from mass-market dreck and alter their lives by way of a deeper relationship with music?

YG Acoustics has addressed this dilemma with the brand new Vantage Live system reviewed right here. The $59,800 system is a pair of YG’s Vantage loudspeakers with integral amplification, DACs, and streaming. Just plug the pair of audio system and a small management field into wall energy, run a pair of skinny ST-Type optical cables, connect with a community, and you’ll start streaming out of your cellphone or pill (streaming subscription required) with the superb Roon interface. The system couldn’t be simpler to arrange and use, and room placement turned out to be surprisingly unfussy.

But is the Vantage Live “excessive finish?” Does it embody the best aspirations and values which might be the muse of the sphere? Or are there inevitable compromises inherent in combining so many capabilities in a single product? Those are the questions we’ll discover on this evaluation.

The Vantage Live is the results of a partnership between loudspeaker maker YG Acoustics, electronics and DAC producer Bel Canto, and the British design agency Cambridge Acoustic Sciences. Most of you’re acquainted with YG and Bel Canto, however Cambridge Acoustic Sciences (CAS) is probably going a brand new identify. The agency was based by a gaggle of Ph.D.s, together with an individual with a doctorate in musicology. CAS had taken benefit of its cutting-edge experience in computational modeling in a wide range of fields and utilized it to acoustic design and loudspeaker engineering. Specifically, CAS has developed the power to mathematically mannequin a loudspeaker’s efficiency, create separate mathematical fashions of a variety of listening rooms and furnishings layouts, after which “place” the loudspeaker mannequin in one in every of greater than 300 room fashions, with the ensuing information guiding the event effort. These fashions are so computationally intensive that they are often realized solely by way of cloud computing. The firm’s co-founder, Dr. Matthew Webster, wrote his doctoral dissertation in astrophysics on modeling the large-scale construction of the universe. He can also be a long-time proprietor of a pair of YG loudspeakers and a critical music lover. During a go to to the YG manufacturing facility late final yr I spent an hour on a Zoom name with Dr. Webster during which he talked about CAS’ distinctive method to loudspeaker design and to the Vantage Live, particularly. In addition to growing the acoustic design, CAS programmed the DSP crossover and offered the general system integration of the Vantage Live. Incidentally, CAS additionally contributed all of the design and engineering of YG Acoustics’ new Peaks sequence, a line of passive loudspeakers that vary in value from $8500 to $25,000 per pair.

The Vantage Live is moderately quick and stout, with an higher module housing the 7.25″ mid/woofer and 1″ dome tweeter, and the decrease flared module containing the only 8.75″ woofer. The woofer enclosure is sealed, as it’s with all YG designs. The system is barely 44″ excessive, however moderately deep. Each speaker weighs a hefty 176 kilos. Rather than binding posts on the rear panel, the Vantage Live has ST-Type fiber-optic ports that connect with the included controller, a preamp-sized chassis that’s the system’s coronary heart. The controller connects to your community by way of Ethernet or by way of a provided Wi-Fi dongle, affords an intensive complement of digital and analog inputs (see Specs & Pricing), gives supply switching, has integral streaming capabilities, and sends a digital output by way of fiber-optic cables to the audio system. The system is totally MQA suitable and is a Roon Endpoint. The music-management app SEEK is included, and though I didn’t use this app, it’s unlikely that it approaches Roon’s unparalleled capabilities and consumer expertise. Featuring electronics designed and constructed by Bel Canto, the controller converts incoming analog alerts to digital for transmission to the audio system. The controller’s phono enter isn’t an afterthought; it affords variable acquire and loading to accommodate a variety of cartridges, and as we’ll see, sounds surprisingly good. Unlike some built-in techniques, the Vantage Live doesn’t incorporate DSP room correction.

The Vantage Live affords a variety of options and set-up choices by way of the controller. A “Tilt” management permits you to subtly shift the tonal stability with a bass lower and treble increase, or bass increase and treble lower in 0.6dB steps, with a hinge level of 775Hz. The “Bass EQ” adjustment can increase or attenuate the bass degree in 0.6dB steps as much as ±3dB. If you determine to reinforce the Vantage Live with a subwoofer, you may interact a second-order high-pass filter to maintain low bass out of the Vantage Live. A USB-A port permits you to entry music saved on a hard-disk drive related to the port. The system is UPnP and Roon-ready compliant, and a machined metallic distant management gives full system management, together with a stability adjustment.

The 8.75″ woofer and seven.25″ mid/bass driver function YG’s BilletCore know-how, during which the diaphragms are machined from stable blocks of aluminum. The result’s a cone that’s extremely stiff and immune to flexing, whereas additionally being light-weight—the holy grail of driver design. This manufacturing methodology can also be extremely costly; it takes the five-axis, half-million-dollar Gildermeister CNC machine an hour to show an 11-pound aluminum billet right into a 45g woofer cone. The 7.25″ midrange diaphragm can also be machined from stable billet. The soft-dome tweeter is YG’s ForgeCore design during which the magnet system serves as each motor and enclosure. This distinctive optimization of each motor and enclosure in a single construction reportedly lowers distortion.

As talked about, every loudspeaker receives a digital datastream from the controller. Inside the speaker, the digital sign is cut up up into three frequency bands. A digital-domain crossover filters the wideband sign by performing mathematical computations on the digital information representing the music. The three band-limited digital alerts—bass to drive the woofer, midband frequencies to the midrange driver, and treble to the tweeter—are then independently transformed to analog by way of one in every of three DACs. Each DAC drives customized Class A I/V (current-to-voltage converter). The current-to-voltage converter exerts a big affect on the DAC’s sound; most are realized with op-amps. A discrete current-to-voltage converter is a tweaky method. A voltage acquire stage, realized with MELF high-precision resistors (made by Vishay), drives a low-gain 700W discrete switching (Class D) amplifier. This signifies that the Vantage Live is tri-amplified with 2100 watts complete per speaker.

This structure, during which the amplifier outputs are related on to the motive force with no crossover elements within the sign path, confers appreciable benefits. The advantage of eradicating the inductors, capacitors, and resistors of an analog crossover can’t be overstated. This is especially true of eradicating the big sequence inductor within the woofer circuit—a crossover half that reduces the amplifier’s skill to regulate the woofer’s movement. Moreover, the crossover can have any traits of slope and section that the designer specifies with out the restrictions of analog elements. DSP crossovers additionally make it attainable to program small response variations to compensate for less-than-linear driver habits. Finally, the amplifier designer can design the amplifier circuit tailor-made exactly to the motive force’s attribute moderately than constructing a general-purpose amplifier that can work underneath fully unknown situations.

In quick, the Vantage Live is the excessive finish’s most bold try but at creating an built-in system.

Listening

Although I briefly auditioned the Vantage Live at YG’s manufacturing facility, it was solely within the acquainted setting of my listening room that I found that the Vantage Live sounds completely different from nearly any system I’ve heard earlier than on this value vary. If you’ve ever placed on a direct-to-disc LP and heard a sudden improve in that sense of presence, of the removing of “one thing” between you and the music, you might have an thought of how Vantage Live sounds. The Vantage Live has a crystalline readability, a dynamic verve, and an immediacy which might be placing, a lot in the way in which a direct-to-disc LP displays these traits.

Part of this high quality is as a result of speaker’s general voicing, which has a decidedly extroverted character. The midrange is projected ahead in entrance of the audio system moderately than laying again. But this heightened presence doesn’t sound like a coloration or an unnatural emphasis on a band of frequencies within the presence vary (1–4kHz), however, moderately, as if a scrim between you and the music has been stripped away. Jonathan Valin had just lately put me on to the album Jederman Revisited by Dutch blues grasp Hans Theessink, an album that completely highlighted the Vantage Live’s extraordinary magic act of conjuring up the performer in your listening room. Theessink’s exquisitely recorded voice and slide guitar had such realism and presence it was uncanny. I had the identical impression with Melody Gardot’s attractive vocal on her album Sunset within the Blue—her voice projected ahead, seemingly proper there, vividly current. Or strive Ruth Moody on her album These Wilder Things. In the sense of midrange realism and presence, and of the sound being utterly indifferent from the audio system, the Vantage Live was paying homage to a full-range planar loudspeaker. Which is excessive reward, certainly.

I considered the Vantage Live’s sign path, and the way the design impacts the product’s sound. Each of the Vantage Live’s three drivers is powered by its personal Class D amplifier related on to the motive force with no crossover elements within the sign path. Removing the resistors, inductors, capacitors, and lengthy speaker cables between the amplifier and driver could also be answerable for the Vantage Live’s presence and immediacy. Significantly, the Vantage Live didn’t exhibit the traits I affiliate with some Class D amplifiers—a sort of “chalky” whiteness overlaying timbres. I’ve, nevertheless, not heard the newest and finest switching amplifiers, however I perceive that they’ve made nice progress just lately. Our Steven Stone, in his evaluation of the Bel Canto Ref 600M monoblocks [Issue 268] proclaimed these amps to be of reference high quality. Hearing Bel Canto’s amplifiers within the Vantage Live, with out crossover components within the sign path, has elevated my view of switching-amplifier know-how.

The benefit of connecting the loudspeaker driver on to the ability amplifier output terminals is especially helpful within the bass, the place Class D amplification excels. Removing the big sequence inductor of an analog crossover within the woofer circuit permits the amplifier to take iron-fisted management over the motion of the woofer cone, each by advantage of the Class D design (together with its vanishingly low output impedance) and the direct connection between amp and speaker driver with no intervening crossover elements. You can hear these technical benefits within the Vantage Live’s bass, which is tuneful, prolonged, and exact in pitch and dynamics. The sealed enclosure, coupled with the Class D amplification, confers a way of readability in bass strains. The Vantage Live could be very resolving within the bass, clearly revealing the begins and stops of notes, in addition to their pitch and texture. The backside finish is the antithesis of thick, sluggish, and confused. I actually loved this facet of the Vantage Live. Ray Brown’s acoustic instrument on Soular Energy, Ernest Tubbs’ electrical bass on the brand new Simon Phillips album Protocol V, and the double-bass part of the orchestra on The Arnold Overtures [Reference Recordings 192/24] had been all exemplary, with each be aware clearly articulated. Moreover, the Vantage Live has excellent dynamic agility within the backside finish, with sudden assaults, speedy decays, and large dynamic swings. These sonic traits add as much as a musical presentation with a robust rhythmic drive, or what the British name PRaT (“tempo, rhythm, and timing”). This bass readability was coupled with a heat and weight, a pleasant mixture that gives a robust rhythmic and harmonic basis for the music. A superb instance is the big-band association (with a Hammond B-3) of Stevie Wonder’s “I Wish” by Dave Seibels with Gordon Goodwin’s Big Phat Band. The Vantage Live’s bass solidity, taut pitch definition, and easy dynamics mixed to make this monitor rhythmically highly effective and thrilling. The advanced instrumental strains remained coherent at excessive ranges moderately than congealing. This monitor revealed many virtues of the Vantage Live, but in addition its considerably unforgiving character within the treble. This recording is a bit vivid—the higher harmonics of the brass and woodwinds are on the steely aspect, and the cymbals are slightly sizzling. The Vantage Live isn’t a speaker that glosses over or softens these overly vivid recordings.

To offer you my uncooked, in-the-moment impressions of the Vantage Live, I’m going to incorporate my verbatim listening notes in regards to the monitor “Cousin Dupree” from Steely Dan’s Two Against Nature. This is a spectacular recording, and one which reveals a lot about many facets of an audio system’s efficiency. This is what I wrote in my notes the second simply after this monitor ended: “Something completely different about this speaker; readability, pristine, crystalline. Every musical line clearly resolved. Background vocals so simply audible moderately than hinted at or as an undifferentiated sound. Massive dynamic velocity and snap. Very punchy. Powerful rhythmic drive. Huge stage, wider than it’s deep. Upbeat, alive, and vivid. Great readability of instrumental line.”

The Vantage Live performs far greater than its measurement suggests, in some ways. Spatially, the Vantage Live throws a large and deep soundstage—strive The Cowboys Overture from John Williams on the Movies [Reference Recordings 192/24], for instance. The Vantage Live was notable for the way in which it threw a tangible soundstage even after I was sitting off-axis. The picture didn’t collapse as I moved to the aspect, an necessary consideration for 2 (or extra) individual listening. The speaker additionally sounds greater than its measurement within the bass, with a solidity and extension extra consistent with a lot bigger audio system. Similarly, the Vantage Live performed huge dynamically, with a startling physicality on kick drum and the massive brass tuttis of the John Williams album, for examples.

I used to be pleasantly shocked by the Vantage Live’s efficiency with streaming (Tidal and Qobuz), however utterly bowled over by how good it sounded taking part in vinyl. The Vantage Live’s controller digitizes analog alerts, together with phono alerts. I don’t know what alchemy is in Vantage Live’s controller chassis, however vinyl sounded shockingly nice by way of the Vantage Live. In earlier merchandise I’ve auditioned that digitize phono alerts, the losses have been important—reductions of air and area, truncation of the soundstage, discount in immediacy, and a hardness overlaying midrange and treble textures. I pulled out all essentially the most difficult LPs that I do know intimately and was repeatedly shocked by the Vantage Live’s efficiency with vinyl. Satchmo Plays King Oliver, the traditional direct-to-disc For Duke, MoFi One-Step pressings of Yes’ Fragile or Santana’s Abraxis, Phoebe Snow’s first album on an excellent Analogue Productions 45rpm remaster—you get the thought. The eerie sense of area and presence on “St. James Infirmary” from Satchmo Plays King Oliver wasn’t foreshortened, and the cymbal crash on the finish hung in area with out being truncated and with no added grunge. These spectacular LPs, all created from pure analog sources, nonetheless sounded spectacular by way of the Vantage Live and its phonostage, regardless of the analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog conversions. The high quality of the Vantage Live’s phono part says a lot in regards to the product’s ambition as a critical different to a component-based system.

Conclusion

YG Acoustics’ $59,800 Vantage Live built-in system is a daring enterprise into comparatively uncharted territory. Will audiophiles surrender the power to combine and match elements, improve a single product, audition completely different cables, and tailor a system to their tastes for the comfort of an all-in-one package deal? Will music lovers who’re turned off by the complexity of element audio embrace a $60k system? Those questions have but to be answered. It might be fascinating to study whether or not the Vantage Live is a business success.

There’s no query, nevertheless, as to the Vantage Live’s high-end credentials. This is a system that wants no apology for its comfort or any equivocation when describing its sound high quality. In truth, this new YG system’s structure confers some excellent sonic qualities together with excellent bass definition and a midrange with a startling sense of readability and immediacy. The Vantage Live seems like a full-fledged high-quality system that simply occurs to supply ease of setup, is easy to make use of every day, is comparatively unobtrusive, and has good-looking beauty.

That sounds to me like a recipe for bringing high-end audio values and efficiency to a wholly new viewers.

Specs & Pricing

Vantage Live Loudspeakers
Type: Tri-amped powered loudspeaker with integral streaming and digital-to-analog conversion
Driver complement: BilletCore 8.75″ woofer, BilletCore 7.25″ mid-woofer, ForgeCore dome tweeter
Loading: Sealed
Crossover: DSP
Frequency response: 25Hz–30kHz
Phase deviation: ±2º over audio bandwidth
Integral amplification: 3x 700W per speaker; 0.001THD+N from 20Hz–20kHz at half peak energy; 135dB signal-to-noise ratio unweighted referenced to peak energy; 93% effectivity at peak energy; 1.5m ohm output impedance
DACs: Three per loudspeaker, 126dB dynamic vary
Finishes: Anodized ChromALure, high-gloss paint, customized finishes out there
Dimensions: 13″ x 44″ x 54″
Weight: 176 lbs. every, web

Vantage Live Controller
Digital inputs: USB, TosLink, SPDIF (BNC), AES/EBU
Digital codecs supported: Up to 192kHz/24-bit on AES/EBU, SPDIF, and TosLink; as much as DSD128 and PCM 192kHz/24-bit on USB (DoP); MQA decoding, Roon Endpoint
Network: Ethernet, Wi-Fi (dongle included)
Analog inputs: Two line, one phono
Phono enter sensitivity: 2.5mV to 5mV (mm); 0.25mV to 0.5mV (mc)
Phono loading: 47k ohms (mm); 50, 100, 500, 1k ohms (mc)
RIAA accuracy: ±0.25dB 50Hz–15kHz
Phono signal-to-noise ratio: >70dB A-weighted
Digital outputs: Left/right-channel digital outputs on ST-Type optical jacks
Analog outputs: One line degree (to drive powered subwoofer)
Processing: Selectable second-order high-pass filter for fundamental output used with a subwoofer; subwoofer acquire; bass tilt adjustment
Remote: Metal hand-held
System management: SEEK music-management app; Roon (requires Roon subscription)
Integration: RS232
Dimensions: 15.7″ x 3.7″ x 12.4″
Weight: 19.2 lbs.
System value: $59,800

The submit YG Acoustics Vantage Live appeared first on The Absolute Sound.

World News

YG Acoustics Vantage Live

Posted on March 28, 2023 by Robert Harley

Integrated audio methods—merchandise that mix audio system, amplification, and streaming features—are typically aimed on the client who values comfort, ease of use, and fewer bins over final sound high quality. There have been a number of wonderful upscale choices within the class—the Image 1 from Gayle Sanders’ Ikon Audio and the Meridian Digital Loudspeakers, for examples—however by and enormous the class is dominated by mid-priced efforts. Despite the inherent technical, sonic, and cost-saving benefits of built-in methods, these all-in-one packages largely haven’t caught on with audiophiles. Indeed, the hard-core fanatic revels in constructing a piece-by-piece part system completely tailor-made to his room, tastes, and finances, discovering simply the correct amplifier, or reveling on the improve rendered by a brand new DAC. Frankly, the joys of the chase is a vital a part of the attract of high-end audio.

But what concerning the well-heeled music lover who simply desires to get pleasure from listening with out all of the fuss? For many individuals, part audio is intimidating to purchase, unwieldy within the house, and tough to make use of each day. What does the high-end trade supply this music lover? How can we deliver the uncompromising ethos of efficiency audio to a a lot bigger group of individuals, who love music and have the means to amass a top quality system? How can we save these shoppers from mass-market dreck and alter their lives by way of a deeper relationship with music?

YG Acoustics has addressed this dilemma with the brand new Vantage Live system reviewed right here. The $59,800 system is a pair of YG’s Vantage loudspeakers with integral amplification, DACs, and streaming. Just plug the pair of audio system and a small management field into wall energy, run a pair of skinny ST-Type optical cables, hook up with a community, and you’ll start streaming out of your cellphone or pill (streaming subscription required) with the superb Roon interface. The system couldn’t be simpler to arrange and use, and room placement turned out to be surprisingly unfussy.

But is the Vantage Live “excessive finish?” Does it embody the very best aspirations and values which are the muse of the sector? Or are there inevitable compromises inherent in combining so many features in a single product? Those are the questions we’ll discover on this assessment.

The Vantage Live is the results of a partnership between loudspeaker maker YG Acoustics, electronics and DAC producer Bel Canto, and the British design agency Cambridge Acoustic Sciences. Most of you’re accustomed to YG and Bel Canto, however Cambridge Acoustic Sciences (CAS) is probably going a brand new title. The agency was based by a gaggle of Ph.D.s, together with an individual with a doctorate in musicology. CAS had taken benefit of its cutting-edge experience in computational modeling in a wide range of fields and utilized it to acoustic design and loudspeaker engineering. Specifically, CAS has developed the flexibility to mathematically mannequin a loudspeaker’s efficiency, create separate mathematical fashions of a variety of listening rooms and furnishings layouts, after which “place” the loudspeaker mannequin in considered one of greater than 300 room fashions, with the ensuing information guiding the event effort. These fashions are so computationally intensive that they are often realized solely by way of cloud computing. The firm’s co-founder, Dr. Matthew Webster, wrote his doctoral dissertation in astrophysics on modeling the large-scale construction of the universe. He can be a long-time proprietor of a pair of YG loudspeakers and a critical music lover. During a go to to the YG manufacturing facility late final 12 months I spent an hour on a Zoom name with Dr. Webster by which he talked about CAS’ distinctive method to loudspeaker design and to the Vantage Live, particularly. In addition to growing the acoustic design, CAS programmed the DSP crossover and offered the general system integration of the Vantage Live. Incidentally, CAS additionally contributed all of the design and engineering of YG Acoustics’ new Peaks collection, a line of passive loudspeakers that vary in value from $8500 to $25,000 per pair.

The Vantage Live is slightly quick and stout, with an higher module housing the 7.25″ mid/woofer and 1″ dome tweeter, and the decrease flared module containing the only 8.75″ woofer. The woofer enclosure is sealed, as it’s with all YG designs. The system is simply 44″ excessive, however slightly deep. Each speaker weighs a hefty 176 kilos. Rather than binding posts on the rear panel, the Vantage Live has ST-Type fiber-optic ports that hook up with the included controller, a preamp-sized chassis that’s the system’s coronary heart. The controller connects to your community by way of Ethernet or by way of a equipped Wi-Fi dongle, presents an in depth complement of digital and analog inputs (see Specs & Pricing), gives supply switching, has integral streaming features, and sends a digital output by way of fiber-optic cables to the audio system. The system is absolutely MQA appropriate and is a Roon Endpoint. The music-management app SEEK is included, and though I didn’t use this app, it’s unlikely that it approaches Roon’s unparalleled capabilities and consumer expertise. Featuring electronics designed and constructed by Bel Canto, the controller converts incoming analog alerts to digital for transmission to the audio system. The controller’s phono enter isn’t an afterthought; it presents variable acquire and loading to accommodate a spread of cartridges, and as we’ll see, sounds surprisingly good. Unlike some built-in methods, the Vantage Live doesn’t incorporate DSP room correction.

The Vantage Live presents a variety of options and set-up choices by way of the controller. A “Tilt” management lets you subtly shift the tonal steadiness with a bass reduce and treble enhance, or bass enhance and treble reduce in 0.6dB steps, with a hinge level of 775Hz. The “Bass EQ” adjustment can enhance or attenuate the bass stage in 0.6dB steps as much as ±3dB. If you resolve to reinforce the Vantage Live with a subwoofer, you may have interaction a second-order high-pass filter to maintain low bass out of the Vantage Live. A USB-A port lets you entry music saved on a hard-disk drive related to the port. The system is UPnP and Roon-ready compliant, and a machined steel distant management gives full system management, together with a steadiness adjustment.

The 8.75″ woofer and seven.25″ mid/bass driver characteristic YG’s BilletCore know-how, by which the diaphragms are machined from strong blocks of aluminum. The result’s a cone that’s extremely stiff and proof against flexing, whereas additionally being light-weight—the holy grail of driver design. This manufacturing methodology can be extremely costly; it takes the five-axis, half-million-dollar Gildermeister CNC machine an hour to show an 11-pound aluminum billet right into a 45g woofer cone. The 7.25″ midrange diaphragm can be machined from strong billet. The soft-dome tweeter is YG’s ForgeCore design by which the magnet system serves as each motor and enclosure. This distinctive optimization of each motor and enclosure in a single construction reportedly lowers distortion.

As talked about, every loudspeaker receives a digital datastream from the controller. Inside the speaker, the digital sign is break up up into three frequency bands. A digital-domain crossover filters the wideband sign by performing mathematical computations on the digital information representing the music. The three band-limited digital alerts—bass to drive the woofer, midband frequencies to the midrange driver, and treble to the tweeter—are then independently transformed to analog by way of considered one of three DACs. Each DAC drives customized Class A I/V (current-to-voltage converter). The current-to-voltage converter exerts a major affect on the DAC’s sound; most are realized with op-amps. A discrete current-to-voltage converter is a tweaky method. A voltage acquire stage, realized with MELF high-precision resistors (made by Vishay), drives a low-gain 700W discrete switching (Class D) amplifier. This signifies that the Vantage Live is tri-amplified with 2100 watts whole per speaker.

This structure, by which the amplifier outputs are related on to the driving force with no crossover parts within the sign path, confers appreciable benefits. The good thing about eradicating the inductors, capacitors, and resistors of an analog crossover can’t be overstated. This is especially true of eradicating the massive collection inductor within the woofer circuit—a crossover half that reduces the amplifier’s capacity to regulate the woofer’s movement. Moreover, the crossover can have any traits of slope and section that the designer specifies with out the constraints of analog parts. DSP crossovers additionally make it potential to program small response variations to compensate for less-than-linear driver habits. Finally, the amplifier designer can design the amplifier circuit tailor-made exactly to the driving force’s attribute slightly than constructing a general-purpose amplifier that may work beneath completely unknown situations.

In quick, the Vantage Live is the excessive finish’s most bold try but at creating an built-in system.

Listening

Although I briefly auditioned the Vantage Live at YG’s manufacturing facility, it was solely within the acquainted setting of my listening room that I found that the Vantage Live sounds totally different from nearly any system I’ve heard earlier than on this value vary. If you’ve ever placed on a direct-to-disc LP and heard a sudden enhance in that sense of presence, of the elimination of “one thing” between you and the music, you may have an concept of how Vantage Live sounds. The Vantage Live has a crystalline readability, a dynamic verve, and an immediacy which are placing, a lot in the best way a direct-to-disc LP displays these traits.

Part of this high quality is because of the speaker’s general voicing, which has a decidedly extroverted persona. The midrange is projected ahead in entrance of the audio system slightly than laying again. But this heightened presence doesn’t sound like a coloration or an unnatural emphasis on a band of frequencies within the presence vary (1–4kHz), however, slightly, as if a scrim between you and the music has been stripped away. Jonathan Valin had just lately put me on to the album Jederman Revisited by Dutch blues grasp Hans Theessink, an album that completely highlighted the Vantage Live’s extraordinary magic act of conjuring up the performer in your listening room. Theessink’s exquisitely recorded voice and slide guitar had such realism and presence it was uncanny. I had the identical impression with Melody Gardot’s beautiful vocal on her album Sunset within the Blue—her voice projected ahead, seemingly proper there, vividly current. Or strive Ruth Moody on her album These Wilder Things. In the sense of midrange realism and presence, and of the sound being fully indifferent from the audio system, the Vantage Live was paying homage to a full-range planar loudspeaker. Which is excessive reward, certainly.

I considered the Vantage Live’s sign path, and the way the design impacts the product’s sound. Each of the Vantage Live’s three drivers is powered by its personal Class D amplifier related on to the driving force with no crossover parts within the sign path. Removing the resistors, inductors, capacitors, and lengthy speaker cables between the amplifier and driver could also be chargeable for the Vantage Live’s presence and immediacy. Significantly, the Vantage Live didn’t exhibit the traits I affiliate with some Class D amplifiers—a form of “chalky” whiteness overlaying timbres. I’ve, nevertheless, not heard the most recent and finest switching amplifiers, however I perceive that they’ve made nice progress just lately. Our Steven Stone, in his assessment of the Bel Canto Ref 600M monoblocks [Issue 268] proclaimed these amps to be of reference high quality. Hearing Bel Canto’s amplifiers within the Vantage Live, with out crossover elements within the sign path, has elevated my view of switching-amplifier know-how.

The benefit of connecting the loudspeaker driver on to the facility amplifier output terminals is especially useful within the bass, the place Class D amplification excels. Removing the massive collection inductor of an analog crossover within the woofer circuit permits the amplifier to take iron-fisted management over the motion of the woofer cone, each by advantage of the Class D design (together with its vanishingly low output impedance) and the direct connection between amp and speaker driver with no intervening crossover parts. You can hear these technical benefits within the Vantage Live’s bass, which is tuneful, prolonged, and exact in pitch and dynamics. The sealed enclosure, coupled with the Class D amplification, confers a way of readability in bass strains. The Vantage Live could be very resolving within the bass, clearly revealing the begins and stops of notes, in addition to their pitch and texture. The backside finish is the antithesis of thick, sluggish, and confused. I actually loved this side of the Vantage Live. Ray Brown’s acoustic instrument on Soular Energy, Ernest Tubbs’ electrical bass on the brand new Simon Phillips album Protocol V, and the double-bass part of the orchestra on The Arnold Overtures [Reference Recordings 192/24] had been all exemplary, with each be aware clearly articulated. Moreover, the Vantage Live has very good dynamic agility within the backside finish, with sudden assaults, speedy decays, and large dynamic swings. These sonic traits add as much as a musical presentation with a robust rhythmic drive, or what the British name PRaT (“tempo, rhythm, and timing”). This bass readability was coupled with a heat and weight, a pleasant mixture that gives a robust rhythmic and harmonic basis for the music. An excellent instance is the big-band association (with a Hammond B-3) of Stevie Wonder’s “I Wish” by Dave Seibels with Gordon Goodwin’s Big Phat Band. The Vantage Live’s bass solidity, taut pitch definition, and easy dynamics mixed to make this monitor rhythmically highly effective and thrilling. The advanced instrumental strains remained coherent at excessive ranges slightly than congealing. This monitor revealed many virtues of the Vantage Live, but additionally its considerably unforgiving character within the treble. This recording is a bit vivid—the higher harmonics of the brass and woodwinds are on the steely facet, and the cymbals are a bit sizzling. The Vantage Live isn’t a speaker that glosses over or softens these overly vivid recordings.

To offer you my uncooked, in-the-moment impressions of the Vantage Live, I’m going to incorporate my verbatim listening notes concerning the monitor “Cousin Dupree” from Steely Dan’s Two Against Nature. This is a spectacular recording, and one which reveals a lot about many facets of an audio system’s efficiency. This is what I wrote in my notes the second simply after this monitor ended: “Something totally different about this speaker; readability, pristine, crystalline. Every musical line clearly resolved. Background vocals so simply audible slightly than hinted at or as an undifferentiated sound. Massive dynamic velocity and snap. Very punchy. Powerful rhythmic drive. Huge stage, wider than it’s deep. Upbeat, alive, and vivid. Great readability of instrumental line.”

The Vantage Live performs far greater than its measurement suggests, in some ways. Spatially, the Vantage Live throws a large and deep soundstage—strive The Cowboys Overture from John Williams on the Movies [Reference Recordings 192/24], for instance. The Vantage Live was notable for the best way it threw a tangible soundstage even once I was sitting off-axis. The picture didn’t collapse as I moved to the facet, an essential consideration for 2 (or extra) individual listening. The speaker additionally sounds greater than its measurement within the bass, with a solidity and extension extra consistent with a lot bigger audio system. Similarly, the Vantage Live performed huge dynamically, with a startling physicality on kick drum and the massive brass tuttis of the John Williams album, for examples.

I used to be pleasantly shocked by the Vantage Live’s efficiency with streaming (Tidal and Qobuz), however fully shocked by how good it sounded enjoying vinyl. The Vantage Live’s controller digitizes analog alerts, together with phono alerts. I don’t know what alchemy is in Vantage Live’s controller chassis, however vinyl sounded shockingly nice by way of the Vantage Live. In earlier merchandise I’ve auditioned that digitize phono alerts, the losses have been vital—reductions of air and house, truncation of the soundstage, discount in immediacy, and a hardness overlaying midrange and treble textures. I pulled out all probably the most difficult LPs that I do know intimately and was repeatedly shocked by the Vantage Live’s efficiency with vinyl. Satchmo Plays King Oliver, the basic direct-to-disc For Duke, MoFi One-Step pressings of Yes’ Fragile or Santana’s Abraxis, Phoebe Snow’s first album on an excellent Analogue Productions 45rpm remaster—you get the thought. The eerie sense of house and presence on “St. James Infirmary” from Satchmo Plays King Oliver wasn’t foreshortened, and the cymbal crash on the finish hung in house with out being truncated and with no added grunge. These spectacular LPs, all constructed from pure analog sources, nonetheless sounded spectacular by way of the Vantage Live and its phonostage, regardless of the analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog conversions. The high quality of the Vantage Live’s phono part says a lot concerning the product’s ambition as a critical different to a component-based system.

Conclusion

YG Acoustics’ $59,800 Vantage Live built-in system is a daring enterprise into comparatively uncharted territory. Will audiophiles surrender the flexibility to combine and match parts, improve a single product, audition totally different cables, and tailor a system to their tastes for the comfort of an all-in-one package deal? Will music lovers who’re turned off by the complexity of part audio embrace a $60k system? Those questions have but to be answered. It can be fascinating to study whether or not the Vantage Live is a industrial success.

There’s no query, nevertheless, as to the Vantage Live’s high-end credentials. This is a system that wants no apology for its comfort or any equivocation when describing its sound high quality. In reality, this new YG system’s structure confers some excellent sonic qualities together with very good bass definition and a midrange with a startling sense of readability and immediacy. The Vantage Live seems like a full-fledged high-quality system that simply occurs to supply ease of setup, is easy to make use of each day, is comparatively unobtrusive, and has good-looking beauty.

That sounds to me like a recipe for bringing high-end audio values and efficiency to a wholly new viewers.

Specs & Pricing

Vantage Live Controller
Digital inputs: USB, TosLink, SPDIF (BNC), AES/EBU
Digital codecs supported: Up to 192kHz/24-bit on AES/EBU, SPDIF, and TosLink; as much as DSD128 and PCM 192kHz/24-bit on USB (DoP); MQA decoding, Roon Endpoint
Network: Ethernet, Wi-Fi (dongle included)
Analog inputs: Two line, one phono
Phono enter sensitivity: 2.5mV to 5mV (mm); 0.25mV to 0.5mV (mc)
Phono loading: 47k ohms (mm); 50, 100, 500, 1k ohms (mc)
RIAA accuracy: ±0.25dB 50Hz–15kHz
Phono signal-to-noise ratio: >70dB A-weighted
Digital outputs: Left/right-channel digital outputs on ST-Type optical jacks
Analog outputs: One line stage (to drive powered subwoofer)
Processing: Selectable second-order high-pass filter for foremost output used with a subwoofer; subwoofer acquire; bass tilt adjustment
Remote: Metal hand-held
System management: SEEK music-management app; Roon (requires Roon subscription)
Integration: RS232
Dimensions: 15.7″ x 3.7″ x 12.4″
Weight: 19.2 lbs.
System value: $59,800

The publish YG Acoustics Vantage Live appeared first on The Absolute Sound.

World News

YG Acoustics Vantage Live

Posted on March 28, 2023 by Robert Harley

Integrated audio programs—merchandise that mix audio system, amplification, and streaming features—are typically aimed on the client who values comfort, ease of use, and fewer containers over final sound high quality. There have been just a few glorious upscale choices within the class—the Image 1 from Gayle Sanders’ Ikon Audio and the Meridian Digital Loudspeakers, for examples—however by and enormous the class is dominated by mid-priced efforts. Despite the inherent technical, sonic, and cost-saving benefits of built-in programs, these all-in-one packages largely haven’t caught on with audiophiles. Indeed, the hard-core fanatic revels in constructing a piece-by-piece element system completely tailor-made to his room, tastes, and finances, discovering simply the fitting amplifier, or reveling on the improve rendered by a brand new DAC. Frankly, the fun of the chase is a vital a part of the attract of high-end audio.

But what in regards to the well-heeled music lover who simply desires to take pleasure in listening with out all of the fuss? For many individuals, element audio is intimidating to purchase, unwieldy within the dwelling, and tough to make use of each day. What does the high-end business supply this music lover? How can we deliver the uncompromising ethos of efficiency audio to a a lot bigger group of individuals, who love music and have the means to amass a high quality system? How can we save these customers from mass-market dreck and alter their lives by means of a deeper relationship with music?

YG Acoustics has addressed this dilemma with the brand new Vantage Live system reviewed right here. The $59,800 system is a pair of YG’s Vantage loudspeakers with integral amplification, DACs, and streaming. Just plug the pair of audio system and a small management field into wall energy, run a pair of skinny ST-Type optical cables, hook up with a community, and you may start streaming out of your cellphone or pill (streaming subscription required) with the superb Roon interface. The system couldn’t be simpler to arrange and use, and room placement turned out to be surprisingly unfussy.

But is the Vantage Live “excessive finish?” Does it embody the very best aspirations and values which can be the muse of the sphere? Or are there inevitable compromises inherent in combining so many features in a single product? Those are the questions we’ll discover on this assessment.

The Vantage Live is the results of a partnership between loudspeaker maker YG Acoustics, electronics and DAC producer Bel Canto, and the British design agency Cambridge Acoustic Sciences. Most of you’re acquainted with YG and Bel Canto, however Cambridge Acoustic Sciences (CAS) is probably going a brand new title. The agency was based by a gaggle of Ph.D.s, together with an individual with a doctorate in musicology. CAS had taken benefit of its cutting-edge experience in computational modeling in a wide range of fields and utilized it to acoustic design and loudspeaker engineering. Specifically, CAS has developed the flexibility to mathematically mannequin a loudspeaker’s efficiency, create separate mathematical fashions of a variety of listening rooms and furnishings layouts, after which “place” the loudspeaker mannequin in one in all greater than 300 room fashions, with the ensuing information guiding the event effort. These fashions are so computationally intensive that they are often realized solely by means of cloud computing. The firm’s co-founder, Dr. Matthew Webster, wrote his doctoral dissertation in astrophysics on modeling the large-scale construction of the universe. He can also be a long-time proprietor of a pair of YG loudspeakers and a critical music lover. During a go to to the YG manufacturing facility late final yr I spent an hour on a Zoom name with Dr. Webster during which he talked about CAS’ distinctive method to loudspeaker design and to the Vantage Live, particularly. In addition to growing the acoustic design, CAS programmed the DSP crossover and supplied the general system integration of the Vantage Live. Incidentally, CAS additionally contributed all of the design and engineering of YG Acoustics’ new Peaks sequence, a line of passive loudspeakers that vary in worth from $8500 to $25,000 per pair.

The Vantage Live is fairly brief and stout, with an higher module housing the 7.25″ mid/woofer and 1″ dome tweeter, and the decrease flared module containing the only 8.75″ woofer. The woofer enclosure is sealed, as it’s with all YG designs. The system is barely 44″ excessive, however fairly deep. Each speaker weighs a hefty 176 kilos. Rather than binding posts on the rear panel, the Vantage Live has ST-Type fiber-optic ports that hook up with the included controller, a preamp-sized chassis that’s the system’s coronary heart. The controller connects to your community by means of Ethernet or through a equipped Wi-Fi dongle, gives an in depth complement of digital and analog inputs (see Specs & Pricing), offers supply switching, has integral streaming features, and sends a digital output through fiber-optic cables to the audio system. The system is absolutely MQA suitable and is a Roon Endpoint. The music-management app SEEK is included, and though I didn’t use this app, it’s unlikely that it approaches Roon’s unparalleled capabilities and person expertise. Featuring electronics designed and constructed by Bel Canto, the controller converts incoming analog indicators to digital for transmission to the audio system. The controller’s phono enter isn’t an afterthought; it gives variable achieve and loading to accommodate a spread of cartridges, and as we’ll see, sounds surprisingly good. Unlike some built-in programs, the Vantage Live doesn’t incorporate DSP room correction.

The Vantage Live gives a variety of options and set-up choices through the controller. A “Tilt” management lets you subtly shift the tonal stability with a bass reduce and treble enhance, or bass enhance and treble reduce in 0.6dB steps, with a hinge level of 775Hz. The “Bass EQ” adjustment can enhance or attenuate the bass stage in 0.6dB steps as much as ±3dB. If you determine to reinforce the Vantage Live with a subwoofer, you’ll be able to have interaction a second-order high-pass filter to maintain low bass out of the Vantage Live. A USB-A port lets you entry music saved on a hard-disk drive related to the port. The system is UPnP and Roon-ready compliant, and a machined metallic distant management offers full system management, together with a stability adjustment.

The 8.75″ woofer and seven.25″ mid/bass driver characteristic YG’s BilletCore expertise, during which the diaphragms are machined from stable blocks of aluminum. The result’s a cone that’s extremely stiff and proof against flexing, whereas additionally being light-weight—the holy grail of driver design. This manufacturing methodology can also be extremely costly; it takes the five-axis, half-million-dollar Gildermeister CNC machine an hour to show an 11-pound aluminum billet right into a 45g woofer cone. The 7.25″ midrange diaphragm can also be machined from stable billet. The soft-dome tweeter is YG’s ForgeCore design during which the magnet system serves as each motor and enclosure. This distinctive optimization of each motor and enclosure in a single construction reportedly lowers distortion.

As talked about, every loudspeaker receives a digital datastream from the controller. Inside the speaker, the digital sign is break up up into three frequency bands. A digital-domain crossover filters the wideband sign by performing mathematical computations on the digital information representing the music. The three band-limited digital indicators—bass to drive the woofer, midband frequencies to the midrange driver, and treble to the tweeter—are then independently transformed to analog through one in all three DACs. Each DAC drives customized Class A I/V (current-to-voltage converter). The current-to-voltage converter exerts a big affect on the DAC’s sound; most are realized with op-amps. A discrete current-to-voltage converter is a tweaky method. A voltage achieve stage, realized with MELF high-precision resistors (made by Vishay), drives a low-gain 700W discrete switching (Class D) amplifier. This implies that the Vantage Live is tri-amplified with 2100 watts whole per speaker.

This structure, during which the amplifier outputs are related on to the driving force with no crossover parts within the sign path, confers appreciable benefits. The good thing about eradicating the inductors, capacitors, and resistors of an analog crossover can’t be overstated. This is especially true of eradicating the big sequence inductor within the woofer circuit—a crossover half that reduces the amplifier’s skill to regulate the woofer’s movement. Moreover, the crossover can have any traits of slope and section that the designer specifies with out the constraints of analog parts. DSP crossovers additionally make it potential to program small response variations to compensate for less-than-linear driver conduct. Finally, the amplifier designer can design the amplifier circuit tailor-made exactly to the driving force’s attribute fairly than constructing a general-purpose amplifier that may work underneath totally unknown situations.

In brief, the Vantage Live is the excessive finish’s most formidable try but at creating an built-in system.

Listening

Although I briefly auditioned the Vantage Live at YG’s manufacturing facility, it was solely within the acquainted setting of my listening room that I found that the Vantage Live sounds completely different from nearly any system I’ve heard earlier than on this worth vary. If you’ve ever placed on a direct-to-disc LP and heard a sudden enhance in that sense of presence, of the removing of “one thing” between you and the music, you have got an thought of how Vantage Live sounds. The Vantage Live has a crystalline readability, a dynamic verve, and an immediacy which can be hanging, a lot in the best way a direct-to-disc LP displays these traits.

Part of this high quality is because of the speaker’s general voicing, which has a decidedly extroverted persona. The midrange is projected ahead in entrance of the audio system fairly than laying again. But this heightened presence doesn’t sound like a coloration or an unnatural emphasis on a band of frequencies within the presence vary (1–4kHz), however, fairly, as if a scrim between you and the music has been stripped away. Jonathan Valin had lately put me on to the album Jederman Revisited by Dutch blues grasp Hans Theessink, an album that completely highlighted the Vantage Live’s extraordinary magic act of conjuring up the performer in your listening room. Theessink’s exquisitely recorded voice and slide guitar had such realism and presence it was uncanny. I had the identical impression with Melody Gardot’s beautiful vocal on her album Sunset within the Blue—her voice projected ahead, seemingly proper there, vividly current. Or attempt Ruth Moody on her album These Wilder Things. In the sense of midrange realism and presence, and of the sound being fully indifferent from the audio system, the Vantage Live was harking back to a full-range planar loudspeaker. Which is excessive reward, certainly.

I considered the Vantage Live’s sign path, and the way the design impacts the product’s sound. Each of the Vantage Live’s three drivers is powered by its personal Class D amplifier related on to the driving force with no crossover parts within the sign path. Removing the resistors, inductors, capacitors, and lengthy speaker cables between the amplifier and driver could also be chargeable for the Vantage Live’s presence and immediacy. Significantly, the Vantage Live didn’t exhibit the traits I affiliate with some Class D amplifiers—a form of “chalky” whiteness overlaying timbres. I’ve, nonetheless, not heard the newest and finest switching amplifiers, however I perceive that they’ve made nice progress lately. Our Steven Stone, in his assessment of the Bel Canto Ref 600M monoblocks [Issue 268] proclaimed these amps to be of reference high quality. Hearing Bel Canto’s amplifiers within the Vantage Live, with out crossover elements within the sign path, has elevated my view of switching-amplifier expertise.

The benefit of connecting the loudspeaker driver on to the facility amplifier output terminals is especially helpful within the bass, the place Class D amplification excels. Removing the big sequence inductor of an analog crossover within the woofer circuit permits the amplifier to take iron-fisted management over the motion of the woofer cone, each by advantage of the Class D design (together with its vanishingly low output impedance) and the direct connection between amp and speaker driver with no intervening crossover parts. You can hear these technical benefits within the Vantage Live’s bass, which is tuneful, prolonged, and exact in pitch and dynamics. The sealed enclosure, coupled with the Class D amplification, confers a way of readability in bass traces. The Vantage Live may be very resolving within the bass, clearly revealing the begins and stops of notes, in addition to their pitch and texture. The backside finish is the antithesis of thick, gradual, and confused. I actually loved this side of the Vantage Live. Ray Brown’s acoustic instrument on Soular Energy, Ernest Tubbs’ electrical bass on the brand new Simon Phillips album Protocol V, and the double-bass part of the orchestra on The Arnold Overtures [Reference Recordings 192/24] have been all exemplary, with each notice clearly articulated. Moreover, the Vantage Live has very good dynamic agility within the backside finish, with sudden assaults, fast decays, and extensive dynamic swings. These sonic traits add as much as a musical presentation with a robust rhythmic drive, or what the British name PRaT (“tempo, rhythm, and timing”). This bass readability was coupled with a heat and weight, a pleasant mixture that gives a powerful rhythmic and harmonic basis for the music. A great instance is the big-band association (with a Hammond B-3) of Stevie Wonder’s “I Wish” by Dave Seibels with Gordon Goodwin’s Big Phat Band. The Vantage Live’s bass solidity, taut pitch definition, and easy dynamics mixed to make this observe rhythmically highly effective and thrilling. The complicated instrumental traces remained coherent at excessive ranges fairly than congealing. This observe revealed many virtues of the Vantage Live, but additionally its considerably unforgiving character within the treble. This recording is a bit brilliant—the higher harmonics of the brass and woodwinds are on the steely aspect, and the cymbals are slightly scorching. The Vantage Live isn’t a speaker that glosses over or softens these overly brilliant recordings.

To offer you my uncooked, in-the-moment impressions of the Vantage Live, I’m going to incorporate my verbatim listening notes in regards to the observe “Cousin Dupree” from Steely Dan’s Two Against Nature. This is a spectacular recording, and one which reveals a lot about many features of an audio system’s efficiency. This is what I wrote in my notes the second simply after this observe ended: “Something completely different about this speaker; readability, pristine, crystalline. Every musical line clearly resolved. Background vocals so simply audible fairly than hinted at or as an undifferentiated sound. Massive dynamic pace and snap. Very punchy. Powerful rhythmic drive. Huge stage, wider than it’s deep. Upbeat, alive, and vivid. Great readability of instrumental line.”

The Vantage Live performs far greater than its dimension suggests, in some ways. Spatially, the Vantage Live throws a large and deep soundstage—attempt The Cowboys Overture from John Williams on the Movies [Reference Recordings 192/24], for instance. The Vantage Live was notable for the best way it threw a tangible soundstage even after I was sitting off-axis. The picture didn’t collapse as I moved to the aspect, an essential consideration for 2 (or extra) individual listening. The speaker additionally sounds greater than its dimension within the bass, with a solidity and extension extra according to a lot bigger audio system. Similarly, the Vantage Live performed massive dynamically, with a startling physicality on kick drum and the massive brass tuttis of the John Williams album, for examples.

I used to be pleasantly shocked by the Vantage Live’s efficiency with streaming (Tidal and Qobuz), however fully greatly surprised by how good it sounded enjoying vinyl. The Vantage Live’s controller digitizes analog indicators, together with phono indicators. I don’t know what alchemy is in Vantage Live’s controller chassis, however vinyl sounded shockingly nice by means of the Vantage Live. In earlier merchandise I’ve auditioned that digitize phono indicators, the losses have been important—reductions of air and area, truncation of the soundstage, discount in immediacy, and a hardness overlaying midrange and treble textures. I pulled out all probably the most difficult LPs that I do know intimately and was repeatedly shocked by the Vantage Live’s efficiency with vinyl. Satchmo Plays King Oliver, the traditional direct-to-disc For Duke, MoFi One-Step pressings of Yes’ Fragile or Santana’s Abraxis, Phoebe Snow’s first album on an excellent Analogue Productions 45rpm remaster—you get the thought. The eerie sense of area and presence on “St. James Infirmary” from Satchmo Plays King Oliver wasn’t foreshortened, and the cymbal crash on the finish hung in area with out being truncated and with no added grunge. These spectacular LPs, all created from pure analog sources, nonetheless sounded spectacular by means of the Vantage Live and its phonostage, regardless of the analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog conversions. The high quality of the Vantage Live’s phono part says a lot in regards to the product’s ambition as a critical different to a component-based system.

Conclusion

YG Acoustics’ $59,800 Vantage Live built-in system is a daring enterprise into comparatively uncharted territory. Will audiophiles surrender the flexibility to combine and match parts, improve a single product, audition completely different cables, and tailor a system to their tastes for the comfort of an all-in-one bundle? Will music lovers who’re turned off by the complexity of element audio embrace a $60k system? Those questions have but to be answered. It will probably be attention-grabbing to study whether or not the Vantage Live is a business success.

There’s no query, nonetheless, as to the Vantage Live’s high-end credentials. This is a system that wants no apology for its comfort or any equivocation when describing its sound high quality. In truth, this new YG system’s structure confers some excellent sonic qualities together with very good bass definition and a midrange with a startling sense of readability and immediacy. The Vantage Live feels like a full-fledged high-quality system that simply occurs to supply ease of setup, is easy to make use of each day, is comparatively unobtrusive, and has good-looking attractiveness.

That sounds to me like a recipe for bringing high-end audio values and efficiency to a completely new viewers.

Specs & Pricing

Vantage Live Controller
Digital inputs: USB, TosLink, SPDIF (BNC), AES/EBU
Digital codecs supported: Up to 192kHz/24-bit on AES/EBU, SPDIF, and TosLink; as much as DSD128 and PCM 192kHz/24-bit on USB (DoP); MQA decoding, Roon Endpoint
Network: Ethernet, Wi-Fi (dongle included)
Analog inputs: Two line, one phono
Phono enter sensitivity: 2.5mV to 5mV (mm); 0.25mV to 0.5mV (mc)
Phono loading: 47k ohms (mm); 50, 100, 500, 1k ohms (mc)
RIAA accuracy: ±0.25dB 50Hz–15kHz
Phono signal-to-noise ratio: >70dB A-weighted
Digital outputs: Left/right-channel digital outputs on ST-Type optical jacks
Analog outputs: One line stage (to drive powered subwoofer)
Processing: Selectable second-order high-pass filter for fundamental output used with a subwoofer; subwoofer achieve; bass tilt adjustment
Remote: Metal hand-held
System management: SEEK music-management app; Roon (requires Roon subscription)
Integration: RS232
Dimensions: 15.7″ x 3.7″ x 12.4″
Weight: 19.2 lbs.
System worth: $59,800

The publish YG Acoustics Vantage Live appeared first on The Absolute Sound.

World News

YG Acoustics Vantage Live

Posted on March 28, 2023 by Robert Harley

Integrated audio programs—merchandise that mix audio system, amplification, and streaming features—are typically aimed on the shopper who values comfort, ease of use, and fewer packing containers over final sound high quality. There have been a couple of wonderful upscale choices within the class—the Image 1 from Gayle Sanders’ Ikon Audio and the Meridian Digital Loudspeakers, for examples—however by and huge the class is dominated by mid-priced efforts. Despite the inherent technical, sonic, and cost-saving benefits of built-in programs, these all-in-one packages largely haven’t caught on with audiophiles. Indeed, the hard-core fanatic revels in constructing a piece-by-piece element system completely tailor-made to his room, tastes, and funds, discovering simply the correct amplifier, or reveling on the improve rendered by a brand new DAC. Frankly, the joys of the chase is a crucial a part of the attract of high-end audio.

But what in regards to the well-heeled music lover who simply needs to take pleasure in listening with out all of the fuss? For many individuals, element audio is intimidating to purchase, unwieldy within the house, and troublesome to make use of every day. What does the high-end business provide this music lover? How can we carry the uncompromising ethos of efficiency audio to a a lot bigger group of individuals, who love music and have the means to amass a top quality system? How will we save these customers from mass-market dreck and alter their lives by means of a deeper relationship with music?

YG Acoustics has addressed this dilemma with the brand new Vantage Live system reviewed right here. The $59,800 system is a pair of YG’s Vantage loudspeakers with integral amplification, DACs, and streaming. Just plug the pair of audio system and a small management field into wall energy, run a pair of skinny ST-Type optical cables, hook up with a community, and you may start streaming out of your cellphone or pill (streaming subscription required) with the wonderful Roon interface. The system couldn’t be simpler to arrange and use, and room placement turned out to be surprisingly unfussy.

But is the Vantage Live “excessive finish?” Does it embody the best aspirations and values which can be the muse of the sphere? Or are there inevitable compromises inherent in combining so many features in a single product? Those are the questions we’ll discover on this overview.

The Vantage Live is the results of a partnership between loudspeaker maker YG Acoustics, electronics and DAC producer Bel Canto, and the British design agency Cambridge Acoustic Sciences. Most of you might be accustomed to YG and Bel Canto, however Cambridge Acoustic Sciences (CAS) is probably going a brand new identify. The agency was based by a gaggle of Ph.D.s, together with an individual with a doctorate in musicology. CAS had taken benefit of its cutting-edge experience in computational modeling in quite a lot of fields and utilized it to acoustic design and loudspeaker engineering. Specifically, CAS has developed the power to mathematically mannequin a loudspeaker’s efficiency, create separate mathematical fashions of a variety of listening rooms and furnishings layouts, after which “place” the loudspeaker mannequin in one in every of greater than 300 room fashions, with the ensuing knowledge guiding the event effort. These fashions are so computationally intensive that they are often realized solely by means of cloud computing. The firm’s co-founder, Dr. Matthew Webster, wrote his doctoral dissertation in astrophysics on modeling the large-scale construction of the universe. He can be a long-time proprietor of a pair of YG loudspeakers and a severe music lover. During a go to to the YG manufacturing unit late final 12 months I spent an hour on a Zoom name with Dr. Webster by which he talked about CAS’ distinctive method to loudspeaker design and to the Vantage Live, particularly. In addition to growing the acoustic design, CAS programmed the DSP crossover and offered the general system integration of the Vantage Live. Incidentally, CAS additionally contributed all of the design and engineering of YG Acoustics’ new Peaks collection, a line of passive loudspeakers that vary in worth from $8500 to $25,000 per pair.

The Vantage Live is quite brief and stout, with an higher module housing the 7.25″ mid/woofer and 1″ dome tweeter, and the decrease flared module containing the only 8.75″ woofer. The woofer enclosure is sealed, as it’s with all YG designs. The system is just 44″ excessive, however quite deep. Each speaker weighs a hefty 176 kilos. Rather than binding posts on the rear panel, the Vantage Live has ST-Type fiber-optic ports that hook up with the included controller, a preamp-sized chassis that’s the system’s coronary heart. The controller connects to your community by means of Ethernet or by way of a equipped Wi-Fi dongle, presents an intensive complement of digital and analog inputs (see Specs & Pricing), supplies supply switching, has integral streaming features, and sends a digital output by way of fiber-optic cables to the audio system. The system is totally MQA suitable and is a Roon Endpoint. The music-management app SEEK is included, and though I didn’t use this app, it’s unlikely that it approaches Roon’s unparalleled capabilities and person expertise. Featuring electronics designed and constructed by Bel Canto, the controller converts incoming analog indicators to digital for transmission to the audio system. The controller’s phono enter isn’t an afterthought; it presents variable achieve and loading to accommodate a spread of cartridges, and as we’ll see, sounds surprisingly good. Unlike some built-in programs, the Vantage Live doesn’t incorporate DSP room correction.

The Vantage Live presents a variety of options and set-up choices by way of the controller. A “Tilt” management lets you subtly shift the tonal steadiness with a bass minimize and treble enhance, or bass enhance and treble minimize in 0.6dB steps, with a hinge level of 775Hz. The “Bass EQ” adjustment can enhance or attenuate the bass degree in 0.6dB steps as much as ±3dB. If you resolve to enhance the Vantage Live with a subwoofer, you’ll be able to have interaction a second-order high-pass filter to maintain low bass out of the Vantage Live. A USB-A port lets you entry music saved on a hard-disk drive related to the port. The system is UPnP and Roon-ready compliant, and a machined steel distant management supplies full system management, together with a steadiness adjustment.

The 8.75″ woofer and seven.25″ mid/bass driver function YG’s BilletCore expertise, by which the diaphragms are machined from stable blocks of aluminum. The result’s a cone that’s extremely stiff and immune to flexing, whereas additionally being light-weight—the holy grail of driver design. This manufacturing methodology can be extremely costly; it takes the five-axis, half-million-dollar Gildermeister CNC machine an hour to show an 11-pound aluminum billet right into a 45g woofer cone. The 7.25″ midrange diaphragm can be machined from stable billet. The soft-dome tweeter is YG’s ForgeCore design by which the magnet system serves as each motor and enclosure. This distinctive optimization of each motor and enclosure in a single construction reportedly lowers distortion.

As talked about, every loudspeaker receives a digital datastream from the controller. Inside the speaker, the digital sign is break up up into three frequency bands. A digital-domain crossover filters the wideband sign by performing mathematical computations on the digital knowledge representing the music. The three band-limited digital indicators—bass to drive the woofer, midband frequencies to the midrange driver, and treble to the tweeter—are then independently transformed to analog by way of one in every of three DACs. Each DAC drives customized Class A I/V (current-to-voltage converter). The current-to-voltage converter exerts a major affect on the DAC’s sound; most are realized with op-amps. A discrete current-to-voltage converter is a tweaky method. A voltage achieve stage, realized with MELF high-precision resistors (made by Vishay), drives a low-gain 700W discrete switching (Class D) amplifier. This implies that the Vantage Live is tri-amplified with 2100 watts complete per speaker.

This structure, by which the amplifier outputs are related on to the driving force with no crossover parts within the sign path, confers appreciable benefits. The advantage of eradicating the inductors, capacitors, and resistors of an analog crossover can’t be overstated. This is especially true of eradicating the massive collection inductor within the woofer circuit—a crossover half that reduces the amplifier’s potential to manage the woofer’s movement. Moreover, the crossover can have any traits of slope and part that the designer specifies with out the constraints of analog parts. DSP crossovers additionally make it potential to program small response variations to compensate for less-than-linear driver habits. Finally, the amplifier designer can design the amplifier circuit tailor-made exactly to the driving force’s attribute quite than constructing a general-purpose amplifier that can work underneath solely unknown situations.

In brief, the Vantage Live is the excessive finish’s most bold try but at creating an built-in system.

Listening

Although I briefly auditioned the Vantage Live at YG’s manufacturing unit, it was solely within the acquainted setting of my listening room that I found that the Vantage Live sounds totally different from nearly any system I’ve heard earlier than on this worth vary. If you’ve ever placed on a direct-to-disc LP and heard a sudden improve in that sense of presence, of the removing of “one thing” between you and the music, you’ve got an concept of how Vantage Live sounds. The Vantage Live has a crystalline readability, a dynamic verve, and an immediacy which can be placing, a lot in the best way a direct-to-disc LP reveals these traits.

Part of this high quality is as a result of speaker’s total voicing, which has a decidedly extroverted persona. The midrange is projected ahead in entrance of the audio system quite than laying again. But this heightened presence doesn’t sound like a coloration or an unnatural emphasis on a band of frequencies within the presence vary (1–4kHz), however, quite, as if a scrim between you and the music has been stripped away. Jonathan Valin had just lately put me on to the album Jederman Revisited by Dutch blues grasp Hans Theessink, an album that completely highlighted the Vantage Live’s extraordinary magic act of conjuring up the performer in your listening room. Theessink’s exquisitely recorded voice and slide guitar had such realism and presence it was uncanny. I had the identical impression with Melody Gardot’s beautiful vocal on her album Sunset within the Blue—her voice projected ahead, seemingly proper there, vividly current. Or strive Ruth Moody on her album These Wilder Things. In the sense of midrange realism and presence, and of the sound being utterly indifferent from the audio system, the Vantage Live was harking back to a full-range planar loudspeaker. Which is excessive reward, certainly.

I considered the Vantage Live’s sign path, and the way the design impacts the product’s sound. Each of the Vantage Live’s three drivers is powered by its personal Class D amplifier related on to the driving force with no crossover parts within the sign path. Removing the resistors, inductors, capacitors, and lengthy speaker cables between the amplifier and driver could also be accountable for the Vantage Live’s presence and immediacy. Significantly, the Vantage Live didn’t exhibit the traits I affiliate with some Class D amplifiers—a form of “chalky” whiteness overlaying timbres. I’ve, nevertheless, not heard the most recent and finest switching amplifiers, however I perceive that they’ve made nice progress just lately. Our Steven Stone, in his overview of the Bel Canto Ref 600M monoblocks [Issue 268] proclaimed these amps to be of reference high quality. Hearing Bel Canto’s amplifiers within the Vantage Live, with out crossover components within the sign path, has elevated my view of switching-amplifier expertise.

The benefit of connecting the loudspeaker driver on to the ability amplifier output terminals is especially useful within the bass, the place Class D amplification excels. Removing the massive collection inductor of an analog crossover within the woofer circuit permits the amplifier to take iron-fisted management over the motion of the woofer cone, each by advantage of the Class D design (together with its vanishingly low output impedance) and the direct connection between amp and speaker driver with no intervening crossover parts. You can hear these technical benefits within the Vantage Live’s bass, which is tuneful, prolonged, and exact in pitch and dynamics. The sealed enclosure, coupled with the Class D amplification, confers a way of readability in bass traces. The Vantage Live could be very resolving within the bass, clearly revealing the begins and stops of notes, in addition to their pitch and texture. The backside finish is the antithesis of thick, sluggish, and confused. I actually loved this facet of the Vantage Live. Ray Brown’s acoustic instrument on Soular Energy, Ernest Tubbs’ electrical bass on the brand new Simon Phillips album Protocol V, and the double-bass part of the orchestra on The Arnold Overtures [Reference Recordings 192/24] have been all exemplary, with each notice clearly articulated. Moreover, the Vantage Live has excellent dynamic agility within the backside finish, with sudden assaults, speedy decays, and extensive dynamic swings. These sonic traits add as much as a musical presentation with a robust rhythmic drive, or what the British name PRaT (“tempo, rhythm, and timing”). This bass readability was coupled with a heat and weight, a pleasant mixture that gives a powerful rhythmic and harmonic basis for the music. A superb instance is the big-band association (with a Hammond B-3) of Stevie Wonder’s “I Wish” by Dave Seibels with Gordon Goodwin’s Big Phat Band. The Vantage Live’s bass solidity, taut pitch definition, and easy dynamics mixed to make this observe rhythmically highly effective and thrilling. The advanced instrumental traces remained coherent at excessive ranges quite than congealing. This observe revealed many virtues of the Vantage Live, but additionally its considerably unforgiving character within the treble. This recording is a bit shiny—the higher harmonics of the brass and woodwinds are on the steely facet, and the cymbals are a bit scorching. The Vantage Live isn’t a speaker that glosses over or softens these overly shiny recordings.

To provide you with my uncooked, in-the-moment impressions of the Vantage Live, I’m going to incorporate my verbatim listening notes in regards to the observe “Cousin Dupree” from Steely Dan’s Two Against Nature. This is a spectacular recording, and one which reveals a lot about many points of an audio system’s efficiency. This is what I wrote in my notes the second simply after this observe ended: “Something totally different about this speaker; readability, pristine, crystalline. Every musical line clearly resolved. Background vocals so simply audible quite than hinted at or as an undifferentiated sound. Massive dynamic pace and snap. Very punchy. Powerful rhythmic drive. Huge stage, wider than it’s deep. Upbeat, alive, and vivid. Great readability of instrumental line.”

The Vantage Live performs far greater than its dimension suggests, in some ways. Spatially, the Vantage Live throws a large and deep soundstage—strive The Cowboys Overture from John Williams on the Movies [Reference Recordings 192/24], for instance. The Vantage Live was notable for the best way it threw a tangible soundstage even after I was sitting off-axis. The picture didn’t collapse as I moved to the facet, an essential consideration for 2 (or extra) particular person listening. The speaker additionally sounds greater than its dimension within the bass, with a solidity and extension extra in step with a lot bigger audio system. Similarly, the Vantage Live performed huge dynamically, with a startling physicality on kick drum and the large brass tuttis of the John Williams album, for examples.

I used to be pleasantly stunned by the Vantage Live’s efficiency with streaming (Tidal and Qobuz), however utterly greatly surprised by how good it sounded taking part in vinyl. The Vantage Live’s controller digitizes analog indicators, together with phono indicators. I don’t know what alchemy is in Vantage Live’s controller chassis, however vinyl sounded shockingly nice by means of the Vantage Live. In earlier merchandise I’ve auditioned that digitize phono indicators, the losses have been vital—reductions of air and area, truncation of the soundstage, discount in immediacy, and a hardness overlaying midrange and treble textures. I pulled out all probably the most difficult LPs that I do know intimately and was repeatedly shocked by the Vantage Live’s efficiency with vinyl. Satchmo Plays King Oliver, the traditional direct-to-disc For Duke, MoFi One-Step pressings of Yes’ Fragile or Santana’s Abraxis, Phoebe Snow’s first album on an outstanding Analogue Productions 45rpm remaster—you get the concept. The eerie sense of area and presence on “St. James Infirmary” from Satchmo Plays King Oliver wasn’t foreshortened, and the cymbal crash on the finish hung in area with out being truncated and with no added grunge. These spectacular LPs, all made out of pure analog sources, nonetheless sounded spectacular by means of the Vantage Live and its phonostage, regardless of the analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog conversions. The high quality of the Vantage Live’s phono part says a lot in regards to the product’s ambition as a severe various to a component-based system.

Conclusion

YG Acoustics’ $59,800 Vantage Live built-in system is a daring enterprise into comparatively uncharted territory. Will audiophiles quit the power to combine and match parts, improve a single product, audition totally different cables, and tailor a system to their tastes for the comfort of an all-in-one bundle? Will music lovers who’re turned off by the complexity of element audio embrace a $60k system? Those questions have but to be answered. It shall be attention-grabbing to study whether or not the Vantage Live is a industrial success.

There’s no query, nevertheless, as to the Vantage Live’s high-end credentials. This is a system that wants no apology for its comfort or any equivocation when describing its sound high quality. In reality, this new YG system’s structure confers some excellent sonic qualities together with excellent bass definition and a midrange with a startling sense of readability and immediacy. The Vantage Live seems like a full-fledged high-quality system that simply occurs to supply ease of setup, is easy to make use of every day, is comparatively unobtrusive, and has good-looking beauty.

That sounds to me like a recipe for bringing high-end audio values and efficiency to a wholly new viewers.

Specs & Pricing

Vantage Live Loudspeakers
Type: Tri-amped powered loudspeaker with integral streaming and digital-to-analog conversion
Driver complement: BilletCore 8.75″ woofer, BilletCore 7.25″ mid-woofer, ForgeCore dome tweeter
Loading: Sealed
Crossover: DSP
Frequency response: 25Hz–30kHz
Phase deviation: ±2º over audio bandwidth
Integral amplification: 3x 700W per speaker; 0.001THD+N from 20Hz–20kHz at half peak energy; 135dB signal-to-noise ratio unweighted referenced to peak energy; 93% effectivity at peak energy; 1.5m ohm output impedance
DACs: Three per loudspeaker, 126dB dynamic vary
Finishes: Anodized ChromALure, high-gloss paint, customized finishes accessible
Dimensions: 13″ x 44″ x 54″
Weight: 176 lbs. every, internet

Vantage Live Controller
Digital inputs: USB, TosLink, SPDIF (BNC), AES/EBU
Digital codecs supported: Up to 192kHz/24-bit on AES/EBU, SPDIF, and TosLink; as much as DSD128 and PCM 192kHz/24-bit on USB (DoP); MQA decoding, Roon Endpoint
Network: Ethernet, Wi-Fi (dongle included)
Analog inputs: Two line, one phono
Phono enter sensitivity: 2.5mV to 5mV (mm); 0.25mV to 0.5mV (mc)
Phono loading: 47k ohms (mm); 50, 100, 500, 1k ohms (mc)
RIAA accuracy: ±0.25dB 50Hz–15kHz
Phono signal-to-noise ratio: >70dB A-weighted
Digital outputs: Left/right-channel digital outputs on ST-Type optical jacks
Analog outputs: One line degree (to drive powered subwoofer)
Processing: Selectable second-order high-pass filter for principal output used with a subwoofer; subwoofer achieve; bass tilt adjustment
Remote: Metal hand-held
System management: SEEK music-management app; Roon (requires Roon subscription)
Integration: RS232
Dimensions: 15.7″ x 3.7″ x 12.4″
Weight: 19.2 lbs.
System worth: $59,800

The publish YG Acoustics Vantage Live appeared first on The Absolute Sound.

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Wilson Audio’s Chronosonic XVX vs. Alexia V | Robert Harley Previews

Posted on March 21, 2023 by Robert Harley

Peter McGrath joins Robert Harley as they evaluate and distinction the Chronosonic XVX and the Alexia V forward of Robert’s upcoming evaluation in The Absolute Sound Magazine.

The put up Wilson Audio’s Chronosonic XVX vs. Alexia V | Robert Harley Previews appeared first on The Absolute Sound.

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Wilson Audio’s Chronosonic XVX vs. Alexia V | Robert Harley Previews

Posted on March 21, 2023 by Robert Harley

Peter McGrath joins Robert Harley as they examine and distinction the Chronosonic XVX and the Alexia V forward of Robert’s upcoming assessment in The Absolute Sound Magazine.

The submit Wilson Audio’s Chronosonic XVX vs. Alexia V | Robert Harley Previews appeared first on The Absolute Sound.

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