MBL wows as soon as once more

“MBL all the time sounds nice at exhibits” is an axiom so typically repeated that it may function an audiophile mantra, but it surely precisely describes the expertise of listening to a full-range, air-filled presentation that, in Munich, was open, alive, and simply plain fabulous. For this, no small thanks are due Jeremy Bryan of MBL-North America and Jürgen Reis, the MBL engineer praised by John Atkinson and a number of different trade individuals who know high quality once they encounter it.

MBL’s programs at Munich and AXPONA each dared to combine the brand new Cadenza "entry-level," Roon Ready C41 Network Player with quantity management ($11,100) with larger stage merchandise. The C41 makes use of MBL’s proprietary Core Volume Control Technology, which is designed to not contact the information stream as not less than some digital quantity controls are wont to. The firm additionally claims that it has not one of the noise and distortion related to any preamp.

The C41 despatched sign to a pair of 9011 mono amplifiers ($128,200/pair) and a pair of 9008 A monoblocks ($78,200/pair). Together, these monoblock pairs drove the MBL Radialstrahler 101 X-Treme MKII loudspeaker system with new energetic subwoofer stacks ($398,000/pair). Cabling was Wireworld Eclipse Series copper.

The C41 makes use of MBL “True Peak expertise"—that is MBL’s method to coping with intersample clipping (aka intersample overs)—and might play PCM information as much as 24/192 and DSD to DSD64. It features a VFD show and provides playback from Roon, UPnP/DLNA, and Audirvana and streaming from smartphone by way of Airplay/Shareport. The C41 will quickly be capable to play web radio and stream from Tidal, Qobuz, and Spotify. In addition to its community enter, the C41 provides S/PDIF, AES3, and USB-B inputs; its outputs embrace S/PDIF (RCA), XLR, and RCA.

Fingers are crossed that when MBL releases its Noble line streamer, I’ll have the chance to assessment it.

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May 21, 2024 at 08:48PM