Category: Uncategorized

Naim renouvelle sa gamme UNITI

new-unitiLa nouvelle gamme Uniti est composée de trois systèmes tout-en-un et un serveur audio. Le Uniti Nova et le Uniti Atom sont des modèles combinant un lecteur réseau avec un amplificateur intégré. Ils vous permettent de brancher un disque dur USB ou une carte SD ce qui vous donne la possibilité de stocker 20,000 pièces de musique. Le Uniti Star est un appareil très versatile, réunissant lecteur CD et fonctions streaming audio avec un amplificateur intégré de 70W/canal. Le lecteur CD peut servir également de copieur (ripper), permettant ainsi de dématérialiser vos CD et de les stocker sur un disque dur ou carte SD.

Chacun des ces appareils est muni d’un large écran LCD couleur à rétro-éclairage LED, qui affiche les différents menus, pochettes d’albums et informations sur la piste audio écoutée. De plus, la nouvelle gamme Uniti offre l’intégration des protocoles Google Cast Audio, Apple AirPlay, Spotify Connect ou DLNA, absolument tous les services de streaming peuvent être écoutés dans des conditions de qualité et de confort maximales. Chaque lecteur peut fonctionner séparément ou en association avec d’autres appareils. Il vous suffit d’ajouter des enceintes pour laisser votre musique s’exprimer pleinement chez vous, dans n’importe quelle pièce.

Le serveur audio Uniti Core, véritable référence dans le secteur, vient compléter cette gamme. Il vous permet de copier tous vos CD et de les stocker sur un disque dur interne ( compatible de 1To à 8To ) pour ensuite les partager avec un ou plusieurs lecteurs réseau. Il peut aussi être relié directement à un convertisseur numérique/analogue.

“It saved him”

Hello et bonjour,

Let’s admit it: we are all virgins. That’s right. This is my virgin voyage into the world of blogging. I keep on being pulled in the direction of an experience that I have had with a client and the words he had expressed to me about music and the listening enjoyment of music that touched me deeply and vindicated me being in this profession.

Looking back on one’s life, we can string together times, people, events that have brought us to where we are today.

In my teenage years, I would listen to a large European table top radio to CHOM and be seduced by the rock music of the 70’s. I would put my ear up to the speaker the hear every last bit of definition that radio could muster. I would be in another world. Later on when I had my first decent sound system (Thorens TD126 mk111, Conrad Johnson tube preamp, Accustat X tube amp self powered electrostatic speakers) I discovered that my moods, feelings, and room atmosphere were and could be altered by the music I played. This brings me to my point. This aforementioned client is a native Canadian and a distinguished gentleman, audiophile and a lover of music. After a few transactions, he confided in me that a few years ago, his wife had passed on and he was alone, and very sad but he was drawn to listening to music and in his words, “it saved him”. The man impressed me with his confidence honesty and open forthright manner when he opened up his inner self to me. “It saved him”. With all of life’s ups and downs, what a powerful tool music can be to get you through the good times and bad.

Well that’s it. My message in this bottle: listen to music that you like and let it take you to a higher plain. It makes life so much more enjoyable when it is interwoven through our day.

Until next time

Issie

Le DAC / Préampli Chord DAVE impressionne à nouveau

“If you’re looking for the best DAC money can buy, the DAVE is a superb place to start. We haven’t heard anything that sounds so natural or insightful.”
DAV-headphoneIt doesn’t take more than a few seconds of listening to realise that the DAVE is something special.
It just sounds so right from the beginning that it genuinely takes effort to even try to deconstruct its performance. When we did, we found a formidable array of talents with no discernable weaknesses.
Soundstaging is excellent. It is precise, layered and neatly arranged. More than that it’s stable, even when the music turns demanding. The tonal balance is similarly impressive being even-handed and utterly convincing.
No part of the frequency range gets undue preference and there’s a lovely balance between attack and refinement.
It’s the DAC’s dynamic ability that impresses us most with this piece. Not only does this DAC thump out crescendos with conviction, but it also goes from loud to quiet and back again with a grace and fluidity we have rarely heard from a DAC before.
It paints music with class leading naturalness that makes most rivals sound mechanical and restrained in comparison.
We notice the excellent sound staging with this recording too, though it’s the DAVE’s excellent rhythmic ability that really stands out. It is truly terrific in this respect, delivering the timing relationships between the individual instruments brilliantly.
If you’re looking for the best DAC money can buy, the DAVE is a superb place to start. We haven’t heard anything that sounds so natural or insightful. — What Hi-Fi?, Five Star Award, June 2016

Le convertisseur Chord DAVE recoit le prestigieux “Outstanding Product Award” de HiFi News

Dave-Web-Res-4-687x515It doesn’t take much time with DAVE to realize that the sound here is every bit as impressive as all the clever stuff under the hood…  every bit of that technical finesse is translated into the most remarkable music-making ability, whether with CD-quality files or content pushing the upper limits of today’s high-resolution offerings.
What struck me immediately was that DAVE ‘does’ piano, a notoriously difficult instrument to reproduce in any manner corresponding even slightly to the experience of sitting close to one being played in anger. I was immediately taken by the sheer scale and power of the instruments center-stage, to the point where one could hear the impact of hammer on string, the shifting of the dampers, everything.
And wow, is this DAC both weighty and fast, capable of growling out the deepest bass notes while simultaneously untroubled by the speed and complexity of rhythms – traits as well suited to trio jazz as they are to large scale orchestral works.
Simply, DAVE delivers remarkable instrumental timbres and detail, as for example when running in DSD+ mode to play the Cleveland Orchestra/Szell program of Wagner orchestral highlights in DSD64. These recordings sound just glorious with beautiful fluidity and bite, room-shaking dynamics, and shiver-inducing timbre and texture to that Wagnerian brass in the Gotterdammerung Prelude.
‘Revelatory’ is a pretty strong term to describe a piece of hi-fi equipment, but that’s just what Chord’s DAVE is. Furthermore, while most of my listening was via the USB input from my dedicated Mac Mini, it’s just as striking when fed via the optical or coaxial inputs, and offers a remarkably good headphone amp into the bargain, with that crossfeed facility effective in making the sound much less ‘in the head’.
A rare high score for Chord’s DAVE, but this is no ordinary digital-to-analog converter. From the handcrafted quality of its casework to the sheer quantity of proprietary engineering within, this is a standard-setting product, and when you hear it in action all that hard work – and the price – is more than justified by a scintillating performance. From lab to listening room, this is an outstanding product.
By any standards, this is a remarkable piece of equipment, but is it the best DAC you can buy right now? On this showing, I wouldn’t bet against it. — Andrew Everard, Hi-Fi News April 2016, Outstanding Product Award

La Spendor D7 continue de récolter les éloges

La Spendor D7 est accordée “2016 Editor’s Choice Award” par le magazine américain The Absolute Sound.

D7_bb_SDSpendor’s neo-classic 48″ tower is superbly finished, and sonically offers up-front energy, near full-range frequency response, and high dynamic potency. On balance and to the D7’s credit, it sounds much closer to a true three-way than to a 2.5-way in that it maintains a near constant level of tonal stability and dynamic drive through the midband—a feat that most 2.5-ways struggle to achieve. It’s the rare loudspeaker at any price that touches all the bases for every set of ears, but the reasonably priced D7 comes very close in many areas. — The Absolute Sound, Editor’s Choice Awards 2016

ATC Loudspeakers maintenant chez Codell

scm 19Depuis plus de 40 ans, la société britannique ATC se spécialise dans la conception et la fabrication de haut-parleurs de monitoring destinés aux professionnels du son. Les transducteurs et moniteurs de studio ATC sont parmis les plus renommés de la planète. Mark Knopfler, Roger Waters, Ray Lamontagne, David Gilmour, Diana Krall, Sting, Doug Sax, Bob Ludwig, Studio Telarc, Dolby Labs et la BBC comptent parmis les clients ATC. Durant les années 80, ATC introduit une gamme d’enceintes destinée aux audiophiles sérieux. Les modèles SCM 11, SCM 19 et SCM 40 sont considérés parmi les meilleurs rapports qualité/prix que l’on puisse trouver sur le marché.

A superb and superbly defined midrange, overall tonal neutrality, broad-shouldered micro- and macro-dynamics are all in evidence. …seamless inter-driver coherence. Simply one of the best compacts N. G. Has heard” — The Absolute Sound 2015 Editor’s Choice Award Winner.

Stereophile 2014 Editor’s Choice Award Winner.

” This is a killer product.” — Hi-Fi Choice.

Les leaders en streaming

klimax dsCodell Audio est fier de vous offrir les deux leaders en matière de streaming. Linn Products et Naim Audio sont les leaders indéniables en matière de streaming en réseau. Ces deux constructeurs présentent une gamme de lecteurs de musique en réseau résolument tournée vers la qualité de restitution et destiné à tirer le meilleur parti de la musique dématérialisée et des enregistrements haute définition de qualité studio master. Ces deux compagnies offrent aussi des applications de contrôle très conviviales et complètement naim_NDSabouties.

Quel est le meilleur ? À vous de juger !

Linn Krystal

Deux ans de développements auront été nécessaires à l’élaboration de la nouvelle cellule dérivée de Kandid: Krystal. Elle en reprend certains principes pour transmettre les moindres fluctuations qui donnent ce groove à la musique et vous permettent d’entendre tous les détails. Dépourvue d’habillage dans le but d’en minimiser la masse, elle dispose d’une pointe de lecture en diamant intégral. Ce dernier, conçu pour réagir plus rapidement aux moindre Linn_Krystal-1reliefs du sillon, améliore le couplage par rapport à une pointe de diamant collée au bout d’une tige métallique. La plaque de montage en aluminium de qualité aéronautique 7075 est en trois points pour un excellent couplage avec le bras et procure une plateforme stable au générateur. Même l’adhésif a été sujet de nombreux essais pour offrir un couplage le moins amorti possible. Cette cellule constitue une excellente mise à jour pour tous et tout spécialement ceux possesseur d’une platine Majik ou Akurate.

Mu-so Qb

Qb jpg (139x150) (130x140)Le son vous appelle. Découvrez Mu-so Qb, le dernier-né de la famille de produits sans fil primés Mu-so. Mu-so Qb partage le même ADN que Mu-so, avec un caisson compact au design intuitif. Contrôlé par un cerveau audio très puissant, Mu-so Qb est animé par des fonctions sur mesure intégralement mises au point dans nos laboratoires audio de Salisbury, en Angleterre. Une véritable prouesse en matière d’ingénierie du son. À la fois simple à contrôler et facile à connecter, Mu-so Qb délivre une impressionnante puissance de 300 watts, pour révéler votre musique avec un son surprenant pour un lecteur aussi compact. Sa connectivité de pointe mais pourtant simple à utiliser inclut Airplay, Bluetooth®/aptX®, Spotify Connect®, TIDAL, UPnP™ (accès à votre musique enregistrée), radio Internet, USB, entrées analogiques et numériques, application Apple iOS et Android pour un contrôle parfait. Vous pouvez aussi combiner Mu-so Qb, Mu-so et d’autresQb (220x54) streamers Naim pour créer l’expérience multipièces ultime. Pour cela, il suffit de synchroniser les unités afin qu’elles lisent le même titre au bit près jusque dans 5 pièces différentes. En promo pour $1299.

Casques HiFiMan

” HiFiMan’s flagship HE-6 planar-magnetic headphone is editionx_00
one of the most accurate, detailed, and revealing headphones Playback has ever reviewed. …this headphone offers stunning bass, smooth yet ultra-articulate mids, and spectacularly detailed and extended highs, and it handles dynamics with both sensitivity and swagger. By comparison to the HE-6, competing headphones often seem to leave important bits and pieces of musical information behind.” The Absolute Sound.

“The HE-6 offer a neutral tonal balance, exceptional transient speed, extremely high resolution, plus a quality of musical “soulfulness”. The HE-6 comes ever so close to matching the resolution of Audeze’s more expensive LCD3 and does so while offering what some consider more accurate overall timbre. …The HE-6 enjoys a reputation as a “must-hear” top-end model (arguably one of the three or four best headphones available).” The Absolute Sound.

” HiFiMan’s HE-500 is one of the greatest headphones on today’s market and its a steal.” The Absolute Sound.

“Headphonedom has gained territory this past year and a half, and a new state of play exists: World-Class, commercially available, planar magnetic headphones. HiFiMAN’s HE-500 sit at a high point for all the kingdom to hear. It is a masterwork of development, and a siren call attracting those who desire the extraordinary richness of bass, crystal-clear highs, and coherent glorious body between that these cans deliver.” — Inner Fidelity.

“In the realm of planar headphones, the HE-400’s represent a tremendous bargain. Not only have they lowered the cost of acquiring a pair of planar headphones, they have designed them in such a way that you don’t need to spend even more money on an amplifier capable of driving them. Their ability to deliver beautiful music from smaller power sources is downright impressive. Highly recommended!” — Home Theater and High Fidelity.

“…these (HE-400) are my current favorites in the sub-$500 range.” Head Hi-Fi.

“I was totally knocked out by the sound of the first Hifiman headphone, the HE-5, and in fact preferred it over all of the much more expensive, and better known high-end headphones, like the Audio Technica ATH-W5000, Denon AH-D7000, Sennheiser HD 800, Grado PS-1000, and Ultrasone Edition 8 I had on hand for direct comparison.” Cnet.

“If you’ve been reading Playback for a while, you will know that we hold HiFiMAN planar magnetic headphones in pretty high regard. No manufacturer is perfect, but HiFiMAN has managed to impress in its short time on the scene (or maybe because of it, since they seem to be trying very hard to get it right).” — AV Guide.