High End Audio

Price around $2500 /prInfo

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For the last eight months I have listened to my system transform before my ears, as I have used progressively higher levels of High Fidelity Cables as Rick Schultz, proprietor, made them available to me. (CT-1 interconnects, October 2012; CT-1E phono and interconnects, February, 2013; CT-1 and CT-1E speaker cables, May, 2013.)  During this time I have learned more about how these cables work and sound.  There are a couple of things I want to say before the review of the Ultimate version of the CT-1 interconnects and speaker cables. First, I expect this to be the last cable review I write for some time.  I have spent far more time reviewing cables in the last year than I would ever want to do again.  The only reason I have been willing to do this leads to the second thing I want to say.  That is, I believe that Rick Schultz’s Magnetic Conduction Technology is truly a game changer for what audio reproduction systems can sound like.  Likewise, I think Mark Coles’ Sablon cables redefine what a non-Magnetic Conduction cable can do at a reasonable price. Rick holds the pending patent (U.S. Pat. No. 8,272,876) on “Magnetically Enhanced Electrical Signal Conduction Apparatus and Methods,” or “magnetic conduction” as Rick puts it simply.  You can read his simplified explanation at http://www.highfidelitycables.com/technology.html. He says the magnetic system allows the signal to flow more easily through the system resulting in much less distortion, a significant increase in information, and with proper breaking-in, a much fuller sound. Rick says to appreciate the impact of Magnetic Conduction technology, it is important to understand that an electrical signal is always accompanied by a magnetic field.  It is the use of this magnetic element of signal transfer that makes the CT-1 fundamentally different from other cables.  In the case of High Fidelity Cables, the electrical signal is strongly induced to follow a magnetic field by use of High Fidelity Cable’s “Magnetic Mapping” process, which does “align’ magnetic poles at each end of the cable in a proprietary and directed way so as to “draw” the electrical signal through the conductor.  In effect, he uses the magnetism to keep the electrical signal flow aligned with each other and to minimize the random pathways for electrons within and along the conductor.  With this technology, the entire cable is directionally magnetized to promote signal transfer. I have described the unusually long RCA plugs in my review of the CT-1s.  I called them the best RCAs ever and over the last six months using Rick’s cables, I still feel that way. What I did not know at the time is that each of these long RCA jack have 52 individual parts, all of Rick’s custom design, on the inside. The center pin of the RCA has a bulge at the end called a “PinLok,” that assures a very tight fit into the RCA jack. Each end of the company’s cable has different pole magnets to increase the flow of the signal down the signal path.  The Ultimate also has large tubes of magnets in the signal path, but you will not find traditional copper, silver, or even gold wire in the High Fidelity Cables.  Instead, you will find a highly permeable alloy called “Mu metal” and this is also part of Rick’s patent. The post High Fidelity Cables – CT-1 Ultimate Cables appeared first on Dagogo.

When I first became interested in higher-end audio I read magazine reviews.  Being in Canada one of the more readily attainable magazines was UHF Magazine based in Quebec, which is still going strong.  Their advice column always stressed the importance of source first.  No matter how good the amplifier or speakers they can’t fix problems with a poor source.  While it always made logical sense it was a difficult thing to compare when browsing at the local dealer, because most of the time all of the equipment is unfamiliar and it is difficult to assess which component is responsible for which strength or weakness. Speaker hunting is another particularly difficult process because many will cross speakers off their list for being bright, or not having a good soundstage or any other host of reasons which may in fact be the fault of the source and/or amplifier.  We’ve all seen the shoddy treatment of speakers at big box chains.  Several fairly good budget speakers have no doubt been lost in the sea of switch boxes and the dreaded wall of loudspeakers demoed in terrible A/B comparisons, cloying for attention with levels not remotely matched.  Whichever the dealer wants to sell that week will usually be the one with the tilted up treble or bass. Hong Kong’s audio shops fall into those type of stores as well, unfortunately.  With space being limited there are stores with perhaps ten to twenty pairs of loudspeakers all sitting side by side or behind one another in a room that is probably a generous  18′ X 20′.  They do what they can when you want to audition something  putting the speakers up in the front and you choose whichever amp you want to audition; at least they don’t use a switch box.  Still, such auditions really are for folks who plan to buy something they read a review of in a magazine and that looks good.  They then go through the motion of auditioning the product and confirm that it’s good and hand over their credit card. The problem is that you really can’t glean much of anything from such auditions because with all the sympathetic vibrations from the other loudspeakers, coupled with all the surrounding interference such auditions are on par if not worse than going to an audio show.  Indeed, under show conditions you generally have manufacturer reps setting the gear up properly and rarely have more than one or two pairs of speakers in the room. So why the preamble?  Well it’s to illustrate that a lot of otherwise fine loudspeakers may in fact be just as viable as the speaker I ended up buying, but manufacturers seem fine with allowing their speakers to be sold in places that can’t demonstrate their products in the best light, or even a good light.  So many of these speakers  were cut from my list early simply because there was no way for me to hear what they were capable of, and while I am a reviewer I can’t bring in fifty pairs of loudspeakers to determine if the “coal” I heard in the store is in fact a diamond with proper set up.  And while some of these speakers have good reviews, the sad fact is most gear gets good reviews so it’s very difficult for readers to truly separate the “truly good” from the gear that merely gets “good reviews.” (Dagogo Reviewers solicit and welcome products that interest them.  I, in turn, am aware of each reviewer’s preference and avoid getting them products that they don’t like.  It’s not hard to predict the outcome of a review by getting a reviewer known for his penchant for single-driver speakers a pair of 5-driver, 3-way speakers to review. -Pub.) With that out of the way, a lot of mainstream loudspeakers that get nice write ups in various publications were crossed off my list.  Some speakers for example are quite nice budget speakers but were in truly abysmal displays such as being placed on glass shelves at head level (while standing) connected to very cheap, ro

True to the motto “After the HIGH END is before the HIGH END”, the course has already been set for the next HIGH END show and the dates have now been fixed: 15 to 18 May 2014 in the MOC Munich. You can read Hifi Pig’s final show report here and other coverage of Munich High End and other Hifi Shows around the world here

BOSS GT-6 - Knob Feel ReviewHere is a little slice of Knob Gold! It’s true what people have been telling me, the equipment that is made for musical production is a lot better quality than the reproduction equipment. The Knobs on the BOSS GT-6 are beautifully smooth to turn. Zero Axial Skew too. The little Selector Knobs are still smooth but also precise. The spinner is just a little guilty pleasure now. This seems like a genre I might spend a bit of time in until some new HI-FI comes around! (by KnobFeel)

I had to jump through a bunch of hoops to get this list of options for an export.... enjoy!dave

Audiohead has posted a review of the AURALiC Vega Digital Audio Processor ($350). His conclusions: “The Auralic Vega is very meticulous piece of equipment, every “t” is crossed, and every “i”... Visit the Ultra High-End Audio and Home Theater Review for more...

Auralic is a China-based company focused on the upper end of digital audio.  In addition to producing some very fine amps and pre amps, the company also designs balanced headphone...

The loudspeaker designer's art has changed radically over the past 20 years. Although the goals are largely the same, today's designer employs tools and techniques unimaginable two decades ago. Computer modeling, powerful and affordable FFT machines, and sophisticated new driver technologies are just a few of the advantages enjoyed by the modern designer.