Articles, Reviews and Measurements of Audio Products

This is a review and detailed measurements of the Schiit Skoll balanced phono preamplifier. It was sent to me by the company and costs US $399.

Touch controls select everything from loading of the input (resistance and capacitance) to input type (RCA or XLR), gain and filtering. A remote control is supposed to come with to let you do this remotely but my box had none in it. Back panel shows what is unusual about this phono stage:

XLRs for input and output! Love that as in this day and age, most systems also have computer connectivity for streaming and that is just asking for ground loop. So even if you don't need it in a phono stage, it is a very good idea from system perspective.

Power is provided through a hefty AC...

Here is the companion video review of the Schiit Midgard headphone amplifier. It is rather short (for me ) at 15 minutes.


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This is a review, listening tests and detailed measurements of the Schiit Midgard balanced headphone amplifier and preamp. It was sent to me by the company and costs US $219.

While I am not a fan of the symbols Schiit uses instead of proper labels, there are only two to learn which is no big deal (input and gain). Both XLR and 1/4 are provided by power output remains the same. Company says the XLR output is superior due to inclusion of the load in the feedback loop. The design is discrete.

Back panel has what you expect:

Power switch forever seems to stay in the back on Schiit products despite lower usability.

Schiit Midgard Headphone Amp Measurements
For testing I focused on XLR input but did test both 1/4 and XLR outputs. Here...

This is a review, listening tests, EQ and detailed measurements of the Nan-7 open-back planar magnetic headphone. It is on kind loan from a member and costs US $940.

The headphone is quite comfortable to wear. Alas, it doesn't feel well to touch. All those stats and edges of just about everything is sharp. This made an already difficult job of swapping pads even more annoying (see below). The adjustment of the headband is the worst I have seen with major difficulty trying to raise or lower the cups. Company needs to really pay attention to deburring and general smoothing of machined/cut parts.

I was also not a fan of the balanced XLR cable as it is very stiff and heavy. A more manageable 4.4mm cable comes with it as well. You are provided no less than three sets of pads. The largest ones were on it and they did not fit quite well in the case insert, showing a crease.

Testing was...

AES conference program is finally available. I thought I post it for members to see what the buzz is about and whether there are any talks of interest: https://aesny23.sched.com/



You might see some familiar names there from ASR.

I am especially interested in the talk about B&K 5128 headphone preference curves/listening tests. Author had contacted me in advance about it.

This is a review, listening tests and detailed measurements of the Weiss DAC501 balanced DAC, headphone amp and network renderer. It is on kind loan from a member and costs US $9995.

The case is fine enough but not nearly so for what it costs. Stamped steel should have no place in this price range. The LCD is decent size but not very high resolution. It is touch sensitive but wasn't easy to navigate using that. It uses inverse scrolling in that to move the menus up, you rotate the knob to the left, not right. Fortunately a remote control is provided which allows quick random access to inputs and such. Back panel shows what you would expect as far as connectivity:


What distinguishes this streamer becomes visible once you...

This is a review, listening test and detailed measurements of the Meyer Sound Amie Studio (active) monitor speaker. It is on kind loan from a member and costs US $4,080 each (sold in pairs?).

The deep, horn like waveguide sets the speaker apart from its competitors. The large throat of the port and larger than normal enclosure (relative to its woofer) imparts similar feeling. Speaker is not that heavy despite having a large heatsink on the back:

As you see, or rather don't, there is only a balanced input and speakon type connector for power. There are no controls for gain, bass, treble, etc. I am fine and actually happy with the latter two but did wish to have a gain setting. Driving the speaker at 0 dbu on the first test, I nearly jumped out of my chair in how loud the...

This is a review and detailed measurements of the Buckeye NC252MP balanced stereo class D amplifier. It was kindly drop shipped to me by a member and costs US $575.

The amp is almost the size of a loaf of bread and literally weighs nearly as much! Amazing how far amplification technology has come. The package is made to be economical and intended to be heard than seen. Back panel is what you expect to see with notable inclusion of trigger input to automatically power the amp from the source:



If you are not familiar with the tests that are about to follow, please watch my video on understanding amplifier measurements.

Buckeye NC252MP Amplifier Measurements
We start with our 5 watt dashboard...

This is a review and detailed measurements of the RSL C34E MKII architectural, home theater speaker. I purchased it for testing and costs US $149.

Please excuse the stock picture. Speaker is still on an ugly baffle on Klippel NFS. As this type of speaker goes, the C34E MKII is lighter than others I have tested. Instead of one large and heavy woofer, two smaller mid-woofers are deployed at an angle. I was not a fan of the rotating tabs in the back as they did not extend past the edge of the rim. This means if you cut your hole a bit too big, they won't bite. There is a diagram that I think shows you can rotate them but I did not mess with that.

Measurements are performed without the grill using the "baffle" mode of Klippel NFS where the system computationally eliminates the back wave and diffraction from edge of my mounting board. The result is...

This is a review and detailed measurements of the Revel C783 in-ceiling speaker. Was kindly sent to me new by a member and costs US $ 660 each.

You are seeing the speaker as mounted in my temporary MDF baffle for measurements. There are two switches to control level of bass and treble (I measured the former). It said tweeter is adjustable but I did not try and tested it head on.

Usually the mounting screws are threaded to the tab behind so relatively easy to tighten. Not here. They were thread forming (into plastic) so took fair bit of power to screw them in. That by itself is not a big deal but there is always the danger of the screwdriver slipping and tearing up the woofer. And it is not fun doing this on while working on the ceiling., I had to find the right phillips screwdriver so that it would not slip. Otherwise, speaker seems well made and comes with magnetic grills.

Making...