Articles, Reviews and Measurements of Audio Products

This is a review and detailed measurements of the Topping B100 "monoblock" amplifier. It was sent to me by the company and costs US $299.

I was surprised by the desktop/low profile of the amplifier. I expected something a lot taller/chunkier especially since this is a class B amplifier and not class D. Power supply is of course external:

Nice to see balanced input, three gain settings and trigger input.

The front panel power button is touch sensitive. You have to learn to just touch and remove your finger for it to power on. When it goes into protection, you have to hold it until error codes disappear and then touch again for powering up.

A wish for a follow up version is a series of tall color LED bars going from left to right for visual enjoyment. Kind of like...

This is a review, listening tests, equalization and detailed measurements of the Bang & Olufsen Beosound Balance wireless speaker. It was kindly drop shipped by a member and costs US $3,299.

The Balance doesn't deviate much from the typical look of these speakers but does manage to feel/look luxurious. Importantly, it is substantially heavier than any other smart speaker I have tested, bringing hopes of higher playback volumes and bass response. I was pleased to find good connectivity including analog input which I used for measurements (does away with latency of wireless connection):

I do wish the ports were labeled however. The info is in the manual but that is also hard to read with every paragraph written in what seemed like a dozen different languages.

The design is complex as you can see from this picture...

This is a review and detailed measurements of the Denon DCD-SA1.



As I already wrote in my previous reviews, I like testing CD Players, especially older ones. This is one more proof. My firs review of the Onkyo C-733 here contains information about my measurements which I try to align with the AES standard. It means that, over time, you can compare the devices I reviewed.

This is my first review of an SACD player, but really my interest is into CD Players, so that’s an exception I made as I needed to know what SACD (and its DSD format) had to offer.

Denon DCD-SA1 - Presentation

Released in 2005, nearly 20 years ago, it was top of the line CD/SACD player at a staggering price (7’000€+ in Europe). This player is one of those “statements” from the big Japanese names, as they like to produce...

This is a review and detailed measurements of the Jerry Harvey / JH Audio custom made IEM. It was kindly donated to the forum by a member and cost starts at US $2,299.


The multidriver IEM feels quite substantial. I was pleasantly surprised in how well it fit my measurement artificial ear. Alas, my own ears were not so fortunate as I could not even get them to stay there let alone seal. So no listening tests for this review.

I am told these were "the" go-to custom IEM for live music until competition arrived in the last few years. The review sample was made for a band member.

If you look to the top left, you see a set of trim controls that are supposed to change the bass response. I tested that and what they call "bass" extends up to 1 kHz! Shame as I was hoping it would boost < 100 Hz. On the other hand, I needed the controls to equalize the left and right channels. Setting them...

This is a review and detailed measurements of the Cambridge CXA81 MKII integrated stereo amplifier with digital inputs (USB, Toslink, Coax) and Bluetooth. It was kindly drop shipped by a member and costs US $1,199.

There are no visible changes from the original CXA81 I tested. I *think* the same is true of rear panel features:

I am still not a fan of the overloaded input button that toggles between BT and USB depending on how many times you press it. Otherwise there is not a whole lot to complain about. Let's see how it measures relative to original.

Cambridge CXA81 MKII DAC Measurements
Inclusion of Pre-out enables us to test the performance of internal DAC so let's start with that dashboard with...

This is a review and detailed measurements of the Integra DTM-7.4 stereo amplifier with HDMI/ARC and streaming support. It is on kind loan from a member and costs US $900.

The unit looks half-way between an integrated stereo amplifier and an AV Receiver. Thankfully it is lighter in weight than AVRs due to use of Class G amplifier. This topology keeps amplifier voltage rails low until more power is needed in which case, it switches to higher voltage to deliver that. This has the major benefit of sharply reducing idle current/power consumption. Measured power consumption at idle was around 37 watts (dropping to 3.7 watts in standby mode).

The controls generally feel OK although I found them a bit too light, especially in the input selector where I would fly past the choice I wanted and had to switch back. Back panel shows comprehensive feature list which is lacking in typical stereo amplifiers:

Automation...

This is a review, listening tests and detailed measurements of the Neutron HiFi™ DAC V1 portable DAC and headphone amplifier with signal processing (e.g. EQ). It was sent to me by the company and costs US $180.


I didn't think it was possible to give a feeling of luxury and style to a dongle like this but Neutron manages to do so. The display is very small but high resolution, allowing you to see the current settings. I wish that it would display the volume rather than sampling rate by default. It is highly configurable though the config utility but I didn't see an option to do so. Speaking of the app, it allows more capabilities than just about any DAC I have seen let alone portable ones. For example, it comes with EQ profile for hundreds of headphones and IEMs (more on this later). Importantly, you have access to parametric EQ so you can correct for...

This is a review, listening tests and detailed measurements of the SMSL DL100 balanced stereo DAC and headphone amplifier. It was sent to me by the company and costs US $179.

The DL100 is a fair departure from standard SMSL offering in that it uses a stamped steel enclosure instead of machined aluminum. Despite that, the unit maintains its high quality feel and you only notice otherwise when you look from behind and see the seams in the lid:

The slanted back and bright display make it easier to see the settings at the desk. Alas, I wish that it would show the volume by default than sample rate. A remote control is provided (not shown).

I love that despite the budget pricing, and slim case, the power supply is in the case. And support for HDMI ARC (which I cannot test at the moment).

Navigation of the settings was surprisingly easy display the limited display type.

We expect superb measured performance...

This is a review and detailed measurements of the SMSL RAW-MDA 1 stereo DAC and headphone amplifier. It was sent to me by SMSL and it is a collaboration with Shenzehenaudio (available elsewhere as well) and is on sale for $246.

The first thing I noticed was the much more polished display. It is also quite responsive to rotary control. If you click it in, you get the standard SMSL menu system that is functional and easy to use, albeit not as pretty. Back panel shows addition of more inputs:


We nicely have internal power supply and balanced outputs -- two things I really like in this kind of...

This is a review and detailed measurements of the Pro-Ject Phono Box DC MM/MC Phono stage. It is on kind loan from a member and costs US $129.


The box is non-descript but it is made out of heavy gauge steel. There are no controls as you see. Here is the back panel:

Nice to see support for both moving magnet and moving coil as the latter is sometimes left out in budget phono preamplifiers. Let's test it and see how it performs.

Pro-Ject Phono Box DC MM/MC Phono Preamp Measurements
Let's start with moving magnet mode:

With highest distortion at -100 dB, that is not an issue for the format. Performance is dominated by mains noise which is typical for the class. Gain is right on at 40 dB.

Moving coil mode naturally brings high penalty in noise department due to much higher gain:


I was totally impressed by the implementation of...