Articles, Reviews and Measurements of Audio Products

CSS Criton 3TD-X Kit Speaker Review

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This is a review, listening tests and detailed measurements of the CSS Criton 3TD-X Kit tower speaker. It was sent to me by the company and costs US $2499 with a flatpack (pair). I received a fully built one:
CSS Criton 3TD-X Tower Floorstanding Kit speaker review.jpg

Fit and finish is excellent, rivalling commercial speakers at this or higher costs. This is a 3-way configuration. The dual woofers should provide low distortion compared to bookshelf speakers with one.

Let's put it on the Klippel Near-field Scanner and see how it performs objectively.

CSS Audio Criton 3TD-X Speaker Measurements
Let's start with our family of anechoic frequency response measurements:
CSS Criton 3TD-X Tower Floorstanding Kit speaker anechoic frequency response measurement.png

High level alignment of on-axis response is good. Zooming in we see some disturbances in midrange area and some boosting of treble above 10 kHz. We can figure out the sources of these in near-field measurements:
CSS Criton 3TD-X Tower Floorstanding Kit speaker near field driver measurement.png


The resonances are tamed but still...

TANCHJIM Luna Portable HP Amp & DAC Review

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This is a review, detailed measurements and listening tests of TANCHJIM Luna portable headphone amplifier and DAC. It was sent to me by the company and costs US $139.99 with anime engraving or $129.99 without:
TANCHJIM Luna Portable USB DAC AMP Headphone Balanced Review.jpg

The look and feel of the adapter is excellent. The controls for volume have different shapes, aiding in adjustment without looking, with great tactile feedback:
TANCHJIM Luna Portable USB DAC AMP Headphone Balanced usb-c volume control Review.jpg


As you see, we have both 3.5mm and 4.4 mm balanced output. Dual CS43198 combo DAC and headphone amps are used. Let's see how it performs.

TANCHJIM luna Measurements
As usual, with this class of device I can't run all of my tests. Let's start with the dashboard using balanced output at full volume:
TANCHJIM Luna Portable USB DAC AMP Headphone Balanced Measurement.png


We are getting (nice) desktop class DAC performance, landing at essential tie with the best tested in this category:
Best portable headphone amplifier and dac adapter mobile phone review.png


Unbalanced performance is also excellent:
[ATTACH...

Fosi M03 / Aiyima 3001 / Nobsound G2 Pro mono sub amp review

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This is a review and measurements of the Fosi Audio M03 mono TPA3255 amplifier. It's designed to drive passive subwoofers which is why I bought it as I have an old sub I want to put to use in my games room. It appears to be identical to the Aiyima 3001 and Nobsound G2 Pro amps, and costs $90 on the Fosi website. It's a dedicated mono amp so only has one set of speaker outputs, and comes with an adjustable low pass filter in "sub mode". It ships with a 36V 5A supply brick, so we can expect max power to be 150W or less. It does claim it can be used with a bigger power supply, so I also tested that with a 48V/350W supply - see the results below.

Screenshot 2024-11-06 at 10.46.16 AM.png
[ATTACH type="full" width="330px" alt="Screenshot 2024-11-06 at...

MAMORITAI Euphony HP Amp Review

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This is a review and detailed measurements of the MAMORITAI Euphony headphone amplifier. It was sent to me by the company and is on kickstarter with pricing from US $1,399.
MAMORITAI Euphony high-end headphone amp amplifier review.jpg

This is the high-end brand of Fosi Audio and one touch of the unit tells you that is precisely what they aimed at. The case is incredibly heavy and solid for a headphone amp, weighing more than many power amplifiers! Two quarter inch headphone jacks are wired in parallel. And analog volume control with excellent feel finishes what is in front. My shot above doesn't do justice to the nice looks like of the amp. Maybe the side view does a better job:
MAMORITAI Euphony high-end headphone amp amplifier back panel side view review.jpg

I suspect the case alone costs a couple hundred dollars!

Back panel shows simplicity itself:
MAMORITAI Euphony high-end headphone amp amplifier back panel review.jpg

Lack of balanced I/O is a miss as is gain switches. The latter exists if you open the unit with dual dip switches determining the gain. Wish that was brought out...

Shenzhen/SMSL RAW-HA1 Amplifier Review

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This is a review and detailed measurements of the Shenzhenaudio SMSL RAW-HA1 integrated amplifier with DAC and headphone output. It was sent to me by the Shenzhenaudio and is on sale for US $212.49.
SMSL RAW-HA1 Integrated Amplifier Headphone Power DAC HDMI ARC Review.jpg

The user interface is much updated and more elegant than the older SMSL UI. It is easy to use even without the included remote control. Back panel shows the rich functionality of this amp:
SMSL RAW-HA1 Integrated Amplifier Headphone Power DAC HDMI ARC back panel Review.jpg

For starters, we have included power supply which is not common in this class product. HDMI ARC is included which I unfortunately can't yet test. Bulti-in CS DAC has the usual inputs. The amplifier is based on Infineon IC. Let's see how they all...

Google Nest Audio Speaker Review

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This is a review, teardown, detailed measurements, listening tests and EQ of Google Audio Nest "smart" streaming speaker. It was kindly drop shipped to me by a member. List price is US $99.99 but I see it as low as US $65.
Google Nest Audio Smart Speaker Streaming Chromecast wireless wifi review.jpg

While not very unique in its looks, the Nest Audio nicely fits in the category with the obligatory gray fabric cover. Four or five LEDs shine through the fabric when on. When idle, they are orange but otherwise white. It shows the current volume among other things. Back side shows the plug for the 24 volt/125ma power supply and a hard switch to turn the microphone off:

Google Nest Audio Smart Speaker Streaming Chromecast wireless wifi microphone power supply rev...jpg


I read that Google went all out with designing their own simulation tools and even conducting double blind listening tests in the process of developing this speaker! It shows when pry off the front cover:
Google nest audio smart speaker teardown inside drivers waveguide.jpg

Some kind of cast metal (aluminum?) contains the drivers. The tweeter has a...

Test CD for measurements of CD Players

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Hello everyone,

After several reviews of CD Players, you've been quite a number to ask me how to do the same. I'm really pleased to see that I'm not the only one interested in these old (or sometimes new) devices. So here you go with a very quick guide on how to do the same.

I will regularly update this message with your input and feedback, so feel free to come back as it will evolve.

It all starts with a Test CD

We first need a test CD to perform the measurements because the CD Player itself will be the generator.

When I started to review CD Players, I was using available test CD like those of Sony, Denon, CBS,... But they were old, difficult to procure, expensive, not respecting the latest standards (eg: no dither) and often incomplete in terms of test signals. So for the following 12+ months, I worked at creating a Test CD, with the below objectives:
  • Ensure we could replicate the quality of available test CD with a burnt CD
  • Have a complete set of test...

Sennheiser HD 620S Headphone Review

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This is a review, detailed measurements, listening tests and Equalization of Sennheiser HD 620S closed back headphone. It was kindly drop shipped by a member and costs US $300.
Sennheiser HD 620S closed back headphone stereo HD620s review.jpg

The headphone feels robust and "tight." It clamps rather heavily on my head causing mild discomfort. So be sure to have return privileges if you buy it in case it causes the same issue for you. Maybe it breaks in over time.

Despite the large cups, I was surprised at the level of variation I was getting in attempting to measure it on my GRAS 45CA fixture. I eventually optimized it but there could be some variations left in there. I was happy to see company release measurements using the same fixture, albeit, very smoothed:
image


As you see, the bass is substantially lifted from HD600 series which is very welcome. There is some loss of...

Yaqin MC-84L Tube Stereo Amplifier Review

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This is a review and detailed measurements of the Yaqin MC-84L Stereo Tube amplifier. It is on kind loan from a member and costs US $600 on Amazon.
Yaqin MC-84L Stereo Vacuum Tube Push-Pull Integrated Amplifier Valve review.jpg

The picture doesn't do justice to the nice design of this amplifier. The transformer case in the back nicely contrasts with the chrome parts. The latter does make the labels hard to read though when looking from above:
Yaqin MC-84L Stereo Vacuum Tube Push-Pull Integrated Amplifier Valve back panel review.jpg

One set of binding posts is available for 4 ohm and the other, 8 ohm. Seeing how speakers don't have constant impedance, nor are advertised correctly as such, I feel bad for people trying to figure out which posts to use (common criticism for all such amplifiers). Let's see how it performs.

There is a headphone jack in the back which I did not test.

Yaqin MC-84L...

AIYIMA A70 Mono Amplifier Review

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This is a review and detailed measurements of the AIYIMA A70 Mono TI TPA3255 based class D amplifier. It was sent to me by the company and is on sale for US $116.
AIYIMA A70 MONO hi fi amplifier  monoblock review.jpg

The on/off and input type selectors have good quality feel to them as do the rotary controls. Right one is volume but left one had my scratching my head. Subwoofer frequency? That is something you set once so you don't need front adjustment. Even if you did, what is one in the back that has the same name?
AIYIMA A70 MONO hi fi amplifier  monoblock subwoofer review.jpg

As is, measurements showed that neither made a difference in frequency response of the speaker output. If you however toggle a switch underneath, the front control at least becomes active, setting the high frequency roll off. I could not figure out what the back control did. Reading the instructions didn't help but my conclusion was that the switch turns the amplifier into one that drives passive subwoofer (woofer and no amp). Passive...
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