SoundStageAustralia.com

Details: Written by Edgar Kramer Edgar Kramer; Category: Features Features; Published: 06 December 2023 06 December 2023

The SoundStage! Australia Products of the Year Awards 2023

Here we go folks. I’m sitting at my desk looking out at the Narrowneck escarpment – and yes, it’s blue – thinking about what this time of year means for this publication. To me, it literally feels like it was just last week I was compiling last year’s SoundStage! Australia Awards, and now I’m doing the exact same thing again for 2023’s selections. Amazing. Going back and surveying the extraordinary products we reviewed throughout the year, I am pleased with the breadth of categories we, as a dedicated SoundStage! Australia team of authors, smashed through in 2023.

Details: Written by News Editor News Editor; Category: Features Features; Published: 04 December 2023 04 December 2023

SoundStage! Talks Australia Video: Gilad Tiefebrun on Jony Ive and the $60,000 Linn LP12-50 Anniversary Turntable

Linn's CEO, Gilad Tiefenbrun, talks to SoundStage! Australia's Editor Edgar Kramer about social media platform trials, how he connected to industrial design icon Jony Ive, and how the Sondek LP12-50 Anniversary Turntable came about.

Details: Written by News Editor News Editor; Category: News News; Published: 04 December 2023 04 December 2023

Totaldac Reveals new Amp-1-sublime and d1-driver-sublime

French company Totaldac has announced flagship ‘sublime’ versions of its high quality Amp-1 solid state power amplifier and preamp-with-a-buffer ‘d1-driver’ component.

Details: Written by Edgar Kramer Edgar Kramer; Category: Reviews Reviews; Published: 01 December 2023 01 December 2023

Ideon Audio eos DAC, eos Stream, eos Time

As the choices for digital music consumption expand and content providers continue to proliferate, as does high-resolution music availability, hardware makers have had to evolve in synchronicity. The net result has seen a maturing of streaming, clock and digital conversion technologies, with many brands offering multi-box solutions which have elevated the sonic outcome. A native of Greece, relatively new company Ideon Audio is rightfully earning a reputation for excellence via products which provide innovative proprietary technologies, comprehensive functionality and solid build. Importantly, of course, Ideon Audio’s products have also been widely hailed for their excellent sound quality. Here, I’m looking at the company’s entry point 3-box combo featuring eos Stream streamer/server, eos Time (a dedicated USB clock regenerator) and eos DAC digital-to-analogue converter.

Details: Written by News Editor News Editor; Category: News News; Published: 29 November 2023 29 November 2023

Musical Fidelity Announces Nu-Vista DAC and Nu-Vista Vinyl 2 Phono Stage

Further Nu-Vista products have been launched by Musical Fidelity, with the flagship line-up now augmented by the massively-built Nu-Vista DAC and Nu-Vista Vinyl 2 phono stage.

Details: Written by Edgar Kramer Edgar Kramer; Category: Features Features; Published: 23 November 2023 23 November 2023

Linn Launches Sondek LP12-50 Anniversary Turntable in Sydney

Last Tuesday evening, SoundStage! Australia attended a soirée, organised by Advance Audio Australia, at Rekōdo Restaurant and Vinyl Bar, to celebrate and officially launch the new AU$90,000 Linn Sondek LP12-50 in Sydney. The new turntable is a 50th Anniversary limited-run refinement of the company’s iconic deck and one certain to become a desired collector’s item.

Details: Written by News Editor News Editor; Category: News News; Published: 21 November 2023 21 November 2023

Harbeth's Nelson Subwoofer + Stand Solution Coming to Australia

With an aim to provide the appropriate support platform while also augmenting the low-frequency capabilities of Harbeth’s standmount speakers, the company launches ‘Nelson’.

Details: Written by News Editor News Editor; Category: News News; Published: 16 November 2023 16 November 2023

Gold Note Launches DS-1000 EVO Streaming DAC

Italian all-rounder Gold Note, who offers a wide range of electronics, analogue components (from cartridges to turntables to phono stages) and loudspeaker systems has announced the new DS-1000 EVO Streaming DAC high-resolution player.

Details: Written by Barry James Johnston Barry James Johnston; Category: Reviews Reviews; Published: 15 November 2023 15 November 2023

Stenheim Alumine Two SE Loudspeakers

Stenheim was founded in 2010 in Switzerland by five founders, all of whom were intensely passionate about music and its reproduction in the best possible quality at home. Now, and for around a decade in fact since Stenheim's first years, the company's helm is guided by CEO and owner Jean-Pascal Panchard. Music, of course, is where you may find yourself intimately connected to each of the emotional components which curate the soundtrack to your life. Stenheim’s motivations are based around principles of a love for music and a deep and well-practiced knowledge of the engineering ideologies required to bring such aspirations to fruition, and give a voice to the imagination, also a company of which I had very little knowledge prior to this review sample being sent to me.

Details: Written by Edgar Kramer Edgar Kramer; Category: Features Features; Published: 13 November 2023 13 November 2023

Tokyo International Audio Show 2023 Coverage

Konnichiwa! I was landing in one of my very favourite cities in the world yet, despite all my previous visits to Japan, criminally, I had never attended this, from all reports, delightfully quirky and densely teeming show. Hitting the Tokyo International Forum early on the morning of the first day (Friday, as this is a three-day show), I was impressed by the anticipating throngs assembled. It was, after all, the Tokyo International Audio Show’s 40th Anniversary, so the sense of excitement was palpable. Further, I was struck by the Forum’s architectural grandeur, a complex edifice of metal and glass. I was off to a kakkoii start.

Details: Written by News Editor News Editor; Category: News News; Published: 01 November 2023 01 November 2023

Magico Launches M7 Loudspeakers

A direct trickle down from the company’s flagship M9 released back in 2020, acoustic transducer specialist Magico has announced the new M7, a penultimate model to the über ‘M’ line of loudspeakers.

Details: Written by Edgar Kramer Edgar Kramer; Category: Reviews Reviews; Published: 01 November 2023 01 November 2023

Aqua Acoustic Quality La Diva M2 CD Transport

“A pure CD machine”. That’s the headline grab Italian digital specialist Aqua Acoustic Quality uses for La Diva M2. The CD transport thoroughly expresses the company’s digital engineering chops; it’s a no-holds-barred disc spinner aimed at uncompromisingly extracting the best possible performance from the polycarbonate pits. It has also been made to couple to the company’s acclaimed resistor ladder-based digital-to-analogue converters. The silver disc is at the cycling point of ‘old-is-new-again’. Much like the gloriously sounding yet cumbersome reel-to-reel tape, and the nostalgic yet tragically flawed cassette (really?). Let’s not even mention the ongoing and celebrated vinyl renaissance. CD’s popular resuscitation? Yep, vibing that way. How timely then, that La Diva M2 CD Transport is here for a spin. It may be a convincing rejuvenation of the still excellent four-decade old laser reading technology.