Recent content by James7

I own the Xeo 3, the predecessor to the Xeo 4 and essentially a wireless, active version of the Excite 14. I have never found them fatiguing - fairly revealing to be sure, but smooth enough to not be fatiguing. For their size they are surprisingly strong in the bass and I generally use mine with...

Interesting post Yiannis, and nothing wrong I think with resurrecting a thread like this that deals with a specific, important element of music-making that is rarely discussed. I have come to think that damping factor is a really important element in amp-speaker synergy - there is no right...

Yes, Devialet clearly get a lot right as a company and the regular software updates is a reason in itself to buy Devialet. They are not alone in this - PS Audio for example offer a similar service - but they are in a tiny group. Very impressive.

Glad to be of assistance (in flagging up the Hifi+ review) and good luck if that is the way you head. I have to say that, although I have never heard the ACE, I like the Moon house sound - good detail retrieval and basically neutral, but with a slight warmth that makes for an unfatiguing listen...

The latest edition of HiFi+ includes an extended review of the Moon Neo ACE with some comparison at the end with Hegel 160 and Naim SuperUniti. Worth a look, though this cannot of course beat a home demo. In brief though, the Moon's feature set places it ahead of the Hegel unless you need the...

This is something important to me as I do a lot of listening at fairly low volume. Bass and treble drop away and you need some way of correcting the issue. Tone controls can help here and replacing the QUAD with, say, a good Marantz amp that is so equipped would be one way to go, or adding a...

My main rig includes a roof aerial connected Aura TU50 tuner that is set permanently to Radio 3 and brings a lot of pleasure still. Away from my dedicated listening system, though, I have several DAB radios (Ruark, Pure), each of which is equipped with an FM tuner that never gets used because...

It seems from what you are saying that a CD player is going to suit you better for now, but a CD player with a USB input woyld enable you to connect up your PC, while there are a handful of crossover products from Arcam and Onyko and others out there that offer CD playback and streaming too. A...

A couple of weeks on and I still feel a bit dazed. His curiosity and determination to continue evolving is what sets him apart for me, and I am not surprised to see huge differences of opinion regarding his best work. He could be uncompromising at times and listening to Blackstar it strikes me...

Totally agree with the Cambridge/ Q Concept recommendation, or perhaps the Cambridge CXN with a decent pair of active speakers.

I thought Kudos X2, which are tiny, might suit, but checking them out I find they are 780mm tall. Hmm. If you can find a pair in good nick, Ruark's Templar loudspeakers were lovely and come in at a mere 700mm, with a backward sloping front baffle to angle the sound upwards to the listening...

There are SACDs out there in all genres but it is only really in classical that many new discs are still being released. I actually made the decision you arr contemplating a couple of years ago or so, and bought a Marantz SACD player despite not at that time owning any SACDs. My reasoning was I...

Yes, valve amps for that price are few and far between I am afraid. You may need to look at the second hand market with the risk and care that requires. Icon Audio and Ming Da are two companies that both produce good quality amps at the £1000 mark and a little under, albeit fairly low powered...

I have a feeling GamuT might suit your taste Matt, in sound that is, though they seem pretty nicely presented visually to my eyes. To widen your options further, you could check out Triangle's Magellan Duetto, undoubtedly a lovely speaker thoguh one whose sonic signature may not suit, but you...

There's a couple of ways of approaching this. You could, as suggested, spend less on the amp in order to buy some better headphones. On the other hand, you have the opportunity with your budget to either buy a headphone amp/ DAC that could improve the sound of your CD player - the M-DAC, if you...