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Review: Leema Acoustics Element
TechRadar: Computing reviews —
Leema Acoustics has been punching well above its weight recently. Initially recognised for its loudspeaker designs, the Welshpool-based company now produces three ranges of electronics to partner them. The Elements Phono is the latest arrival and is intended to partner amps in the first two ranges. Leema claims that the Elements Phono borrows heavily from the flagship Agena phono stage, which is no mean feat given that the Agena is nearly six times the price. The Elements phono supports both moving magnet and moving coil cartridges. The specifications suggest that few cartridges of either design will present the Elements with any real difficulty. The single input is ...
Digital Do Main B-1a
DarkVision Hardware Articles and Review from around the web —
... Digital Do Main is a high-end company that's still unknown outside of Japan, but we'd be surprised if that remained the case after word gets out about the B-1a power amplifier. Apart from being an oddly proportioned, but superbly built and finished integrated power amp with one input and a volume control, this is the first amplifier that we've seen that uses V-FET output transistors. Link: TechRadar
Review: Pioneer A-A9 Mk2
TechRadar: Computing reviews —
Pioneer's 'G-clef' range, of which the A-A9 Mk2 is a part, was launched a couple of years ago and marked Pioneer's re-entry into the serious stereo separates market. One of the key features of the range was that it had been subjectively assessed and honed at Air Studios, George Martin's recording facility in Hampstead, where Pioneer has strong connections. Now in Mk2 guise, the products have been slightly revised, changes in this case including a revised volume control (now electronic rather than the single-turn potentiometer of the original version), tweaked circuit board layout for lower in-circuit impedances, and a modified power supply with low-loss, high-speed rectifier ...
Review: Gryphon Atilla
TechRadar: Computing reviews —
Cheap it isn't? Gryphon's Atilla costs practically £7,000, for what at first sight looks like a modestly equipped 100-watt integrated amplifier. And this is the entry-level model, which is a long, long way from the top of the company's range. There is nothing matter-of-fact or ordinary about the Gryphon Atilla, from the vaguely threatening product name, to the opening passage in the product information, describing the integrated amplifier breed as 'the ugly ducklings' of high-end audio. Yet, this rather extravagant claim simply doesn't hold water. It's true that a majority of the very best cost-no-object amplifiers are configured as separate pre and power amplifiers, ...
