McIntosh, PBN, Anthem, Burmester and More Reviews in TONEAudio

Friday, May 1, 2009

TONEAudio has publsihed a new issue with reviews of the following high-end components:

  • Old School: Naim NAIT 3R integrated amp
  • Anthem Integrated 225 integrated amp w/ phono ($1,495)
  • Cambridge Audio Azur 540P ($99) and 640P ($179) phono preamps
  • Shunyata Research factory tour
  • Burmester 061 CD player ($13,995)
  • Burmester 082 integrated amp ($15,995)
  • PBN Montana Groove Master turntable ($8,995)
  • McIntosh MC252 power amp ($5,000)
  • Naim SuperLine phono preamp ($2,950)
  • Furutech Reference III cables ($1,175-1,725)
  • AV123 X-Head headphone amp ($199)
  • Gradient Helsinki 1.5 floorstanding speakers ($8,000)
  • McIntosh MCD500 SACD/CD player ($6,500)
  • Rega Exact 2 phono cartridge ($595)

Download the entire issue (61MB PDF). Be sure to check out the write-up of the Metallica M4 jacket (as in “coat”), complete with built-in speakers and amp. Definitely the most cringe-worthy piece of crap I’ve seen in a long time. It looks almost as ridiculous as the golf club booties on the Furutech cables!

Anyway, also see a couple of recent web-only reviews on the TONEAudio site:

jeff dorgay May 1, 2009 at 8:03 am

Dude:

The booties are just to protect the product during shipping. I figured you knew that…. I thought they were kind of cute.

Mark Wieman May 1, 2009 at 9:57 am

Ten bucks says people who buy the cables will leave the booties on. Fifty bucks says someone will claim they sound better that way…

AudibleTangents May 14, 2009 at 12:27 am

If I fall sleep with my socks on I think they may sound better.

jeff dorgay May 22, 2009 at 10:03 pm

You know, I do agree with you on the $50 that someone will say they sound better that way…

And that’s the wacky nature of the audiophile world.

hifitommy June 1, 2009 at 6:13 pm

it doesnt seem worth it to subscribe at the price. bring it to the stereophile level of $12US/year and it MIGHT be worth it.

…regards…tr