Tidal, D'Agostino, Sonus Faber, Magico

Tidal

D’Agostino

A smooth, tuneful sound but lacking some midi- and micro-dynamics [the absence of which seems very popular in many of today’s very $$$ solid-state amps ]. The opposite of Krell. Very striking looking amps, as solid-state amps go – and thankfully not so much the uber-masculine look that, again, is very popular in many of today’s very $$$ solid-state amps]

Sonus Faber

A dense, dark, congested, confused sound. The appearance of these speakers also seemed to me to not be what somebody would expect from the high-end of Sonus Faber, which are typically gorgeous works of art.

Magico

Impressive midi-dynamics, good separation, various kinds of even handedness up and down the freq spectrum but somewhat soulless i.e. everything was as expected – see previous show reports. Surprisingly the deepest bass was somewhat uncontrolled, and seemed to interact with the floor of the room [unlike RMAF 2010 where the Q5 was very (electronically) controlled]. Impressive soundstage in sweet spot, but not so great soundstaging/imaging in other seats [i.e. I would expect some people to have vastly different opinions about this room based on whether they sat in the sweet spot or not]