Reviewer: Marja & Henk
Financial Interests: click here
Sources: PS Audio PWT; Dr. Feickert Blackbird MKII/DFA 1o5/Zu DL-103; Phasure XX-PC;
DAC: Phasure NOS1 DAC; PS Audio Direct Stream DAC [loaner]; PS Audio NuWave DAC [loaner]
Streaming sources: XXHighEnd; iTunes; Devialet AIR; La Rosita Beta; Qobuz Desktop, Tidal Desktop
Preamp/integrated/power: Audio Note Meishu with WE 300B (or AVVT, JJ, KR Audio 300B output tubes); dual Devialet D-Premier; Hypex Ncore 1200 based monoblocks; Trafomatic Kaivalya; Trafomatic Reference One; Trafomatic Reference Phono One; Music First Passive Magnetic;
Speakers: Avantgarde Acoustic Duo Omega; Arcadian Audio Pnoe; Podium Sound One; WLM Sub 12; Sounddeco Alpha F3; dual Zu Submission MKI; Soltanus Virtuoso ESL
Cables: complete loom of ASI LiveLine cables; full loom of Crystal Cable cables; full loom of Nanotec Golden Strada; Audiomica Pearl Consequence interconnect; Audiomica Pebble Consequence;
Power line conditioning: PS Audio Powerplant Premier; PS Audio Humbuster III; IsoTek Evo 3 Syncro; AudioMica Allbit Consequence
Equipment racks: Solid Tech and ASI amplifier and TT shelf
Indispensable accessories: Furutech DeMag; ClearAudio Double Matrix; Franc Audio Ceramic Disc Classic; Shakti Stones; Akiko Audio sticks; Kemp polarity checker
Online Music purveyors: qobuz.com, tidal.com, bandcamp.com, amazon.co.uk  
Room treatment: Acoustic System International resonators, sugar cubes, diffusers
Room size: ca. 14.50 x 7.50m with a ceiling height of 3.50m, brick walls, wooden flooring upstairs, ca 7 x 5m with a ceiling height of 3.50m, brick walls and concrete floor downstairs.
Price of review items: $3'300/pr


Being part of the global community of 6moons writers has many advantages. Together we can offer our readership insights into various products and do so from different angles. We have mentioned before how a country's aural culture influences how its residents perceive sounds and thus music. Consequently, that aural cultural influence is a factor that contributes how a resident of a certain part of the world relates to audio gear. Each piece of audio gear is tuned to the personal notions of the designer or manufacturer. If not, all gear would sound somewhat similar to how food tastes when ketchup is added. Boutique audio designers can be much more outspoken in their tuning results whereas the big names tend to tune their gear towards a middle-of-the-road sound-for-all blandness.


The buyer of course may season said blandness with audio condiments like filters, be those in the form of cables, footers, dampers, conditioners and such. In a March 22nd 2010 article in The New Yorker Magazine, Alex Ross, author of the highly recommended book The Rest is Noise, referred to a then recently held month-long Carnegie Hall concert marathon featuring orchestras from Chicago, Boston, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Leipzig, Amsterdam, St. Petersburg, two from New York and the Minnesota Orchestra as "an unofficial orchestral Olympics." Ross made an observation that had to do with a particular sound he observed that might be described as "nationalistic" or "geographic". He mentions "the edgy attack of German clarinets, the peculiarly pungent Russian brass, the unforced weight of the Dutch en masse" as observable differences unique to specific orchestras. His observations are all the more striking when these orchestras are made up of musicians auditioned from all over the world just like their resident conductors. The best explanation for their particular group sound might be found in the orchestra's home atmosphere where audience and venue meet. After all, that venue is a product of and caters to local preferences.

With Ross' observation that even geographical small distances contribute to a noticeable difference in sonic preferences or perceptions, the 6moons geographical roster of writers must follow suit. In our particular case, we are located relatively close to Srajan's current residence, birthplace and place where he spent his formative years as the period during which aural preferences develop. With the chance of over speculating, this might explain why Srajan's favorite instrument is the clarinet [it's what I played from the age of 6 to 22 so I'm seriously imprinted by it – Ed.] whilst ours is the lower pitched group of instruments including the cello and baritone saxophone. Common favorites however meet in so-called world music, a type of music our editor and us both like. From shared musical tastes, it becomes a small step to a set of shared audio traits. Just to name a few, the three of us like playing at lower volume without loss of information. Median SPL of 70-72dB work fine and leave plenty of headroom for true dynamics, another preferred character.