Stereophile: Nuances

It would have been a very sad story. Having diligently packed the Ayre units and sent them off to lofty Boulder, I was left with empty space. I considered bringing the old Magnavox down from the closet. Luckily, I'd done a bad job of returning the Musical Fidelity A3.5 integrated amp and CD player. Reuniting them with the DeVore gibbon 3 loudspeakers was enlightening.

My system sounded better than I remembered. Better, in fact, than ever.

Alright. I immediately noticed a big difference in the overall presentation of things. I'd say that the Ayre gear created a sound that was delightfully laidback, subtle, round, whole, beautifully warm and enveloping. Remember: it was all so sweet and discreet that I lost sight of everything around me. I forgot that I was listening to hi-fi components. Music — breathtakingly gorgeous music — was all. This was some sort of magic.

The Musical Fidelity gear offers another sort of magic. I'd say that the A3.5 pieces created a sound that was less laidback (but not at all in your face) and not as smooth; there are angles involved in this picture, not just curves. There's something about the MF gear that helps me to better distinguish the individual musicians and instruments; the singer is over here, the guitars are over there, the drummer is a bit further back in the picture, and I can easily point them all out. Does this make the A3.5 pieces "analytical"? Maybe. But they're certainly still musical. The MF gear seems to bring the musicians into my listening room rather than take me to the recording studio or performance hall. I appreciate this because I'm lazy. I don't like going out much anymore. When I'm listening to the MF gear, I never forget that I'm listening to hi-fi. It sounds "hi-fi." To me.

And I like that. To me, this sound is exciting and good. I want to hear hi-fi. I want that particular sort of magic. These are not qualities that I find fatiguing. These are qualities that I — right now, at least — find addictive.

***

It'll be interesting to compare the Musical Fidelity magic to the magic that's on the way.

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Reader Comments

Posted Tue Jul18, 2006, 4:12 PM — By Ward

Did you return the Arcam solo already? Have you tried any gear yet that you would actually consider going out and *buying* in the next month or two, were it not for the parade of review gear?

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