Streamers and Digital to Analog converters are the key source for modern high-end audio systems. For most people at least, if for no other reason than the availability of nearly the entire catalogue of recorded music. And ease of use. And low cost. What can be confusing is the degree of sonic difference between various streamers – devices that request music from a streaming service and convert the music files from network protocols to music file types – and various DACs – devices that convert digital signals to analog signals that amps and speakers use. They’re just computers dealing with files. Simple, right? Well, no, apparently. Which brings us to the Lumin T3X with QRONO and LEEDH technology. Right now, I’d rate this as the lowest cost way to get 95% of more of what digital can do. It isn’t inexpensive, but I think it is a benchmark that helps everyone think about audio system building and budgeting.

This video is sponsored by: https://fidelityimports.com/pages/introducing-perlisten

00:00 Lumin T3X

02:12 Overview

03:24 Features

09:36 Sound Quality

16:28 User Interface

17:57 Summary

The Bricasti M1 DAC has been a powerful mainstay for consumers looking for affordable yet high-fidelity precision since its debut in 2011. Bricasti is now introducing the Series II, looking to expand yet preserve what made the first edition so special. Does the Series II deliver? Tune in to find out.

This video is sponsored by: https://fidelityimports.com/pages/introducing-perlisten

00:00 Bricasti M1 Series II

01:58 Overview

02:38 Specs & Design

04:10 Reference Equipment

06:00 Is it for you?

08:16 Summary

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What Is The Absolute Sound?

The Absolute Sound magazine has been a leading publication in high-end audio since 1972. Since the early 2000s, The Absolute Sound has expanded to include web, newsletter, digital magazine, social media, YouTube and Substack platforms. The Absolute Sound platforms have a global audience of over 500,000 audiophiles.

#hifi #audiophile #theabsolutesound

Today I’m taking an inside look at possibly the most innovative company in the consumer audio space. I say this because today’s subject, Theoretica Applied Physics, is working on some of the biggest problems of audio believability, their results are quite successful in my experience, and the architecture they use is relatively low cost. Let’s take a deeper look.

Learn more: https://www.theoretica.us/

This video is sponsored by: https://www.theabsolutesound.com/newsletter

00:00 Theoretica Applied Physics

00:56 Believability

03:38 Advanced Technologies

06:27 Problem 1 Part A

11:59 Problem 2

15:56 Problem 1 Part B

19:15 Problem 3

22:15 Problem 4

24:42 Summary

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What Is The Absolute Sound?

The Absolute Sound magazine has been a leading publication in high-end audio since 1972. Since the early 2000s, The Absolute Sound has expanded to include web, newsletter, digital magazine, social media, YouTube and Substack platforms. The Absolute Sound platforms have a global audience of over 500,000 audiophiles.

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Flexibility is not something one usually associates with wired headphones. After all, you're tethered to your equipment. You can't go out, hop up and get a cup of coffee, and you can't do a lot of adjustment to the sound profile as well. Wireless headphones promise to do a lot more. Aside from the flexibility of being able to get up and move around, that will without a cable tied to your head. But also the idea is you could adjust the sound to your own personal specifications, as it were, because wireless headphones have digital signal processing on board. So if you need to, you could tweak the sound. The trouble is, in cutting the cable. Obviously a lot of the sound quality got cut as well. Sennheiser now has tried to solve that problem with the HD630s.

This video is sponsored by: https://www.hifiman.com/products/detail/350

00:00 Sennheiser HDB 630

01:39 Overview

06:31 Sound Quality

12:17 Compare & Contrast

13:45 Summary

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What Is The Absolute Sound?

The Absolute Sound magazine has been a leading publication in high-end audio since 1972. Since the early 2000s, The Absolute Sound has expanded to include web, newsletter, digital magazine, social media, YouTube and Substack platforms. The Absolute Sound platforms have a global audience of over 500,000 audiophiles.

#hifi #audiophile #theabsolutesound

In this briefing, I give my basic observations about the performance of the Isoacoustics GAIA Neo speaker footers. These are complex passive absorbers that replace the spikes normally used at the base of speakers like my test subject, the Perlisten S7t. Normally, I think of products like this as “below threshold” items – products that may be beneficial, but whose effect may be difficult to hear in isolation, especially because a quick A/B comparison is hard and the effect is subtle. But I heard a demo arranged by IsoAcoustics that suggested otherwise, and when they offered to supply a set for testing, I accepted because in my listening room I have much longer to understand what products do. Let’s see what I found.

In memorium: Dan Roemer: September 4, 1970 - December 26, 2026

Dan was the genius behind the S7t speaker mentioned in this video. He was a great designer and a special person. He will be missed.

This video is sponsored by: https://www.sotm-audio.com/

Tom's Listening Room: https://youtu.be/To3yKpFUMNI

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What Is The Absolute Sound?

The Absolute Sound magazine has been a leading publication in high-end audio since 1972. Since the early 2000s, The Absolute Sound has expanded to include web, newsletter, digital magazine, social media, YouTube and Substack platforms. The Absolute Sound platforms have a global audience of over 500,000 audiophiles.

#hifi #audiophile #theabsolutesound

Erratum: Giveaway occurs on January 30, 2026

When we reviewed the new Onkyo M-80 power amp and P-80 streaming preamp, Onkyo kindly sent us a TX-RZ30 receiver to offer to our viewers as a giveaway. We didn’t want to interrupt the review video excessively, yet we thought there might be viewers interested in the giveaway who hadn’t seen the review. So, we made this brief Giveaway announcement.

January 30, 2026 Viewer Giveaway of an Onkyo 9.2 channel Atmos receiver; details after the break and here: https://www.theabsolutesound.com/give...

QR Code Link for $1 subscription offer: https://theabsolutesound.secure.darwin.cx/J25YTS5A

Onkyo P-80 preamp and M-80 amp Review: https://youtu.be/NMcIE3K2bD8?si=pLFAz30kRb6KH9ET

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What Is The Absolute Sound?

The Absolute Sound magazine has been a leading publication in high-end audio since 1972. Since the early 2000s, The Absolute Sound has expanded to include web, newsletter, digital magazine, social media, YouTube and Substack platforms. The Absolute Sound platforms have a global audience of over 500,000 audiophiles.

#hifi #audiophile #theabsolutesound

There's a lot of nostalgia out there for the 1980s, and when British speaker maker Monitor Audio looked back at that decade, it discovered gold in the form of its studio 15 speaker. And so, inspired by the creativity and individuality of the 1980s, monitors set out to create the studio 89. So are these $2,750 per pair speakers totally awesome or just bogus? Let's find out!

This video is sponsored by: https://store.hifiman.com/index.php/he1000-unveiled.html?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=20953209524&gbraid=0AAAAACkVu54tFgOM8QBnVRrsJIzTJpilW&gclid=Cj0KCQiAsNPKBhCqARIsACm01fSUNf7KaVH-yUHcTuJoHzJc0e1fp-wEC6HMoJiL9syFDWCu1AzKJCMaAoepEALw_wcB

00:00 Monitor Audio Studio 89

01:09 Overview

03:48 Set Up

05:47 Sound Quality

09:44 Tradeoffs

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What Is The Absolute Sound?

The Absolute Sound magazine has been a leading publication in high-end audio since 1972. Since the early 2000s, The Absolute Sound has expanded to include web, newsletter, digital magazine, social media, YouTube and Substack platforms. The Absolute Sound platforms have a global audience of over 500,000 audiophiles.

#hifi #audiophile #theabsolutesound

Orchard Audio is a US manufacturer of amplifiers, headphone amplifiers and now streamer/DACs in the case of the product we’re reviewing here, the Pecan Pi+ Premium. The company believes strongly in engineering and is particularly sensitive to leveraging appropriate parts. We’ve reviewed their Starkrimson GANFET amplifer previously. With the Pecan Pi, we were particularly attracted by the incorporation of top, and relatively rare, AKM Velvet Sound filter/modulator and DAC chips. But there is more to the design. Let’s take a look.

This video is sponsored by: https://fidelityimports.com/pages/opera-loudspeakers

Starkrimson Power Amplifier Review: https://youtu.be/WjkFLlQmB_k?si=lai-6vjAVT0r29du

00:00 Orchard Audio Pecan Pi+

01:34 Key Features

07:48 Sound Quality

10:44 Value?

Details of the Viewer Giveaway of an Onkyo 9.2 channel Atmos receiver are after the break.

Every once in a while, reviewers get products to evaluate that just doesn’t conform to the standard or to their expectations. That has certainly been the case with the new Onkyo M-80 amp and P-80 preamp. Let’s take a look, because the way this pairing deviates from normal might be very interesting to you.

This video is sponsored by: theabsolutesound.com/newsletter

00:00 M-80 amplifier and P-80 streaming preamp

01:05 Giveaway

02:09 Features & Design

06:55 Sound Quality

14:20 Summary

14:58 Comparative Coda

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Tom's reference system:

Aurender N20 Streamer/Server

Roon Nucleus server

Mac Mini (M2) server

Wiim Pro server/DAC

Bluesound Node server/DAC

Topping D70 Pro DAC

dCS Lina DAC/Master clock

Berkeley Alpha DAC Reference Series 3P with Alpha USB Reference input module

MSB Premier DAC

J Sikora Initial Max turntable

Technics SL-1210G turntable

Kuzma 4Point 9” arm

J Sikora KV12 tone arm

DS Audio 003 cartridge

Benz Gullwing SLR cartridge

Hana Umami Blue cartridge

Hegel V10 phono preamp

Musical Surroundings Phonomena III phono preamp

DS Audio 003 optical cartridge energizer

Soulution 326 preamp

Wattson Madison power amp

Hegel H20 power amp

MBL N51 integrated amp

Magico A5 speakers

Perlisten S7t speakers

Wireworld Platinum Electra Series 10 speaker and line cables

Shunyata Omega digital cables

Shunyata Venom power cables and director

Audioquest Niagara 3000 power conditioner (for analog)

Audioquest Niagra 7000 power conditioning

Aavik Ethernet Switch

Rediacoustic diffusers and absorbers

Rediacoustic bass traps

PSI Audio AVAA active traps

Salamander racks

Solidsteel Turntable rack

What Is The Absolute Sound?

The Absolute Sound magazine has been a leading publication in high-end audio since 1972. Since the early 2000s, The Absolute Sound has expanded to include web, newsletter, digital magazine, social media, YouTube and Substack platforms. The Absolute Sound platforms have a global audience of over 500,000 audiophiles.

#hifi #audiophile #theabsolutesound

That said, for those of you who have a budget that could accommodate the JCAT XACT S1 Evo Server at $18,600 US or for those of you who are genuinely curious about the state-of-the-art in audio streaming, you’re gonna wanna stick around while I share what I heard when listening to this refined bit of kit.

This video is sponsored by: https://www.devialet.com/en-us/amplifiers/?srsltid=AfmBOopMaf_et8mOEEL6rCtYelUeonyPqFg9RVuBdr2cWi96HSBd3fMv

00:00 JCAT XACT S1 Evo

01:18 Overview

04:09 Specs & Design

07:39 Sound Quality

12:15 Conclusion

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What Is The Absolute Sound?

The Absolute Sound magazine has been a leading publication in high-end audio since 1972. Since the early 2000s, The Absolute Sound has expanded to include web, newsletter, digital magazine, social media, YouTube and Substack platforms. The Absolute Sound platforms have a global audience of over 500,000 audiophiles.

#hifi #audiophile #theabsolutesound