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Top Ranked Products from Audio Analogue.
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Rating
Reviewed by:
demos100
(AudioPhile)
Review Date
December 13, 2005Overall Rating
 5 of 5
Value Rating
5 of 5
Used product for
1 to 3 months Visitors rate this review
3.33 of 5,
3.00 votes
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Review 1 of 12
Price Paid:
$1400.00
from - Summary:
First was the burn-in 150 hours.
Then...
a. The best player under 2000 Euro ? Paganini of Audio Analogue. I expected -at least- with the name Paganini, to excel with violin recordings. Yes. Classical music is a pleasure to listen. Harsh free, bold, grain free. As I like it. Soundstage depth, heigth: better that I expected.
b. For about double the money -if not exactly- there is Musical Fidelity A5. A true magical experience. Plus add the gorgeous dynamics, right weight of sound, huge soundstage, life-like presentation of harmonic boldness. Extended and polite. Name it, its there.
c. Give me more money and your ear's taste and I may brought Ayre and new Cary tubed 308 players. Both are fine.
The four players above have something in common: They play music. Not bim-bam-hss-ding-dong effects and distortion from mid-priced in-player power supplies. No economy here. They are totaly high-end players (all of them) and deserve even a x10 the price of the player speaker or amp , too. Then the music that comes out is a matter of taste. I prefer Musical Fidelity A5 as my absolute reference until I reach the 6000 Euro price. After A5 I prefer the Paganini. Im listening 80 per cent classical music, jazz and a good,big 20 per cent hard rock even metal (from Led Zeppelin and King Crimson to Iron Maiden somethimes). Listen to rock without hi-fi artifacts. The speed of the bass is coming more from your speakers, cables, amps and after them ...CD. Paganini simply present it good, not stunning. Strengths:
All. Magic of music comes from. Like the slightly warm and bold rather cold, slightly harsh and over analytic. Very detailed. Weaknesses:
If you like it cold it will make it hot. Similar Products Used:
Many
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Rating
Reviewed by:
demos100
(AudioPhile)
Review Date
December 13, 2005Overall Rating
5 of 5
Value Rating
5 of 5
Used product for
1 to 3 months Visitors rate this review
5.00 of 5,
1.00 votes
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Review 2 of 12
Price Paid:
$1300.00
from athens Summary:
I own Musical Fidelity A5. Im the happiest man on earth when it plays classical music, jazz or rock with the magic and clarity of A5 specific.
If someone told me I must buy a CD about the half price of A5 named with my favorite's violinist of all , Paganini , I will be expected at least to play violins with honor ! ! So, here it is . My reference for low-costing CDs. Don't hear about 'not for rockers'. The Paganini is for those who don't want to panish the ears with sharpness and hi-fi artifacts and lost their soul in the magic of music. Its not the ' nice , but Im sleeping, non fatigue but rounding nature ' cd player.
If you told me, go and buy something more expensive than A5 I could buy Ayre or Cary 308 new CD player. For less there is one option for maximum enjoyment of jazz/classic/rock/hard rock music lovers like Im. The paganini or at least primo.
Now ... what for an amp ? Heh, my absolute favorite, Blue Circle NSCS new solid-state amp that sounds like the most detailed warm tube amp ever.
Also Audio Analogue is a pefrect mate for Pathos Classic One MkII. Cables ? Mate Paganini with Acoustic Zen or Cardas Reference cable or (great) the Varial RCA from Zu Cables. They send the sound to another stratosphere and it deserve this.
Don't forget to listen to Paganini 24 caprice from Telarc. ! It unlock's the player's secret stages, hehehehe. Strengths:
Music that draws your soul into the soundstage. Grain, edge, harshness or less resolution, less detail than other at the price point ? Not here. Weaknesses:
It has the price of a hi-fi gear but it is absolutely for hi-end combo gears and one of the greatest bargains in hi-end cds. Need highest end cabling. Similar Products Used:
Musical Fidelity A5 (for many aspects, the best Ive heared), Ayre, Cary 308(I don't own the last 2 but listened to them). All of them are presenting music like it should be.
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Rating
Reviewed by:
Reidark
(AudioPhile)
Review Date
March 14, 2005Overall Rating
 4 of 5
Value Rating
 3 of 5
Used product for
3 Months to 1 year |
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Review 3 of 12
Price Paid:
$1000.00
from Norway Summary:
Very good sounding - as in round, sweet and comfortable. There are no hard edges whatsoever. This may also lead some to feel that it is a bit dull and unenthusiastic. It is not a player for you if you just play rock'n roll, but for jazz and classical music it is very good in deed!
The controls are not very thought through. They have generally high quality, but it is nearly impossible to see what button does what without full light on in the room. The remote is better in this account, but gives a very cheap feeling.
My player is modified with heavy damping materials inside. This gives less vibration and (hopefully) better sound, since the servos get less to do. Strengths:
Perfect for jazz and chamber music! Weaknesses:
A bit on the soft side for rock'n roll. Similar Products Used:
Philips CD960, Denon DVD-2900
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Rating
Reviewed by:
Karlcarl
(Audio Enthusiast)
Review Date
September 26, 2004Overall Rating
4 of 5
Value Rating
4 of 5
Used product for
Less than 1 month |
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Review 4 of 12
Price Paid:
$0.00 Summary:
This for the central loading mkII.
Paganini is a middle of the road sounding player in a very nice way. It will not annoy nor will it be showy. A good match with Puccini amps. It has detail, it's not overly warm, but not bright either. Personally I have great confidence in the quality of Audio Analogue products.
I didn't find sorbothane feet good, Finite Elemente Ceraballs are much better= a must for Paganini.
Without any doubt mkII is different from its predesessor and follower Paganini. Strengths:
Balance, long term satisfaction Weaknesses:
No display off. Very cheap remote. Similar Products Used:
Pioneer s801, Copland 288
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Rating
Reviewed by:
Tino (Unregistered User)
(Audio Enthusiast)
Review Date
October 24, 2002Overall Rating
4 of 5
Value Rating
5 of 5
Used product for
3 Months to 1 year Visitors rate this review
3.50 of 5,
2.00 votes
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Review 5 of 12
Price Paid:
$1450.00
from Reifenrath, Hamburg Summary:
I've bought this fine CD-Player in June 2002, so it's the MKII-Version with a completely new design. After the burn-in period the player sounds wonderful. I often listen to italian music like Pino Daniele, Gigi D'Alessio and these vocals are very fine reproduced. I also tried some standard pop music and the Paganini MKII is very fine for dynamics, too. As others reviewers have mentioned below to change the powercord, I tried it too, but must say, that I have not heard a remarkable difference with the HMS cord. But you should buy a good interconnet (Goertz Micro Purl Copper!) to give an improvement. On the other side, the cheapy plastic remote control is bad, so are the metallic buttons on the player which are very small and do not have a precise press point. You will also hear a slight hum since you connect it with power. So my dealer put inside an absorber plate and now the hum is not so noisy anymore. If you push "open", you will notice a very clunky driver mechanism too, altough it's a good Philips one.
Overall I love the sound of this CD-Player an recommend it to everyone who loves warm music, which goes very close to analogue sound. If you can turn a blid eye to the negatives, buy it!
Turntable: Pro-Ject Debut II
Tape: Kenwood KX 9050
Integrated: Audio Analogue Puccini SE MK II
Speaker: Sonus Faber Concertino Home
Interconnects: Goertz Micro Purl Copper (0.5 meter)
Cable: Kimber Kable 4 PR Strengths:
- great warm sound with super vocals
- looks wonderful Weaknesses:
- slight hum
- bad plastic remote control
- clunky drawer mechanism Similar Products Used:
Kenwood and some other low price stuff
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