AXPONA 2019
Innuos Statement - HiFi + Award
“The Innuos Statement takes what the company did with the SE and goes considerably further in the quest to unearth maximum musical brilliance in any recording. I suspect that the more I use it the more I’ll hear, especially if paired with better conversion, amplification, and transduction. I am confident in saying that it has few – if any – peers in the network server field, which means that it is one of if not the best digital source you can buy today.” - Jason Kennedy
Full review here
New and improved Qualiton APX 200
Audio-Hungary's 2 x 100 W high-end tube power amplifier, Qualiton APX 200 offers even more features in 2019. After last year's minor developments - reworked front-end circuitry with direct and balanced inputs, analog autobias system for output tubes - Audio-Hungary's design team changed the autobias game with their brand new microprocessor-based approach. The new, state of the art circuitry offers stable and well defined quiscient current levels during operation - which are completely independent of the presence of the musical signals, even in push-pull, Class AB2 mode.
Further modification that the vacuum tube set had to be changed due to electrical safety rules. For this reason, you can find the following tubes under the hood, as a factory default: 4 x KT90EH (output), 2 x 6922EH (driver), 2 x 12AX7EH (input).
Refreshed biasing and new, octal tube sockets allow wide variety of the common octal base power tubes - such as KT88, KT90, KT120, KT150 or EL34 - to be used in the output stage. From user's perspective it means, that you can create a sort of your own sound, based on personal output tube preferences.
Owners of the previous APX 200 can feel really safe as long as tube replacements are concerned, the factory has enough stock to replace burned tubes in the next two decades.
QLN Prestige Three - AVShowrooms
QLN Prestige Three Review - HiFi Lautsprecher
Innuos Zen MKIII - Darko.Audio
Watch. Listen. Learn.
CanJam NYC 2019
We are thrilled to have the Innuos Zenith MKIII featured in this year’s CanJam preview video (37 minute mark)!
Stop by and visit the Innuos booth where we will be demoing our entire server lineup.
Innuos Statement Review - The Ear
“Separation with this server is extraordinary, between instruments, voices, notes, you name it, it is nearly always possible to differentiate all of the sounds on a recording. Some music deliberately blurs these boundaries but where several or more musicians are playing lots of notes this clarity is a transformation, and the denser the music is the more obvious the benefits of the Statement’s ability to present it coherently. It opens up space both in imaging and timing terms, this is a quality you get with great turntables, an unfolding of the recording to make the time for the notes to form and trail away at whatever tempo they need to. This the Statement does with utmost ease and the better the accompanying streamer and or DAC the easier it is to appreciate. “
“The longer you let the Statement settle in the better it sounds, it’s like a Naim component in this respect, and by the end of the server’s far too short (month long) tenure I was getting seriously addicted to it. Whether streaming Ryley Walker on Tidal or Bugge Wesseltoft from the drive it has a beguiling transparency and openness that is dangerous to get used to, especially as it has inevitably to go back. The Statement is a more subtle source than most, its qualities are those of omission, it leaves out the distortion so that the music can come through. In this and all other respects this Innuos is a genuine state of the art component, put it on your ‘must hear’ bucket list straight away.“ - Jason Kennedy
Full review here
Photo courtesy of hifi-ifas.de
Innuos Zen MKIII Review - HiFi-IFAs
“The ZEN MK. III paints tones with the finest stroke. Voices as well as instruments are fantastically reproduced, of course, with ingenious spatial representation.”
Full review here
The Occasional 2018 Buyer's Guide
We are very proud to have the Innuos Zenith MKIII, GigaWatt PF-2, and SGR HiFi Racks featured in this year’s Occasional Buyer’s Guide. Congratulations to each of these fine brands!
Photo courtesy of HighFidelity.pl
Gigawatt PC-3 SE EVO+ High Fidelity PL - Red Fingerprint Award
“It proposes things that are not available with power strips, above all reducing the background noise to such a low level that it seems that the sound is quieter. One slightly increases the volume which results in a more dynamic, more three-dimensional sound than without a conditioner. But it will be equally important that the bass gains weight and that its mid range gets clearer. And all this combined with the silky, pleasant treble. It offers a push for systems towards a more real, tangible, refined sound that every one of us dreams of - music lovers, fans and aficionados. RED Fingerprint.”
Photo courtesy of HighFidelity.pl
Full review here
Innuos Statement Debut Award
“As I have already mentioned, a lot of people wanted to hear the new Innuos Statement Music Server that sells for $13,750. The Statement is the result of everything the people at Innuos have learned about making a computer into a real source for digital music. Its massive power supply has eight independent power rails. Thus, it can offer extremely clean power to the USB board and the clock. The clock, which handles Ethernet and USB inputs, is a 3ppb OCXO and should, in theory, do away with jitter and “phase noise”. The custom motherboard design is intended to sequester and eliminate EMI.
The Innuos music servers have made a believer out of me that the transport, music server or computer that is connected to a DAC is as important, if not more so, than the DAC.”
QLN Prestige Three Debut Award
“The Qln Prestige Three speakers made their debut in the Well Pleased AV room, which was crowded most of the weekend. These speakers incorporate over four decades of speaker research, development, design and construction. Based on the classic Qln Signature 3, they are time-aligned with a leaning cabinet and a truncated pyramid cabinet top that minimizes the baffle area around the divers.
The crossover has been designed with major parts that have also been improved based on years of experience and many hours of listening tests. It’s now hardwired with non-inductive capacitors for the tweeter and high-end and oil-filled capacitors for the woofer with flat foil inductors used at the most critical places. All components are fastened with damping glue, and the remaining coils are baked to avoid any internal component and filter resonances.
At the show, I was really impressed with the pure musicality of the sound from the Prestige Three speakers and with the holistic three-dimensionality of the soundstage. I did not hear this combination of musicality and a multi-dimensional soundstage from many speakers that cost three or four times as much. I think most people came to this room to hear the Innuos Statement Music Server demonstration, but I hope they left with the love I have had over the years for Qln speakers.”
Picture courtesy of Brian Hunter
RMAF 2018
Thank you to all of our friends and colleagues for making RMAF 2018 our most successful show to date!
Below are links to some of the show coverage we received.
Picture courtesy Jeff Fritz
SoundStage! Ultra Visit
“After Mark Sossa and I had finished installing all his gear in place of mine, we spent the next few hours trading tracks via Roon, listening, and chatting. What I learned about him and Well Pleased Audio Vida is that, unlike many audiophiles and audio dealers and distributors, he doesn’t have the goal of acquiring more expensive gear as time goes by. Sossa doesn’t trade in budget equipment, but he also doesn’t sell the outrageously expensive gear that’s becoming less and less relevant in today’s world. His goal is to sell products capable of a level of sound quality at least equivalent to that of the super-expensive stuff, at prices reachable by many audiophiles. He does this through choosing his brands carefully, and ensuring that the sonic synergy of those brands’ products is optimal, to result in a sound whose overall quality is greater than the sum of its parts.”
Full article here
New QLN Prestige Three
Introduction
Qln Prestige Three is a 2-way floor standing speaker.
Based on the classic Qln Signature 3 design. Such as time alignment leaning baffle, minimized baffle area around the dive units.
Prestige Three offering refined speaker engineering at the pinnacle of a classic 2-way speaker design.
Incorporating over four decades of speaker research, development, design and construction, the Qln Prestige Three carries the legacy of a timeless combination of form, function and performance. Re-engineered to provide an unprecedented high-end 2-way floor-standing audio transducer, presenting truly enticing audio reproduction without any impediment or compromise, packaged in perfect symbiosis and harmony.
The foundation
The Qln Prestige Three is a 2-way floor standing design where many parts have been sourced from the Qln Signature 3. Cabinet design are at the core of the design principal. Crossover have been redesigned and major parts have been improved due to our experience and many hours of listening tests to seek the best sound matches for this speaker. Every speaker models are unique and every component are carefully selected and matched to each other for the very best sound performance.
As with previous Qln designs. Priority has been set around getting technology out of the way to make music lovers be able to effortlessly concentrate on enjoying the magic of listening to music. Performed by stereo equipment at the very far end of the performance spectrum. At Qln we believe the music should always be in the forefront, not the stereo equipment.
Cabinet and crossover
A slanted baffle provides perfect time alignment between woofer and tweeter. The truncated pyramid cabinet top with its minimised baffle area suppresses any standing waves inside the cabinet also offering improved 3D imaging.
By again basing the cabinet construction around Qln’s unique Qboard® technology, structural resonances are eliminated. The bass reflex port with its trumpet shape at both ends eliminates air turbulence.
Cabinet is de-coupled from the floor via solid feet with cones and pucks constructed out of hard, high damping materials.
The constant impedance crossover has been completely redesigned and hardwired with non-inductive capacitors for the tweeter part and high-end oil-filled capacitors for the woofer part with flat foil inductors used at the most critical places. All components are fastened with damping glue and remaining coils are baked to avoid any internal component and filter resonances. Resistors with high power handling capabilities offer lower noise and temperature stable performance, altogether resulting in perfect timing within the crossover and with low noise throughout the entire frequency range.
Treble and bass/mid-range drivers
The bass/mid range and treble drivers have been specifically selected and custom developed by industry renowned Danish driver manufacturer Scan Speak and offer the latest in 21st century advanced driver technology.
The unique coated Kevlar® bass/mid-range driver with its built-in copper rings in the magnet system offers symmetric drive and higher dynamics in the mid-range concurrently suppressing inter-modulation distortion and resulting in industry leading high-end voice handling and astonishing micro/macro dynamics from a 2-way speaker design. The long stroke woofer with 19mm long voice coil work in a perfect match to the large inner volume that give powerful bass below 30Hz.
Likewise, the unique tweeter offers superb vocal rendition and excellent imaging at all listening positions. Its large roll surround and textile dome diaphragm provides a flat frequency response above 30 KHz with outstanding off-axis dispersion. The unique AirCirc magnet system and its rear chamber eliminate any reflections and resonances.
Cables and speaker connectors
Internal cabling is our own specially design and produced in Sweden. Solid core pure copper wires are wrapped around a polypropylene core with polypropylene isolation. All components are carefully hand selected and individually tested for any deviance’s. Speaker terminals are WBT Nextgen® connector with minimal connection material are used for lower distortion made of silver/copper material.
Conclusion
All parts have one thing in common. Non-resonant behavior from connector, cables, crossover, speaker drivers through the cabinet with the damping feet. This suppresses disturbing noise, offering more and better dynamics with better silence between the tones thanks to the lower noise floor.
The Prestige Three presents a more relaxing sound with remaining details – nothing is added – just pure music!
Impedance: 8 ohms
Amplifier requirements: 25-250 Watt RMS
Sensitivity: 87,5 dB SPL 1 Watt 1m
Low frequency performance: -3dB 28Hz
Cabinet: Qboard® Technology
Terminal: Single wire, WBT Nextgen®
Dimensions (HxWxD): 900x210x420mm, with feet 954x310x483
Weight: 27,0 kg each
Finish: Walnut Piano, Walnut matt, White satin
Swiss Cables
We are proud to announce our new partnership with world class cable manufacturer Swiss Cables from Entlebuch, Switzerland. We encourage you to take a moment and read over their innovative design philosophy, and core manufacturing principles.
Design Philosophy
In a high resolution and time-correct audio system, the quality of cables will prove as important as the quality of the active chain components.
Swiss cables products are the result of a complete blank sheet research approach, taking no pre-existent design paradigms for granted and leaving no stone un-turned to find better solutions and offer our clients with genuine sonic advancements and ownership value.
That said, we strictly believe that all theory is void when not confirmed in practice - clearly audible. We are confident that a few minutes listening to the Swiss cables products will convince even the most discerned listeners that these cables establish a new performance benchmark, offering true reference sonics at unheard of favorable pricing.
Selected Technical Highlights
Metallurgy
Copper based custom alloy, produced by advanced casting in protective gas environment, tempered to resonance-optimized hardness, conductor surface treated for optimal field propagation, signal flow and energy transfer.
Geometry
Custom field-balanced conductor geometry, yielding optimal field orientation and signal propagation while avoiding standing resonances found in conventional cable designs.
As a consequence, the signal flows more freely with minimal energy transfer losses and bandwidth equalization effects.
Insulation Technology
Advanced air-dielectric design, which eliminates MDI* and signal-reflection causing dielectrics and manufacturing methods, thereby avoiding the occurrence of multiple distortion sources and signal altering mechanical compression, damping and uncontrolled frequency curtailing effects found in conventional cables.
*MDI, micro discharge interface distortion. the micro discharge interface distortion effects were discovered - already decades ago - by Dr. Pierre Johannet, a researcher at the french national electricity institute in the context of very comprehensive signal processing research. In summary, MDI results from very steep, high-amplitude ultrasonic spikes which occur during all electrical signal propagation.
At frequencies relevant to audio, this discharge energy can take on sine wave character with significant impact on the audio signal, and can show up as measurable audible distortion by inter-modulation. swiss cables® in addition, MDI creates positive langevin ions (electrically charged particles in the room air), which, besides causing physical discomfort, have been found to obstruct natural sound field propagation in the listening room.
Research into MDI has shown that the majority of modern dielectrics, including the much lauded teflon, plain or foamed, are associated with an increase in MDI.
Listening-selected premium connectors and manufacturing methods
We have reviewed numerous cable termination technologies and countless connectors of different design and material composition to select those which provide the purest signal and overtone preservation, octave to octave energy equilibrium and energy transfer.
Unsurprisingly, we found that simplistic formulas like "minimum metal“ don´t do the complex realities justice and can easily be annihilated by the choice of a single unfavorable manufacturing method or materials. the new Swiss cables signal- and power-line cables are designed for listeners who value true fidelity performance and know it when they hear it. For those, a few minutes with these new generation products will be sufficient to recognize the groundbreaking performance and extreme value offered.
Picture courtesy of Sound Stage Australia
SGR Model 5 Statement Rack review - SoundStage Australia
"The role of a quality Hi-Fi rack system should be to provide support and a form of isolation and/or coupling to combat vibrational distortions in order to allow the full potential of your components to shine. In the case of the new SGR Audio Model V Statement racking system, the above mandate has been met to the highest degree. The additive elements of six isolation techniques, most importantly the viscoelastic decoupling, the Corian ‘Energy Sink Isolation Pads’ inserts and the superbly solid machined aluminium supports, in my opinion, have proven themselves to provide worthwhile sonic improvements over the excellent last-gen flagship rack (and every other rack I’ve had in-house, for that matter). Sonically, of particular importance are the exactness in terms of low level detail, the gains in tonal and textural nuance and the added precision in image density and placement.
The above is enough of a clincher in itself, should you be weighing your options when considering the purchase of a top-level racking system. But there’s so much more on offer with the Statement rack. It features solid engineering principles built into its design, it’s beautifully styled and finished (aspects which also apply to the company’s lower rung options), is offered in natural or black aluminium with attractive platform insert veneer options. It’s the result of fabrication with a fervent eye to detail. What’s more, it’s built in Australia by a company which is pulsing with increasing power and interest internationally.
The SGR Audio Model V Statement Hi-Fi racks are a winner of a design and are now staying in situ as an essential component within the context of SoundStage! Australia HQ’s reference system."
- Edgar Kramer
Full review here
Innuos Statement is coming...
The new flagship Innuos music server takes Digital Audio to a new level, building on the award-winning ZENith SE.
Double-enclosure linear power supply
• New power supply architecture designed in
partnership with Dr. Sean Jacobs.
• Separately enclosed AC/DC conversion stage
to isolate transformer vibration and EMI
emissions.
• Regulation stage within main system
enclosure to shorten the clean DC power path.
8 independent power rails
• Reduces electrical noise generated by
regulators’ voltage conversions.
• An individual dedicated power supply for each
critical component.
Custom designed components
• Innuos-designed USB board with a dedicated
5V power line.
• Independently powered 3ppb OCXO clock for
higher precision and lower phase noise.
• Ethernet reclocking.
• EMI-Optimised motherboard exclusively
designed for Innuos.