Already featured in our magazine at the time of its launch, Focal’s high-end active loudspeaker was until recently only available with a specific gray felt finish, intended to give the product a modern look, but inevitably limited in relation to certain interiors and the tastes of certain music lovers.
To offer other proposals, the French brand recently presented three new cheek frames, this time no longer in felt, but with gloss finishes to great effect. Off White High Gloss, Black High Gloss and Dune High Gloss have been added to the original gray ; they are available since the beginning of June.
On top of this, a special series has appeared to seal the partnership with the DS flagship – the presidential DS N°8 – with blue cheeks this time, covered with straw marquetry pieces from the Lison de Caunes workshops.
Technically, the Diva Utopia remains a very high-end Focal Beryllium tweeter loudspeaker, with a large 16.5 cm “W” midrange driver on the front and four “W” diaphragm woofers on the sides, active and connected thanks to the French manufacturer’s partnership with Naim. We don’t know yet how much the blue cheeks will cost, but the Gloss versions will nevertheless push the bill up by 7 000 € to 42 000 €, compared with 35 000 € for the felt.
Specializing in digital cables, AIM adds to its Ethernet range the NA4, positioned between the NA2 and NA6, and the NAX (for NA10), logically above the NA9.
With 8P8C modular RJ45 connectors on all its models, the Japanese manufacturer completes its Ethernet cable catalog by adding an intermediary and, above all, creating a new standard that uses silver in its conception.
NA4 In a green sheath with a total diameter of 7.1 mm, the NA4 incorporates a four-part design with 24 AWG (0.25 mm²) OFC copper conductors, protected by a double layer of aluminium, to which a braided copper shield is added. Designed to be particularly resistant to EMI interference, NA4 is available in lengths from 0.5 m (NA4-005) to 10 m (NA4100).
NAX Superior, the NAX retains the same structure as the NA9, with four sections in which two cables are enclosed, this time completely separated by sheaths, themselves enclosed inside a black sheath with a total diameter of 10 mm. The RJ45 connectors remain 8P8C models, but each conductive section incorporates 22 AWG (0.38 m²) OFC and silver strands in a polyethylene sheath, insulated with aluminum foil, followed by an insulating tape, a layer of copper covered by a second layer of braided copper shielding, before a conductive sheath, and then the final insulating sheath. Like the NA9, the NAX structure is now asymmetrical, and is only available in lengths from 0.5m (NAX-005) to 3m (NAX-030).
We are still awaiting final European prices for these two cables, but they should start at around 499 € for the NA4, and around 1 500 € for the NAX.
A notable Canadian high-end hi-fi company, EMM Labs is now better identified in some markets by its more affordable second brand, Meitner. Nevertheless, it continues to offer top-quality electronics, and this year proves that it too still believes in the CD format.
To its catalog of seven products – including two DA2i and DV2i DACs and a phono preamp dedicated to DS Audio- EMM Labs has added a pure CD transport. Named TXi Transport, it comes as a double surprise, proving that the brand still believes in this medium in the very high-end market, but offering to read only the CD format (44.1 kHz/16 bit) and therefore not SACD, even though one of the principal engineers in the development of this medium (and therefore of the 1-bit DSD digital format) is none other than Ed Meitner.
Dedicated to afficionados of the CD object, the TXi Transport is above all intended for EMM Labs customers in possession of one of the brand’s digital-to-analog converters. This is because, on the rear panel, there is only one connection to a DAC: the EMM Optilink, which sends a signal that is then resynchronized by the converters’ clocks. On the other side, there is only an RS232 socket for communicating with the brand’s other devices, and of course a mains socket, which supplies a current that is then carefully filtered by a power supply with a specific architecture, designed to reduce resonance and ripple noise.
Taken over from an unspecified OEM manufacturer, the playback mechanism has been totally reworked by EMM Labs and placed on a suspension system to drastically limit its reaction to vibrations. The ultra-rigid CNC-machined aluminum chassis brings the total weight of the device to 15 kg. Pricing is currently only available in US dollars: $12 500.
Now boasting a wide-ranging catalog, even in the hi-fi department, sometimes with products only slightly modified from those in the pro range (the excellent Phonitor xe headphone amp, for example), German manufacturer SPL has added the Phonos duo to its range of phono preamplifiers.
Still obviously in a compact chassis, in this case of the same dimensions as the Phonos, the Phonos duo adds a pair of balanced XLR inputs and outputs in addition to the RCA pairs, the only ones available on the Phonos. Otherwise, it offers the same parameters as its little brother, nut always better. Gain is now selectable as high, mid or low, and ground is now equipped with a small “Ground Lift” button that can be used to cancel noise by modifying isolation, in addition to the ground terminal, which is obviously still present.
The internal circuitry doesn’t appear to have undergone any major changes, with RIAA equalization still based on a design created by Douglas Self. As for the power supply, it retains the highly effective proprietary VOLTAiR technology, which converts the internal current to 120 V, at + or – 60 V. A subsonic filter is activated by a small switch, but this is marked “Rumble” rather than “Subsonic” on the Phonos.
Capacitance options for MM cartridges increase from 3 to 6 on the Phonos duo (from 12 pF to 330 pF), while impedance choices remain at 6 variables, but much lower and therefore more suited to high-end cells. Where the Phonos offers from 100 Ω to 10 kΩ via 4 kΩ, the Phonos duo holds steady from 20 Ω to 1 kΩ, much more in correlation with cartridges used by XLR connection enthusiasts.
As for the price, it rises from 1 999 € for the Phonos to 2 999 € for the Phonos duo.
Previewed at the Munich High-End (see our report), the AT-VMx cartridges feature a double vertical moving magnet design.
With double moving magnets placed between coils, these cells are still considered MM and therefore usable with all phono preamps with 47 kΩ input impedance. With a separate left-right design in a 90° V-shaped structure that seeks to follow that of the engraving head used to create vinyl masters, these new cells are screwable from the top without nuts and are compatible with almost all arms and cell holders on the market.
Nine for their launch, the AT-VMx cells cover a wide price range, starting with the AT-VM510xC (light blue; 119 €), like all the others already designed around pure PCUHD® (Pure Copper Ultra High Drawability) coils, but with a round-section conical diamond bonded in a metal joint to the cantilever. The AT-VM520xEB version (dark blue; 129 €) acquires a rounded elliptical diamond, still bonded to an aluminium cantilever, while the AT-VM530xEN (orange, 219 €) incorporates a full elliptical pure diamond.
You have to go upmarket again with the AT-VM740xML (red; 269 €) to acquire a microlinear diamond, then to the AT-VM745xML (burgundy; 339 €) to find a solid boron cantiler, 2.5 times faster at passing information than the aluminium tube. The AT-VM750xSH (brown; 369 €) features a Shibata diamond, followed by the AT-VM760xSL (black; 629 €) with a Special Line Contact diamond. Two mono versions complete the range, the AT-VM610xMONO (light blue; 129 €) and the AT-VM670xSP (grey; 149 €), bearing in mind that for all stereo cartridges, the heads are interchangeable and allow you to start by investing in an entry-level model, then modify only the lower part with the diamond and cantilever to improve your system.
It will be difficult for us to try out these products before the summer holidays, but we will do our best to produce a test for the September or November magazines, comparing several versions!
