Allez puisque l’on est dans les tentatives de comparaisons entre sources audio, je me permet de placer quelques retours de Christiaan Punter de Hifi Advice qui a le mérite de faire des review comparatives, les seules qui renseignent un minimum sur les différences entre matériels pour savoir de quoi on parle. On trouve dans son essai du Volta des références comparatives avec les Aqua Formula XD et Tambaqui, ce qui doit permettre de se repérer, et comprendre que Matrix et Volta sont des propositions totalement différentes, en particulier quand on les utilise sur des HP « papier et compression ».
https://www.hifi-advice.com/blog/review/...-player/2/
En particulier:
Le Volta: The sound is propulsive, dynamic, and incredibly lively, and it’s all served in a soundstage that is both wide and deep and hugely engulfing, if not especially precise in terms of image specificity and layering. What’s rare is that these virtues are combined with smoothness, liquidity and deep tonal saturation. Even rarer is that the Volta also sounds wide open and intricately detailed yet never analytical. It achieves this through a presentation that is spritely, lively, and articulate in the midrange and treble, and full and smooth and even a little round in the bass. A term often used to describe this kind of bass behavior is lush. However, the Volta’s direct liveliness and attack make that I would rather label it as spritely and engaging, not necessarily as lush overall.
Puis passage à l’Aqua Formula Xd: Unexpectedly, this switch took me some time to get to grips with, for the Aqua combo now sounded comparatively small, dull and dry. Knowing that the Aquas are both incredibly neutral and not dull in and of themselves, apparently, without having noticed it just yet, the Volta must have quite a voluminous and rich sound. Further swapping back and forth unveiled what was happening. As I noted, the Volta’s bass is on the lush and voluptuous side, but not in a “hewn from granite” kind of way. Rather, it sounds full and energetic but in a slightly sweet and rounded manner that actually reminds me of tube products.
A la comparaison: For instance, where the Volta would invariably be utterly seductive with strings, vocals, and the overall ambiance, the LinQ and Formula xHD impressed me more when playing rhythm-driven music or whenever the highest precision was called for. As mentioned, the LinQ and Formula xHD manage higher precision in the bass, and they also sound more neutral and linear. Strictly speaking, the Aqua combo is closer to the audiophile ideal, as well as my own ideal. And that’s only fair, given the combo’s much higher price of admission. However, musically speaking, a hugely compelling argument can certainly be made for the Volta. Much of it depends on how strict a listener is. Having heard so many streamers and DACs, I think it’s fair to say that the Volta romanticizes the sound to some extent and I don’t think I’m taking things out of context by stating that perhaps it also has a slightly larger-than-life sound, but you have to ask yourself, is that a problem?
Le Tambaqui là dedans: Niels’ normal DAC is the MolaMola Tambaqui, which is a great DAC that sounds not too dissimilar from the Aqua Formula xHD, if a little bit smoother in the treble and just very slightly warmer in the midrange.
Interestingly, Niels has heard and owned lots of audio components but still, the Volta managed to take him completely by surprise. Not only was it lively, brightly lit, expressive, and plenty detailed in his setup, it also provided much more of an organic sense to the music than the MolaMola DAC. The sound took on an indulging liquidity and flow and had a way of sucking us into the performance. And just as we heard it with the Aqua components, the MolaMola sounded comparatively duller. But is it, really? Or is the Volta extra open and expressive? As indicated, I’m sure it’s the latter but the question was, does that matter? Ultimately, it’s a matter of personal preferences as well as one of finding the best balance in any system.
Conclusion: What this extravagant little box offers is peace of mind. Its buttonless and option-less, rock-solid design allows you to forget about all the digital-format-worries and stop tinkering with countless options, filters, and what have you. Much like one would expect from a good tube design, the Volta is a little bit euphonic and not strictly the most neutral or most accurate streaming source there in its price range, but it plays music in a hugely compelling, lush yet highly expressive, big, dynamic, and emotion-inducing manner.
Tout cela me semble de bonne facture en terme de comparaison, tout comme la préférence subjective et meilleure cohérence d’ensemble doit émerger des L5 avec Volta plutôt que L5 avec Matrix, partant du principe que les L5 sont avant tout des enceintes large bande papier / compression donc assez dégraissées et vives (un petit coté Pascal Louvet dans l’esprit), sensibles aux éléments un peu « trop neutres », à l’aise avec des appareils donnant de la saturation des couleurs tonales, du corps (super avec des 845b qui seraient trop ronds sur des Vivid, très bien sur du papier, mais une source telle le Matrix avec du totor AB sur les L5… là l’intégré italien doit être le mieux adapté, mais toujours dans un caractère éloigné du Volta). La petite écoute que j’avais faite de l’ampli Shinaï à l’époque me semble correspondre, à savoir que l’on peut passer d’un mariage coté enceintes / pièce inspirant richesse, matière, vie, à un mariage donnant la sensation de s’emmerder par un coté un peu étouffé, systématiquement chaud et en matière. J’arrête de spéculer, direction la brocante du bled d’à coté
https://www.hifi-advice.com/blog/review/...-player/2/
En particulier:
Le Volta: The sound is propulsive, dynamic, and incredibly lively, and it’s all served in a soundstage that is both wide and deep and hugely engulfing, if not especially precise in terms of image specificity and layering. What’s rare is that these virtues are combined with smoothness, liquidity and deep tonal saturation. Even rarer is that the Volta also sounds wide open and intricately detailed yet never analytical. It achieves this through a presentation that is spritely, lively, and articulate in the midrange and treble, and full and smooth and even a little round in the bass. A term often used to describe this kind of bass behavior is lush. However, the Volta’s direct liveliness and attack make that I would rather label it as spritely and engaging, not necessarily as lush overall.
Puis passage à l’Aqua Formula Xd: Unexpectedly, this switch took me some time to get to grips with, for the Aqua combo now sounded comparatively small, dull and dry. Knowing that the Aquas are both incredibly neutral and not dull in and of themselves, apparently, without having noticed it just yet, the Volta must have quite a voluminous and rich sound. Further swapping back and forth unveiled what was happening. As I noted, the Volta’s bass is on the lush and voluptuous side, but not in a “hewn from granite” kind of way. Rather, it sounds full and energetic but in a slightly sweet and rounded manner that actually reminds me of tube products.
A la comparaison: For instance, where the Volta would invariably be utterly seductive with strings, vocals, and the overall ambiance, the LinQ and Formula xHD impressed me more when playing rhythm-driven music or whenever the highest precision was called for. As mentioned, the LinQ and Formula xHD manage higher precision in the bass, and they also sound more neutral and linear. Strictly speaking, the Aqua combo is closer to the audiophile ideal, as well as my own ideal. And that’s only fair, given the combo’s much higher price of admission. However, musically speaking, a hugely compelling argument can certainly be made for the Volta. Much of it depends on how strict a listener is. Having heard so many streamers and DACs, I think it’s fair to say that the Volta romanticizes the sound to some extent and I don’t think I’m taking things out of context by stating that perhaps it also has a slightly larger-than-life sound, but you have to ask yourself, is that a problem?
Le Tambaqui là dedans: Niels’ normal DAC is the MolaMola Tambaqui, which is a great DAC that sounds not too dissimilar from the Aqua Formula xHD, if a little bit smoother in the treble and just very slightly warmer in the midrange.
Interestingly, Niels has heard and owned lots of audio components but still, the Volta managed to take him completely by surprise. Not only was it lively, brightly lit, expressive, and plenty detailed in his setup, it also provided much more of an organic sense to the music than the MolaMola DAC. The sound took on an indulging liquidity and flow and had a way of sucking us into the performance. And just as we heard it with the Aqua components, the MolaMola sounded comparatively duller. But is it, really? Or is the Volta extra open and expressive? As indicated, I’m sure it’s the latter but the question was, does that matter? Ultimately, it’s a matter of personal preferences as well as one of finding the best balance in any system.
Conclusion: What this extravagant little box offers is peace of mind. Its buttonless and option-less, rock-solid design allows you to forget about all the digital-format-worries and stop tinkering with countless options, filters, and what have you. Much like one would expect from a good tube design, the Volta is a little bit euphonic and not strictly the most neutral or most accurate streaming source there in its price range, but it plays music in a hugely compelling, lush yet highly expressive, big, dynamic, and emotion-inducing manner.
Tout cela me semble de bonne facture en terme de comparaison, tout comme la préférence subjective et meilleure cohérence d’ensemble doit émerger des L5 avec Volta plutôt que L5 avec Matrix, partant du principe que les L5 sont avant tout des enceintes large bande papier / compression donc assez dégraissées et vives (un petit coté Pascal Louvet dans l’esprit), sensibles aux éléments un peu « trop neutres », à l’aise avec des appareils donnant de la saturation des couleurs tonales, du corps (super avec des 845b qui seraient trop ronds sur des Vivid, très bien sur du papier, mais une source telle le Matrix avec du totor AB sur les L5… là l’intégré italien doit être le mieux adapté, mais toujours dans un caractère éloigné du Volta). La petite écoute que j’avais faite de l’ampli Shinaï à l’époque me semble correspondre, à savoir que l’on peut passer d’un mariage coté enceintes / pièce inspirant richesse, matière, vie, à un mariage donnant la sensation de s’emmerder par un coté un peu étouffé, systématiquement chaud et en matière. J’arrête de spéculer, direction la brocante du bled d’à coté
La hifi est femme. Imparfaite par nature, on la choisit pour ce qu'elle a, pas pour ce qu'elle dit avoir. Mais si on voit ses défauts avant ses qualités, on est pas fait pour en avoir une, mieux vaut se soulager sous la douche, en écoutant la radio.
Ventes à venir ou en cours (MP si intéressé pour en discuter): Albedo, Leedh E2 Glass, Coincident Statement Linestage, blocs mono Coincident SE845 Turbo, Avantgarde Uno XD
Ventes à venir ou en cours (MP si intéressé pour en discuter): Albedo, Leedh E2 Glass, Coincident Statement Linestage, blocs mono Coincident SE845 Turbo, Avantgarde Uno XD