Chris Kelly – The Ear

Chris Kelly from The Ear recently had a chance to try the AUVAs with his Harbeth Compact 7ESXDs and was very pleased with the results. You can read his full review here.

“My playlist for this first session was an eclectic mix, curated as a Qobuz playlist and streamed from that service through an Auralic Aries Mini plugged into my Lyngdorf TDAI3400. The first track was Harlan County Line by Dave Alvin from his Eleven Eleven album. This well recorded slice of Americana features Alvin’s gruff baritone over his guitar, drums and bass. What I heard immediately with Auvas in place was better definition between the instruments and slightly more tuneful bass, which benefitted both the voice, bass guitar and the drums.

I subsequently played a selection of tunes by the Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd and other favourites. My reaction to each was the same – the music seemed more focused with the Auvas than it had with the devices I had been using previously. The effect was subtle, but when I swapped out the Auvas for my own isolators the music sounded somehow less vivid, and thus less engaging.

In due course I switched the stands back to my C7-specific Hi-Fi Racks Fortis, an open design with no top-plate. I first listened to the same first track with my own isolators between the top of the legs and the Compact 7s. I placed an Auva at the top of each leg and placed the loudspeaker on top of those. Listening to the same tracks as I had with the Skylans stands, I heard very much what I had heard before, and I really liked it.

Some weeks later I took delivery of a pair of Kudos Titan 606 floor standing loudspeakers, which had arrived for a review (coming soon). These are an Isobaric bass reflex design with a second bass unit in the lower half of the cabinet. Stack Audio Auva are supplied with an excellent set of Target Audio spikes for standing on a carpeted floor.”