MoFi MasterTracker MM Cartridge $800
One of the best phono cartridges on the market doesn’t get much attention. That would be MoFi’s MasterTracker.
MasterTracker sounds smooth instead of biting. Yet it has outstanding definition and plenty of output to run into your MM phono preamp. If you love the piano without sibilance, please consider the MasterTracker cartridge.
The name MasterTracker is derived from MoFi’s combination of choices to achieve superb groove tracing. MasterTracker mirrors the design of MoFi’s record cutting head in its studio in California. It uses a V-Twin dual magnet generator. That is, it uses TWO powerful magnets running parallel to the grooves. MasterTracker is literally the best tracking cartridge we’ve experienced.
- The body is formed from a solid billet of aluminum.
- Highest quality pure Ohno copper coils are used
- Stylus shape is Micro Linear- identical to the cutter head shape.
- Output is 3mV. (MM)
- Weight 9.7g.
- 47K ohms
NAD C-700 Streaming Integrated Amp $1500
(80×2, Bluesound streaming built in!)
If you’re looking for a small, simple musical solution that offers the right array of options, consider NAD’s new C-700. For most customers, just add speakers and you’re ready to go.
It is an integrated amp with MQA Bluesound streamer on board! Considering the streamer alone is worth $600, C-700 is looking like a steal.
The on board amplifier is 80×2 and a close cousin to NAD’s C-268 ($950, 80×2). This amplifier features NAD’s Hybrid design where the power supply is analog. Putting a tough amp in a convenient piece is conspicuously different from the wimpy amps NAD’s competitors build in.
The NAD is comfortable with the impedance of literally any speaker you’ll choose. If you read the fine print by the other guys, you’ll see they don’t like anything under 8 ohms. Every speaker goes well under 8 ohms during its impedance path.
C-700 supports Bluetooth and Airplay 2. You can shake hands with high end services like Tidal and Qobuz, as well as more main stream services like Spotify Connect and Tidal Connect.
There’s much more.
C-700 has a large 5” screen to display cover art and other music information. Nice.
Please also note, C700 has preamp outputs! This means you can connect it to a ferocious amp like NAD’s C298. Tuck that C298 away somewhere. Then you’ll have the beauty of a cool, very B&O looking piece like C700, with the fire breathing engine of a C298 under the hood!
Inputs include:
*2 analog RCA
*1 Coax digital
*1 Optical digital
*1 HDMI eARC
Outputs include:
*R&L RCA preamp out, YES!
*Subwoofer out. Yes!
You can hook up C-700 to your speakers and call it a day. Or…
Remember those pre out jacks allow you to connect a more powerful amp if you ever want to head down that road. Hence C-700 is fine for now, and fine to build with as the hobby bites harder.
Naim’s Unity Atom runs $3300, has 40×2, and a less reliable streaming platform without MQA. NAD’s C700 is a SMOKIN’ value!
Quad ERA-1 Headphones, $800
Headphones are among the most personal of transducers. How they fit and how they sound, is all in the head of the beholder.
Quad has had electrostatic speakers of great fame since the 1950s. Quad hasn’t made headphones- until about 2019.
ERA-1 is a Planar Magnetic phone of prodigious performance. We used to carry Audeze. They’re very nice. Yet ERA-1 at $800 competes apples to apples with the Audeze at $1800. Goodbye Audeze.
I’ll let TAS tell you about them:
TAS:
“First, the headphone exhibited powerful yet also extremely articulate bass, with an excellent combination of impact and pitch definition. Listen to the deep snarl of the bass and the thwack of the kick drum on ‘Prodigal Son’ from Billy Idol. Some might feel the bass is elevated in level, but it is presented in such a tasteful, musically uplifting manner that I think many will embrace it over a strictly neutral sound.
Second the ERA-1 has wonderfully well defined, nuanced, and revealing mids and highs, especially relative to the norms for its price. Many models in this class are either bright sounding or else dark sounding- and slightly softly focused, but the ERA-1 instead hews toward a more satisfying and accurate middle path.
To appreciate how this plays out in musical terms, listen to the hauntingly beautiful ‘Nublado’ from Sera Una Noche. It features delicate, shimmering percussion and the solo voices of guitar, cello and wind instruments. In every case, the ERA-1 deftly captures the defining tonal colors and textures essential to each instrument’s sonic character, not to mention the reverberant acoustics of the recording venue.
In short, ERA-1 now stands as one of the finest sub $800 headphones that money can buy.”
- Open back
- Planar Magnetic
- SPL 94dB
- 420 grams
- 20 ohms
- 10-40kHz
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