[vcoheda]

Aug 2008 review in 6Moons of the RSA Predator. Below is an excerpt.

Quote:

When the Predator's battery was back in fully powered shape, it was time for the first critical listening session. Both interconnects were run in and we had a choice of headphones - a simple foldable Ultrasone, a Sony MDR F1, a loaner Sennheiser HD-600 and the Ultrasone Edition 9. First we used the iPod as source loaded with WAV files EAC'd to hard disc and from there transferred to the iPod with Anapod. The musical genres ranged from early music to heavily synthesized crossover. From the first track of Dulce Pontes' El Corazon Tiene tres Portes, it was clear the Predator was special in the sense of putting a very locked-in image into our brains. Listening to headphones is still a very different experience to free-air speakers. Turning your head carries the full image with you while making the same move listening to free-air speakers changes your perspective to the virtual stage which remains fixed. Sitting still then is the remedy. With all headphones -- even though they all had their strong and weak points -- the Predator showed its voicing. The lower region of the musical spectrum is slightly accentuated, giving the outcome of any music a firm base. We observed this effect with any of the three gain settings. Most listening was done with the gain switch in the middle position by the way. Where the lower frequencies were a little elevated above neutral, the high frequencies were handled without any emphasis or attenuation. Steel-strung Portuguese guitars which can sound painfully sharp were rendered beautiful and thanks to the low-frequency response, full-bodied but not too large. Pontes' challenging voice was handled likewise and we much appreciated its rendering. Large orchestras were really large in width and depth. Depending on the recording, some tutti parts had a tendency to lean towards the right. To verify the bass-loving character, we pulled out the Hadouk Trio. Their Baldamore has a strong drone that can wreck the experience. With the Predator, there was no wrecking at all. The synthesized ultra-low tones were fully present but well controlled. The same held true for Mercan Dede's Su, another album where the electronic bass rules the deep.

6moons audio reviews: Ray Samuels Audio Predator

 

[Mr_Junesequa]

Thanks for posting. Great for comarisons!

 

[BIG POPPA]

Cool Stuff

 

[dazzer1975]

they are doing a future predator v iqube review which should be interesting.

Anyone know if there are any professional reviews done of the pred v pico?

 

[OutdoorXplorer]

cool.

 

[nano]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dazzer1975 /img/forum/go_quote.gif they are doing a future predator v iqube review which should be interesting. Anyone know if there are any professional reviews done of the pred v pico?

Second that

 

[nsx_23]

I'd like to see a professional review of the Meier XXS.

 

[rungun]

thanks

 

[Edwood]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 6Moons As a side note, it is advisable to stop any processes on a PC or Mac not vital to the task of reproducing music. With a computer's tendency for multiprocessing in the background, the quality of musical output can be compromised. When our computer was rid of unwanted processes including firewall and anti-virus software

I found this quote quite amusing. They must be running an ancient computer to have issues with running anything in the background.

 

[jamato8]

Yeah, I don't have any problem on my 3 year old Mac laptop. The music through the Predator always sound great (if it is recorded well).

 

[truant]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Edwood /img/forum/go_quote.gif I found this quote quite amusing. They must be running an ancient computer to have issues with running anything in the background.

But... they are professionals with a very good quality golden ears

he he he..

 

[biermagnaat]

It's still a lovely piece of kit.