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 January 1, 2008 SoundStage! A/V’s 2007 Products of the Year: The Simaudio Moon Evolution i-7 Integrated Amplifier and JVC HD1 D-ILA Projector We call SoundStage! A/V the SoundStage! Network’s "supersite" because it’s here that you’ll find everything from the equipment-report archives for all of our online publications to links to show reports, as well as measurements of speakers, amplifiers, and preamplifiers, all grouped under easy-to-locate tabs. And there’s more -- each month, we produce cutting-edge editorial content that includes full-length equipment reviews in the "On HiFi" and "On HomeTheater" sections. In fact, some of the best equipment we review across the whole SoundStage! Network appears here. Therefore, it’s fitting that each year we announce on this site the SoundStage! A/V awards for Products of the Year -- those products that we feel should be singled out for special recognition for being a cut above the rest. This year, we grant two awards: one for an outstanding audio product that I reviewed, the other a home-theater product reviewed by our home-theater guru, Wes Marshall. Nothing else reviewed on SoundStage! A/V impressed either of us more. And the winners are . . . Simaudio Moon Evolution i-7 Integrated Amplifier -- The Best of All Worlds
The Moon Evolution i-7, made by Canada’s Simaudio, is not only the best integrated amplifier I’ve ever heard and used, it’s so good that it outclasses even many preamp-amp combinations at higher prices. It’s no typical integrated amp -- one intended to be used in some cost-compromised system until its owner can afford separates. Rather, the i-7 sounds so clean, so detailed, and so transparent that it can fit right in with the best components you might want to match it with. In fact, some serious audiophiles might sell their separates to have it. Furthermore, its 150Wpc output is sufficient to power most speakers on the market, its user interface is as complete as anyone will need, and its build quality is bettered only by those of products costing many times as much. When I reviewed the i-7, I found nothing to fault. Since March 1, 2007, when that review was published, the i-7’s price has crept up to $6900 -- but I’m still just as enthused. Nor am I surprised that it now costs more. Recently, the US dollar has slumped significantly compared to the Canadian dollar. The currencies of Canada and the US haven’t been "on par" for decades, let alone the Canadian dollar being at times actually worth more. Furthermore, I think that Simaudio might even have underpriced the i-7 when they first introduced it. I’ve seen nothing from any other manufacturer that even compares with it. Simaudio hit the ball out of the park when they created the i-7, upping the ante for what one can expect from an integrated amplifier, and in turn making an integrated that now costs almost $7000 still seems like something of a deal. …Doug Schneider JVC HD1 D-ILA Projector -- JVC’s Paradigm Shift
By 2007, just as D-ILA’s adherents were about to change camps, JVC created a D-ILA projector -- the HD1 -- that, in one stroke, completely did away with all the problems, and fixed a few new ones that no one had known about. The biggest fix was the contrast ratio. Makers of LCD and DLP displays were using a dynamic iris to achieve contrast ratios in the region of 8000:1. If you’ve set your display so that everything you watch, regardless of original aspect ratio, takes up your full screen, you’ll probably never notice the iris at work. But if you watch images with black bars on the sides or top and bottom, you’ll see that iris working. But JVC figured out a way to get an honest 15,000:1 contrast ratio without an iris. Chalk one up for JVC. Then they went to work to reduce the fan noise. Obviously, since it has no color wheel, there’s no whining sound. But they took a hint from computer makers and opened up some massive airways so the fans could run at a lower speed. Chalk up another. Finally, they focused a little industrial-design firepower on the HD1 to make it one of the best-looking front projectors on the market. Game, set, match. Not only does the HD1 knock off the CRTs, DLPs, and LCDs -- at its current list price of $5495, it’s one of the great bargains in videoland. But if you’d like to add HDMI 1.3, power zoom and focus, and up the contrast ratio to 30,000:1, the brand-new JVC HD-100 is just hitting the shelves for $7995. Wow! …Wes Marshall
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By no stretch of the imagination can
$6000 be considered a "bargain" price for an integrated amplifier. At least, I
didn’t think it could -- until the Moon Evolution i-7 came along.
Since 2000, rabid videophiles anxious
to leave the world of the cathode-ray tube and go digital wanted nothing more than to tame
JVC’s beastly D-ILA projectors. They had three huge problems: they were too noisy,
they were butt-ugly, and they didn’t have very good contrast. DLP came along and
stole the limelight with its superior contrast ratios and quieter fans, but the D-ILA
brigade kept arguing that only D-ILA displays produced a gorgeous, filmlike color palette
and none of DLP’s "rainbow effect."