The first (for me) of the Next Level HiFi rooms was dominated by Børresen Z1 Cryo monitors ($14,500/pair; above), Aavik’s U180 Class-D integrated amplifier with DAC ($10,800; below) and S180 streamer ($7200; below), and Ansuz cabling, XTC power switch (an Ethernet switch with noise reduction – $2600) and XTC Mainz 8 power distributor ($1900 ). During a live performance from Berlin of “Electrified II”, the near-field soundstage was extremely exciting and engaging, the sound a little dry and bass quite good for a system made up of components that were cheaper than other equipment in the market. ‘Audio Group Denmark.
“Anything that can be cryo-processed is cryopreserved for 72 hours at our own facility,” I was told. I think the process raises the price of the speakers which contain Børresen’s own planar ribbon tweeters and woofers, a patented motor system, titanium voice coils and a special metal composite. “We avoid aluminum because it creates hysteresis,” Peter Hansen of Audio Group Denmark said as he led me to a table in the hallway that displayed the speaker’s internals and gave me a graphical display of the speaker. hysteresis.
