I was very interested in the CA-1. I emailed them with a few questions, 3 times, crickets.
That's discouraging enough for me to pursue something else.
Showing 7 responses by gano
thanks @shtinkydog! It could have been many reasons why my email was ignored, went to junk, busy week, moving, maybe I will circle back. |
@agwca it's a business, they don't owe me anything. If they want to sell, they post an email address that someone checks at least once every other day. In one week, I got zero response to 3 emails. I know that small businesses are not full of IT gurus, and they are busy with so many things, and a move can be stressful although reading emails shouldn't be a challenge in 2024. I would love to hear what you think, this amp was on the top of my list. The lack of preamp is somewhat annoying, and the design is as minimalist as they come, but sound quality above all..... |
@agwca that's very thorough. The Hegel costs more than twice. So I am not sure you are calling this a great value or not. (By great I mean fantastic in comparison to similar amps. Is it as good as an amp twice the price?) I think the phono input is a mistake as well as the lack of pre out. It looks like a minimalist amp but exactly those two things would make it minimalist and practical for the budget audiophile. The design is also borderline unbearable for me, with a tiny bit more effort it could have been ok to look at (subjective of course)
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@agwca there are a few hubs of audio brain power and manufacturing in the US, tend to be coastal CA, the Boston area, and the twin cities. So I have no doubt it’s a solid amp, being from Minnesota. I made a list of about 6 amps in the 1000-ish range and based on the reviews the AVA jumped out. I didn’t know why Hegel was marked up, but you explained it. On a second thought the phono input makes sense to people who occasionally listen to vinyl and for people like me who occasionally would use a DAC, an optical input would make more sense (Hegel) Looking at this forum and my favorite hifi youtube channels, the price is a bit too high for budget audiophiles and too low for serious spenders. And when I say too high, I don’t mean by much. But you got a good deal on it, one that I would have probably jumped on. I think there is a lack of choices in the small output (<60 Watts), minimalist with high SQ integrated segment under a $1000. I know ~$1000 is not much these days, but for a dad in a family with a lot bills, a college student, a middle class single person with rent, etc. it’ a choice between new tires on the car or trip to grandma, or new laptop for the kid, there is no $1000 lying around. It might not happen until a big break financially. I think Schiit does exactly what I am talking about, lower priced, high quality, modular setup. It’s the design that’s not my style but I assume they are doing great. |
@seanheis1 that's a big difference I guess. But then Hegel must think that they have to give something for costing twice. Norwegianness? Sometimes when people pay more they think they get more... |
Also on the Hegel pricing: used ones sell at a similar price of used AVAs, maybe 20% more. Which is very telling. The used market has a lot of $500 to a $1000 integrateds. It looks like Creek is really the winner there. Btw Leak has very similar construction than Hegel, but looks profoundly different. It’s a money pit :) |