My Long List of Amplifiers and My Personal Review of Each!
I did not say Bloated soundstage. Please lighten up and stop trying to analyze every word we say and drawing conclusions from it. I said nothing about Bass. I did not find the bass of the VAC to be more solid state sounding and the Bass of the Gryphon to be more tube-like. Fuller bass does not mean less control. It just means it is somewhat elevated in that frequency range.
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Viber, You are Dominating the thread. People are sick of it . We do not want or need your input or perceived "HELP "to any posts. You are replying to anything posted and giving your advice or reply to every post made. Nor do we need you endlessly drawing conclusions and assumptions based on what you read elsewhere and put together with what people say in this thread. You some off as "ALL KNOWING" and respond to everything as if you are the expert on ALL things. Must be that DR that you use in front of your name in the real world. YOU are not GOD or all Knowing ..and I am pretty sure people are "SICK" of it . PLEASE STOP.
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@Viber6 But digital remains artificial once you get exposed to what vinyl can do, as Mike Fremer says.I agree 100%. I am blown away with the performance of my Victor QLA-7 with the JVC Z1-S MM cartridge with a JICO DT-Z1S-B (SAS Boron cantilever). I am sure there is a lot better, but I am Impressed . I have heard my buddies Thorens TD-125 setup (supposedly very good) and I’ll take QLA-7. |
@ kren0006 In contrast to what Viber suggests in last post, prevailing wisdom on A’gon seems to be that it is much easier to get stellar digital performance for value expenditure than it is for analog, mostly because dacs/streaming have come so far recently that a couple grand or less will get you very good digital performance. NOT TRUE. Trust me Vinyl wins at a much lower cost to performance, just like Viber said. Please direct me to all of that prevailing wisdom on Audiogon Sorry ,I edited this . It should go before WCs comment to me about Vinyl being better . |
and for those of you Analog guys who think that MC is better than MM Check this out https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/who-needs-a-mm-cartridge-type-when-we-have-mc and this http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?eanlg&1173550723&openusid&zzRauliruegas&4&am... where we analyze some MM type cartridges. |
I have tried bot Mono and Stereo of the same vintage/brand. IMO I do not think there is a huge difference . maybe a little quieter , a little better clarity and separation of instruments. I personally believe most of this to be power related. Monos are always higher powered compared to their Stereo brethren, sometimes double . If you ever noticed the THD or distortion rating on an amp at like some amps are rated for example 100 watts . If you only use or need about 10 watts the distortion is much less at 10 watts than 100 , especially if your speaker can operate on 10 watts. The problem is when you have speakers the are pretty in efficient like 85 or 86 db and the MFG says you can use any amp from 20 watts to 300 watts . The 300 watt amp will sound much cleaner (free of distortion) if and when you turn it up past background music See here https://pro.harman.com/insights/harman-pro/new-insights-into-the-dangers-of-using-power-amplifiers-t... So if your speakers are highly efficient as in most horn types. Like 92-115 db efficient or it is actually called speaker sensitivity. I do not think a couple of mono amps that are capable of 300watts into 8 ohms vs a stereo amp that is capable of 100 watts into each channel will sound much better . and that is just an example . I am not saying the power rating is enough or too little . It will depend on the speaker. I know most speaker types sound better with more power . When i was in high school the thought was that you could blow the speakers in your car with a high powered amp, that was rated higher than what your speakers called for . that is not the case , unless you try to run 100 watts into a 20 watt speaker and rank it full bore for 8 hours or something like that . I have always found that speakers generally sound better over amped ,as long as it is not outrageous. The reason is that you a not using all of that power because you do not need to use much of the available power to get them to sound loud . I learned that most speakers are blown by trying to play them too loud for that amp that you are using. the speakers or speaker drivers blow due to the high rate of distortion or clipping which turns out that clipping is DC voltage Here is an explanation of clipping from wikipedia : Clipping is a form of waveform distortion that occurs when an amplifier is overdriven and attempts to deliver an output voltage or current beyond its maximum capability. Driving an amplifier into clipping may cause it to output power in excess of its power rating. In the frequency domain, clipping produces strong harmonics in the high-frequency range (as the clipped waveform comes closer to a squarewave). The extra high-frequency weighting of the signal could make tweeter damage more likely than if the signal was not clipped. In general, the distortion associated with clipping is unwanted, and is visible on an oscilloscope even if it is inaudible |
Sorry, but I must share this. I had no idea there was this footage. Unreal. look how young they were. The Synthesizer.. Love it . One of the best tunes ever https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-E7_VHLvkE |
ok Jay and everyone lese. I have some music recommendations. These are KILLER GREAT songs that will give your speakers a workout. besides they are FREAKIN AWESOME ! Mostly indie Down & Out by Boozoo Bayou Kyiv by Tom Misch Lift Off by Tom Misch Flow By Crooked Colors Days Without You (Crussen Remix) by Satori Charlottes Thong by Conan Mockasin Drift by Great Gable Farewell Transmission by Kevin Morby Honey, There's no time by Fenge Suave Crank it up . I’ll bet you will be amazed by a lot of this |
@viber6 Play them kinda loud The bass on a lot of these is unreal This is good stuff !!! https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfKqxF7uPH5jzwsusBCnAJn7m92_JdeZV |
Here is a couple that are not in my list ,but should be Takuya Karoda Everybody Loves the Sunshine https://youtu.be/lZ8zu1aRYA8 The Parcels- The Comedown https://youtu.be/v0GzIguNPUA Fenge Suave https://youtu.be/R90kVBcVgE8Amazing(Fenge Suave) Actually that whole live video of the Parcels in a studio in Germany is very good . |
Oh by the way you all were talking about speaker cables. I just received a couple days ago some speaker cables from Von Gaylord Audio.. They are Return Of The Legend 7000s Speaker Cables. These are their Reference Cables. I'm not sure if anyone has heard anything from Von Gaylord Audio but they are the best speaker cables that I have owned. Highly recommended |
@Viber6i have killer clean deep articulate Bass here, as well as the rest of the notes . It is just that a lot of those songs have killer bass. A good test of your speakers ability to reproduce it. All of the other frequencies are awesome too . I especially like the clarity and almost startling sounds in the Boozoo Bajou - Down & Out song. I really like Feng suave at the beach too. |
If you liked my Playlist ,I am adding to it almost daily. I won't update you all here anymore . I just have to tell you this one The Parcels https://youtu.be/3kBIxmjun1U Those Kids are Amazing |
@chazzzy0007
Amen . Agreed 100%. I have tried to say this many times but certain people , just will not believe it . They have a Bias against Tubes. |
Wow Jay, . I remember when we tried to tell you that cables make a difference. You did not believe it ...yet. Many of us gave you grief because sometimes you didn't give equipment more than a day or 2. Look at you now talking about how cables make a huge difference , talking about decay, soundscape, and "SOUL". Your last video describing the differences between the Class D amp vs the Class A amp, was very impressive. It now sounds like you have a great EAR and the capability to put into words what you hear. I am impressed . I commend you SIR, for a job Very Well Done ! |
Jay The used market is not a good option for the top end transparent cables either because they will only calibrate cables for the original owner. This is why i had to buy all my cables from a dealer since i change equipment so oftenDo you have any idea what is involved in Calibrating "Transparent Audio " Speaker Cables ? Unless they have variable resistors , capacitors or the ability to adjust in some way an RC Circuit, I cannot believe they can "Calibrate"??? cables.. ???. Now you can't really calibrate an amp , but you can certainly match it to the speaker , when i say match, I mean use an amp that can output the Current needed for low Impedance swings . For example a speaker that dips to 2 or 3 ohms of impedance at a certain Frequency will require an amp that can output or handle the current that that is required to drive them (usually the lower Bass Region, but not always ) when a constant voltage is supplied by the amp. So amp matching is critical, but what can be calibrated in a a cable ???. I am curious to know . |
TUBES....... I think a lot of it depends on what kind of music you listen to. In my experience tubes are more "real" sounding. Depending on the recording the Artist can be In your room , playing live , with tubes. Tubes tend to have more SOUL. If you listen to a lot of Electronica for example ,or that type of music Solid State , can be more dynamic, give your more Slam and be better at transients or fast swings or changes. The biggest problem IMO with tubes is knowing when one is bad or not working quite right. It is not always easy to tell. Sometimes things just do not seem to be quite right. then you have a lot of troubleshooting to find out.. It is not always Glaringly Apparent. Is it a Phase splitter tube , a rectifier tube , or one of the output tubes ??? It can make you pull your hair out !!! Look at JAY ! LOL just kidding ., of course |
@Viber6 I must correct you on 1 thing ...your Math. If we only have 2 groups #1- people who preferred the Rogue Amp OR #2- people who preferred the Other Amp Unless it was split 50% VS 50 % The smaller number of the group is "The Minority" If it was 51% for the Other Amp 49% for the Rogue. The People who liked the Rogue would be in the minority Also I hate to say it but The reality is that most systems I have heard are dull and lacking top end.That is not "Reality" That is "Your Opinon"...as you see it , with your background and your experience . It might be "Your Reality" Problem is that you talk about everything as if it is fact, but IN FACT it is your opinion. You really should use IMO or IMHO in your statements or opinions. and Stop stating things as fact, when in reality, it is you opinion. Am I wrong here ? |
This is supposedly the BEST version of (Coal Train)..Stimela by Hugh Mesekala Hugh Masekela - Stimela (Coal Train) Best Version - YouTube |
Viber, just to clear up any confusion, I am sure that you meant to say that you heard a soft 37Hz note , not 37db note. Of course db is decibels. The speakers are listed to go down to 40Hz. I am not sure if that is 3db down or 6 db down at that frequency , Probably -6. He does not say Most speaker manufacturers list their lowest freq response at either -3 or -6 db. |
Those DSD files especially ,should be outstanding. lots of DSD Jazz files, but many others as well, ENJOY ! i am so glad that you can now hear the difference in the High res files. 95% of all files on their are at least Cd quality. CD quality” audio resolution uses a 16 bit word for each sample. The sample rate is 44.1 kHz. This is often described as simply “16/44.1k.” This translates into an analog dynamic range of approximately 96 dB, and an analog bandwidth of approximately 22 kHz
Another format for DSD editing is Digital eXtreme Definition (DXD), a PCM format with 24-bit resolution sampled at 352.8 kHz |
Jay Buy Mofi Vinyl . (Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab) I have a 180 Gram 45RPM Dire Straits -Dire Straits (Original Master Recording) and 180 gram 45RPm Dire Straits -Communique (Original Master Recording) They sound fantastic. The One Step Ultra-Discs should be even better, but, selections are few. BTW, there is a lot of good music on the USB drive that you got from me. It just takes time to explore it all and find what you like.😀 |
