My Long List of Amplifiers and My Personal Review of Each!

The system sounds just fine with the $10 generic power cords.   Nordost says that power cords are more important than other cables.  My $350 Nordost Vishnu power cord makes a worthwhile improvement in clarity vs stock cord, but other components are much more important, so save the money for these other components.

Jay, 

You said about Mike, "He is into smooth and soft sounding amps because it keeps him glued to his seat. I’m not there anymore. I’m now more into the "what’s in the recording" type of sound reproduction."

I'm with you. What keeps me glued to my seat is the musical stimulation from hearing more of the information in the recording.  Of course, the SPL can't be too loud.

I just discovered a fantastic new small concert hall in NY.  Tiny stage projecting into a tiny hall, like a horn loaded speaker.  Sitting in front row center, 7 feet away, the piano had anvil-like grip in the entire freq range.  You should hear the FULL AND TIGHT TIGHT bass out of it.  Way beyond the sound of any speaker using conventional recordings.  But I made upfront recordings that replicate what I heard in similar venues.

3 more events at this place on monthly Mon evenings. See bohemiansNYC.org.  Anybody able to come to NY, I will get you in as my guest.  This will be more memorable than any audio show.

"I now understand what posters on speaker forums mean when they say things like, 'Tone is everything. What good are imaging and bass extension if the instruments don’t sound like what they are?'

"This is one way in which the Hologram M4’s truly excel. They are masters of tone. Trumpets, saxophones and other wind instruments sound very real. Orchestral strings sound sweet and woody, with the shimmer of the real thing. Voices are as palpable, expressive and human as the best single driver designs that I’ve heard, and that’s really saying something."

Read his whole article, which I think is spot-on.  He says much of the high cost of excellent speakers with box designs is that of the materials and engineering to make the box sound as boxless as possible, while attempting to get the powerful dynamics that come from box reinforcement.  Personally, I believe that no box speaker can compete with a boxless design for absolutely natural lifelike sound  The top Wilson Chronosonics are probably the best Wilsons, mainly because they best implement time alignment through their concave driver configuration, but before anyone spends $600K on Chronosonics they should listen to top OB speakers.   Spatial sells direct for as low as $2K or less, and their top Lumin line starts at $20K.  The Hologram M4 was $1300 at the time of the 2016 post.  Clayton Shaw designed the Emerald Physics line before moving on to Spatial.

So my latest thinking is that for ultimate natural sound, OB offers the best prospects.  Then the question comes down to which driver technology offers the closest simulation of natural voices and instruments.  I still believe that lowest mass drivers like planar magnetics, ribbons, and electrostatics offer this.  But OB dynamic drivers can now compete with those low mass drivers, and offer more dynamics to boot.  The low mass drivers offer maximum purity with less bass.  Take your choice.

So the 20.7 and ML 13A comparison will be most interesting.

Jay,

Aside from bass, how does the S7 midrange/HF compare with your Focal?  Normally, if bass is accurate, so is the rest of the range.  

daveyf,

Thanks for your info.  I believe everything you say, since I was SHOCKED at the improvement in resolution, spatiality going from the Denon DD to my friend's original LP12.  Did you actually use the same cartridge/arm, transferring them to all the TT you mentioned?  That's the only way to see if the TT alone is responsible for all the improvements.

Perhaps the bearing is the most critical factor in approaching the ideal of the invisible finger of God spinning the record.  Maybe the current Linn is comparable to the effortless transparency of analog master tape.

I was intrigued with the concept of the bearing in the original SOTA Sapphire TT.  But listening showed the TT was a dog--the entire soft wood construction probably explained its soft, mushy sound.

Nice sound.  What's left is to try the Puritan alone, and Stromtank with and without the Puritan.  My guess is that the ultimate purity is a synergy from the Strom plus Puritan.  Let's see what you find.

speedbump6,

Certainly the high power of the Mephisto is not needed for a typical horn speaker, which only needs a few watts.  But a well designed amp has low distortion and the same tone quality at all power levels within its limits.  At high volumes, the sledgehammer effect might be delivered, but at low levels, you get detail/accuracy, etc. 

For that horn speaker playing modest volumes, the preamp might be set at 9:00, but for the Maggie, the preamp would be around 1:00 for the same volume.  Then you might say that the limiting factor would be the preamp which might have more distortion at 9:00 than 1:00.  In that case, the best option is to use a good passive preamp with no gain above unity, to yield the least intrusive electronics.

"Real NEUTRALITY is ruthless and it will piss you off too. It doesn’t care about you or your preference. Real neutrality isn’t in the form of coffee with creamer but rather just pure black coffee which some of you can’t stomach because you get heartburn or acid reflux."

Sounds like viber's cup of tea."

Superficially, yes, my cup of tea.  More deeply, no.  The undertone of that quote is unpleasantness.  But the real purpose of audio equipment is to get more information out of the music you enjoy.  Neutrality is the absence of superimposed colorations on the original music.  Neutrality will reveal more information, a happy outcome. I agree with psnyder149 that grill cloth is an obvious factor imposing colorations.  Why would anyone want to subtract information with the grill cloth?  If the bare speaker is unpleasant in sound, the cloth may reduce the unpleasantness, but it also reduces the musical information retrieval.  A no-win situation, so get rid of that speaker, OR work on room placement.  But don't add warm other components which have a similar effect as the grill cloth.

Now for Jay's tantalizing statement--"As a matter of fact, I’ll make a bold statement: these amps have exposed the boulder 2150s character as being a tad sweet and smooth."  Right on!  Gryphon Mephisto monos?  Let's hear more of the real music with the 725 and these new amps!

One reason many people here like warmth is that most of these pop/rock recordings are highly processed, so neutral components reveal more of these unpleasant processing effects.  But live recordings of classical performances have minimal processing and are far superior to production studio processed recordings.  I'll post one soon to illustrate.

Here’s the recording of the live concert from last June. No audience because of covid. I went to this hall last week and was impressed by the utter naturalness and immediacy of the piano sound. I sat in the 1st row just right of center. A cheap simple video recorder was used near me. For this natural recording, there is no unpleasantness, so any warmth in playback would subtract from the delicacy of the music. The soft, delicate piano begins around 1:13. You can appreciate what I said within a few seconds. A female singer begins around 26 min.  Enjoy.

On the 1st video between Shunyata and Transparent, there were big differences.  I also preferred Transparent for its clarity.  On the 2nd video, it seems that the differences were smaller, and I still preferred Transparent but it wasn't as obvious.  Perhaps on the 2nd video, the Shunyata benefitted from the 3 day continuous break-in, and the Transparent didn't have the same break-in.  

I was disappointed with the Shunyata Sigma flagship power cord several years ago, for its laid back sound compared to the entry Shunyata Venom HC.  Except for the excellent clarity of the Shunyata Denali conditioner, I believe Shunyata has a house sound of being laid back.  Combining my experience with Jay's, most likely Shunyata cables behave similarly with most ancillary components.

Revealing items like the Transparent Opus have accurate focused soundstages, but not bloated soundstages.  These bloated soundstages are from relatively euphonic items.  

I would like to hear A/B's between Transparent and Nordost.  My cheap Nordost Vishnu power cord is most revealing.

If you read Fremer's Gryphon Apex review, and combine it with Jay's observation that the Gryphon Vanta speaker cables are warm sounding vs Transparent Opus cables, you get the impression that Gryphon is good but warmish vs neutral electronics like Boulder.  Jay already had lots of G amps and concluded that the Boulder system is the absolute best for neutrality and information retrieval.  I predict that the Apex will be a step backwards from Boulder.

henry201.

Regarding the Magico S7 vs M6, theoretically you are correct.  However, speakers account for the lion's share of the total sound.  My judgment is that Jay's system with euphonic electronics would still be more revealing and true to life than the M6 with his most revealing Boulders.  I found the M6 dull, when Jay then had otherwise excellent ancillary gear.

Jay,

It still sounds great with cheap power cords, but the music is different so I can't say what differences can be attributed to different power cords.  YT is probably unable to discern the true differences, although it would be easier since the gain would be the same with different power cords on the same music.

The issue is not whether the Stromtank or other battery/inverter makes inferior preamp A sound as good as superior preamp B.  The principle of power purity and transparency means that all components will sound better with the particular batter/inverter.  But the few reviews and Jay's experience show that the S-tanks have their individual sound.  If you want smoothness and absence of HF unpleasantness, you choose the S-2500, but if you want neutrality you choose the S-1000.  Unfortunately, this gets back to arbitrary tastes and colorations, just like any other component.  What is THE most transparent and pure battery/inverter?  No one yet knows--only comparative listening to several products will tell.

mikem,

Well said, about choosing components that bring life and avoid boredom, which to me is not pleasant.  Yes, real and natural means including the bite and attack. What do you think about the live recording I posted at the end of the previous page?

Jay, the common meaning of "synergy" as used here, is some magical combination of bite and warmth.  However, the reality is that the warm component will shave off some bite.  If your recordings sound "ruthless" with accurate components, it is because they are processed and artificial.  Tell me if you think that video I posted sounds ruthless on your system.  You don't have to like this esoteric classical music (even I didn't know the 1st half with solo piano, although the piano/singer piece at 26 min is popular)--just listen to the piano briefly to appreciate the delicate detail which is natural.  Any "synergy" combination of components will just shave off this recording's detail and make it just a little in the direction of boredom.

Your ideas about just using a great power cord without the power conditioner have merit, but this is not about synergy.  In my NYC apartment, the power quality is probably much worse than yours in suburban Florida, so in your environment you may be right.  But there are days where the power is so bad that the excellence of my system is nearly completely trashed, to a similar extent as described recently by Mike Fremer in S-phile.  The Shunyata Denali 6000 has improved things to a good extent, compared to other products I have tried.  I like my 2 Nordost Vishnu power cords with it, on the amp and CD player.

The final song of Dire Straits sounds great for raw guts and detail.  Get the LP version that grey9hound mentioned.  I don't think the euphonic Koetsu cartridge will deliver these sounds, but get the Lyra Atlas SL cartridge which offers the best prospects for challenging your SOTA digital system.  The Koetsu money could buy the Generac, so just go with the Lyra cartridge.  Lyra is out of stock due to the covid situation, so maybe you can borrow Oz's Koetsu as a first TT step.

fstein,

Which Purifi amp have your heard?  At home?

On the first video, the S1000 seems to be crisper, more raw/detailed with more transient shocks than on the 2nd video with the S2500.  Different songs, so merely a speculation.  It would be informative to hear any of the songs, in particular the hard-hitting Dire Straits using both the S1000 and S2500.  I am guessing you are not using either of the S-tanks with the power amp.

mikem,

Glad you enjoyed the recording. The baroque solo piano pieces up to about 15 min are subtle and contemplative. Some people who don’t understand this music might think that contemplative moods call for a laid back, dreamy state and would choose warm electronics for listening. However, to fully appreciate these subtle, sublime moments, it is desirable to choose revealing electronics, speakers, etc. The Prokofiev piano piece from 16 to 25 min is more acrid and dynamic. Overall, this recording is an excellent demonstration of the many-faceted qualities of the solo piano. Of course, the pianist is a superb artist.

If feasible, you would enjoy hearing the upcoming concerts in this hall in NYC as my guest. I marvel at opportunities I have had in comparing great recordings to the live venue, such as when I went to Stockholm and was in the small Stampen where a classic 1976 audiophile favorite recording was made, "Jazz at the Pawnshop."

No, kren and ron.  Although the dictionary definition of "synergy" means the whole being greater than the sum of parts, in common practical audio usage, as well as from Jay, it means a happy marriage of raw detail and "pleasing" warmth.  Warm tube preamps are mated with accurate SS amps, warm cables are mated with accurate electronics, warm amps are mated with accurate speakers, etc.  Jay has accurate dynamic speakers, the XLF, but he is not completely happy with their accurate sound, so he likes the tubes which soften the XLF sound.  But lately, he is back to the accurate 725 preamp and his new accurate mono SS amps.  Nothing wrong with Jay's changing preferences as he figures out what he really wants, which takes time and living with your choices.

Those who believe in some type of synergy should be honest and admit that you can never have everything you want.  The synergy is not necessarily better, even to that person.  He just makes his choices which still involve compromises.  Warm components reduce clarity by subtracting information.  These listeners claim that the warm components yield more beauty, but mikem and I know that real beauty comes from greater understanding of the music itself from higher accuracy/resolution.  

Does anyone really think a woman whose hair is messy is more beautiful than when she carefully does her hair to reveal more detail and delicacy?  At my age, I look younger and better after a nice shave than a few days later.  Even Jay is clean shaven in his videos and unquestionably must look better that way also. "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder" is only partially valid.  Nobody would claim that the physical beauty of an unfortunate, deformed person is equal to that of a movie star although this is a different subject than the "beauty" of character in the handicapped person who has overcome his hardships.

Ron17, I also criticize his assessment of MSB.  No, I never heard either MSB or Playback Designs in my system, but my criticism is that he doesn't understand the sound of live, unamplified music.  He mainly listens to rock/pop, and has only a rudimentary knowledge of classical music.  Euphonic warmth is his preference.  There is no such thing as too much excruciating detail.  Classical music is much more complex and detailed than any songs he listens to, and full understanding of classical music requires hearing as much detail as possible.  From Jay's videos, MSB is detailed and natural to my ears.

pokey77,

You are excessively broadening the definition of synergy to say it is what pleases you.  Of course, we all seek our own personal preference.  Just observe what Jay has done, by combining warm and accurate components.  He admits, as I do, that there are trade-offs--detail is sacrificed when seeking sweetness, etc.  The concept of synergy in the real world is different from the audio goals of most people here.  With high performance cars, they might not run at all if there are misfitting parts.  There is only the ONE proper SYNERGISTIC way, with compatible parts.  It could run with ordinary tires, but not as well as with the best tires designed for that car.  This synergy IS the best, with no compromises, and not a matter of personal preference, unless the driver is not interested in high performance, and merely buys the car for its looks.

Mikem, what do you think?

Jay,

Mikey still only said that something was "better" without real analysis of the sound.  Your objectivity is much more informative.  Still, his videos on simple mods of Maggies and such are interesting.  And audio boxing matches between high visibility guys like both of you are entertaining.

mikem,

Like you, I love that High Life track--atmosphere, cash register, tinkling glasses, and immediacy of instruments.  Even though it is an analog recording with some tape hiss, the resolution is fabulous.  I roll my eyes when someone says about any component that "the noise floor is lowered"--what complete BS nonsense.  They should just talk about resolution and clarity, which are high in this Proprius LP despite significant noise.  They don't know anything about the noise floor unless they do technical measurements.

On that visit to Stockholm, I just looked in the window of the small club, Stampen where it was performed.  I couldn't go in the PM when they had other performances.  But I saw the tiny stage, about 7 feet square.  I had a similar great experience at Preservation Hall in New Orleans in the summer of 2005, right before Hurricane Katrina.  Preservation Hall is a mere small cave, literally, with a very live sound from the hard rocky cave surface.  The jazz group on that tiny stage is right in your face, with the crackling brass, banging percussive piano, growling string bass.  No stupid electronics and lousy PA speakers of most clubs, which certainly leads listeners to hate that type of live sound.

The stage in that live recording I posted is also tiny, with similar immediacy to the sound.  A cheap recording device was used, proving that great sound is not obtained from studios with expensive processing equipment and multiple poorly placed microphones.  All you need is a great small hall with simple close mike placement, as in this recording.  Let the rich snobs go to the famed Carnegie Hall, pay $500 for a good seat, and be seen in their elite social circles who go to Carnegie.  Better sound is heard for small scale music at this tiny place--Scorca Hall in The National Opera Center, 330 7th Ave between 28th and 29th Streets.

pokey77,

You said, "Mine is based on many many years of participating in this hobby, attending many shows, dealer visits, and of course, interacting with those in the hobby."

Nothing wrong with that, but it is telling that you didn't mention hearing live, unamplified music, and trying to correlate such listening with audio systems, which I have written about.  

Thus, your standard of reference is other audio equipment, not live unamplified music.  I am interested in high fidelity and accuracy; you are more interested in an audio system as an art form in itself.  This is why you interpret my assessment of Mikey's preferences as sharply critical and irrelevant, but they are factual observations of his preferences for euphonic sound, and it is also likely from his comments that he has little knowledge of classical music and live, unamplified sound, which is mainly how classical music is presented.  Nothing wrong with that, and If someone said I have little knowledge of rock/pop or amplified club sound, that would be factual, not critical of me.  Most rock/pop events use poor electronics and PA speakers, so rock/pop listeners rarely have experience with live, unamplified sound, and therefore are not much interested in high fidelity/accuracy.  The reality of very large audiences for rock/pop means that amps and PA speakers are used.   However, there are opportunities to hear jazz and pop in small venues where natural sound is presented.  Why don't you listen to the video I posted on the bottom of p 369 which mikem also thought had great sound?  You don't have to like the esoteric music presented, but a piano is a piano, regardless of what music is played.  See if you can hear what I and mikem are talking about, which is obvious after a few seconds.  This is also quickly apparent from that live natural 1976 audiophile classic reference, "Jazz at the Pawnshop"  that I and mikem discussed. Other great natural reference recordings are the Sheffield LP's of the jazz band of Harry James, the legendary trumpet player.  Harry was active in the 1940's, and it is interesting to hear him in excellent 1976 sound.  The stage was larger than in the Pawnshop recording, but the sound is also upfront, natural and unamplified.  I heard live, unamplified jazz at weddings, so I could appreciate these recordings with this live sound as a reference.

Jay,

Don't worry it your microphone clips occasionally.  In my experience with recording, most of the time it isn't audible if the peak overshoots by 1-2 dB or so, which is only for a microsecond.  99+ % of the time, you can maximize the low level resolution by setting the recording level high enough.

Jay,

It is possible that people close to you have their inherent biases in favor of expensive equipment.  Truthfully, an expensive amp is more likely to be tops in sound than a cheap amp.  But as you always say, you don't know much until you've owned something and used it for a period of time.  I know you have the integrity not to take advantage of money back 30 day trials, but the worst that could happen is that you review the Benchmark stuff and say it is great for the money and is almost as good as Boulder or Mephisto monos..  More likely, you will find the Benchmarks to be tops for neutrality/clarity, and will wonder that if you wanted to save money for the Wilson XVX/Master Chronosonic, you could do very nicely driving those speakers with excellent Benchmarks.

When I tried the Benchmark AHB2, for the first month it was as good in neutrality and clarity as any amp I tried.  By the 2nd month at the end of my trial, the sound got a little warmer than my Bryston 2.5 B SST2 amp.  You actually might find its very slight warmth appealing to you.  This slight warmth is much less than from typical SS euphonic amps, and possibly the Boulder 2150 which you recently said is a little warmer than your new monos.  Even though you thought my Rouge amp had major shortcomings in HF, over 40% of your YT listeners preferred the Rouge and thought that your mystery amp was euphonic by comparison. I get the feeling from your hints that you new monos (Mephisto monos?) show that the mystery amp was euphonic by comparison to your new monos. 

So I challenge you to put the AHB2 in a dogfight with your new monos and do a blinded shootout.  You won't lose money, and your conscience will be preserved since even Benchmark would welcome the comparison to big buck amps.  They might even use your shootout video or verbal review in their promotions.  I did my 60 day trial of the AHB2 with Music Direct.