Curious Jay, how do the big Fynes you've heard compare with the DAWs and Alexias of the world.
My Long List of Amplifiers and My Personal Review of Each!
So I have been in a long journey looking to find the best amplifiers for my martin logan montis. As you know, the match between an amplifier and speakers has to be a good "marriage" and needs to be blend exquisitely. Right now, I think I might have found the best sounding amplifier for martin logan. I have gone through approximately 34-36 amplifiers in the past 12 months. Some of these are:
Bryston ST, SST, SST2 series
NAD M25
PARASOUND HALO
PARASOUND CLASSIC
KRELL TAS
KRELL KAV 500
KRELL CHORUS
ROTEL RMB 1095
CLASSE CT 5300
CLASSE CA 2200
CLASSE CA 5200
MCINTOSH MC 205
CARY AUDIO CINEMA 7
OUTLAW AUDIO 755
LEXICON RX7
PASS LABS XA 30.8
BUTLER AUDIO 5150
ATI SIGNATURE SERIES 6005
With all that said, the amplifiers I mentioned above are the ones that in my opinion are worth mentioning. To make a long story short, there is NO 5 CHANNEL POWER AMP that sounds as good as a 3ch and 2ch amplifier combination. i have done both experiments and the truth is that YOU DO lose details and more channel separation,etc when you select a 5 channel power amplifier of any manufacturer.
My recollection of what each amp sounded like is as follows:
ATI SIGNATURE SERIES 6005 (great power and amazing soundstage. Very low noise floor, BUT this amplifiers NEEDS TO BE cranked up in order to fully enjoy it. If you like listening at low volume levels or somewhat moderate, you are wasting your time here. This amp won’t sound any different than many other brands out there at this volume. The bass is great, good highs although they are a bit bright for my taste)
NAD M25 (very smooth, powerful, but somewhat thin sounding as far as bass goes)
Bryston sst2(detailed, good soundstage, good power, but can be a little forward with certain speakers which could make them ear fatiguing at loud volumes)
Krell (fast sounding, nice bass attack, nice highs, but some detail does get lost with certain speakers)
rotel (good amp for the money, but too bright in my opinion)
cary audio (good sound overall, very musical, but it didn’t have enough oomph)
parasound halo (good detail, great bass, but it still holds back some background detail that i can hear in others)
lexicon (very laid back and smooth. huge power, but if you like more detail or crisper highs, this amp will disappoint you)
McIntosh mc205 (probably the worst multichannel amp given its price point. it was too thin sounding, had detail but lacked bass.
butler audio (good amplifier. very warm and smooth sweet sounding. i think for the money, this is a better amp than the parasound a51)
pass labs (very VERY musical with excellent bass control. You can listen to this for hours and hours without getting ear fatigue. however, it DOES NOT do well in home theater applications if all you have is a 2 channel set up for movies. The midrange gets somewhat "muddy" or very weak sounding that you find yourself trying to turn it up.
classe audio (best amplifier for multi channel applications. i simply COULDNT FIND a better multi channel amplifier PERIOD. IT has amazing smoothness, amazing power and good bass control although i would say krell has much better bass control)
Update: The reviews above were done in January 2015. Below is my newest update as of October 2016:
PS AUDIO BHK 300 MONOBLOCKS: Amazing amps. Tons of detail and really amazing midrange. the bass is amazing too, but the one thing i will say is that those of you with speakers efficiency of 87db and below you will not have all the "loudness" that you may want from time to time. These amps go into protection mode when using a speaker such as the Salon, but only at very loud levels. Maybe 97db and above. If you don’t listen to extreme crazy levels, these amps will please you in every way.
Plinius Odeon 7 channel amp: This is THE BEST multichannel amp i have ever owned. Far , but FAR SUPERIOR to any other multichannel amp i have owned. In my opinion it destroyed all of the multichannel amps i mentioned above and below. The Odeon is an amp that is in a different tier group and it is in a league of its own. Amazing bass, treble and it made my center channel sound more articulate than ever before. The voices where never scrambled with the action scenes. It just separated everything very nicely.
Theta Dreadnaught D: Good detailed amp. Looks very elegant, has a pleasant sound, but i found it a tad too bright for my taste. I thought it was also somewhat "thin" sounding lacking body to the music. could be that it is because it is class d?
Krell Duo 300: Good amp. Nice and detailed with enough power to handle most speakers out there. I found that it does have a very nice "3d" sound through my electrostatics. Nothing to fault here on this amp.
Mark Levinson 532H: Great 2 channel amp. Lots of detail, amazing midrange which is what Mark Levinson is known for. It sounds very holographic and will please those of you looking for more detail and a better midrange. As far as bass, it is there, but it is not going to give you the slam of a pass labs 350.5 or JC1s for example. It is great for those that appreciate classical music, instrumental, etc, but not those of you who love tons of deep bass.
It is articulate sounding too
Krell 7200: Plenty of detail and enough power for most people. i found that my rear speakers contained more information after installed this amp. One thing that i hated is that you must use xlr cables with this amp or else you lose most of its sound performance when using RCA’s.
Krell 402e: Great amp. Very powerful and will handle any speaker you wish. Power is incredible and with great detail. That said, i didn’t get all the bass that most reviewers mentioned. I thought it was "ok" in regards to bass. It was there, but it didn’t slam me to my listening chair.
Bryston 4B3: Good amp with a complete sound. I think this amp is more laid back than the SST2 version. I think those of you who found the SST2 version of this amp a little too forward with your speakers will definitely benefit from this amp’s warmth. Bryston has gone towards the "warm" side in my opinion with their new SST3 series. As always, they are built like tanks. I wouldn’t call this amp tube-like, but rather closer to what the classe audio delta 2 series sound like which is on the warm side of things.
Parasound JC1s: Good powerful amps. Amazing low end punch (far superior bass than the 402e). This amp is the amp that i consider complete from top to bottom in regards to sound. Nothing is lacking other than perhaps a nicer chassis. Parasound needs to rework their external appearance when they introduce new amps. This amp would sell much more if it had a revised external appearance because the sound is a great bang for the money. It made my 800 Nautilus scream and slam. Again, amazing low end punch.
Simaudio W7: Good detailed amp. This amp reminds me a lot of the Mark Levinson 532h. Great detail and very articulate. I think this amp will go well with bookshelves that are ported in order to compensate for what it lacks when it comes to the bass. That doesn’t mean it has no bass, but when it is no Parasound JC1 either.
Pass labs 350.5: Wow, where do i begin? maybe my first time around with the xa30.8 wasn’t as special as it was with this monster 350.5. It is just SPECTACULAR sounding with my electrostatics. The bass was THE BEST BASS i have ever heard from ANY amp period. The only amp that comes close would be the jC1s. It made me check my settings to make sure the bass was not boosted and kept making my jaw drop each time i heard it. It totally destroyed the krell 402e in every regard. The krell sounded too "flat" when compared to this amp. This amp had amazing mirange with great detail up top. In my opinion, this amp is the best bang for the money. i loved this amp so much that i ended up buying the amp that follows below.
Pass labs 250.8: What can i say here. This is THE BEST STEREO AMP i have ever heard. This amp destroys all the amps i have listed above today to include the pass labs 350.5. It is a refined 350.5 amp. It has more 3d sound which is something the 350.5 lacked. It has a level of detail that i really have never experienced before and the bass was amazing as well. I really thought it was the most complete power amplifier i have ever heard HANDS DOWN. To me, this is a benchmark of an amplifier. This is the amp that others should be judged by. NOTHING is lacking and right now it is the #1 amplifier that i have ever owned.
My current amps are Mcintosh MC601s: i decided to give these 601s a try and they don’t disappoint. They have great detail, HUGE soundstage, MASSIVE power and great midrange/highs. The bass is great, but it is no pass labs 250.8 or 350.5. As far as looks, these are the best looking amps i have ever owned. No contest there. i gotta be honest with you all, i never bought mcintosh monos before because i wasn’t really "wowed" by the mc452, but it could have been also because at that time i was using a processor as a preamp which i no longer do. Today, i own the Mcintosh C1100 2 chassis tube preamp which sounds unbelievable. All the amps i just described above have been amps that i auditioned with the C1100 as a preamp. The MC601s sound great without a doubt, but i will say that if you are looking for THE BEST sound for the money, these would not be it. However, Mcintosh remains UNMATCHED when it comes to looks and also resale value. Every other amp above depreciates much faster than Mcintosh.
That said, my future purchase (when i can find a steal of a deal) will be the Pass labs 350.8. I am tempted to make a preliminary statement which is that i feel this amp could be THE BEST stereo amp under 30k dollars. Again, i will be able to say more and confirm once i own it. I hope this update can help you all in your buying decisions!
Bryston ST, SST, SST2 series
NAD M25
PARASOUND HALO
PARASOUND CLASSIC
KRELL TAS
KRELL KAV 500
KRELL CHORUS
ROTEL RMB 1095
CLASSE CT 5300
CLASSE CA 2200
CLASSE CA 5200
MCINTOSH MC 205
CARY AUDIO CINEMA 7
OUTLAW AUDIO 755
LEXICON RX7
PASS LABS XA 30.8
BUTLER AUDIO 5150
ATI SIGNATURE SERIES 6005
With all that said, the amplifiers I mentioned above are the ones that in my opinion are worth mentioning. To make a long story short, there is NO 5 CHANNEL POWER AMP that sounds as good as a 3ch and 2ch amplifier combination. i have done both experiments and the truth is that YOU DO lose details and more channel separation,etc when you select a 5 channel power amplifier of any manufacturer.
My recollection of what each amp sounded like is as follows:
ATI SIGNATURE SERIES 6005 (great power and amazing soundstage. Very low noise floor, BUT this amplifiers NEEDS TO BE cranked up in order to fully enjoy it. If you like listening at low volume levels or somewhat moderate, you are wasting your time here. This amp won’t sound any different than many other brands out there at this volume. The bass is great, good highs although they are a bit bright for my taste)
NAD M25 (very smooth, powerful, but somewhat thin sounding as far as bass goes)
Bryston sst2(detailed, good soundstage, good power, but can be a little forward with certain speakers which could make them ear fatiguing at loud volumes)
Krell (fast sounding, nice bass attack, nice highs, but some detail does get lost with certain speakers)
rotel (good amp for the money, but too bright in my opinion)
cary audio (good sound overall, very musical, but it didn’t have enough oomph)
parasound halo (good detail, great bass, but it still holds back some background detail that i can hear in others)
lexicon (very laid back and smooth. huge power, but if you like more detail or crisper highs, this amp will disappoint you)
McIntosh mc205 (probably the worst multichannel amp given its price point. it was too thin sounding, had detail but lacked bass.
butler audio (good amplifier. very warm and smooth sweet sounding. i think for the money, this is a better amp than the parasound a51)
pass labs (very VERY musical with excellent bass control. You can listen to this for hours and hours without getting ear fatigue. however, it DOES NOT do well in home theater applications if all you have is a 2 channel set up for movies. The midrange gets somewhat "muddy" or very weak sounding that you find yourself trying to turn it up.
classe audio (best amplifier for multi channel applications. i simply COULDNT FIND a better multi channel amplifier PERIOD. IT has amazing smoothness, amazing power and good bass control although i would say krell has much better bass control)
Update: The reviews above were done in January 2015. Below is my newest update as of October 2016:
PS AUDIO BHK 300 MONOBLOCKS: Amazing amps. Tons of detail and really amazing midrange. the bass is amazing too, but the one thing i will say is that those of you with speakers efficiency of 87db and below you will not have all the "loudness" that you may want from time to time. These amps go into protection mode when using a speaker such as the Salon, but only at very loud levels. Maybe 97db and above. If you don’t listen to extreme crazy levels, these amps will please you in every way.
Plinius Odeon 7 channel amp: This is THE BEST multichannel amp i have ever owned. Far , but FAR SUPERIOR to any other multichannel amp i have owned. In my opinion it destroyed all of the multichannel amps i mentioned above and below. The Odeon is an amp that is in a different tier group and it is in a league of its own. Amazing bass, treble and it made my center channel sound more articulate than ever before. The voices where never scrambled with the action scenes. It just separated everything very nicely.
Theta Dreadnaught D: Good detailed amp. Looks very elegant, has a pleasant sound, but i found it a tad too bright for my taste. I thought it was also somewhat "thin" sounding lacking body to the music. could be that it is because it is class d?
Krell Duo 300: Good amp. Nice and detailed with enough power to handle most speakers out there. I found that it does have a very nice "3d" sound through my electrostatics. Nothing to fault here on this amp.
Mark Levinson 532H: Great 2 channel amp. Lots of detail, amazing midrange which is what Mark Levinson is known for. It sounds very holographic and will please those of you looking for more detail and a better midrange. As far as bass, it is there, but it is not going to give you the slam of a pass labs 350.5 or JC1s for example. It is great for those that appreciate classical music, instrumental, etc, but not those of you who love tons of deep bass.
It is articulate sounding too
Krell 7200: Plenty of detail and enough power for most people. i found that my rear speakers contained more information after installed this amp. One thing that i hated is that you must use xlr cables with this amp or else you lose most of its sound performance when using RCA’s.
Krell 402e: Great amp. Very powerful and will handle any speaker you wish. Power is incredible and with great detail. That said, i didn’t get all the bass that most reviewers mentioned. I thought it was "ok" in regards to bass. It was there, but it didn’t slam me to my listening chair.
Bryston 4B3: Good amp with a complete sound. I think this amp is more laid back than the SST2 version. I think those of you who found the SST2 version of this amp a little too forward with your speakers will definitely benefit from this amp’s warmth. Bryston has gone towards the "warm" side in my opinion with their new SST3 series. As always, they are built like tanks. I wouldn’t call this amp tube-like, but rather closer to what the classe audio delta 2 series sound like which is on the warm side of things.
Parasound JC1s: Good powerful amps. Amazing low end punch (far superior bass than the 402e). This amp is the amp that i consider complete from top to bottom in regards to sound. Nothing is lacking other than perhaps a nicer chassis. Parasound needs to rework their external appearance when they introduce new amps. This amp would sell much more if it had a revised external appearance because the sound is a great bang for the money. It made my 800 Nautilus scream and slam. Again, amazing low end punch.
Simaudio W7: Good detailed amp. This amp reminds me a lot of the Mark Levinson 532h. Great detail and very articulate. I think this amp will go well with bookshelves that are ported in order to compensate for what it lacks when it comes to the bass. That doesn’t mean it has no bass, but when it is no Parasound JC1 either.
Pass labs 350.5: Wow, where do i begin? maybe my first time around with the xa30.8 wasn’t as special as it was with this monster 350.5. It is just SPECTACULAR sounding with my electrostatics. The bass was THE BEST BASS i have ever heard from ANY amp period. The only amp that comes close would be the jC1s. It made me check my settings to make sure the bass was not boosted and kept making my jaw drop each time i heard it. It totally destroyed the krell 402e in every regard. The krell sounded too "flat" when compared to this amp. This amp had amazing mirange with great detail up top. In my opinion, this amp is the best bang for the money. i loved this amp so much that i ended up buying the amp that follows below.
Pass labs 250.8: What can i say here. This is THE BEST STEREO AMP i have ever heard. This amp destroys all the amps i have listed above today to include the pass labs 350.5. It is a refined 350.5 amp. It has more 3d sound which is something the 350.5 lacked. It has a level of detail that i really have never experienced before and the bass was amazing as well. I really thought it was the most complete power amplifier i have ever heard HANDS DOWN. To me, this is a benchmark of an amplifier. This is the amp that others should be judged by. NOTHING is lacking and right now it is the #1 amplifier that i have ever owned.
My current amps are Mcintosh MC601s: i decided to give these 601s a try and they don’t disappoint. They have great detail, HUGE soundstage, MASSIVE power and great midrange/highs. The bass is great, but it is no pass labs 250.8 or 350.5. As far as looks, these are the best looking amps i have ever owned. No contest there. i gotta be honest with you all, i never bought mcintosh monos before because i wasn’t really "wowed" by the mc452, but it could have been also because at that time i was using a processor as a preamp which i no longer do. Today, i own the Mcintosh C1100 2 chassis tube preamp which sounds unbelievable. All the amps i just described above have been amps that i auditioned with the C1100 as a preamp. The MC601s sound great without a doubt, but i will say that if you are looking for THE BEST sound for the money, these would not be it. However, Mcintosh remains UNMATCHED when it comes to looks and also resale value. Every other amp above depreciates much faster than Mcintosh.
That said, my future purchase (when i can find a steal of a deal) will be the Pass labs 350.8. I am tempted to make a preliminary statement which is that i feel this amp could be THE BEST stereo amp under 30k dollars. Again, i will be able to say more and confirm once i own it. I hope this update can help you all in your buying decisions!
20,890 responses
i don't know if it has been the most resolving because the Focal Stella was also very resolving, but the Alexx just puts things on a microscope and you can't get away with mismatches or gear here. Things that could have sounded good on the daw and alexia 2 might not sound good here. This speaker does not allow for "shortcuts" if that makes any sense. |
In general I really appreciate the variety of music that WC plays in the videos. WC, when you say that the Alexx is pointing out flaws that you’ve always gotten away with before, do you mean that Alexx is the most resolving and highest clarity speaker you’ve ever had? Oh yeah, and keep the lab as messy as necessary to do the work!! That’s how it’s supposed to look! Much cleaner than the lab of the marantz sound master! https://www.audioadvice.com/videos-reviews/marantz-30-series-overview-model-30-sacd-30/ |
My room is treated and has thick carpet throughout... I have acoustic panels in ever single wall of my room. You might be hearing the direction in which i had the mic pointed when i spoke. Anyhow, i will be doing a Gryphon Pandora test with SR and Audioquest as well. This way we can see how things go with the matching linestage. It is VERY VERY important to make sure components are matching at this stage. I can’t stress that enough. I have gotten away with murder in the past, but the Alexx are now telling me "not so much anymore buddy" so i am not forced to be as careful as possible. Expect 2 more videos which will include the Pandora Linestage and we will circle back at the end for a discussion. My thoughts will come at the end of all the cable swaps and shootouts. Boulder 2150s have shipped and are in route to me. I will introduce them to you all as soon as they arrive, but i won’t be doing any Boulder vs Gryphon until Christmas week. That is the perfect time in order to gain more traction since most people will be off and on vacation therefore more views/subscribers. I want to do a 3 part series of the Boulder Vs Mephisto and my favorite will stay while the other will pack its bags and move out of my house in late January/early February. |
The audio setup definitely gets messier with all of that SR stuff in there - many more wires, plugs, etc. And, much more cost for the ancillary items. Is it worth it? Can't wait for another video or so, and for WC to share his thoughts. I'd also be curious to see how the SR stuff sounds with the Gryphon preamp. Dave |
I also hate reverb and other processing effects which detract from the pure sound of the musicians. For comparison purposes, I like relatively natural simple recordings like "Man in the moon" which feature a single voice and guitar, although there are other guitars on a few tracks of that Acoustic Live album. Importantly, I enjoy this music, so the taxing exercise of evaluation has the rewards of nice music and lyrics. I thank Jay for introducing me to this album. |
Yep...that's pretty much my point. I can't become a DJ over youtube unfortunately. Sometimes I want to play different songs but then I get people who go off because I am playing music that I didn't play with previous speakers. I've had requests that I attempted to play and youtube shut them down due to copyright...that's another thing you all need to remember. I would love to play music that everyone is happy with but is that really possible? ... |
The SR is not new. It’s used and it has been in the system for days now. The dragon speaker cables are 22k for 2m... So we are not exactly comparing best buy audioquest here against SR. People need to understand that the comparison here is not a "cheap" cable vs SR. Don’t think or assume that you can buy the cheaper audioquest cables and beat the SR. That is being dillusional and not really rational. Remember, this is audioquests best speaker cable which has been said it bests my previous odin 1 speaker cables. Here’s a review in case you are curious about this audioquest Dragon speaker cable: http://www.audiodrom.net/en/speaker-cables/detail/37-speaker-cables/679-audioquest-dragon-zero--bass... Ps: wilson informed me they have a customer with WAMM who uses full audioquest Dragon cables throughout his system... |
WC, A few quick Q's: Is the SR stuff new? That could explain the elevated mid/highs and lack of body that folks were complaining about on ytube. Might need time to break in. Is the SR Atmosphere cabling at the same price-point as the AQ Dragons? Would the SR Galileo be more apples to apples with the AQ Dragons? I know you have what was provided to you, so you probably don't have a choice. Dave |
Often the confusion is a result of the fact that cable differences aren't that great compared to much larger differences among speakers, their setup, and electronics. Fluctuating power quality from the wall or power conditioners can swamp the relatively minute intrinsic cable differences. I don't accept the statements by the deaf measurements people who refuse to listen carefully and claim there are no differences, but I say that there ARE differences which are relatively small. |
Jay,
I hear you. I recently replaced all of my interconnects and speaker cables. Sounded much more natural and extended at frequency extremes. It was a nice improvement over my previous cables. A month later, I replaced all of my power cords. My bass was now fully extended and sounding natural. I made A/B testing to make sure that my new power cords sounded better, which they did initially and sold all of my old power cords. A few weeks later, it started playing into my mind. I am now feeling that I have a slight loss of slam/dynamics VS my previous power cables. Is it my memory playing some tricks on me, or is it the new power cords who have now broken in and sound softer than my previous cables? Who knows... |
I know some might not take into account youtube comments, but i think that they should at least be read. It you feel one way and you see that the YouTube comments are the opposite of what you feel for the most part then that should make you scratch your head and perhaps bust out headphones or something else to hear the presentation. I’ll circle back to the Alexx and my cabling in a future video. Maybe i will try the same system but use my speaker cables and leave the rest of the synergistic research stuff in place. Harder to pick apart things when you are walking at the top of the mountain. Everything is harder and i must say it also gets more confusing. There are moments where I feel i hands down prefer the synergistic research and then the next morning my ears tell me the audioquest dragon is superior... It’s a constant back and forth where it isn't easy to pick a winning combination. |
i agree techno. one aspect of WC's journey which has made an impression on me is that the big power/big direct driver game is a fearsome death match i don't necessarily want to be involved in (anymore - i did have a go for a while, albeit at a very limited scale) i absolutely love watching WC do this and i am astounded at some of the results. WC keeps reminding us seeing this stuff like this is unusual. I couldn't agree more. Are Synergistic Research risking anything with this current trial? I thought some of the youtube comments and observations regarding an upper frequency shift being characteristic of SR stuff were a bit interesting. how often is such stuff presented in a comparison where you've got the Alexx shining its big light on what SR does. and then the comparison with Gryphon cables will also be an interesting data point. |
Simplicity is still king in audio. Less contacts the better. Sure it’s not always practical, choices have to be made. Some wants to buy complex big expensive speakers that will need big complex expensive amps. Their choices , not mine. In the end, it doesn’t sound better...just bigger...louder... Someone can achieve this otherwise. Someone has to look whats inside, make a little research, be warned sellers are not always fully honest, etc. |
I do not believe in using cables as a tone control. Like all components they should get you as close to the source material as possible without imposing their own coloration.This has got to be one of the biggest canards in all of audiophilia. When you change one amp for another, part of the reason is that you prefer the tonality provided by amp B over amp A. Cables are components like amps and speakers. If this weren't the case, there would only be a handful of cable manufacturers left in the Darwinian economy. |
Science and measurements gives us tubes, transistors, alloys and metals
in chassis construction and circuit boards, even the wire in cables.
Listening is very subjective and varies from one individual to another.
What you hear in your cables pleases you personally but may not please
someone else. That is fine but you cannot disregard the importance of
measurements in manufacturing and that certainly plays a role in the
final product, the listening. I like what I hear in my cables, or, I guess don't hear! I would never buy a cable that has poor capacitance, resistance or inductance specs assuming it would sound terrible and is ultimately a very inadequate design. I am also a big believer in proper shielding to keep out the extraneous noise and robust connectors for a tight gas free fit. To get these things costs money and that is OK with me. I do not believe in using cables as a tone control. Like all components they should get you as close to the source material as possible without imposing their own coloration. What measures bad usually sounds bad. What measures good may not always sound good but neutrality is a goal worth attempting! |
Jay, I certainly respect your need to monetize your research, and you don't have time to post music videos of every combination. I would suggest short music videos of just 1-2 basic songs that we all know, such as Nils Lofgren's "Keith don't go" and "Man in the moon." We still haven't heard much of the Alexx on common songs. BTW, I love his Acoustic Live CD containing those songs. For pop music, it is a fairly natural recording. I like many more of the tracks on it, for the subtle guitar artistry and sounds. It is also interesting that the recorded level is much higher than on my usual classical recordings. That is because the dynamic range of pop music is greatly reduced compared to the much wider dynamic range of classical music. A comfortable listening level for the voice of Nils is about 10-15 dB lower on the volume control than the voices on classical recordings. |
Video being uploaded. Round 2: Alexx with full synergistic research Please note: this is the first round with Alexx and synergistic research. We don’t really have points of reference with the Alexx so you can’t go back to comparing to the Alexia or DAW. You MUST compare Alexx to Alexx BUT you won’t be able to have that opportunity until next time I do another Alex video with my cables and playing the same songs found in the video that is getting uploaded right now. |
actually some people want my opinions more than the videos because they feel like videos are just too flawed so they rather get my opinion since i am the only person who sits here in the room. Too tough to tell which gets the most subscribers. That said, even if i had 1 zillion subscribers and all i did were music videos, i'd still make more money by going to a gas station to pick up all the pennies i find on the floor.. |
It is the Holidays which impacts my bandwidth PLUS i am evaluating the Synergistic Research which takes days because cables need to settle in....... I am also tired of pumping out music videos all the time...these videos leave me with zero financial incentive (copyrights owners make the money, not me). I need to stop doing videos of music non-stop as i did over the past few weeks. If i do 3-4 videos a week then i need to split them. Remember, if all i do are music videos then those are satisfaction for you all, but they do nothing for me financially (youtube pretty much thanks me for doing work and them not paying me). If you look at other channels, have you all not noticed most of them just talk talk talk talk talk talk talk talk talk talk talk talk talk talk talk talk talk MORE talk?? There is a reason...they get paid with these videos... and I need me some of that as well so i need to find the perfect balance when it comes to videos. |
No perfection in audio, pick your poison. I’ve been lucky to hear many systems worldwide in the last 30 years and few have moved my soul. Most dynamic loudspeakers excel at some hifi attributes, but are to slow in the critical midrange area to deliver the immediacy and fluidity found in live music. There is one speaker that even though suffers from dynamic expression in the midrange, is still a very unique experience. The Tidal LA Absoluta with diamond tweeter and diamond midrange has a see through pristine quality to them. The other downfall is that they are ruthless. I do like horns for their immediacy, and midrange dynamic expression but most horns suffer from the ultimate high frequency finesse. I’ve learned through my long journey that noise reduction is the key to music realism. The removal of EMI/RFI can make or break any speaker, component. The problem lies that most cables and devices in the industry are flawed in one way or another, different flavors. The other key element that needs to be address is mechanical distortion, another can of worms. |
One thing I have found over the years is that without a doubt cables sound different from each other in most high end systems. They even measure differently. However spending extreme amounts of money on a cable doesn’t guarantee a better sound. It’s all synergy here. There are situations where cheap cables can sound way better depending on the system. I’ve also found that all the same cable through out the system doesn’t always get the best results tho it is a good starting point in order to figure out what the cable does. Those that say cables don’t make a difference just are listening or don’t have a very high end system. That being said cables are probably the most overpriced category in high end, have the highest mark up and loose value very quick. Unfortunately for now we still need them. |
Kodak, Gene of Audioholics dosnt believe cables of any make, make a difference. I’ve confronted him about his conclusions and he claims to have an engineering expertise that allows him to debunk the myth that cables matter. Whenever I bring up physics and logic, he goes silent on the subject. He does nice reviews on audio products ( though a good half of his videos are spent trying to debunk so called myths) he claims as so many others that they’re trying to save people from being duped. Many of us have tried to explain that we spend knowing what we are getting, and no one is being duped. He dosnt get the concept that we spend because we hear a difference, not in the hopes of hearing a difference. Then the next claim is we feel the need to buy into the story to justify our purchases. I have found most people are pretty vocal about any product they don’t feel meets their expectations and most would sell off and move on ( one of the reasons why Audiogon exists), and that they won’t back up a lie and boast about the product. That type seems to demeans those who buy into cables matter, while we do not demean those who hear no difference. I guess I could say that their hearing is substandard, buts that’s just not the case. For some they wouldn’t admit it even if they did hear a difference and will claim it’s due to something else, some truly do not hear. Good for them, because it will save them a lot of money. I used to be one of those, but did a blind test for myself just to prove to myself that there was no difference, and found out that I was wrong. |
Let’s keep in mind, the boulders and Mephistos of the world wouldn’t be built if there was no need for them. The reality is that there has to be product and options for everyone. Not everyone likes horns (i don’t think I do) and even the big focal grandes are hard to drive. They showcase them with monster Naim monos so what’s that tell you? Speakers are built for everyone’s preferences and so are amps. I agree that the Mephisto or boulder isn’t for everyone and to be honest, i don’t think they are built to be bought by the masses. Gryphon and Boulder know that there won’t be many people with these amps. Dartzeel 468, 458 and relentless monos aren’t any different. They are built for the insane speaker owners out there. If they didn’t sell then they wouldn’t be building them. I will say one thing though: i have noticed a TON of people are super critical of the ultra high end. It's been an eye opener for me. |
