Maybe we finally have power conditioning that you might like :-)
Dave
Dave
My Long List of Amplifiers and My Personal Review of Each!
Jay, Ted makes superior sounding gear as you have already experienced. I just tried a Synergistic Ethernet Switch and I'm flabbergasted by the improvements in my system, I would not have believed it if you told me, but in my system which does not have any USB cables only Ethernet to my Bricasti M3, I have been unable to stop listening sessions before 1 AM, I'm more engrossed in the music as my digital system came alive. |
@coltrane1, Jay has owned the Plinius SB-301mk2 and the SA-103 stereo amps. I bought the SB-301mk2 from him and loved it. I know he liked it at the time and liked the SA-103 even more. I am shocked neither one of these amps made his 'middle tier' group of amps. If he places Plinius in the bottom tier 'dead last' group then I'll be scratching my head also. |
Has anyone read the comments from today's video? Word on the street is that today's video is the best my system has ever sounded on YouTube from any other previous set ups to include all my previous speakers. I received text messages as well from some of my sources saying the same thing. How do you all feel ? Hmm... |
If my AHB2 are desired for demo, contact me on A’gon DM and I can get the amps shipped. I must say that I am not that interested in how those will fair. I think they are great amps (my personal favorite) but they will not be that well received in this thread. The amp that could be giant slayers for this thread could be the CODA #16. I would love to have Jay compare those to his favorite amps. My CODA #8 Version 1 is making me very happy and I say this as someone who was all set on buying the Luxman m900u from a local dealer. I like my AHB2 more than the Luxman m900u and CODA #8 but I am sure I am in a tiny crazy minority in this view. The $6K CODA #8 is almost as good as the Luxman m900u. I can only imagine how incredible the CODA #16 sounds. The modded Class D LSA Voyager amp is still being worked on. |
Let the audience here decide which amp they want to see come into my room. I honestly don’t follow the "abcdefg" class D amps nor do I know which amp is which. There are many amps that have been mentioned. That said, the entire purpose of this is to let the world see how these amps sound against the heavy competition i have here. If anyone here is a believer that these giant killers can come in here and kill the big heavy hitters, i want to from YOU. I want to be proved wrong. I SERIOUSLY WANT for someone to show me these amps and prove me wrong so i can sell mine and put the money in the bank. The same goes for cables: have a unknown cable brand that you feel murders the crazy obscene expensive cable brands out there such as Nordost, transparent, synergistic, audioquest Dragon, etc etc? I also want to hear from you. I don't want to spend $10k on a powercord. I rather spend $1,500 and save $8500. |
Speaking for only myself, I really don’t care which so-called giant killers get sent to WC either. But I am very interested to see how they compare. I’ll be honest. I think they will all get destroyed. When Viber brags endlessly about how his little Bryston or Mytek or Rane or zip cord or whatever sounds better than 90% of WC’s stuff I equate it to a senile old man sitting on a park bench arguing with himself about whether or not the earth is flat. Why? Because I’ve done head to head comparisons of that level gear (Bryston/Rega/Atoll/NAD/Rotel vs Luxman or ARC or Bel Canto Black or ….) and I found it to be a blowout on a resolving system (Wilson Alexx or Sasha DAW or even Magnepan 20.7 level speakers, Chord Dave level dac). Very easy to hear the quality difference. But if you’ve never done such comparisons head to head in same room, you may not know. Viber and ricevs are the only two who come to mind as giant killer “pushers”, meaning they claim their budget systems are as good or better than what WC shows. Others occasionally mention that they like budget gear but don’t claim it better than WC level stuff or drone on about it endlessly, which is totally fine and appropriate. I just think any of these budget components will get slaughtered in a head to head with the Boulders, Audio Research, Gryphon, VAC, etc that WC has. BUT, those are only my personal views and I also would love to be proven wrong. So send in whatever you have that you think is a giant killer. Worst that will happen is that it will be proven not to be. But think of the glory you’d have bestowed on you if it really was a giant killer. |
I had an Audioquest Hurricane powercord on loan and had high hopes of this PC. However, it was a big disappointment, I didn’t liked it at all. Somehow it did not fit in my rig. Only a week later or so I had a Crystal Cable (now Crystal Connect) Ultra Diamond powercord, also on loan. This is still one of their least expensive series. What a difference was that. The Ultra Diamond was by far the better one, in my room, with my rig, to my ears, of course. Openness, smooth yet very detailed, control, beautiful midrange, very flowing and the best HF I heard so far here. Bought them instantly. Will the Ultra Diamond beat the Audioquest Dragon? I have no idea, never heard the Dragon. |
Blaming the speakers would be disingenuous because the better the speaker (and you’ve indicated Alexandria the best you’ve had basically) the more clearly the differences between superb and mediocre electronics will be shown. On a comparatively crap set of speakers sure a bunch of amps may sound similar, maybe even some of the cheapies. But on Alexandria?? Haha, bring it on boys. Let’s hear what ya got. Alexandria will take no prisoners. |
"The same goes for cables: have a unknown cable brand that you feel murders the crazy obscene expensive cable brands out there such as Nordost, transparent, synergistic, audioquest Dragon, etc etc? I also want to hear from you. I don't want to spend $10k on a powercord. I rather spend $1,500 and save $8500" So you had some unknown cables from Poland Audiomica and thought they sounded wonderful. I now use many of their cables that have replaced PAD and Cardas all thanks to you. So thank you. Wonder if a full loom of Audiomica would be just the ticket. |
When I have some extra cash next year I will try this so I do not speak from experience. However, I think a giant killer is what I have for music streaming. I use Fibre Optic cable and a real crappy backend to serve the music. In theory what I have should be the best setup even without a uber quality music server. I have not yet proved if theory meets practice in this case. Someone who can potentially answer this question for me is a person with a Lumin X1 DAC or the new mega expensive Linn DAC. Next-generation Klimax DSM | Network Music Players | Linn USA With regards to the AHB2 I plan on getting new speakers to pair with them for my second system. In this case the speaker selection comes after the AHB2 because my primary motivation is an AHB2 based system. I would love to get the KEF Blade2 but it would not really be perfect with those because I would want more power and maybe more warmth. So the better choice for me would be my second choice the Yamaha NS5000 (12 inch woofer) which has a better power profile to match the AHB2’s and is slightly warm (to me). Wilsons are not even a consideration for me since I an not a fan though I think they will work with the AHB2’s. As I stated earlier, the AHB2 are available anytime to be shipped. |
McIntosh first out of the gate in Bottom Tier. Love it! So overrated. (well not in this thread, but in general - I always say for the cost of pretty much any Mc component I can find something I like a lot more for a lot less money). Side track: yy - have you heard the Yamaha NS5000 speakers? I think I've seen you talk about them before. If so, how would you describe their house sound? Do they sound comparable or similar to any other speakers that you've demo'd/owned? Kinda curious about them - I like the old school monitor-on-stand look that is also kinda modern looking at same time. Aren't they like $15k though? Seems like a lot for a company not really known to play in those waters. I haven't been able to find anywhere that has them to listen to. |
I think McIntosh is about flavor like CJ. There and many companies that go for a flavor. If you want to keep the cost down you sacrifice real for flavor. If you really like that flavor you’ll say it’s great if not you won’t. Then there are those companies who go for realism as close to the actual sound of the live event in every way, not just resolution or just dynamics but every way. These companies are trying to give you the most resolution or best dynamics, clarity, tonal balance or try to sound as close to “real” as possible . Those companies are in a whole other category. The problem with “flavor type” gear is that over time most people can get bored with the same flavor. As far as McIntosh they have done pretty good with creating and marketing their flavor and I can enjoy it for a little while but long term I prefer some a bit higher end more transparent and neutral, toward the real side of things and this almost always cost you more. |
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I have heard the NS5000 a few times because they are available locally though you can get them from 2 online dealers for home demo. They actually look beautiful. I live in Southern California so I can hear any speaker or gear for the most part. Amazing stores in this area. My understanding is that a lot of new speaker companies are standing on the shoulders of Yamaha. I was at a audio manufacturers shop 2 weeks ago and he was the most excited about finding a very old pair of Yamaha studio monitors ($18). He said that those monitors (maybe M10), which he played for me, were likely used in recording most of the music I have ever heard. The NS5000 is the successor to the NS1000 which are considered classics and now only being copied by Parasound Persona. The best speaker I had owned prior to the Thiel was the Revel Salon1 though I like the Thiel much more. My most recent frame of reference for speakers are the following: #1 My favorite is KEF Blade but hard to place for me with my past and current living situation #2 Thiel CS3.7 (I use these in my office now and they are never leaving) #3 Yamaha NS5000 - incredibly coherent for a speaker with 3 drivers. One of the secrets is that the drivers are made from the same material (including woofer). It plays very big and has a lot of great tech in it. It makes musical instruments sound incredibly realistic. Yamaha are a massive piano and other musical instrument manufacturer. I demoed the following for my office but preferred the NS5000 and Thiel CS3.7 (they are all good speakers). - Vandersteen Treo CT - Vivid Kaya 90 - Magico A3 - Paradigm Persona 3F, 5F, 9H (a shame dealer did not setup properly) - TAD ME1 - KEF Reference 1 BTW - The Vivid Giya G1S (with Luxman gear) was a speaker that I liked as much as the KEF Blade though I liked the way the Blades created the soundstage better. It was too expensive and too light for my current needs. GIYA G1 Spirit – Vivid Audio |
Sneak Peek: Pure Class A monoblocks and Wilson Audio Alexandria XLF as well as the Synergistic Research Powercell SRX!!! https://youtu.be/FDnKNlvj0Es Amplifier temp: 152F Room is toasty Pure Class A or Tubes? What's it gonna be y'all? You all confused and scratching your head as far as what you prefer? That is what makes this ride fun as hell. Stay tuned for more! |
Agree Carey all very subjective. Some might like the (IMO) super warm sound of McIntosh. I don’t. Sounds boring to me. Yesterday I did a head to head demo of Luxman L509X integrated ($9.5klist) vs ARC separates LS28 and VT80 ( not sure if they were SE models or not) combined list $20k. Playing on Wilson SabrinaX speakers via a Chord Dac (whatever the one right below Dave is). I actually preferred the Luxman. More dynamic, if not quite as big sound stage. Just seemed like a more exciting presentation to me. And normally I love ARC, but I also like Luxman. But I was a bit surprised at these results for me. thx for synopsis yy. I like reading your comparisons |
So i just plugged the vac monos into the synergistic Research Powercell and i am using the 2ohm taps and holy crap... The amps are dead cold...zero warm up and they sound UNBELIEVABLE... That said, if i crank them up loud, i don't think i can relax into the presentation.. they might feel a little "too much" but maybe it is a mismatch somewhere else in the system (again, this is only at 88db plus). |
So this is interesting... I had created an account on what’sbestforum a few weeks ago and my user name was "Jay’s Audio Lab" because I’m not trying to hide my identity. Anyhow, i never posted once or anything and so today i went to log on and what do ya know...i am BANNED 🚫 !!!! Interesting to see this and so i shared this someone else and he said they banned me because they might see me as a threat to their sponsors?. Interesting... Hmm... |
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The same thing happened to a few dealers as well. I've heard manufacturers who sponsor the site can have posts removed as well. Maybe i should make a video about this type of stuff...that would put fire under someone's seat." I think that is a great idea. Perhaps title the video 'What's Best for the Manufacturers." |
Hi,Any idea about the following amplifiers?1. Concept 16.5 (vintage).2. Luxman R117 (vintage).3. Proton D1200 Stereo Power Amplifier (vintage). 3. Rotel RB-1582 MkII. 4. Any Burmester Power/Integrated Amplifier from their Classic Line.Thank you. |
Well, the time has come. The most anticipated video I’ve released this year: POWER AMPLIFIERS: My Bottom Tier Group Video drops on Tuesday at 11am eastern time. Please subscribe and turn on your notifications so you are alerted the moment the video goes live. https://youtu.be/z66_Na_ho0E |
I was mentioned above by kren0006 as a giant killer pusher and that my system was as good as Jay’s.....I never said my system was as good as Jay’s nor do I think I have any piece of gear that is as good. What I said was that one could make a speaker that would equal or beat the Wilson big boys for pennies or dimes on the dollar......this I know is a fact and many, many out there have done it. What I also said is that there will be class D amps within 1-3 years (maybe sooner) that will equal class A amps for overall sound.....making class A super heavy (and expensive) amps, at that time, boat anchors....he he. Of course, it will take years before there is any total agreement about this......but the writing is on the wall. What Viber6 says is another story......it is not mine. |
"The same thing happened to a few dealers as well. I've heard manufacturers who sponsor the site can have posts removed as well." Hello Jay, Thank you for expressing your concerns. Occasionally a dealer will post on WhatsBestForum.com for the purpose of selling specific components. We have a Classifieds section, and so we do not allow dealers to randomly post free sales advertisements. Neither dealers nor manufacturers who sponsor WhatsBestForum.com can have posts removed. Posts are deleted only if they violate one or more of our Terms of Service. We have an independent moderator who makes these decisions. Best wishes, Ron Resnick Co-Owner -- WhatsBestForum.com |
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