Stereo Times 2024 MOST WANTED COMPONENTS List

@thecarpathian 

You still didn’t get it right. Yours is what is called in French, accent grave (è). What you want is an accent aigue (é). Criticizing is so much easier, isn’t it?

Absolutely hilarious. The LTA DAC while probably sounds amazing on PCM files can’t do DSD and has no I2S input. So no spinning SACD’s via the Chinese Video HDMI to I2S adapter. A cheap ass SMSL or Topping DAC has this. And the DAC is obsoleted by Analog Devices . Of course the analog output stage it what makes the sound of a DAC. Not the chip. But at almost $4k. They should be offering offer DSD playback at minimum.

I’ll stick with my 11+ year PS Audi Directstream Sr. that still smokes DAC’s $5k or that are being proliferated on the market today.

https://www.analog.com/media/en/technical-documentation/obsolete-data-sheets/AD1865.pdf

@devinplombier

Touchè. Hey! Sweet, thank you. I just have to keep my finger pressed down on the ’e’. Thank you for ungauching me. And I don't mean that in a prison way...

@thecarpathian 

On my Pixel I just long-press the letter e and pick a character from the popup. On Windows, you have to use the ancient Character Map utility that comes with the OS.

The Android implementation is just so much quicker and friendlier to use

@devinplombier ,

How did you get that fancy thingy over the ’e’??

@thecarpathian you said touche' instead of touché, omg that's so gauche!

🤣🤣😂🤣🤣

’Cogitating’, ’perseverating’.

At least we know you own a thesaurus.

You sure get a bee in your bonnet over being corrected.

@audition__audio ​​​​​​ There are people on this forum that advertise, even though they shouldn't, the PS audio dac modifications come to mind.

@ozzy62 Sadly, even the serious academic journals go unedited these days. Outside The New Yorker, Harper's, and The Atlantic, it's word salad anarchy out there.

@mitch2 ​​

Touche’ sir, touche’!

I simply point out a grammatical error and not in any condescending, nasty and/or impolite way, and I’m accused of acrimonious behavior and being nitpicky and I’m getting crucified here. Don’t kill the messenger, I’d think a courteous ’thank you, I’ll know better next time’ was in order. Fine, screw up all the words you want. That’s it, I want my money back.

@teajay

Just so you know, we’ve got you figured out. Your spelling errors are a clever strategy designed to lull us into complacency so that you can more easily empty our bank accounts!

;o)

Sheesh...

Can we move on to the next conspiracy theory? 

@cleeds       Shame on you for perseverating.

Looks like we have some English teachers here who get seriously offended by grammatical and spelling errors. I understand their frustration. With spellcheckers and AI chipping at their jobs, they fear that soon they will be a dying breed. Funny that a lot of people who happen to be able to afford these gears, cannot spell like these teachers. The ground is shifting right under their feet. Must be painful. My advice to them: pay attention to coding, not spelling. Spelling errors never hurt anyone. Leave it to machines. 

teajay

I have never "portrayed myself" as a professional writer/reviewer, but someone who writes professional reviews for fun and enjoyment.

That looks like a distinction without a difference to me, but now I understand you don't really consider yourself a professional. That makes it understandable that you bristle when your grammatical errors are noted. I get it. Chill and have a good weekend.

Nope. I have fun and share information and accept I don’t have to perfect grammar when posting on a thread. By the way I have never "portrayed myself" as a professional writer/reviewer, but someone who writes professional reviews for fun and enjoyment. As long as my reviews convey the information that I want my readers to find out about, that’s good enough for me. Never had perfect grammar and never will, even though I try to keep grammatical errors to a minimum.

You are hung up on this, not me. You too chill and have a nice weekend or you could choose to perseverate and waste your time about my bad grammar!

teajay

Hey thecarpathian,

Wow, your last post confirms that you take all of this way to seriously! ...

Given that you portray yourself as a professional writer, I’d think you’d be grateful to have your grammatical errors politely noted so that you can correct them. For example, this is the second time in this thread that you wrote "to" when you meant "too." Don’t those things matter to you, @teajay?

Since focused on it, might be good to learn the difference between the contraction you're and the possessive your, LOL.

Hey thecarpathian,

Wow, your last post confirms that you take all of this way to seriously! Have fun cogitating on matters that are totally irrelevant for having fun.

Chill brother and enjoy your weekend. 

"and should better" - ? 

"I’m really not surprised at the acrimonious tone and nit-picking comments, like my spelling error regarding artesian,"

That's not a spelling error, that's a grammatical error.

Not nitpicking, and certainly nothing acrimonious.

I mentioned it because your a professional writer/reviewer/editor and should better.

Would much rather have a pair of Aries Cerat Ianus Essentia amplifiers than three QSA Ultimatum Infinity AC cords for the same money.

52 grand for a pair of Ianus.  I didn't know you could put a price on one, let alone 2. 

Does the Ianus smell funny?

I dont care if he walks on water. Not the point.

Don’t shoot the messenger. The products that Stereo Times reviews seem to mirror the high end audio industry as a whole with pricing ranging from relatively low (Galion Audio and Pine Tree Audio), to seemingly reasonable (Coda, Grimm, and LTA), to insanely expensive (Aries Cerat and Stein Music), to just insane (QSA).

When I look at artisan electronics such as the Aries Cerat stuff, I at least see some level of value for the price in that they look cool, incorporate a reasonably high level of engineering, and reportedly sound good to great. I would really like to hear their DAC.

OTOH, because I have built cables, isolation, and other things, as well as taken apart manufactured products to be thoroughly unimpressed relative to the hype, I cannot help but call BS on $18K, three-wire power cords, $5K fuses, or $2.5K AC adaptors, sheesh!

I hope one day you will have the opportunity to meet Teajay in his own place. He is a very good host and a very nice person.Mclinnguy +1.

You posted this to increased readership of Stereo Times. Is S.T. for profit? I dont see a big difference between a manufacturer posting about a new component and you bringing attention to your most wanted components. Not really a big deal, but inhabiting a gray area I think. 

Oh and I dont see any publication that is good and picking winners and losers. Why any greater stock would be placed with one rather another is beyond me. Kind of like how pro wrestling is not listed as "sports entertainment". 

@teajay

I am one of those who appreciate you being here and sharing information. Please keep doing it and ignore the small percentage who tend to dominate some of the forums with their negativity.

Sometimes I imagine if someday those with all the good information, reviews, and experiences I truly wish to read about ceased to post because of all the negativity, banter and insults, what would be left in forums? Would all the trolls continue to troll themselves with no real content to troll about? Or would they be overcome with guilt and remorse because they suddenly would not know what to do? 

Oh, and you spelled teajay wrong.

Hello gentleman,

I’m really not surprised at the acrimonious tone and nit-picking comments, like my spelling error regarding artesian, from some posters on this thread. They represent a small percentage of GON members. I much more often get positive feedback from members who have gotten good information on the equipment I have reviewed which helped them make choices to improve their system’s performance.

As I have shared in the past I have been an Audiogon member for years and started writing reviews here for the forums way before I began to write professional reviews for different websites. I still post information on review items that I find to be spectacular in performance, particularly if they are very fairly priced, because the members who trust my taste find this information helpful.

Gee whiz, some people take this fun hobby much to seriously, indeed.

Audition audio , Teajay is not selling anything. I take it as FYI. Listing for sale on forum will be deleted by the admin. You see I got an interest on gallon amp ?

Why do they let Terry post stuff like this? Perhaps I should start listing stuff I have for sale on these forums.

Thanks for starting my day by grossing me out!

Wow! Is tat an invitation?

A $5,000 fuse is an affront to sanity. And the $2,500 "jitter" $2 adapter is simply criminal.  

@ozzy62       The masthead of "Stereo Times" lists Terry London as a "senior editor", FWIW

@ozzy62 ,

😆

It make more sense to do as you propose--bypass the fuse holder entirely.  For protection, one could then buy a digital fuse box that monitors conditions and acts as a fuse when protection is needed.   

i don't see anything in the listings of Stereo Times that makes me think they are good at picking winners and losers.

@larryi

But, the fuse is so crazy expensive ($5,000), there is no way to even try it out in other gear or even in the repaired linestage for fear of it actually working as it is supposed to work. It makes no sense to have a situation where you are saying something like "thank goodness my power transformer blew up in time to spare the fuse."

They are trying to save $1000-2000 worth of repair by using a $5000 fuse? Yeah that makes no sense. At that point why not just remove the whole fuse holder and directly wire it with no fuse or fuse holder? Or are people going to say having a GSA fuse in a steel fuse holder sounds better than no fuse/fuse holder at all?

Albedo Signature Metamorphosis Monocrystal Speaker cableS 2.5M ($32,500) 

Theoretica Applied Physics BACCH4Mac Pro Stereo Purifier ($8800 with room correction)

YESSS!

Nice lifestyle write-up

There was a subwoofer in there for $199, had to check and make sure it wasn't $19,999. 

Really can't afford anything on that list, then "affordable" bulk speaker cable at $150 for 3ft, that is way over my budget. 

Not sure who that list is for a target. Someone using a $20k power cord has to have a massive budget.

I got to touch a QSA fuse, but, I did not get to hear them.  It is simply too risky to actually power up gear with that fuse in place.  A linestage came into the shop I frequent for repairs.  It had a QSA fuse in it, which was immediately removed for fear that whatever ails the linestage would take out the fuse.  But, the fuse is so crazy expensive ($5,000), there is no way to even try it out in other gear or even in the repaired linestage for fear of it actually working as it is supposed to work.  It makes no sense to have a situation where you are saying something like "thank goodness my power transformer blew up in time to spare the fuse."

The Vanguard Scout monitors look very nicely put together and priced.  So does their stands.  Too bad they are sold out.  Does this happen often or is this company moving on from this model or monitors in general?

Glad you didn't forget to type the 'I'.

@thecarpathian 

Maybe he didn't mean to type the "I"......

Teajay seems to be a good guy. But there are always multiple grammatical errors in his writing. Most all the reviews on enjoythemusic.com are pretty bad too. I would think these webzines would hire an editor who can actually edit.

Teajay reviewed some but not all.

No discussion in the article of methodology or source of data = 100% marketing ploy.

Nice to see reviews of high value equipment in the mix.  But that QSA stuff--an $18k power cord or how about a $6.5k duplex outlet.  How can you seriously endorse such products.  Guess if you have money to burn.