Who is Nick Doshi?

Hi Patrick,

I'll third Cello's comment. Nick is up there with Mehran of SoraSound in the audio-nice-guys department.

There are some tidbits about Nick's amp and preamp on my system page. Googling doesn't produce much because Nick is indeed a private designer with no interest in going commercial. Each year he makes 10 or 12 reference caliber preamps (and even fewer amps) for selected clients/friends.

You get selected by being friendly (I lied on the application) and via introduction by an existing owner. Once you learn the secret handshake and unscramble "The Doshi Code" you can join the club.

If you think Nick is hard to research consider Raul's designer. All we know about him is his first name, Jose. Google that!

"Enjoy music, tolerate equipment." I wish I'd said that, and I may.

Thanks to Nick for stepping in. Looks like we blew his cover, but this looks like a good development ...

- for Nick, since it will free the time he spends handling inquiries to focus on equipment building and design. He has other products in the pipeline. Our amp is a Nick Doshi prototype and it's the finest we've heard below at least $10K, yet it cost us oodles less. (Hugs self.)

- for Larry Marcus, of whom Nick has always spoken most highly. Now he can show his customers the best preamp he knows, not just the best that's commercially available.
Of course they may have a long wait. The Alaap queue may grow to Schroeder-like proportions.

- for potential owners, who'll have a ready source of product info. There may even be demo units, though Larry will have to be careful. No "demo" that Nick sends out ever comes back. That happened three times last year. Larry's not the only Alaap thief!

There should be no quality degradation. Nick plans to keep making each unit himself. Production will be limited by his artistic soldering skills and the patience of his lovely wife and precocious daughters.

Paul and I feel honored to own one of the early Alaaps. Ours is s/n 11, one of only 12 built in 2005. Like Mr. Marcus and others, we know this is the finest component we own. As Dan_Ed can attest, it is also quite a bargain.

Enjoy music, tolerate equipment!
Doug

Stop whining. At least we let you eat the goldfish first.

It's tough to handle sushi after you get carpal tunnel. That's why we do it in that order.

Aoliviero,

Larry Marcus is now handling Nick's product inquiries, as per the post above. Nick needs to focus on his workbench! Larry can be reached via his website: http://www.paragonsns.com/

Nick's main product offering is the Alaap, a full-function preamp. There's lots of info on my system page.

There are multiple options. Each Alaap is custom configured during consultations with the buyer. This affects the price of course. My prototype was in the $6K neighborhood but Larry does the pricing now.

The queue is going to lengthen with all this talk and production is limited to what Nick himself can make. Don't dally if you're interested.

Nick also makes a very special power amp by modding a rare vintage unit that's becoming difficult to find. Availability is extremely limited. He is designing his own amps but it will be months before they appear.