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The Best Amplifier Ever ?

OK, let's get the straight scoop! Stereophile reviewers want to push the Halcro dm58 (and presumably the dm68) into a newly formed A+ category because it is the best amplifier ever. For a moment, let's assume something like a "best" can exist, at least for one person at a time. Is this the end for all other amps in the proximate price range? Paul Bolin used words like "jaw dropping" and "utter disbelief" -- Oh I know that journalists like that kind of thing, but Mr. Bolin basically says that nothing else comes close to comparison. No contest. Not in the same league. Even in Stereophile, I can't recall something quite that glowing (except maybe for the Boulder 2008 phono preamp). What do you think?
ozfly
philefreak
423 posts
 
There is no best, just what synergizes with your system best!
avguygeorge
2,300 posts
 
"The Best Amp Ever"?-- Easy choice--Mine,cause it's paid for and in my room.

Ok,I think I know part of where you're going with this. TAS does the same thing,kinda. From month to month we get new reviews;each being "the best I ever heard". I would like to see more "shoot-outs". But hey we know that can't happen;somebody has to loose-- Probably the mag,as that mfg. quits advertising.
kirk930's avatar
kirk930
285 posts
 
soon in palm beach florida you guys can find out for yourself. you can in atlanta now. audio forest
avguygeorge
2,300 posts
 
Oh, Mr cynically endowed has just discovered THE correct ans. As an astute keenly observant audiophile type that I are-----and the ans is---- Whatever the press loves/that costs the most. Simple deduction. This is easy;got any more tough questions?
tubegroover
2,320 posts
 
Amen Philefreak. Case in point, the Halcro/Rockport room at the Hilton. It sure didn't have the musical involvement of the Joseph/Manley room, not by a long shot, IMO nor per my tastes. Some of these reviewers just get a bit too carried away with such statements. It isn't so bad except for the fact that Bolin probably hasn't heard all the competition in a complementary system. I can't tell you how many times over the years I have read the statement or to the like "The new benchmark" or "redefines The state of the art" etc. It is just meaningless other than the fact that it is worth considering or auditioning.

It may be the best measuring amp and maybe that equates to greater transparency but this is not all there is to a musically involving system of the first order. Ozfly, I believe Mikey Fremer also had such accolades concerning the Rockport Sirius tt. However there are others that feel the Walker Proscenium tt at a bit more than a third the price is its equal or at least, very close. The more I read some of these reviewers, with some exceptions, the more I read their reviews more for entertainment than gaining serious insight. Many just aren't good at conveying their perferences. There are many on this site who's opinion I hold in higher regard.
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