2. misc-audio
  3. 182804-20253

Forget neutrality, what is your favorite lying, euphonic, juicy bit of kit?

Lots and lots of discussions here are about getting to some view of neutral, transparent or "true to the source."

That's fine but this thread is about celebrating the liars.  The seductresses of audio gear that tell us things we know are not true, but we love to listen to them anyway.

Among mine:  Conrad Johnson Premiere 12 monoblocks.  Wish I had a pair and could afford to keep them fed and happy.  What about you?  What do you know is wrong but feels so good when it comes to audio gear?

erik_squires
grinnell
1,075 posts
 

MHDT Stockholm V2 DAC is euphoric richer sound than the DAC out of my CDP.

 

Post removed 
zufan's avatar
zufan
557 posts
 

I never chased neutrality, at least not in many years. In fact I've sold gear that sounded dry. I sold my beastly Magtech amp a few months back actually as it was so dry. Now I have all tube rig with vinyl & I'm dazzled when I play my jazz records. 

bdp24's avatar
bdp24
9,454 posts
 

The Dacca/London pickups. This line of fussy, challenging, idiosyncratic phono cartridges makes regular LP’s sound more like direct-2-disks than anything else under $10,000. The most visceral, dynamic, "immediate", exciting music your LP’s are capable of creating. Not for sissies ;-) . They need a high mass arm (a Zeta works well), damping if possible (the Townshend Rock tables long a favorite with Decca fanatics).

kenjit
1,771 posts
 

My personal favorite is the Squires Neutral Reference one speakers. Horrific liars they are but they are not bad.

More to discover