chowkwan

Responses from chowkwan

Campfire Trifecta cable recommendations
The Effects Audio Eros S First Anniversary Edition tames the highs on the Trifecta while keeping the transparency. Meatier bass a bonus.  
Campfire Trifecta cable recommendations
DX320 and iCan. The Solaris sounds fine with these amps as I said in my original post. I was surprised the Trifecta which is also made by Campfire sounds so bright. Have you listened to the Trifecta?  
Campfire Trifecta cable recommendations
The Trifecta came with balanced and unbalanced cables. The balanced cable sounds less bright but still has an edge to it. I don't hear the brightness with Solaris on either iBasso or iFi players. The manufacturer suggested trying a pure copper ca... 
Curious Why Benz Micro Slid Into Obscurity
@sbank  ​​​I was a Benz guy for years, but naturally you're Lyra curious. And those other guys like Van Den Hull and Koetsu. Then there was a sale ... Those other guys make great cartridges but the Gullwing is Der Kaiser. That it's also the chea... 
Curious Why Benz Micro Slid Into Obscurity
IMHO Benz Gullwing beats Lyra Atlas Lamda SL, Clear Audio Goldfinger, Koetsu  Blue Lace Diamond, Ortofon Verismo and its big brother Benz LP. In an ET 2 arm in the Oracle 6 the Gullwing exceeds those other great cartridges by a country mile. Deep... 
Recommend me a DAC under 3k
Burl b good. Crane Song Solaris Quantum DAC better. $2k from Sweetwater. 90% of the sound of the Nagra HD DAC X at 3% of the price. Takeaway: look at pro audio.  
What new gear have you just bought?
Beogram 4002.  
What Horn loaded speaker/ speaker system for $10k'ish and under
JBL Hartsfield. JBL's answer to the K Horn. Available as a replica or you can build your own from plans online.  
Vinyl Lovers
Irvington Music in Portland Oregon has a vast collection of used classical records. All graded. Better Records sells vy expensive rock records. He listens to many copies of the same record to find the few that sound really great. It's enormously ... 
Vinyl Lovers
In theory there's no difference between theory and practice, in practice there is.  -- The Philosopher Berra. Until you hear the Nagra turntable, you do not know what vinyl playback is capable of. What I used to think was the sound of residual d... 
Why do speakers improve with more powerful amps?
One man’s datapoint. Your mileage will vary. VTL 500 (500 watt monoblock) powering tweeter on a Klipsch Jubilee and VTL 750 (750 watt monoblock) powering the bass on same Klipsch Jubilee. The Jubilee is designed for bi amping and comes with an ac... 
What's the point of reviewing?
Have you ever experienced listening to the same component in a different system and having it sound completely different? Plus the room is 80% of what you hear. When that sank in, I gave up reviewing.    
Tube Preamp, uses 6sn7/6sl7. With or Without Phono; With or Without Remote Volume,
The MFA Luminescence (Lumi) preamp uses the 6SN7 and other octal tubes. The Lumi has been out of production since the last century so you'll have to buy used. Scott Frankland is the F in MFA and he runs a shop maintaining Lumis and will also updat... 
Steve Guttenberg finally reviews the Eminent Technology LFT-8b loudspeaker.
https://www.audiogon.com/systems/7309 Manley 440 (monoblocks) with Genuine Gold Lion KT77’s set to triode mode 275 watts into the panels. Manley 440 with 6550’s set to tetrode mode 440 watts into the woofers. The whole room is a sweet spot. Mov... 
Where are the female Audiophiles?
https://youtu.be/6f-eiaWKlYg Tonight at the Musikverein, the audience and orchestra was evenly split between the genders. The gal in front of me was into it, rocking along with Schubert's Great Symphony in C Major AKA The Blitzkrieg. * Except th...