decooney
Responses from decooney
| The Audio Science Review (ASR) approach to reviewing wines. While on the topic of the best measured dac ever. Benchmark designer made the Benchmark Dac 1 and for years he insisted it’s the best dac. It cannot be improved further. But people did not like the Dac 1. Some years later, the Dac 2 was released... | |
| The Audio Science Review (ASR) approach to reviewing wines. @devinplombier "Then folks wonder why younger people are flocking to ASR" Ya know, you bring up a very valid point. The decades of going into audio stores in my region and listening to a wide array of systems is something I cherish to this d... | |
| The Audio Science Review (ASR) approach to reviewing wines. @hilde45 "Measurements" is too crude a word. @prof was pointing at this issue and this comment ignores it. Some measurements are, say, 2nd harmonic distortions -- those may upset some at ASR, but the rest of us understand that those measureme... | |
| The Audio Science Review (ASR) approach to reviewing wines. @analog_aficionado ..."I’ve built, lived with and loved tube amplifiers with rather embarrassing distortion figures compared to the modern benchmark. I’ve also built solid state amps following the guidance of famous objectivist Douglas Self, and ... | |
| Are EL34 based amps more musical than KT series based ? Or it's purely a matter of design? @yogiboy On my Quicksilver amps I can use both types. I prefer the sound of the KT88 compared to the EL34. It all depends on the speaker that you are using. I find that the KT88 sounds bigger and brighter than the EL34! +1 yogiboy. 100%, so ... | |
| Used tube preamps, Cary, AR, Aesthetix, Wells...........or? Pros/Cons to each of these different setups. I find it truly depends on the type of sound you are going for. CJ, Cary, ARC, Pass, Aesthetic, and more... A colleague has Harbeth 40.2s he paired ups with his CJ 6550 Monos and a CJ GAT preamp. He th... | |
| All-in-One units for retiring audiophile & music lovers in 2025, say what? @samureyex The Axxess Forte 1 (a true all-in-one for $5,500) is worth a look. ------ Great find! I remember reviews on this one. Worth posting a few pics for sure. Power: 2 x 100 W in 8 Ohm, UMAC™ amplifier technology DAC: Axxess Fort... | |
| Used tube preamps, Cary, AR, Aesthetix, Wells...........or? @awise1961 Congratulations on the Aesthetic Calypso. I owned an Aesthetix Callisto Eclipse preamp and Rhea Signature phono stage for some years prior to changing over to an all Conrad Johnson system. For 6922 style tubes, I had preferred either l... | |
| Used tube preamps, Cary, AR, Aesthetix, Wells...........or? @billpete as per your post above, and @harpo75’s note, so are you thinking you might keep the Cary PH-302 as your phono preamp and then use that with a Cary SLP-98L or some other preamp of your choice then? If so, then maybe it might be fun to jus... | |
| "The room can totally wreck, or make, a system" mashie ...Consider that headphones eliminate the room so there’s little reason to want to hear the room. There you go, plug in to your nice headphone amp, one and done. All music. | |
| Used tube preamps, Cary, AR, Aesthetix, Wells...........or? @billpete Nice. Another one you might consider adding if you are looking at The Calypso is Dan’s Modwright LS100 Tube Linestage. Uses lower gain 12au7s vs. the prior 12aX7s now. TMR has them. Being bold, I would hope it would stomp the prior MF yo... | |
| Beware: Magnum Dynalab are not "doing repairs, upgrades or service right now"!! To @yyzsantabarbara please let us know how it goes. I plan to continue to enjoy my MD-102, and hopefully no need to send it in any time soon. The news about the buyout and then nothing going on with support right now is a bummer. I wonder what sor... | |
| Used tube preamps, Cary, AR, Aesthetix, Wells...........or? @billpete - totally understand. Thanks for the added context about the situation. Well, the old buy / demo / keep-or-return thing works too and how many go about this. I buy from the places you mentioned and the few returns I’ve made, never had an... | |
| Used tube preamps, Cary, AR, Aesthetix, Wells...........or? @billpete ...There seems to be a group who does not like it and another that does. You can find a differing position on the internet for just about anything if you look hard enough. And people typically like what they have when they own it ... | |
| I should start with speakers. This I know. I’d like to establish a new system. @toontrader Two different worlds, but each intrigue me. Yes. I’d suggest trying to decide if you want to go the A) higher efficiency speaker and lower power amp route. Or, B) the lower efficiency speaker and higher power amplifier route. Each ... |