vinylvalet
Responses from vinylvalet
| Best Options For A Tubed Preamp - $2500 Or Less, Preferably Used To Maximize Value I've owned and like the Black Ice Audio F360 line stage. Punches way above its retail price with some unique and useful features. Uses one 6SN7, so inexpensive to roll NOS tubes. IMHO, all Black Ice products offer great value. I see a used F360 a... | |
| Nowhere to hear speakers and amps anymore! Consumers have voted with their money; very accurate Chinese counterfeits at aliexpress for a fraction of the price including many popular cable brands, buying out of state from small mail order dealers to avoid local sales tax, plenty of great ge... | |
| Any normal size speakers that sound like Volti Pi Speakers fly under the radar. Look to be similar in design to Volti for far less money, especially if you can build a pair (they come in kits or built). I built a pair of 4 Pi speakers with all the upgrades and some mods of my own and they are... | |
| *DAC Based on what you are looking for, I believe that you will like the Weiss DAC204. This review compares it to a more expensive, currently well regarded DAC. Weiss DAC204 Review | |
| *DAC I have a modified R26 with external 10MHz clock and prefer the Weiss DAC204 with the stock power supply. I hear a small improvement by swapping the stock power supply with a linear power supply. With that said, I find the R26 to be a good value a... | |
| DAC RECOMMENDATIONS PLEASE +1 Weiss DAC204 Weiss DAC204 Review | |
| Logical next step from Legacy Signature SEs? Around $15K... BTW, Jim Smith of Get Better Sound replaced his Joseph Audio floor standers, which I heard when I visited him in 2019, with Fyne F703 speakers. I believe he still uses the F703s for his RoomPlay Reference sessions. Get Better Sound | |
| Logical next step from Legacy Signature SEs? Around $15K... I replaced my Legacy Focus XD speakers with Fyne Audio F703 speakers and am happy with that decision. | |
| Rutherford Audio +1 | |
| What was the best (most impactful) piece of new equipment to hit the market in 2023? Most of the expensive linear power supplies sold in the states are Chinese rebranded or in a fancy case with greatly elevated prices. I've seen exact units sold for five times more in the US. All of these power supply types have an internal trim ... | |
| Stand mount speakers to replace Magnepan 1.6’s ATC SCM19 tied for second place among 15 stand mount monitors at the Arizona AV Club SpeakerFest 2022. My personal favorite. Retail is $3249. There are a couple currently available at around $2k on the popular used equipment sites. | |
| What was the best (most impactful) piece of new equipment to hit the market in 2023? In my direct experience, the Weiss DAC204 (retail $3.5k). With a good, external linear power supply, as good as my Weiss DAC501 (retail $11k) without all the bells and whistles. In the linked review, he found it equal and in some ways better than... | |
| Puron Plug-In AC Power Conditioner; Impressions 😁 Like others, I've had great results with Purons plugged into unused outlets of dedicated AC lines and the first position of Puritan PSM156 conditioners across three stereo systems. The biggest improvement I've heard is in the recording studio (Mi... | |
| Phono preamp, all suggestions welcome +1 iFi iPhono3. | |
| Anyone Here Ever Purchased A Tube Tester? Transcendental Sound used to sell a kit which I built and have been using for several decades. I can't imagine living without it. @larryi I'm jealous. Been wanting the Amplitrex for a while now. Certainly the best currently available. AMPLITREX ... |