wolf_garcia
Responses from wolf_garcia
| Vacuum Tube Preamp for Solid State Power Amp Pairing I use an original version Schiit Freya (NOS GE tubes) with either a Dennis Had Firebottle HO SEP tube amp or a Pass XA-25. No impedance matching issues just great sound from "Class A" (except for the Had amp...somewhat rarer it seems) components. ... | |
| A list of efficient speakers at ~$5K a pair. Klipsch Heresy IIIs with titanium driver mid horns, damped, sound great and better than the IVs I owned for a while. 2 REL subs (used, cheap, perfect). | |
| Do CD Transports benefit much from upgraded power cords? I think fancy power cables make people feel better and that in itself is a benefit. I own a few, and they do make me feel better although I don't think they sound any better, but so what? They look cool, and I'm helping the employees of those comp... | |
| Solid state amp that tube fan can be happy with? As a semi normal consumer (paranormal?) I can’t carefully listen to boatloads of amps but the two amps I rotate in my gear heap are a 12 or so watt per side Dennis Had tube "SEP," and a Pass XA-25 that actually sound somewhat similar. The Pass amp... | |
| Why Do ~You~ Still Play CDs? When you're 90 and looking back you'll really be happy about everything you missed (!). Streaming has turned me on to a mountain of stuff I would have missed otherwise, and my large collection of CDs sound astonishingly good using a new CD player ... | |
| How Many Times Do You Have To Listen To Understand A Piece Of Music? I don't think you have to objectively "understand" a piece of music to absolutely enjoy it right away, from complex jazz or classical to a simple tune. If it feels good, it's good. I was a Beatles and Dylan fan in the 60s when it was new and would... | |
| "Cleaning" Vinyl Makes It Worse Not Better! A good wire brush with acetone. The record won't sound very good if it plays at all, but it will be clean. | |
| what dacs are fast, lively, energetic? Schiit Bifrost 2/64. Works extremely well, especially when using the proprietary "Nexus" USB input (I use that feature with a Schiit Urd). Even the coax input is amazing sounding and possibly all the DAC you need, although it’s far too inexpensive... | |
| Whole Lotta Led I've mentioned this before so forgive me, but I first laid eyes and ears on Hendrix at a 1967 Santa Barbara show (I was visiting from Honolulu) with Moby Grape and Tim Buckley...Buckly opened, Grape closed. My 16 year old mind was blown and remain... | |
| Why isn’t more detail always better? Too much bloom can result in a die-off leading to mold. | |
| What is the first thing you do when you unwrap a new vinyl record? I just hit it with the AQ dust and static (using myself as the static ground) brush and listen to it. I recently bought the re-mixed Band Stage Fright album (just the vinyl, not the box set pile) and it sounds amazingly clean and excellent...my or... | |
| Added a Schiit Freya+ to a Sansui 8080 Sansui amps are not in the same league as modern well designed stuff...I didn't like them much even back in the day, and saying they're "tuned for analog" begs the question, "as opposed to what?" before there was anything else. Tuned to limited ra... | |
| Whole Lotta Led My little Honolulu blues band opened for them in 1969 (second half of their first tour). Talked to Page about his Les Paul just before they went on (he showed me a recent fingerboard ding) they had so much amazing energy then, somewhat less later ... | |
| Front Row Seat Power Cord? Pass actually does recommend the supplied power cable...it's in the XA25 paperwork. | |
| Front Row Seat Power Cord? Nelson Pass recommends the cord they supply with their amps. |