Home Digital Drive

Upsamplers, DACs, jitter, shakes and analogue withdrawals, this is it.

RE: For the Audio Note NOS guys - New technology coming from AN.

John

That is the reason I linked Wes's show report because say you have 200 rooms all set up with mixed and matched components - all set up using the most expensive gear in the audio industry, all set-up by dealers and manufacturers who should be able to match impedances and Wes found them to all sound like noise compared to the "matched" AN system.

And it should be pointed out that AN is a series of matched components - the speakers are based on Snell speakers, turntables (Systemdek).

I know everyone is always ready to dump on people but Peter clearly says "it was is very very difficult to..." Not "It is impossible to..." (2:25)

He is correct that many many people are continually cycling through various gear to fix problems in the sound and that is either because the pieces are NOT matched properly or the products are flashy on the outside and junk inside.

He brings up efficiency - I have seen so many systems that use hard to drive speakers and low watt SET amps and then people complain that the amp has no bass or rolled of highs. Hell I read a REVIEW of my 10 watt (4 watts undistorted) OTO that was being reviewed with big Thiel speakers and speaker absolutely in no way was designed for or would be good with the OTO. And amazingly the reviewer said he would buy it if he were no longer reviewing - but he had issues with the bass and it being strained - well duh. And from a supposed experienced reviewer who should know better than to run a Thiel with that amp.

Some points - this is a SET maker who views SS as pretty much unlistenable dredge. Having a set of 86dB B&Ws then matching a SS amps is easy - choose any SS from a decent manufacturer Krell/Classe/Rotel/Bryston/Levinson and stick the amp/cd player on them and you get pretty much the same kind of sound - a B&W sound with a SS amp --- Many people would absolutely love them and some will argue about which of those works best with the B&W - me I find it "mediocre" because A) I don't love the speakers, and B) I wouldn't want any of the amps and C) after hearing the combos none of it improves on the other.

And then John let's talk about cables. All the folks pissing money away on $5000 Nordost are puzzling to me.

Why?

If you have a mixed and matched stereo of Turntable, Arm, Cart, CD transport, DAC, Preamp, Amp, Speakers, Interconnects and speaker cables in a stereo system.

All of these are mixed and matched from totally different designers.

The internal wiring of the SS preamp uses a torroid wound with $.06meter copper trash wires. All the other wiring is similar $.06 wiring to a gold plated connector. The Amp is wound with a different copper wires and an EI transformer - the caps in both are different - one uses Mundorf the other uses Jensen.

The turntable and CD player may use silver wires and silver connectors - you have MIT interconnects and Nordost Copper speaker cables, a Shunyata power cord and the speakers have Audio Note silver internals.

WHAAAAAT?

Oh sure adding the Nordost $5k cable may make it sound different which may initially sound better (and indeed, it may sound better) but it doesn;t sound perhaps as better as it COULD sound if the ENTIRE chain were Nordost. And the sound is an utter and total fluke that you happened to by chance get lucky that the 9 wires aren't fighting against each other. Indeed, it would indicate that the $.06/m wire isn't in the least bit hurting the sound RIIIIGHT! If that is so then wires all sound the same.

With a matched system that Peter is talking about - everything from catridge to speaker voice coil can be bought with the same material (silver or copper all the way including the soldering material and the internals on the transformers and voice coils).

The caps in the DAC and the preamp and amp and speakers are the same all speaking in unison.

I don't know but this is a helluva lot more logical than throwing any ole parts together and saying yup buy a tube preamp from a company that hates SS and sticking it on a SS power amp (where the power amp maker hates tubes). How many people do you know who buy hybrids? Forcing the mismatch.

And maybe it sounds good. But I have not heard any such combo sound truly great.



Edits: 07/24/14 07/24/14

This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors:
  Parts Connexion  


Follow Ups Full Thread
Follow Ups
  • RE: For the Audio Note NOS guys - New technology coming from AN. - RGA 09:52:42 07/24/14 (0)

FAQ

Post a Message!

Forgot Password?
Moniker (Username):
Password (Optional):
  Remember my Moniker & Password  (What's this?)    Eat Me
E-Mail (Optional):
Subject:
Message:   (Posts are subject to Content Rules)
Optional Link URL:
Optional Link Title:
Optional Image URL:
Upload Image:
E-mail Replies:  Automagically notify you when someone responds.