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Do you think there is any need for separates still?

Posted by Dryginger2 (A) on November 13, 2014 at 16:55:44

In Reply to: RE: thank you for your time Rick. posted by cloudwalker on November 11, 2014 at 22:30:03:

Cloudwalker,

128-page color catalogs are typically printed in one huge continuous run after a production executive has taken critical color-balance decisions to ensure that each page will at least look reasonable, even if none of the other 127 appear exceptional. It's somewhat similar when Japanese electronics engineers design their large, powerful surround-sound amplifiers that offer many processing effects, built-in DACs and full-remote control. The engineers must match the competitive feature requirements of the marketing dept. and build to a cost decreed by their accountants; it's remarkable how successful they generally are in delivering good, broad-tiered compromise in performance at a reasonable price. It's nevertheless hardly surprising that the close proximity of many complex audio and video circuit boards in a contained area so close to the heat, vibration and magnetic field generated by a powerful internal power supply (Toroidal transformer) degrades the performance of the unit.

While separate DACs and amplifiers introduce the added cost for interconnects and power cables, yet two-channel immediately sounded better than five-channel and the external DAC was a great improvement in clarity. Dumping the Denon amplifier and buying separates made by dedicated perfectionists and a Mac Mini made it possible to quit the wall-of-digital-sound. So, speaking for myself only, separates are where the audiophile world starts and their alternative is an economic compromise for the consumer mass market in terms of sound quality. At the end of the day, the opinions of others are interesting, sometimes valuable, but testing with our own ears is the only sure way forward. This initially translates to taking a calculated risk after being convinced by sufficient breadth of repeated individual recommendation.

So, yes, there certainly is a need for separates as long as there are audiophiles in my view...

DG

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