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In Reply to: Re: Toshiba 3990 pauses between tracks? (long) posted by TomLarson on November 25, 2006 at 07:52:19:
Glad to hear that the 'newer' Toshibas are still sounding 'surprisingly good' On the older ones swapping out the coupling caps and removing the opamps made significant difference.. Read: at least as good as the Better 'Stereopile' recomendations :-) Caveat Emptor applies in spades in Audio Weenie land
Agreed on the oft hyped 'internet mods': Caulk, weights and other mutilations.. only for the truly dim.
Dunno about the pause/skip.. these $50 units do have oddities in their programming.. no arguement there , but it's likely going to cost $2000 to get similar sound.. sans.. the quirks.
Follow Ups:
My $200 Pioneer dvd plays sacd and dvd-a and does not have this pause-quirk thing (see other post below for one person's explanation). I agree with the 'caveat emptor'.... the mags have to have something to write about and I do believe that tiny differences are magnified like crazy. Plus, price is simply NOT an issue with them. They are out of touch and I'm thinking the next step in 'audio publishing' will be here on the net--not 6moons which strikes me as more of the same or worse--but something like AA...and these dialogues (and what happens in the Tweak asylum). So as long as AA can get 'sponsers' without those sponsers demanding 'censorship rights', maybe we have something! Thanks for the input.
Long before I caught on to AA, I had stopped reading the mags. They had become meaningless and seemed to be digging their own graves. With the high-end business dying, they pushed higher and higher priced items trying to capture the last dollar from the lone remaining consumer. The average guy that lusted after something he could afford (and it was a guy) was completely shut out from the reviews, so he moved on to something else, mostly computers/internet. They completely lost the younger crowd in the process. And they completely lost me as I didn't upgrade my system in 15 years.As for publishing on the net, it's already happening, and you are participating. Why do we need experts to tell us what to like? We have open discussion on the forums.
I picked up computers as a hobby at just the right time...my college degrees were in totally interesting but pretty much impractical areas with, as Frank Zappa once said, no commercial potential. The pre-ibmpc computer world was pretty interesting and through a lot of self-teaching and some luck I managed to make a career out of it (non-dot.com, non-millionaire--unfortunaltely!!). But I remember thinking audio was a dead end because there was not much to DO once you bought the stuff. (Listen to music of course, but that isn't audio). I agree with you that computers stole young people's interest from audio (I wasn't young when the pc craze hit--but younger than now). The AA forums get close to something that could for me replace the mags...I have done a bunch of Jon Risch things for example, and this Toshiba is another example. My current thinking, today, is, well, if Toshiba makes a great cheat cd player, I wonder what their cheap receivers sound like. If it is true that technology has changed (and it is), it is also true that big companies like TOshiba are picking up on the changes or making them themselves. In a hobby that essentially touts the past--lp's--which I still listen to sometimes, tubes--I have a tube preamp--even transistors over IC's--you aren't going to find innovative uses of the new and you aren't going to be able to catch the wave of change for your economic benefit--ie cheap! Thanks for the great post, it got me thinking in some more directions...if I come up with anything, I'll post it! Take care.
Tom,The most refreshing magazine that I've read to date is the one year operation of TONEAudio ...it addresses your points about TAS/Stereophile/6Moons. They have a re-known recording engineer (Steve Hoffman) lending his ear to help out with the sorting out some of the reviews. Beautiful mag to look at and to read.
They are bi-monthly and often feature reviews of classic equipment using real-world systems. Reviews are done on several different types of systems with one featuring home depot ( HD-14 ) recommended by Paul Seydor(TAS) and recording engineer Tony Faulkner
Thanks...you know, I have seen this some time ago but 'forot' about it (the 'forgot' doesn't really need quotes). I'll take a look again. Thanks for all the feedback.
Bare,
The previous generation 3980 had its share of reliability issues but the a similar output stage to the 3950. The reports of malfunctioning units still exists but has gone way down. Seems the 3980 had some specific chip issues.The caps upgrade path is no longer needed. Stock, the 3990's better improved sound(vs stock 3950) is due in large part to a new direct coupled output stage obseleting the requirement of these mods.
The op-amp is not stellar, but Toshiba engineers get really decent sound out of a 50 cent LM4558. Go figure! Of course for those blessed with the requisite skills, op-amp rolling would be a natural path to take.
Got a friend whom you want to experience the "modded 3950" sound without opening up the unit and violating the warranty: Try the SD-3990...YMMV
P.S. The unit does not power down on its own for those who wanted to disable it on the 3950. Reason enough to purchase one?
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