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In Reply to: Have we emailed? Im listening to em now posted by 2chJunkie on December 25, 2006 at 20:53:19:
I haven't posted much these past few weeks. My 94yo grandfather passed away the day after Thanksgiving, and although I haven't made a big deal of that, it is really sent me for an emotional ride. In some ways, it feels worse now than it did right after it happened.And believe me, this is where the music and the audio can really make a difference in taking the edge off such an ordeal.
I think had I not discovered Don Allen's audio products, roughly a year and a half ago, I think I would have spent an extra five grand, maybe more, on a merry-go-round of preamps and CD players. When a product line stops the merry-go-round, its value cannot be judged on price alone. Which happens to be super-reasonable on top of that.
Follow Ups:
Sorry to hear about your loss but, I was hoping we might here from you. I'll definitely put Don's CD player on my wish list. From what I've gathered people seem to rave about Don's 45 amps but I haven't heard that much on the 300b's. Especially in relation to others.
Thanks for your input.
Ever so sorry to hear of your loss. Reading of what happened to Terry Cain reminded me of loosing my grandfather on my mothers side. He too died of Lou Gehrig’s disease a few years ago. Im still not sure what I should donate to the cause. I remember listening to Tchaikovsky’s Pathetique the night I got the news of my grandpa and really being brought to tears. Im one of those people who likes to take an emotion on full bore. However it was when I lost my dog I grew up with since I was around 11 yrs just a few months ago that really made me feel rock bottom. She was 14. This was the first major loss Ive ever had to deal with, it hurt. Not that I have to tell you this but the saying holds true, time is the only true healer.On a positive note, Don is without a doubt an audio savior. All us owners seems to feel the same way after getting his stuff, the quest is over. I do think it takes a certain level of synergy to fully appreciate his stuff. If there is a weak link in the chain one might wrongfully accuse Don’s gear of being the culprit. When I first got his CD player I was using a TVC with some (pre Don mod) 300b amps. The setup sounded fine with a NOS D/A CD playback setup but when I first put Don’s player in, it sounded like garbage. Long story short, Don correctly diagnosed the problem, the TVC had the wrong load for the Don player and thus removed all the bottom end and made the top end sound crippled. Well sure enough after I got Don’s pre in the mail and hooked it up, BAM, the Don amps, pre and CD player came together to make the best sounding system my fostex speakers have ever worked with. I cant wait to hear it all through Don’s speakers. The speakers will likely be a summer project. So in short, to any who may read this, you really should hear an all Don setup (minus speakers so long as the ones used are good) before making any negative conclusions. Im using my Don 45 integrated with some Klipsch Forte speakers now and they also sound great. Im using those Klipsch speakers now as I picked em up mint for $100 and am waiting to build the Don speakers for either system and keep the fostex setup also.
It really pains me to write this, especially after I got done bashing mega dollar commercial products in General just minutes ago, but Ive found Cardas Neutral Reference interconnect cables to sound best with this setup. HOWEVER I have NOT tested many others in comparison to them. I want to take the plunge into DIY cable designs this summer to find a low cost solution to my tastes. Ive tried Don’s cables with the setup. While they sound good I like the way the Cardas NRs mellow the sound that little bit to make it ever so slightly more relaxed, especially with the digital front. However at $350 for a used 1m cable, Id like to hear more affordable options, Im sure some exist.
Don has without a doubt been a milestone in my experience with this hobby. Its so nice to be off the merry go round of gear. Ive lost several thousand selling gear I bought new and second hand to try other options only to be dissatisfied in the long run. I think speakers will always be something to toy around with though. I love trying things Ive not heard. And hearing other forms of digital playback. I do believe there will be advancements in the years to come. However Im with on the idea that Don’s CD player is something to be reckoned with, and at its price point, cant be beat. Like yourself, my main focus is now on finding great music I have not been exposed to.
If its cool with you drop me a line at my posted email address. I love getting tips on great music to try. I always hear from Don of the meetings in which people come over and share music they discovered with one another. I dont have such culture here in Sheboygan WI. Im sure many exist here but heck if I know em and organized meetings for such a cool purpose.
"And hearing other forms of digital playback. I do believe there will be advancements in the years to come."I hope so, but the prospects are not favorable..... Three reasons:
- Digital playback, by and large, has not really improved that much over the past 15 years. My favorite products are mostly 1990s vintage. And I've never heard one SACD or DVDA rig that impressed me.
- With the reduced exposure to good analog and live music, I think people don't know what to listen for during audio playback as much as they used to. More and more raves over products that I personally think don't sound good at all.
- As an engineer who is very familiar with the nuts and bolts of audio DSP, I've never seen so much quackery in a given technical field. (Not to mention the militant dogma some engineers have in regard to that.) What we end up getting is "technology" like asynchronous sample-rate conversion (aka "24/96 upsampling"), which has spread through digital product lines like a cancer, yet has no solid technical basis regarding how or why it would improve playback fidelity. (The attempted rationales I've seen are erroneous at best, deceitful at worst.) For what it actually does is to the contrary, and has spawned a new wave of unlistenable digital products.
Unless technology makes a shocking turn in the right direction, I think I'll still be using Don Allen's CD player ten years from now.
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