|
Search of All Forums Enter your search criteria. Click here for tips on using our search |
For Sale Ads |
1: Amp/Preamp Asylum, I was thinking of the Aegir, the Vidar is rated at 400w into 8ohms as a mono. nt. (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2021-02-24, 12:09:14 (87.133.108.174)
nt .......
2: Amp/Preamp Asylum, RE: Schiit to drive Magnepan (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2021-02-24, 06:10:09 (87.133.108.174)
The Peachtree is rated at 150/250; the Vidar monoblocks while potentially good sounding, are not rated at near that much power into 8 ohms, even as monoblocks, so not sure what you're getting at. Also .......
3: Inmate Central, driving an unfamiliar car at dawn easy to make a mistake (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2021-02-24, 05:59:14 (87.133.108.174)
Either TW is a poor driver, and/or he was under the influence of painkillers, and/or he just made a mistake while driving an unfamiliar car under time pressure at dawn. The Hyundai was apparently supp .......
4: Video Asylum, L-R information on video (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2020-11-03, 16:00:36 (87.133.142.171)
Hi inmates, Just a little head-scratcher to distract from the returns, or lack of, tonight. Many of us have been forced into video streaming. But few of us have learned to read right to left. If you g .......
5: Speaker Asylum, ESS 5As no drivers any takers...? (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2020-10-16, 02:35:01 (87.132.51.250)
Five years back I bought a modified (passive driver in the back switched out for bass reflex tubes) pair of ESS Performance Series 5A with a version of the Heil AMT drivers. Circa early 1980s model, C .......
6: Speaker Asylum, RE: I Really Like Speakers (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2020-07-28, 12:57:25 (87.132.87.121)
I love speakers too. At the same time, I hate them :) My list, in chronological order, going back 30 years: Onkyo and Acoustic Research knock-offs (white van speakers!) (in college) Pinnacle monitors .......
7: Amp/Preamp Asylum, great looking affordable products, thanks for link . nt. (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2020-07-09, 23:51:44 (87.133.238.77)
nt .......
8: Critic's Corner, May and June arrived, even just got July.. 'phew :) nt (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2020-06-25, 14:05:56 (87.132.214.73)
nt .......
9: General Asylum, RE: Huge SQ Improvement No Money (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2020-06-15, 14:19:33 (87.133.128.248)
Awesome! No, not psychic ... but have experimented 'ad nauseum' with many different kinds of speakers at home. :) Glad you got the desired results!! .......
10: Computer Audio Asylum, list of affected devices... (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2020-06-12, 00:05:47 (87.133.18.158)
some affected devices ('Betroffene Geräte' in German) listed on this site...apparently manufacturers starting offering fixes in April 2020 after the vulnerability was discovered in Dec. 2019 ::: TOPIC .......
11: General Asylum, For those with withdrawal symptoms...photo from Munich High End 2013 Pt1 (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2020-06-11, 06:51:48 (87.133.18.158)
Just browsing through some old photos and came upon this from the Munich High End show in 2013. What a classy, if decadent, event. B&M (active digital loudspeaker brand) handed out free beer before .......
12: General Asylum, RE: Huge SQ Improvement No Money (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2020-05-28, 06:12:11 (87.132.67.161)
"It's hard to wrap my mind around what that did to reveal the KCIIs ability to become seamless with much fuller midrange and bass. It's like the rack is no longer in the way, though Im sure it still i .......
13: Critic's Corner, I got April at the end of March, but neither May nor June have arrived (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2020-05-19, 06:55:43 (93.252.118.200)
I always count on a week or ten days delay, but lately it's been longer. May should have been here three weeks ago; hasn't arrived yet. There was a slight ZIP code mistake on my mailing sheet, which I .......
14: General Asylum, Most audiophiles need to get their ears cleaned out occasionally.... (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2020-05-19, 06:50:00 (93.252.118.200)
That usually restores balance problems. Failing that, speaker positioning and room treatments do wonders!! .......
15: Speaker Asylum, Jbl (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2020-05-10, 09:06:45 (87.133.18.25)
I've been pleased with my JBL 305p mkii, their smallest powered monitors, 5 in. woofer. Cost all of 238€ the pair, huge sound, great adjustability, good build quality for the price. Astonishing how .......
16: Digital Drive, RE: DAC for Red Book CD's (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2020-04-16, 05:32:39 (80.138.70.244)
Deniafrips Ares? here's a video review https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x32kMm6E4Pg&t=164s .......
17: General Asylum, It is really no wonder that requiring people to stay home reduces the case numbers (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2020-03-29, 09:09:38 (84.189.233.115)
Hey RGA. In fact, you could make people disappear altogether if you didn't count them, or pretended they weren't there. As long as the well-off keep paying the rent or taxes, who in a totalitarian go .......
18: Critic's Corner, Got it! nt (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2020-03-25, 14:58:18 (84.189.233.115)
Nt .......
19: Amp/Preamp Asylum, Funny, right around 1996 I got great sound by DROPPING the Adcom preamp but keeping the amp... (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2020-03-20, 12:10:45 (84.189.238.136)
This is what happened: I had bought the GP555II (no tuner, but dual pre outs) along with the GFA5400, thereby dropping waaay more than I had ever spent on hifi before at one time (along with a couple .......
20: Critic's Corner, I'm in Germany! Overseas delivery obviously delayed....nt (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2020-03-20, 11:54:12 (84.189.238.136)
nt .......
21: Critic's Corner, April SP out yet? Need my fix, hasn't arrived. Nt. (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2020-03-17, 06:17:46 (84.189.238.136)
Nt .......
22: Inmate Central, I hear you, but... (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2020-03-15, 10:21:51 (84.189.238.136)
Keep your cool and your perspective. Hope these near lockdowns will flatten the curve. Stay well, breathe deeply, spend time outside listening to the birds, and enjoy life if possible. .......
23: General Asylum, RE: Word Clock vs. Re-clocker... (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2019-12-09, 11:20:22 (84.189.235.88)
Not sure what you're driving at in your question since you include no detail....but: Both work to eliminate timing differences in digital audio streams, since timing is basically everything in music a .......
24: Digital Drive, RE: How to best get High-Rez with my Levinson No.360S? (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2019-12-09, 07:24:13 (84.189.235.88)
here's one decent product, should work well. https://www.peachtreeaudio.com/x1-usb-spdif-converter.html That is, if you are committed to/or just want to experiment with USB audio. Network audio is a .......
25: General Asylum, not Japanese companies (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2019-12-09, 01:13:45 (91.54.240.42)
Well, neither Marantz nor Denon are Japanese companies by any stretch. According to the German version of Wikipedia, both brands belong to Sound United LLC which is in turn owned by a private equity f .......
26: Speaker Asylum, Depends on many factors (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2019-11-19, 10:44:54 (84.189.228.161)
-Where are the main speakers going to be located (goes to actual in room response) -Do your subwoofers actually extend to below 40 in the first place (the vast majority have a response hump at the exa .......
27: Amp/Preamp Asylum, RE: ML service in Massachusetts? (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2019-10-02, 07:37:22 (80.138.68.35)
Try calling Goodwins High End in Waltham, MA. They may know the right people. 781-893-9000 .......
28: Digital Drive, It's not magic (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2019-09-29, 10:47:42 (80.138.68.35)
You can also ask, why does an unscratched CD sound better than a scratched one? And why does a ten year old laser not read as well as a new one? The laser is a light source. And the laser lens is also .......
29: Tubes Asylum, Transcendent grounded grid (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2019-09-23, 06:21:53 (80.138.73.42)
Neither...use https://transcendentsound.com/grounded-grid-preamp.html For a few hundred more .......
30: General Asylum, another great thing is that you can set the levels by ear for each recording! (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2019-09-19, 10:24:51 (91.54.240.60)
...adding to the audiophile nervosa...and fun! :)) .......
31: General Asylum, I bought the original album series on CD around three months ago (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2019-09-18, 07:04:15 (84.189.237.2)
...and listened and owned all of their albums (LP vinyl of course) in high school. One of the great things about the Cars albums, as well as Aerosmith or Lynyrd Skynyrd, Billy Joel, etc. was how many .......
32: General Asylum, I was going to say.... (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2019-09-18, 06:52:04 (84.189.237.2)
Hey Awe-, In terms of sound, I would think that the fact that there's only 'one' switching DC power supply for d/a conversion, WLAN, and 1-2 other inputs in addition to the amplifier section, would im .......
33: Digital Drive, Krell driven by Denon?? (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2016-10-20, 09:04:22 (87.166.52.187)
this is a potential mismatch. Generally the output impedance of AV Receivers as preamps is on the high side (not good), and the single ended connection is not what the Krell is designed for anyway. To .......
34: Vinyl Asylum, Rebel Rebel in Greenwich Village closing...... (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2016-06-12, 12:14:59 (91.13.216.169)
Sad... .......
35: Amp/Preamp Asylum, the most important part, you didn't tell us! what are your speakers?? nt (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2016-05-25, 15:16:20 (87.166.59.13)
nt .......
36: Rocky Road, Big Ten Inch Record! (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2016-05-09, 09:41:35 (87.166.59.13)
Recently bought 'Toys in the Attic' and 'Rocks'. New remastered Aerosmith on 180g vinyl (well, 2013). And yes, just did the compar-o, vinyl vs. digital, same Sony/Columbia remastering. The LP is s .......
37: General Asylum, In Germany, it's father's day AND a national holiday, time for... (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2016-05-04, 12:02:47 (91.13.218.117)
...all fathers to get stinking drunk in the streets, during the day, and forget about all the things they should be doing instead. Since people take Friday off anyway. You all should try living here.. .......
38: Computer Audio Asylum, network players (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2016-04-26, 23:25:49 (91.13.210.63)
even my $80 pioneer universal (CD/SACD/bluray) player has a network input and a USB slot for a memory stick. I can play music files on the usb input, and files from any networked hard drive. Makes me .......
39: Speaker Asylum, low crossover point; planar or electrostatics (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2016-04-26, 23:15:18 (91.13.210.63)
lack of crossover distortion in the crucial 1-4 khz range (upper midrange) contributes to a sense of freedom and lack of constriction in the sound. listen to a planar or electrostatic speaker. until y .......
40: General Asylum, taken only to sell ... has to look good (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2016-04-24, 11:29:06 (91.13.210.63)
i swear, with these speakers, you can save yourself thousands on source and amplifiers...... .......
41: General Asylum, Mostly more disinformation than information...who can wade through all of it?? (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2016-04-07, 13:36:19 (91.13.210.63)
...since most people (not to mention marketing or advertising people, who lie cleverly for a living) cannot distinguish between a truly informed opinion and a rave based on a need to confirm a buying .......
42: Cable Asylum, RE: Cardas Golden Reference Interconnects - My Fat Feet damaged a connector (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2016-03-28, 06:06:41 (91.13.210.63)
Twist it until it works (like you do now), then forget it. The problem is probably not in the cable or termination itself, it is in the connection between the RCA positive pin of the cable, and the in .......
43: Amp/Preamp Asylum, the YBA gear is very, very good (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2016-03-11, 08:50:56 (87.166.52.24)
and not a surprise that the amplifier likes the solid state pre better (house sound). I auditioned the YBA2DT a while back and was mightily impressed by the slam and grip of this amplifier. ::: TOPIC: .......
44: Amp/Preamp Asylum, yes... (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2016-02-15, 04:31:33 (87.166.52.24)
'if the loose connections could cause the buzz' yes it sure could. hope you were able to resolve it. i once owned that amp, it had lots of clean power. happy listening! .......
45: Digital Drive, RE: Optimal Connection Scheme ... Advice, Please? (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2016-02-14, 05:00:34 (87.166.52.24)
transport - ST glass fiber - DAC (why does this have to be long??) PC - usb to SPDIF converter - coax digital - DAC A good one to look at, and very good value is the Mapleshade device (link below) ::: .......
46: Speaker Asylum, I owned the Preludes (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2016-02-12, 02:24:42 (87.166.52.24)
I owned the floorstanding transmissionline 2-ways (the Preludes) and loved them. They responded to great amplification; I used a modified Counterpoint NPS-100. Wonderful sound, decent looks. $1800 is .......
47: Digital Drive, RE: Small form factor cd player other than Apollo-R? (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2016-02-07, 07:20:33 (87.166.62.101)
Woo Audio, 23 cm wide. But it's a transport, not a player. They sell a matching DAC. .......
48: Amp/Preamp Asylum, if you don't mind KT88 tubes (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2016-02-03, 23:28:12 (91.13.210.247)
https://www.audiogon.com/listings/tube-cayin-audio-usa-vp-100i-with-remote-2016-02-03-integrateds-80210-denver-co .......
49: Amp/Preamp Asylum, some nice stuff on audiogon lately (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2016-02-03, 23:21:33 (91.13.210.247)
blue circle hybrid integrated amp https://www.audiogon.com/listings/solid-state-blue-circle-audio-ftth2-kq-with-nos-tubes-2016-01-30-integrateds-11415-kew-gardens-ny for much less: primaire I21 integr .......
50: Critic's Corner, listening to the room (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2016-02-02, 02:23:08 (91.13.210.247)
a comment indirectly related to yours (and written just after perusing SP's CES entries from last month): No one ever listens to a speaker alone (well, except microphones in anechonic chambers). What .......
51: Digital Drive, why do you think it's the DAC? (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2016-02-01, 07:55:53 (91.13.210.247)
With so many other tubes and caps in the signal chain, why do you think it's the DAC's caps? Also, the Quads are likely to give you totally different imaging than more conventional speakers, regardles .......
52: General Asylum, you mean, it means 'truth' in Danish (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2016-01-05, 15:52:17 (217.246.30.14)
I have a similar experience listening to my ESS Labs spekers from about 1982, using the AMT Heil HF drivers, crossed over lower than the usual tweeter, and super revealing. That's what transients soun .......
53: Critic's Corner, That review is kind of a joke (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-12-16, 10:17:35 (217.246.30.14)
Colloms may be an experienced writer, but there are NO comparisons done to other cost no object designs in this CD player review (the $80,000 MSB DAC is listed in his system, but no comaprison made), .......
54: Critic's Corner, It could be, if there were clear guidelines about what constituted a 'review' (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-12-16, 08:39:01 (217.246.30.14)
I regard most subjective blather (including subtle decisions about how positive to spin a product) as completely beside the point in all written subjective reviews. That is because, there is tremendou .......
55: General Asylum, well... (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-12-04, 05:21:23 (91.49.65.9)
...banging out my thoughts on the keyboard, expressing my opinions on everything and anything, and my kids. My ex-wife and my latest girlfriend, sadly, have cured me of one of my previous passions: wo .......
56: General Asylum, more with less? (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-12-04, 05:16:45 (91.49.65.9)
Pretty soon the EU will outlaw or otherwise restrict large power sucking amplifiers anyway, due to energy efficiency concerns. The big names are trying to see what's possible using less and less...a b .......
57: Rocky Road, thanks for the link...great song, brings me back (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-10-29, 12:18:55 (217.246.24.157)
awesome song, awesome album, tempted to order the remaster double CD .......
58: Digital Drive, Agree on the EAD dac (7000 or 9000) (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-10-29, 11:30:01 (217.246.24.157)
and any decent transport. Good luck. Other possibilities: Dodson 217, Theta V. Meridian and AR of course also good! There's a Dodson on the Asylum Trader right now. Price a little steep IMO, but hey. .......
59: Speaker Asylum, Celestion? Klipsch? Sonab? Carlson? nt (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-10-24, 11:39:14 (91.13.211.199)
nt .......
60: Speaker Asylum, RE: Magnepan 1.7 setup+ (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-10-24, 11:36:25 (91.13.211.199)
second that...if 2500 is in the cards. Parasound is good stuff. If you do not need to listen at high volumes you can experiment with prima luna integrated (tubes!), good sounding but with nowhere near .......
61: Digital Drive, RE: AR CD3 vs Ls Scala vs PS Audio Direct Stream (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-10-24, 02:44:52 (91.13.211.199)
"Is he just trying to sell me these DACs, or is he right?" Well, his job is to pump and jump. It won't be a huge improvement, more like a very subtle one. .......
62: Digital Drive, There'll be a revival... (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-10-22, 06:01:23 (91.13.211.199)
just like with vinyl. ...once people learn that downloads, hires, and PCs give mediocre results in most cases. Well recorded CDs and Cd player technology will live as long as your silver discs will. I .......
63: Inmate Central, 'Administrator' on my own PC...Windows/software people (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-10-14, 09:15:56 (91.13.211.199)
OK, software people: I'm using win10. In Windows, it has gotten increasingly difficult to understand, who has access to what information, and what settings can be changed to protect data sniffling. A .......
64: Digital Drive, some options (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-10-12, 04:56:44 (91.13.211.199)
An external USB sound card unit with at least 2 line/mic input plugs. You'd need a 2 RCA to line plug (TRS) adapters to get the tuner's 2-channel analog signal into the unit, and software to record to .......
65: Digital Drive, RE: Fear of flames (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-10-11, 23:00:49 (91.13.211.199)
Mike, IMO you CAN get a 'great sounding' CD player for $40, if you know what you're looking for, and the person selling it doesn't recognize it for what it is (and the price doesn't keep you from enjo .......
66: Digital Drive, some options (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-10-07, 10:26:00 (91.13.211.199)
I would personally look into either the NAD M51, or (maybe better yet) the Decware modified SSD card input DAC from Tascam with a transformer coupled output stage. But both are expensive .......
67: Digital Drive, looks good....and affordable! nt (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-10-07, 09:12:52 (91.13.211.199)
nt .......
68: Digital Drive, read the interview... (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-10-07, 00:32:20 (91.13.211.199)
'we realized after we got a ways down the road that DSD was kind of a mistake but we had too much invested in it' and now everyone's jumping on the bandwagon because they feel they have to? super. w .......
69: General Asylum, Just be aware.... (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-10-01, 09:57:00 (91.13.211.199)
...the pass amplifiers do prefer to be run in a balanced mode, and they're really designed to be used with a solid state preamplifier. The house sound you're getting is partially due to the preamplife .......
70: General Asylum, 'lean' sounding? (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-10-01, 02:04:34 (91.13.211.199)
It's possible, looking at your components, that your system is on the 'accurate' and 'analytical' side and that you're looking to get a bit of warmth in the system. Various components I've used that s .......
71: General Asylum, I'll bite... (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-09-30, 10:56:44 (91.13.211.199)
You didn't say what you listen to, or what your source components are. Or why you're looking to change (I mean, there are many things in life you may need to change, before you do anything with your h .......
72: Speaker Asylum, RE: Speaker Shootout: A/D/S 1230 vs. B&W CM9 (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-09-30, 02:02:23 (91.13.211.199)
It's not necessarily a smart thing for the dealer to offer. For one thing, if you are used to the sound of your speakers, you are likely to prefer them in the dealer setup as well. OTOH, it's kind of .......
73: Speaker Asylum, RE: in short, yes (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-09-30, 00:31:55 (91.13.211.199)
Still, the improvements are going to be incremental in any case. How big is the room? Consider one or a pair of top quality subwoofers. What I really value now, is a lack of crossover in the critical .......
74: Speaker Asylum, in short, yes (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-09-22, 02:29:05 (91.13.211.199)
Yes, you crazy....not in going for an integrated instead of separates, but in wanting to lay down that kind of coin on speakers without hearing them, in your system, in your room, for extended periods .......
75: Critic's Corner, Grade inflation... (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-09-22, 02:23:12 (91.13.211.199)
What Reichert hears is not surprising at all, considering the trade-offs inherent in a 2-way mini monitor of the LS50s design and materials. High power handling in a small 2 way monitor ---> more comp .......
76: Digital Drive, straight to tape 2 track digitized to 16/44 sounds f'ing great, when, e.g., done by mapleshade (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-09-17, 05:11:24 (91.13.211.199)
It's not the sample rate per se, the rest of the chain has to be right. I find upsampled to be perhaps smoother and more airy, but has less punch. But like I said, there's been almost no 'all other th .......
77: Digital Drive, Trade show systems are highly unrealistic...bling bling (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-09-17, 05:00:14 (91.13.211.199)
The trade shows are out of hand. Sure they want to show what's possible in terms of components, but usually, the system results at home are at least as good for MUCH less if you know what you're doing .......
78: Digital Drive, 'more there' (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-09-15, 01:18:24 (87.166.54.48)
maybe in the midrange, but the integration with treble and bass never seemed right. There is of course the possibility that I did not hear an optimum setup :) But that's the point. Each time the post .......
79: Digital Drive, you may 'believe' in DSD (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-09-14, 23:29:25 (87.166.54.48)
Hi there, I've never been impressed with DSD. What I have heard sounds phasey, hollow, lack of punch, smooth but boring, you name it. 24/88 and arguably 16/44 correctly done, correctly filtered and w .......
80: Digital Drive, Oh right and hard drives always last 20 years? (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-09-14, 03:30:26 (87.166.54.48)
I have a Cd player from 1991 that still plays fine. My Macbook 190 cost over $2000 in 1995 maybe still works, but is not 'supported' in terms of software or I/O capability. Tell me again why anyone sh .......
81: Digital Drive, RE: PC Audio vs. CD player (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-09-14, 03:26:40 (87.166.54.48)
I'm aware of the archiving possibilites and the product palette. My point was that the sonic advantages are still not obvious. There's a slightly different sound, but not necessarily better. Of course .......
82: Digital Drive, RE: PC Audio vs. CD player (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-09-13, 13:38:42 (87.166.54.48)
Ok, maybe the laptopDAC makes my ears bleed a little less. Anyone? .......
83: Digital Drive, PC Audio vs. CD player (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-09-13, 13:26:42 (87.166.54.48)
Well, it really comes down to which format doesn't make my ears bleed, and there's no slam dunk answer. Laptop/streamer to DAC or standard CD player? The difference between the two sonically, is so sm .......
84: Digital Drive, RE: Audio-GD Master 7 vs Metrum Hex (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-09-13, 13:21:27 (87.166.54.48)
OK, so despite the dynamics of the AGD you're liking the richness of the Hex in comparison? It probably depends on the recording. Report after a year and 1000 hours of break in. And I hope your financ .......
85: Amp/Preamp Asylum, RE: Switchable power transformer or not? MUsic HAll conundrum (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-09-02, 10:27:24 (91.13.220.126)
Everything is built in China, I'd be surprised if they even knew how to do it. AFAIK Hall is a marketing guy, not a technician....... .......
86: Digital Drive, decide if you want to mainly play CDs (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-09-02, 01:36:15 (91.13.220.126)
If you're mainly playing CDs, the $1000 for the 8005 is probably a best bet, it's a good player. Spending twice as much won't get you significantly better sound IMO. When you tested it in your system, .......
87: General Asylum, AIWA stack bought in 1986 at BestBuy in Minneapolis (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-09-01, 12:56:56 (91.13.220.126)
...played loud and dirty, but freshman year in college, who cared? Can you say, Cars' first album? Loud was important, clean wasn't. Luckily, my roomate 2nd year introduced me to Adcom, a/d/s, and The .......
88: Speaker Asylum, RE: Nothing (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-08-07, 07:37:28 (91.13.220.208)
The OUTPUT impedance of your YBA preamp is NOT 47k ohms...that's the input impedance for the line inputs. There is no reason your YBA preamp won't mate very well with any number of amplifiers, tube or .......
89: Speaker Asylum, Magnepan MMGs - by far the best for the money! nt (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-08-05, 02:48:24 (91.13.211.202)
nt .......
90: Speaker Asylum, NHT 3.3s (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-07-30, 14:45:11 (91.13.211.202)
These rocked......... I had an out of body experience listening to Led Zep on vinyl back in 1997, on a pair of NHT 2.5s........ .......
91: Vinyl Asylum, RE: Perreaux TS-2 tape dubbing and phono selector (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-07-28, 09:43:05 (91.13.211.202)
yeah, unfortunately, there is no volume control so it's not really a preamp either. It's probably preset at the factory according to the buyer's wishes. I did open it, but it's clearly not designed fo .......
92: Tubes Asylum, the source...the source... (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-07-28, 09:21:49 (91.13.211.202)
If you got an improvement with a proper CD player with a good output stage, that's not surprising. The Dragonfly DAC is a tiny USB powered product. Do not expect it to drive a tube power amp to full p .......
93: Tubes Asylum, maybe so (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-07-28, 09:06:26 (91.13.211.202)
OTOH, on the whole I've always been happier with higher eff/lower powered solutions, than with speakers that need a lot of power to sound good. .......
94: Tubes Asylum, EL84s. A pair of these......... (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-07-27, 15:04:23 (91.13.211.202)
A pair of 'lowly' SE84Bs in the late 90s turned me on to the first watt philosophy. A simply magical sounding pair of amplifiers (see link), if you have reasonable efficiency (say above 90dB) and don' .......
95: Vinyl Asylum, Perreaux TS-2 tape dubbing and phono selector (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-07-27, 14:40:49 (91.13.211.202)
While in NZ a few years ago, I picked up this unit, it's a tape switcher and MC cartridge loading selector, a unique item, and even Perreaux doesn't have a manual for it anymore (I emailed and aske .......
96: Vinyl Asylum, The RP8 uses a wall wart?? I...think...not (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-07-27, 14:28:17 (91.13.211.202)
Sorry to hear it. The RP8 has a TT-PSU. That's not a wall wart, is it??? I think the new RP series is more about cost cutting than improving performance. My 'RP1 performance' is not bad, but not bette .......
97: Digital Drive, Pioneer BDP150, not panasonic nt (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-07-22, 07:23:56 (87.166.55.188)
nt .......
98: Critic's Corner, does SP still officially review cables? OMG (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-07-22, 06:34:00 (87.166.55.188)
Cable reviews are exercises in fantastical verbal conjuring, most of which is useless to anybody but to those whose cash is burning holes in their pockets and don't mind throwing money away. That is b .......
99: Digital Drive, information on amazon......buyer beware. (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-07-22, 06:25:09 (87.166.55.188)
there are three pics on the amazon listing of the panasonic unit, none of which show the back panel! there is also no clue as to whether analog outs are included. you also cannot rely on return polici .......
100: Digital Drive, got me there abe.....nt (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-07-22, 06:16:19 (87.166.55.188)
nt .......
101: Digital Drive, RE: Beware Of The 1 Star Review... (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-07-22, 00:43:52 (87.166.55.188)
The product description says the wireless capability is optional...meaning, as you said, you have to buy some other box before that works. I always take a good long look at the back input/output panel .......
102: Digital Drive, clarification (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-07-22, 00:37:03 (87.166.55.188)
There have been many changes in product design, mostly to accommodate the changes in the industry: different sampling rates, the move to single bit as opposed to multibit, move towards PC audio, netwo .......
103: Digital Drive, interesting question beppe... (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-07-21, 11:50:19 (87.166.55.188)
...I had never tried the network input with a digital out to the DAC. I just tried it after reading your question. Honestly, I cannot tell any real difference between the sound of the BD player playin .......
104: Digital Drive, I've got the BDP150, not bad (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-07-21, 05:34:11 (87.166.55.188)
My BDP150 does CD, DVD, Bluray, and SACD, and has a network input for Internet or network content. Not bad for €75; even if the sound is nothing special, it works. .......
105: Amp/Preamp Asylum, yup. just don't offer free shipping :) nt (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-07-19, 00:23:50 (91.13.210.182)
nt .......
106: Speaker Asylum, try biamping... (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-07-17, 04:13:52 (91.13.210.182)
What the biwireable speakers really 'want' is one stereo amplifier per driver pair - one stereo amp for the tweeters, and one for the woofers. Then you'll really perceive the difference. At least at h .......
107: Digital Drive, streamers... (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-07-09, 03:14:22 (91.13.210.182)
I've never used a streamer. It could be that the W4S box is designed for and actually does improve the sound of an inexpensive streamer. The OP isn't using a streamer though. Cheers .......
108: General Asylum, ever miss CD? (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-07-09, 03:04:38 (91.13.210.182)
It looks like the MPS5 samples everything to DSD. Do you keep a Redbook source source on hand just for comparison, or did you come to the conclusion that stuff sampled to DSD always sounds better, eve .......
109: General Asylum, mid fi is reasonably priced consumer gear... (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-07-09, 02:48:30 (91.13.210.182)
real high fidelity equipment is the stuff that's made in smaller volumes, carries a higher price tag, drives you crazy, and empties your wallet and trust fund faster. I wouldn't go there. but you're .......
110: Digital Drive, good answer (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-07-09, 02:40:11 (91.13.210.182)
It's a good honest answer. Now can you heard the difference (blind) in your system between having the reclocker in your system and not having it there? Why are looking for a new transport? ::: TOPIC .......
111: Digital Drive, RE: keeping things in perspective (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-07-09, 02:35:05 (91.13.210.182)
The Who on CD or original LP pressings? The original masters were fine, to me remastered stuff doesn't usually sound good. Someone else suggested an Audio Note tubed dac. The audio notes not only have .......
112: General Asylum, many ways to skin a cat (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-07-08, 12:44:14 (91.13.210.182)
It is unfortunate that the review magazines (SP in particular) tend to think so little in terms of system synergy and review components as such. But this is market and cost-driven (SP for example, won .......
113: Digital Drive, RE: keeping things in perspective (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-07-08, 05:29:16 (91.13.210.182)
All of your equipment is on the sonically 'lean' side, including your DAC, preamp, cartridge (I've just bought an Ortofon Red too, very detailed sounding) phono preamp, and speakers, so I am not surpr .......
114: Digital Drive, compatibility (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-07-08, 04:55:54 (91.13.210.182)
My guess, they obviously took a look at the range of products out there: 1. no AES/EBU because 98% of DACs don't offer that kind of input anymore and its inherent benefits are questionable. Pro equipm .......
115: General Asylum, agree somewhat.... (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-07-08, 04:11:57 (91.13.210.182)
...but I am not one to thinks that 'things are always better than they were, because now is now and then was then' - half of the pressure in the industry to change technologies comes from factors othe .......
116: General Asylum, actually material costs are higher now... (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-07-08, 04:01:51 (91.13.210.182)
..than they were 15 years ago, due to the explosion of the IT markets and the explosion of the 'world' economy since the 90s, when the Chinese got 'most favoured nation' status in the US and almost al .......
117: General Asylum, absolutely true...performance to price ratio has suffered (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-07-08, 03:53:14 (91.13.210.182)
...mostly because the goal posts keep changing for the industry. Recession, depressions, devaluations, pressure to put out new products, competition (which on the whole, in my view, makes things wors .......
118: Digital Drive, I just looked at your system (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-07-07, 01:27:32 (91.13.210.182)
Magnepans are great for some recordings, but for rock and blues, I might look elsewhere. There is no way a reclocker is going to make your Magnepans sound different!! I think what you're missing is ce .......
119: Digital Drive, keeping things in perspective (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-07-07, 01:19:22 (91.13.210.182)
Unless the DVD player, the digital cable, and the DAC are not working correctly, they should give you a good idea of what's on the disc. I still believe the more musically significant changes occur el .......
120: Digital Drive, really good digital playback systems are unfortunately really EXPENSIVE (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-07-06, 12:42:24 (91.13.210.182)
...and a modest turntable is at least as enjoyable. Not to mention, you can still find good LPs for $1 each at garage sales. At hifi shows, every once in a while you hear something really good, but th .......
121: Digital Drive, RE: whoah (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-07-06, 10:59:39 (91.13.210.182)
right...another specialty: the more money spent, the more improvement heard ;) .......
122: Digital Drive, whoah (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-07-06, 10:46:53 (91.13.210.182)
look, I've seen and heard enough of digital band aid products to know that the effect of such things is generally very small and usually barely, if at all, noticeable. whether this box does miracles b .......
123: Digital Drive, if everyone had to hear everything, there'd be no more time.... (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-07-06, 10:37:04 (91.13.210.182)
...and I'm always amazed, how much 'buy it, I did' posting goes on here. Basically, I still think (to go back to the topic) that the difference between the options posed (buy a better transport or buy .......
124: Digital Drive, cheap shot... (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-07-06, 10:31:48 (91.13.210.182)
...of course I meant 'an' opinion. So I gave mine. Did you want me to give him your opinion? Apparently so. .......
125: Digital Drive, sounds like 'just confirm my purchase for me...' (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-07-06, 08:57:08 (91.13.210.182)
...because I'm not really sure it was worth it. Go back and do an A/B/A again and report back. .......
126: Digital Drive, he was asking for my opinion. I gave a balanced reply. (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-07-06, 08:55:55 (91.13.210.182)
what is your contribution to the question? .......
127: Digital Drive, wise investment? no. worth a try? why not, if there's a MBG (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-07-06, 01:48:36 (91.13.210.182)
you might hear a slight difference, but if you go back and forth and listen with objectivity, you probably will conclude it is not worth it. a very good CD player (you're getting there already with $5 .......
128: Amp/Preamp Asylum, who on earth suggested this pairing?? (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-07-06, 01:45:01 (91.13.210.182)
?? the point of efficient speakers is to use as low powered amplifier as possible to get the sound you want. why pair 2 totally incompatible technologies? .......
129: Computer Audio Asylum, 'downsampled equivalent'?? (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-07-02, 19:28:03 (87.166.52.27)
perhaps you can define what you mean by a 'downsampled equivalent'? Sounds like an oxymoron to me. IMO, 24/96 downsampled to 16/44 is not any better than 16/44 upsampled to 24/96!! OTOH, there is more .......
130: Computer Audio Asylum, RE: Windows 10 and 41,000 Hz audio (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-07-02, 19:13:51 (87.166.52.27)
Pretending that 44.1 kHz is SO important for watching youtube or whatever on your PC is rubbish, honestly. As long as it plays, it's fine. In this context worrying about sound quality would be wasted .......
131: Computer Audio Asylum, RE: Yep... (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-07-02, 18:51:06 (87.166.52.27)
There's an app which identifies the actual software settings of any USB device, look up TDD v. 1.83.0 descriptor dump it will tell you what the input sampling capacity of the DAC is, but it presumably .......
132: Computer Audio Asylum, OK.... (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-07-02, 18:32:06 (87.166.52.27)
Well, you didn't bother to argue against the part of the website you quoted and underlined, so I'm not sure what to make of your post. Also, the amplifier (thanks for the link) is not just about mark .......
133: Computer Audio Asylum, bit confused here....... (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-07-02, 17:59:51 (87.166.52.27)
What is meant by PCM 48/32? Do you mean 32 bit resolution and 48kHz sampling rate?? I don't think so. .......
134: Amp/Preamp Asylum, this is one reason high end brands don't want to deal with the issue. (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-07-02, 17:37:35 (87.166.52.27)
yeah, well, every engineer has to deal with this when the marketing department says, 'we need a remote'. when your marketing department, i.e., your 'I can have it all at a lower price' mentality, deci .......
135: Amp/Preamp Asylum, ESS performance series and any decent amplifier (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-07-02, 02:47:19 (87.166.52.27)
At the moment I'm liking my ESS performance series speakers, driven by a very modest onkyo integrated. The pair cost me all a total of $250 on ebay.....the speakers were a real find, to get compara .......
136: Digital Drive, 'believe' is the right word for it... (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-06-30, 15:31:39 (87.166.52.27)
i'll give you a full afternoon to compare, where you're not sure which is which, and then ask you if you want to spend 2x as much on the separates, instead of 50 hi res downloads or CDs....... ::: TOP .......
137: Digital Drive, RE: trickle down dsd from PS Audio - new dac @ $1299 (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-06-30, 14:02:40 (87.166.52.27)
For that money you can get a very good integrated amplifier with a DAC included, say a Marantz 8005, and I'll be damned if anyone could consistently tell the difference between the DACs, blind. IMO fl .......
138: General Asylum, The A-S300 is pretty weak, you won't damage theamp, but you won't head bang either... (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-06-03, 10:49:44 (87.166.59.69)
...the Yamahas are a little weak in the 'current' department and that setup will stretch the Yammie to the max. On the other hand, the gain/ volume control is setup so that you can't really get very l .......
139: General Asylum, That's because all of the recordings are already compressed. Try this with something that has more dynamics.. (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-06-03, 10:44:33 (87.166.59.69)
then you'll hear the difference (but how many have a actually heard an uncompressed track? . Testing on pop music is almost meaningless. I agree, in those cases, the mp3 is mostly adequate. ::: TOPIC: .......
140: General Asylum, restricted to headphones??? hello??? (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-05-23, 14:31:02 (217.246.25.239)
You may be right in a way, but for $5000 you can have a hell of a lot of fun with good used equipment. At least $1000 for some good three way vintage speakers and the rest for an integrated amplifier .......
141: Digital Drive, what happened to that EAD pre/pro you wanted to buy (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-04-11, 00:35:17 (217.246.19.111)
...or was that someone else? Those EAD dacs are good too, but no USB Input (you'd Need a USB to SPDIF converter) .......
142: Digital Drive, RE: Dacs with a great bass. (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-04-10, 01:27:47 (217.246.19.111)
I agree with most of what you said. I used to want 2 different systems for different kinds of music (or small scale and large scale). But now, I'm listening to large ported box speakers with 10" bass .......
143: Digital Drive, RE: Dacs with a great bass. (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-04-09, 10:24:19 (217.246.19.111)
Well the Theta DACs from the 1990s are good in this regard, great for rock etc. But in general, 'bass' is overrated, if you mean a booming box. Listen to a planar speaker for a while (or even a Lowthe .......
144: Amp/Preamp Asylum, be ready for lots of experimentation.. (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-04-09, 10:20:14 (217.246.19.111)
I've owned a pair of Focals, the 714, which were wonderful, not quite as big as yours, but in general, you have to be ready to paly around A LOT with room placement to get the bass right. All the revi .......
145: Amp/Preamp Asylum, there are lots of reasons... (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-03-18, 08:36:37 (87.166.62.137)
1. Raw material costs are going up. Amplifiers have lots of 'iron' in them (well, copper) 2. Fewer have the money to invest in high fidelity stuff which means lower volumes on expensive components, wh .......
146: Speaker Asylum, scoff?nope (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-03-18, 02:34:33 (87.166.62.137)
my scoffing is reserved for those who spend $50,000 on loudspeakers to shoehorn them into a bad sounding room :) .......
147: Speaker Asylum, I bought white van speaker in 1986...they're not what they used to be (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-03-15, 11:54:17 (87.166.62.137)
...while Christmas shopping in a mall after my first semester in college. That is where the madness started. They probably were not worth the $350, but they were big and heavy and played loud. The sel .......
148: General Asylum, all the irrationality of pi shows is... (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-03-15, 11:48:13 (87.166.62.137)
...that there is no such thing as a circle, and there's no such thing as a straight line. So it is no surprise that there is no rational relationship between them. The author hints at this in one of t .......
149: Digital Drive, whoah, that's one crazily written subjective review. (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-03-10, 13:31:31 (217.246.23.209)
That review was so all over the map, most of the time, I had no idea what he was talking about. Noise floor was high (not a good thing), the DAC was bright but warm. This was really poorly written mar .......
150: Digital Drive, nice piece but make sure you get the remote and manual (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-03-10, 13:17:06 (217.246.23.209)
Just make sure you get a copy of the owner's manual and the remote. Not all the features are controllable on the panel. The DAC section itself is of course very good, and it does decode HDCD if I rem .......
151: Speaker Asylum, Image in New Zealand uses wool :) (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-03-09, 11:18:30 (217.246.23.209)
Nice sounding speakers and they really know how to build a cabinet and voice a speaker. .......
152: Speaker Asylum, tripath amp not exactly high current, but placement in key (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-02-27, 03:05:37 (217.246.25.62)
If the Paradigms need a higher current amp to control the drivers, than using a little tripath IMO just won't drive them properly in the bass. However, the biggest contributor to bass response proble .......
153: Amp/Preamp Asylum, RE: naim nait 5i-2 (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-02-27, 02:57:29 (217.246.25.62)
I owned this amplifier for a while. I liked it, in an all-Naim system (Allae speakers). Any 'warmth' or fullness in the sound I would tend to identify with the amp/speaker/room interface, not with whe .......
154: General Asylum, so how equipment looks does make a difference to how it sounds?? come on. (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-02-24, 05:47:17 (217.246.25.62)
There is very little analogy between food/wine tasting and listening to audio equipment. Unless you are just saying, oh well, if a wine is so good, we ought to be able to tell it is good without someo .......
155: General Asylum, yup...and the 'absolute sound' myth (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-02-24, 04:54:16 (217.246.25.62)
what you say is correct! define the purpose! the idea of reproducing any kind of recording in the listening room as if it were live, is a weird illusion to chase. sure, you can pursue it to your mind' .......
156: Inmate Central, Lady Gaga at the Oscars.... (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-02-23, 01:04:07 (217.246.25.62)
...singing The Sound of Music medley. Not bad at all! she does have a good voice. And she looks good, covered up a bit. .......
157: General Asylum, what kaplan doesn't say (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-02-22, 02:51:43 (217.246.25.62)
What Kaplan doesn't mention is that the industry 1) pandering to people with more cash than sense and 2) being run by marketing people, not people who understand technology, has resulted in a wildly d .......
158: General Asylum, for the $ you can get a pair of e.g. Parasound a21s which will last much longer... (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-02-18, 07:39:23 (87.166.51.30)
...and sound at least as good. 25 year old amplifiers are more likely to have issues or need a recap. .......
159: General Asylum, Just lend them out (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-02-18, 07:37:22 (87.166.51.30)
If he's a friend, and will use and enjoy them, there's pleasure in letting him have them, and if you lend them to him, then you keep the relationship alive and don't have to worry about price, etc. Yo .......
160: General Asylum, Innovation ain't cheap, and sometimes totally unecessary... (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-02-17, 00:41:03 (87.166.51.30)
...so you're paying Audioquest to take a leap with their/your funds. Usually, something expensive means low volume. They know they won't sell many, but if they market worldwide, they can enough sell t .......
161: General Asylum, not that important. (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-02-11, 06:21:26 (87.166.51.30)
It's important (for code) that the electrician gets this right (hot and neutral) on the outlet coming out of the wall (i.e., left side is hot IIRC), and cables should theoretically be wired consistent .......
162: Digital Drive, "noticeably superior"...to what?? (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-02-07, 05:04:37 (87.166.57.244)
Not sure what you're comparing.... .......
163: Amp/Preamp Asylum, Rotel RC 980BX (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-02-04, 10:07:31 (87.166.57.244)
Look for one of these. I owned the Adcom GFP555, found it a bit harsh sounding. The Rotel RC980BX had a better sonic signature, nice bass, all around listenable and made no mistakes. Highly recommende .......
164: Digital Drive, sorry, that's just sales talk.... (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-01-30, 15:23:49 (87.166.62.245)
...but I wouldn't expect any different from an audio reviewer who gets something expensive in every week to drool about. .......
165: Digital Drive, RE: Vintage DAC vs PS Nuwave (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-01-29, 02:57:25 (87.166.62.245)
Just keep the CAL until it dies. It's a good sounding unit, esp. with the NOS tubes. On the whole, I suspect it is a lateral (and expensive) move. One thing that may be true, the PS Audio might be a l .......
166: Digital Drive, it's true, there are many ways to skin a cat... (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-01-29, 02:53:48 (87.166.62.245)
but it seems to me, big industry's main focus is not always the best sound, but cost cutting. In that context, perhaps 1 bit systems are simpler and cheaper, for them, but they can make a profit claim .......
167: Digital Drive, streaming is one thing.... (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-01-28, 11:13:52 (217.246.18.195)
...but what's the point of huge file sizes and expensive DACs when we're going to be diverting our attention with work on the PC? The whole download/streaming scene doesn't do it for me. Again, thes .......
168: Digital Drive, ever read the Moncrieff stuff, or has that been discredited?? (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-01-28, 11:07:03 (217.246.18.195)
Hi there, in a long diatribe against SACD, on www.iar-80.com, Moncrieff pretty much slams the DSD model, saying the sound is more homogenized and less informative in the treble, and saying the amount .......
169: Digital Drive, because.... (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-01-28, 11:01:05 (217.246.18.195)
It seems to me the industry is continually hyping changes in formats as 'improvements' when this is mainly a sales tactic. It's a little like the whole 'PC audio' thing. I have never perceived a clear .......
170: Digital Drive, Is DSD really better sounding, and simpler, than PCM? (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-01-28, 04:26:17 (217.246.18.195)
The motivation for this post is a quick read of PS Audio's promotional literature on their new Direct Stream DAC, which converts every digital input into DSD before conversion to analog. The writeup s .......
171: Critic's Corner, to make the speakers play, prepare to spend 200,000 pounds on source, amplification, and cables, too (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-01-26, 10:29:03 (217.246.18.195)
ouch. Just for fun, at the end, he should have hooked them up to a 700 quid Creek integrated amp and CD player, to make sure they also sound good playing Led Zep's Black Dog. That would have crowned t .......
172: General Asylum, ear break in. nt. (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-01-24, 14:37:10 (217.246.18.195)
nt. .......
173: Speaker Asylum, probably right (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-01-23, 00:29:06 (217.246.18.195)
The Triangles I've heard at audio shows have always sounded thin and bright to me...not my cuppa at all. But with the right room and recording, and those VTL tube amplifiers he's using are great, I'm .......
174: Speaker Asylum, for heavy rock and hiphop? not the best choice..... (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-01-23, 00:24:10 (217.246.18.195)
great sounding speakers, but you need driver area for that music, and the merlin are basically 2 ways .......
175: Amp/Preamp Asylum, thanks. nt. (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-01-22, 10:45:06 (217.246.18.195)
nt .......
176: Amp/Preamp Asylum, RE: Sometimes yes, sometimes no, however we don't use transformers (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-01-22, 03:55:52 (217.246.18.195)
DH Labs make shielded, directional, 'balanced' cables with RCA connectors, where (if I understand it right) the shielding is only attached to one end of the cable, and not the other, so that theoretic .......
177: Amp/Preamp Asylum, yes...and (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-01-22, 03:35:02 (217.246.18.195)
The vast majority of power amplifiers that have both single ended and balanced inputs (and there aren't that many) just convert the signal coming into the XLR jacks into single ended with a relatively .......
178: General Asylum, i was there for a short time, but life's too short... (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-01-22, 01:13:50 (217.246.18.195)
...nt :) .......
179: General Asylum, really? (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-01-21, 22:28:13 (217.246.18.195)
The amazing thing about this hobby is that , 1. we get used to and compensate for the deficiencies in our systems and 2. almost ANY change that requires significant expense or time, does end up making .......
180: General Asylum, my mistake (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-01-21, 22:07:14 (217.246.18.195)
I have found carbon fiber drivers can sound somewhat dead and overdamped as well, but it depends on the overall implementation. Multiway systems with lots of philosophies and materials can be hard to .......
181: Speaker Asylum, more expensive is not better...cerwin vegas for you (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-01-21, 12:26:46 (217.246.18.195)
seriously, save yourself some cash, go for the big cerwin vegas and they'll put a big smile on your face, given your musical taste. good old 'west coast' sound is simply better for rock, hip hop, etc. .......
182: General Asylum, all of the above/below (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-01-21, 12:13:10 (217.246.18.195)
plastic woofers, multiple drivers for one freq. range, overdamped room, class D amps, high relative humidity, your mood, i could go on.... also the one poster who raised his off the floor seemed to ha .......
183: Amp/Preamp Asylum, chord company. (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-01-19, 10:46:48 (217.246.18.195)
but if you like the sound now, just leave the system as it is! :) .......
184: General Asylum, sure, why not...but you'd be using the downmixed PCM 2 channel track from the video player (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-01-18, 05:10:40 (217.246.18.195)
My beef with 5-11 channel HT has always been, if and when you can hear the dialogue from the center channel, all the effects are simply too loud on the loud passages. The results with a 2 channel syst .......
185: Digital Drive, RE: Went to Linn Exakt demo tonight (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-01-15, 13:03:28 (217.246.18.195)
A good speaker design properly amplified in a well treated room will sound more natural and dynamic than an active speaker with built in DSP, IMO. The key is how the setup sounds in the long term, not .......
186: General Asylum, what tonearm? (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-01-15, 12:53:50 (217.246.18.195)
On my 166, I had replaced the standard Thorens arm with a Rega 250, and a special armboard. Better sound in general. But this did mess up the balance a bit and could never get the suspension exactly .......
187: General Asylum, the euro has already been devalued by loaning to the Greeks... (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-01-15, 12:49:29 (217.246.18.195)
...and that was to prevent them from dropping the euro. They would still have to pay the money back. I think it's too late for them to drop it, they should never have entered. The banks pretty much fo .......
188: General Asylum, And the Swiss just cut the tie to the Euro.... (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-01-15, 07:20:50 (217.246.18.195)
and their currency shot up like 30% in one day. It will be interesting to see what the manufacturers there do. .......
189: General Asylum, let the platter settle... you won't notice the effect on the sound. (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-01-14, 09:34:00 (217.246.18.195)
Don't kill yourself adjusting the screws. Get it as close to level as possible (of course, the frame as well) with the screws, and let it settle in. A little 'wave' is in the scheme of things is not g .......
190: Speaker Asylum, if you dyi, you're much more likely to keep the thing (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-01-13, 15:44:09 (217.246.18.195)
that's a tough call. I bought an REL Storm for $1700 retail in 1999 (that's probably $2500 in today dollars). I didn't keep it, but if I had known what I was doing, DYI migh have been a better option .......
191: Speaker Asylum, RE: REL T5 (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-01-13, 06:05:56 (217.246.18.195)
unless you really can't afford it, get the T9. In my opinion, one 8 inch driver (on the T5) isn't going to do all that much, where with the T9, you're really seeing what it's all about to have a subwo .......
192: General Asylum, yes and no (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-01-11, 10:12:50 (217.246.28.17)
A 1980s Harman Kardon amplifier which costs €50 on ebay now sounds better on an LP original pressing of Gordon Lightfoot (yes, on a turntable which costs €600) than a €600 amplifier playing back the C .......
193: Speaker Asylum, RE: Standmount recommendation ...up to $4,000 (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-01-08, 03:07:11 (217.246.28.17)
these are clean and wonderful sounding, and come in just under $4000. .......
194: Amp/Preamp Asylum, those 2 speakers are loading the room differently (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-01-08, 00:51:55 (217.246.28.17)
I would expect a little speaker repositioning (or, easier, microphone repositioning) would yield different results...... .......
195: General Asylum, RE: Advice on lower level in right channel (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-01-06, 13:03:37 (217.246.28.17)
this effect has happened to me a lot. I can't seem to suss it out of the equipment, though, and I put it down to slight hearing loss in the right ear. Also the speaker interactions are different based .......
196: Amp/Preamp Asylum, RE: driver break-in is mechanical (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-01-05, 09:25:08 (217.246.28.17)
I hadn't thought of panels, I was thinking of regular cone drivers, whose surrounds need a little massaging before the sound opens up.... oh, yeah, don't forget, we're ALL psychotic :) .......
197: Amp/Preamp Asylum, driver break-in is mechanical (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-01-05, 03:45:55 (217.246.28.17)
...but how to be sure you're not hearing break-in in the crossover (or your ear brain)....that's hard to say .......
198: Amp/Preamp Asylum, OP was talking about electronics not speakers (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-01-05, 00:52:52 (217.246.28.17)
There's no doubt some speakers need time to break in, I would be skeptical about a circuit design that took too long to sound decent. Although evidently some black gate caps take a while to settle in. .......
199: General Asylum, Lot of those companies are German, and are used to dealing with unions... (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-01-05, 00:48:50 (217.246.28.17)
...which is why, even when there are none, they treat/pay their workers well. Nice side effect of a strong union tradition. .......
200: Speaker Asylum, brightness... (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2015-01-02, 07:03:56 (217.246.28.17)
brightness can be caused by poorly shieded cables, poor power quality, early reflections, a reflective room, digititis, etc, etc. Those speakers are not actually bright when the source and room is OK. .......
201: Digital Drive, Sony DVP7000 or DVP7700. nt. (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2014-12-31, 16:21:27 (217.246.21.28)
nt .......
202: Speaker Asylum, listen nearfield (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2014-12-31, 16:18:57 (217.246.21.28)
the room is way too big. listen nearfield in a smaller equilateral triangle! also the altecs may need a big more grunt to get the best out of them. .......
203: General Asylum, oscar peterson, then long pause, then elton john, billy joel, (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2014-12-31, 16:03:47 (217.246.21.28)
...even if billy joel has a dead fish for a left hand (he says), he was still my biggest influence growing up...i bought all the sheet music, and his band was first rate. .......
204: Speaker Asylum, 2015 good so far... (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2014-12-31, 15:53:50 (217.246.21.28)
...Paul Simon's Graceland is playing on the turntable. Played with room acoustics and resonance control, got some major gains without a cent spent!! May 2015 be better than 2014!! .......
205: General Asylum, attempting to mod my own counterpoint preamp with a new volume control... (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2014-12-31, 15:34:08 (217.246.21.28)
...wow. BIG mistake. Almost ruined the piece. After having it sent back to be fixed, they made me promise I would never touch a soldering iron again. Number 2: Selling my MMGs, my Counterpoint amp, m .......
206: General Asylum, break it... (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2014-12-31, 14:03:38 (217.246.21.28)
here's hoping you'll break the resolution...... various items I tried (and liked) based on your column: Adcom GFA Musical Fidelity (yes!!) A1 PS audio DAC Brief affair with SETs etc. Cheers mate. ::: .......
207: General Asylum, RE: I religiously maintain the IMpurity of my bodliy fluids!! (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2014-12-30, 13:20:38 (217.246.21.28)
Actually, when I concentrate on making my system sound good, it does perform OK. And everything bought cheaply used, online. My CD player is from 1988, a CEC bought for $25 on ebay. It can't deal with .......
208: Amp/Preamp Asylum, Sweet! I'd guess the Forte is simply a more refined design than the B&K...watts ain't just watts after all (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2014-12-30, 11:08:58 (217.246.21.28)
Did you end up trying the B&K? .......
209: General Asylum, I religiously maintain the IMpurity of my bodliy fluids!! (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2014-12-30, 11:04:34 (217.246.21.28)
my list is long of what's wrong with audio, starting with the fact that I can no longer afford a really good system!! :)) .......
210: General Asylum, listening to a great song on my car stereo CD player, while in love...... (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2014-12-30, 11:02:33 (217.246.21.28)
The car hifi seems to get the soul of the music much better than my home stereo. And I'm cruising along and tapping to the beat, which makes it endlessly more fun. .......
211: General Asylum, RE: Good sound has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with the market.... (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2014-12-30, 11:00:03 (217.246.21.28)
JA, the difficulty is far deeper than a pair of half 'negative' reviews...rather, that the vast majority of products reviewed do not solve a known problem any better than the rest of the gear out ther .......
212: Amp/Preamp Asylum, um, you probably listen at 5 watts or less (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2014-12-28, 10:29:41 (217.246.27.19)
...most of the time, and from what I've read, less is more since all those extra watts are hard at work amplifying the things you don't what, RFI, EMI etc., not the audio signal. So, yes, less is mor .......
213: General Asylum, Good sound has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with the market.... (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2014-12-28, 10:25:10 (217.246.27.19)
John, slightly off topic but relevant: you should have been a politician. There, as in business and marketing, the truth has much more to do with (false) perception than with what's really important. .......
214: General Asylum, RE: Parent of Blind Adult seeks info about audio equip (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2014-12-19, 00:56:34 (217.246.27.19)
I recommend a keyboard with a few different sounds built in, and built in speakers. It doesn't have to be an 88 key keyboard to play and to have fun with. Brands to look for : Yamaha, Korg, Roland. Yo .......
215: Amp/Preamp Asylum, RE: Vitus RI-100 & REL G2 Subwoofer Wiring Advice? (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2014-12-10, 08:38:26 (217.246.27.19)
Amplifiers whose negative binding posts are not designed to be connected to ground usually clearly state that on the back. This would rule out the use of the RELs AFAIK, since they have one 'ground' w .......
216: Speaker Asylum, Upgrade the Oppo first.... (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2014-12-04, 04:14:28 (217.246.27.19)
The sibilance is in the source. Upgrade the Oppo (see link below) then deal with the speakers (and play with positioning). The Focals are really good and will keep up with/reveal source and amplificat .......
217: Speaker Asylum, RE: Dynaudio Excite X14 (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2014-11-24, 01:20:00 (217.246.25.125)
I haven't heard the KEFs, but I've heard the Excite series, and they sound BOOO-RING, despite the name. YMMV. I agree with you that they look better, though. .......
218: General Asylum, Well... (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2014-11-09, 09:29:42 (217.246.25.125)
Until we hear the same content mastered at 16/44 and played on a DAC that only does 16/44, we simply won't know. So your answer 'none whatsoever' is probably premature. I would say, 'very little, if a .......
219: Speaker Asylum, Sweet...betcha you could hear 'em clear over in Musser or Sevy (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2014-11-05, 13:48:51 (217.246.29.220)
..also a Carleton grad here. We used to blast my Circuit City crap 3 ways over Bell field.... :) Something Fierce, Gear Daddies, Bob Mould, etc (late 80s) .......
220: Digital Drive, RE: opinions on Parasound CDP2000 Ultra? (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2014-10-28, 10:05:03 (217.246.29.220)
I'm sure it's a good sounding player, but geez, a major upgrade on what you have? Probably not. AND the reliability, after 15+ years in service? Who knows. Doesn't the Kenwood have a digital out you c .......
221: General Asylum, why restrict the question to vintage audio?? it is about the hunt, and the social contact... (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2014-10-28, 02:07:14 (217.246.29.220)
...why is an interest in vintage gear fundamentally more corrupt than an interest in new gear? I personally find hawking the latest and greatest unnecessary production run to be worse, but then again .......
222: Speaker Asylum, certainly no need to spend 15k, but if you want to... (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2014-10-25, 10:05:38 (217.246.25.39)
...then perhaps the PBN Montana Innerchoic? Assuming you can give them some room to breathe. Or even use them as massive headphones. .......
223: Computer Audio Asylum, the main reason is, almost one one can hear the difference anyway... (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2014-10-25, 02:47:28 (217.246.24.46)
...since the bottleneck is STILL the music-making, mastering and reproduction process, not the sample rate per se, for the vast majority of the music they sell. give me a well recorded CD or even mp3 .......
224: Computer Audio Asylum, 96 vs 192 khz (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2014-10-25, 02:31:30 (217.246.24.46)
OK: I seriously would NOT worry about the difference between 96 and 192k, there is almost no chance that you can hear the difference between the two at this stage. OTOH there MAY be something to be .......
225: General Asylum, we're all self important fops here (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2014-10-24, 03:12:51 (217.246.24.46)
....there is no other excuse for 95% of all that's written on these boards. But that's true for the academic and scientific worlds as well. And I would never join a club that would have me as a membe .......
226: General Asylum, SOURCE here (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2014-10-24, 01:43:57 (217.246.24.46)
source below .......
227: Inmate Central, Lovesick? Spend a week at the 24hr KFC, like this woman did... (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2014-10-23, 02:24:13 (217.246.19.119)
LOL. I would do this, except there aren't any KFCs where I live. I was a big fan of Popeye's in Minneapolis though. .......
228: Inmate Central, RE: The Czech is in the male (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2014-10-23, 00:57:48 (217.246.19.119)
Seen on a banner in the crowd, during a match between Ivan Lendl and Pat Cash, sometime in the early 1990's at the Australian Open: "Cash is better than a Czech!" .......
229: Inmate Central, thanks... (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2014-10-23, 00:52:54 (217.246.19.119)
They're now calling sky drive 'one drive' and I've ignored it from the beginning, since I've been using the old UI on 8.1, not the new one. i don't think i'm clueless about the state of IT, just philo .......
230: Computer Audio Asylum, FWIW, I find coax out of a PC very noisy... (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2014-10-22, 03:02:44 (217.246.19.119)
...but that doesn't appear to have been your problem. you might want to try setting the priority of the USB slot to highest or always on, and see if that makes a difference. the settings are in syste .......
231: Speaker Asylum, Very well. I listened to Elton John, Aerosmith, Billy Joel, Billy Idol, and Def Leppard on them.... (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2014-10-21, 13:56:19 (217.246.19.119)
The BIC three ways were driven by a 25wpc Technics receiver and probably 40 feet of 16 gauge wire. Sounded great to me (my dad's system). Turntable was also BIC. I left it at the door of the AudioLab .......
232: General Asylum, it's pretty simple...there is NO incentive for a company to publicize its schematics (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2014-10-21, 13:47:52 (217.246.19.119)
So: $61 shipping one-way doesn't sound too bad in the scheme of things. And if they let just anyone fuck with the circuit boards (probably SMD) then fixing the damage done by someone who doesn't know .......
233: Inmate Central, i don't think you understand... (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2014-10-21, 13:31:03 (217.246.19.119)
"As your e-mail/calendar/address book are already on the web" that's exactly what I was concerned about. i hope my calendar is not on the web. and i see no reason why my 'address book' should have to .......
234: Inmate Central, harder to contract than it's made out to be.... (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2014-10-21, 09:27:17 (217.246.19.119)
good thing is, ebola is actually harder to get than they say it is, you really do need extended personal contact. and if your immune system is good, you may well survive even if you do get it. so don' .......
235: Inmate Central, also, i now cannot make a phone call without IP telephony... (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2014-10-21, 09:25:09 (217.246.19.119)
...since the German telecom switched me over to full IP telephony, which I indeed agreed to, with the hope that it would make my internet connection faster. Which it hasn't really. And probably there .......
236: Inmate Central, owning my 'own' information....cloud computing and web 2.xx is out of control (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2014-10-21, 09:21:51 (217.246.19.119)
OK folks, after switching to Windows 8.1 (a few months ago) and owning an Android phone for about 18 months now, I can now say with confidence that: owning your own information, that is the informatio .......
237: Video Asylum, yeah, but 'smart tv's watch YOUR viewing habits, so the joke's on you (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2014-10-18, 11:19:39 (217.246.16.246)
not to mention that it's a complete waste of time to watch TV in the first place. .......
238: General Asylum, here in europe if you want to sell something fast... (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2014-10-18, 11:17:29 (217.246.16.246)
...use ebay. MUCH more exposure than the other boards like audio-markt, where the prices are usually too high, and the ads disappear from the 'newly listed' front page every 5 minutes. of course, the .......
239: Speaker Asylum, They were in Munich in 2013 (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2014-10-14, 20:41:42 (217.246.16.246)
Avalon were at a 'peripheral' high end show in Munich in 2013, where I saw and heard them on a Jeff Rowland / dCS / Transparent system. Very refined, detailed sound. Sadly, I could never come close .......
240: General Asylum, my vote for the 'non sequitur' post of the day. nt (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2014-10-14, 04:02:48 (217.246.16.246)
nt .......
241: General Asylum, in the age of cloud computing, you could (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2014-10-14, 03:48:15 (217.246.16.246)
Basically, I feel like my Win8.1 PC and my browser and all the software I use probably could track everything I do, including all my passwords, and feed it back to Microsoft, or whoever would pay for .......
242: Amp/Preamp Asylum, you cannot go wrong with this (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2014-10-07, 08:18:23 (217.246.16.246)
these are much better value than typical retail/dealer products, if you don't need a lot of features that some of the more popular name brands have...great sound for the money. only drawback: only one .......
243: Critic's Corner, a sure sign we're getting older...everything used to be better (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2014-10-01, 23:58:34 (217.246.16.246)
A brilliant rant, Joe. Thanks for the good read and I hope you get a column in Stereophile soon............. Now if I could only get my hands on that pair of V-FET class A amplifiers Sony ran in Brook .......
244: Amp/Preamp Asylum, which SFs? (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2014-10-01, 23:46:53 (217.246.16.246)
Which Sonus Fabers are you running? Depending on the room and the volume levels (and the music you listen to), they do tend to like more rather than less power, don't they? The Uniti is like 30wpc wh .......
245: Critic's Corner, extremely well produced....perfect example of subjective reviewing/infomercial (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2014-09-24, 09:07:14 (217.246.23.146)
and LOADS better than most of the stuff on utube, which looks and sounds awful. I don't think the guy is all that knowledgeable (technically) about audio, but he sure does know about small scale A/V p .......
246: Amp/Preamp Asylum, RE: Pro Gear power amps (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2014-09-24, 06:45:34 (217.246.23.146)
Even with power hungry speakers, 95% of the time you are listening to the first few watts, how those are delivered separates the cigar and slippers crowd from the beer and cigarette crowd. Decide whic .......
247: General Asylum, on the contrary (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2014-09-24, 06:38:36 (217.246.23.146)
Hi there, Nice rhetorical question! The answer is, "yes it could, of course." Notably absent: a CD player or digital player, which would probably mean a turn for the worse in some areas, maybe better .......
248: General Asylum, so what product was that, then? (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2014-09-24, 06:22:52 (217.246.23.146)
might as well name it, even if they are out of business...... .......
249: Digital Drive, isn't that a changer? good reason to stay away. (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2014-09-16, 00:41:28 (217.246.28.45)
5 carousel CD changers go bad quicker! My Philips changer went bad after 2 years! The sound of the Sony depends also on the recording quality. On a good SACD it would be fine, I think. I wouldn't pay .......
250: Critic's Corner, well, it's about reading on the PC. It's less about the implementation. (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2014-09-16, 00:37:34 (217.246.28.45)
I get almost no enjoyment from online reviews. Looking at photos might be better, but reading text? Nah. Being at the PC is work. Print subscription is just plain better for enjoyment. The problem is, .......
251: Critic's Corner, quick gloss (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2014-09-08, 13:49:11 (217.246.28.45)
Well, for one thing, some of his diatribe against audiophiles rings true...like they don't seem to realise that what they're hearing happens between the ears, and half the time, all kinds of things be .......
252: Speaker Asylum, a two way speaker for $238,000? (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2014-09-04, 15:28:22 (217.246.28.45)
...that's SOME kind of weird fetishism. You can buy the world's fastest production car for that (the new Lamborghini). Sometimes, I think, there is something seriously wrong with audiophiles' (or car .......
253: Amp/Preamp Asylum, RE: I beg to differ (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2014-09-04, 01:19:08 (217.246.28.45)
Are you sure it was the amp at fault? I was also reacting to the way good pop in the 70s was recorded, and enjoying the lack of digititis, and the HK's decent phono stage. I haven't been listening to .......
254: Amp/Preamp Asylum, Listening to my backup amp, Harmon Kardon HK6200 from the early 80s (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2014-09-03, 11:51:16 (217.246.28.45)
Current system - changes all the time: Rega P1 TT Grunding Fine Arts CD9000 (with the Philips CDM transport) Harmon Kardon 6200 integrated Image (New Zealand brand) 401 monitors, home made stands B&W .......
255: Amp/Preamp Asylum, hear, hear (nt) (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2014-09-02, 01:25:02 (217.246.28.45)
nt .......
256: Digital Drive, RE: Who says ordinary cpmputer audio sounds better than a cd player? (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2014-08-31, 12:25:38 (217.246.28.45)
I still own the Sony DVP-S7700. I've always thought most of the hype surrounding computer audio was about the interface, storage, and convenience (if you can call ripping hundreds of CDs with titles i .......
257: Critic's Corner, I actually agree with the guy (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2014-08-28, 14:00:11 (217.246.28.45)
And the website is full of readable content. The folks here at AA seem to take his rant against 'audiophiles' personally. .......
258: Amp/Preamp Asylum, Odyssey (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2014-08-15, 07:02:40 (32.216.49.184)
You can get a pair of new monos for around $3000. Bulletproof, great sounding, not harsh, and great bass control. You'll thank me. Good luck. .......
259: General Asylum, I find using the high level inputs generally better (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2014-08-07, 06:23:10 (32.216.57.42)
Using the same signal from the amplifier as your speakers get (without any additional burden on the amplifier, since the input imp. on the subs hi level input is high) allows for slightly better integ .......
260: General Asylum, Switch out the power amplifier (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2014-07-29, 02:18:08 (87.167.199.251)
I hate to feed the nervosa, and I think the system is tough to beat without a significant outlay, but you might look into a tube amplifier with balanced inputs, for one thing so you can use the true b .......
261: Computer Audio Asylum, Great link, thanks nt (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2014-07-28, 02:35:46 (87.167.216.59)
nt .......
262: Amp/Preamp Asylum, RE: Candidates For Amplifiers Sought (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2014-07-27, 02:34:11 (87.167.216.59)
nice little amplifiers using the EL84 type output tube, fast, transparent. Downside: not all that much dynamic headroom (6wpc in mono) so it depends what kind of music you favour and what your listeni .......
263: Cable Asylum, RE: Opinions sought: WireWorld Oasis vs. DH Labs BL-1 (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2014-07-25, 01:10:46 (87.167.216.59)
Just make sure the cable is low capacitance, check any specs. I've had good results with DH Labs using a tube pre, they're definitely good sounding cables. It's hard to go wrong with Cardas, I like .......
264: Critic's Corner, The freeloaders are the readers, who don't pay a cent for content, except with their time.... (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2014-07-23, 12:51:35 (87.167.216.59)
.....we're all freeloaders. Every once in a while, we contribute something worthwhile to the web. For free. The vast majority of the time, we pay for bandwidth and expect everything for free in return .......
265: Speaker Asylum, RE: boomy speakers, old wood flooring : answer ? (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2014-07-21, 02:02:10 (87.167.216.59)
there's some good advice on acoustisoft.com. basically, not only moving the speakers, but also moving your listening spot to get away from walls. you may need to go 'near field' i.e., chair a third of .......
266: Speaker Asylum, RE: Can a simple crossover (cap/inductor) achieve time alignment without a stepped baffle? (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2014-07-20, 08:43:09 (87.167.216.59)
not to mention, they say that that it's an acoustic suspension speaker when it's obviously a ported or TM design, so not sure that all that marketing language is accurate. anyway, hope they sound good .......
267: Digital Drive, if that's a serious suggestion, i'd have to disagree (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2014-07-20, 08:28:17 (87.167.216.59)
my post was badly written/edited. what I meant was, fooling around with things like upsampling or not (or power cords for that matter) has much less impact than other system synergies like louspeaker .......
268: General Asylum, second the IKEA chair (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2014-07-20, 08:13:50 (87.167.216.59)
the IKEA chair is quite good, lightweight and comfortable (poäng which means point in swedish) and i just recently balanced my radio shack SPL meter I was using to measure the room on the frame where .......
269: Digital Drive, RE: What do you think of upsampling ?................... (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2014-07-18, 00:48:54 (87.167.205.215)
It's a waste of time and money to worry too much about these things. By far the more important limitation on getting good is 1) the recording itself and 2) the speakers and the speaker/room interface. .......
270: Amp/Preamp Asylum, Audio Classics in Vestal? (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2014-07-15, 03:03:06 (217.224.81.67)
Binghamton area, about 2-3 hours away from the Berkshires, but a possibility. .......
271: Digital Drive, RE: Why do my CD rips sound uh, dull? (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2014-07-11, 01:11:05 (217.224.95.226)
The Marantz SACD Player is/was excellent but if you don't have it around to compare, you're relying on 'sonic memory' which is unreliable. What are you using as a storage medium? USB stick or NAS? I .......
272: Amp/Preamp Asylum, RE: Yet ANOTHER tube preamp SS amp question (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2014-06-26, 10:24:48 (91.49.76.37)
Depending on the output impedance of the preamp, you might get good results, you might not. Definitely you'll get some high freq. rolloff. SS amplifiers are generally designed to be used with SS pream .......
273: General Asylum, RE: Antenna? (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2014-06-26, 09:56:02 (91.49.76.37)
Thanks, Rick for the explanation. Interesting to know there's a difference between a sonic wavelength and an electromagnetic one, and that you could produce a quasi EM wave with a speaker. The power g .......
274: Digital Drive, RE: Theta Gen VIII vs. Totaldac d1 Dual vs. Lampizator Big 7 (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2014-06-26, 03:18:42 (188.96.176.172)
Any comparison outside of your system would be pretty much meaningless. The units are so expensive, an audition in your system is the only evaluation method that makes sense....system synergy is reall .......
275: General Asylum, 'shielding' (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2014-06-26, 03:01:26 (188.96.176.172)
I think the argument may be more like, we're exposed to so many man-made frequencies, that the proportion of exposure is out of whack, i.e., we're not necessarily shielded from the Schumann frequency, .......
276: General Asylum, Antenna? (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2014-06-26, 02:49:43 (188.96.176.172)
From your post I gather that the device picks up the frequency using an antenna, and somehow amplifies it? Given that there is no transducer, i.e., a speaker of some kind, I just don't see how it can .......
277: General Asylum, Acoustic Revive R77? (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2014-06-23, 04:50:38 (91.49.67.78)
Not answering your post directly, but this might be useless (link below): A priori, while a circuit board in a box MIGHT be able to produce a 7.8 Hz frequency, the idea that such a frequency, UNAMPLIF .......
278: Critic's Corner, neither...Camb. Audio Aeromax 6 (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2014-06-16, 00:34:41 (91.49.83.140)
Floorstander, much more for your money, great sound. A tad over 1500 I think. Cheers. .......
279: Speaker Asylum, here we go...the road to nervosa! (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2014-06-15, 03:24:09 (217.224.67.111)
You're kind of going at things backwards. FIRST find the speaker you want to listen to and that sounds good in your room (pretty pictures online tell you next to nothing about the sound) then you have .......
280: General Asylum, tough patch? back to the roots... (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2014-06-13, 09:45:38 (217.224.74.65)
I've just been listening to some great 70s rock. Aerosmith's Toys in the Attic and Lynyrd Skynyrd's Second Helping are two of the best albums of all time, I don't care what the critics say. Great orch .......
281: General Asylum, RE: Marantz 2230 (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2014-06-07, 01:44:57 (91.49.94.120)
It's your call. As a dealer it's your responsibility to check that everything works before selling and sending something, otherwise you put yourself in the position of 'not knowing' whether the custo .......
282: Inmate Central, how about Gulbis...first Latvian in a GS semi.... (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2014-06-05, 13:11:53 (91.49.99.234)
Gulbis, the Latvian, reminds me a bit of Soderling, the Swede, who beat both Federer and Nadal (in different years) at the French. Big deep strokes, big serve. Don't think he can beat the Djoker thoug .......
283: General Asylum, yup, and.... (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2014-06-03, 09:26:19 (91.49.111.130)
In order of importance: 1. room acoustics are much more important than recognized. Most of what we hear is reflected off some surface or another 2. differences in ear acuity (at 46, my right ear is m .......
284: General Asylum, RE: THE Show... MBL Room [yt] (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2014-06-03, 09:19:21 (91.49.111.130)
I've found that under show conditions, auditions of big conventional speakers can be special, if you're sitting in the right place in the room. The big Wilsons, JM Labs, Burmesters, simply don't soun .......
285: General Asylum, Hi Abe, very interesting problem.... (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2014-06-03, 09:09:33 (91.49.111.130)
...and yet another/different solution: -keep the equipment rack where it is. -put the listening chair against the long wall, facing the doors. -speakers door-side corners facing the listening chair. .......
286: Critic's Corner, to answer one of your questions.... (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2014-05-31, 14:14:11 (217.224.77.128)
" Is, therefore, an artisinal designer one who can manipulate these imperfections for better sound? " Yes. And that goes for any designer, whether he agrees with the list of marketing buzzwords that p .......
287: Inmate Central, You forgot, it's tax time...acountant probably advised him to buy a money sink. (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2014-05-31, 03:57:35 (91.49.112.71)
Can you say tax shelter? If it weren't for tax shelters, there would be no high end industry (of any kind), or arguably any industry at all. .......
288: Inmate Central, great tongue in cheek answer (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2014-05-31, 03:46:47 (91.49.112.71)
this is what americans (and most germans for that matter) think about every problem...technology/indutry will fix it. No need to change our behaviour or habits. Like using drinking water to wash every .......
289: Digital Drive, vintage or not, the Wavelength is not a 'mass produced item' (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2014-05-31, 03:27:31 (91.49.112.71)
Well, the Wavelength, IIRC, sold for about $3000 new, ten years ago or so (hardly vintage, though it uses some older technologies) That's about $5000 in today's dollars. If you can't get a good soundi .......
290: Digital Drive, RE: Recommendations on a CD player under $1000 new or used (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2014-05-23, 01:29:35 (217.224.87.164)
that little reclocker looks like it ought to cost about $50. Don't forget the OP would now need 2 digital cables. Lots of clutter for little real benefit. One box CD player would most probably outperf .......
291: General Asylum, The real problem with the industry is.... (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2014-05-22, 04:56:32 (91.49.96.1)
....it's an industry, they are there to make money from the masses, in this case the nouveau riche masses.. If you want to have really good sound, you do have to go into the stratosphere, because the .......
292: Amp/Preamp Asylum, in terms of fair comparisons... (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2014-05-19, 08:17:41 (91.49.73.171)
...it might be more informative/objective to audition 2 of amplifier A against 2 of amplifier B, instead of 1 of A and 2 of B. Biamping (and offloading lower frequencies to a sub) can improve sound in .......
293: General Asylum, there's a thread on digital drive about NOS dacs. (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2014-05-14, 23:57:23 (91.49.67.192)
one solution may be to rip CDs to a hard drive, invest in a good player/usb to spdif converter, and use a filterless Audio Note DAC (for instance). look on digital drive: http://www.audioasylum.com/cg .......
294: General Asylum, RE: Digital sound hurts my ears. (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2014-05-12, 05:21:38 (91.49.91.56)
When I first started seriously playing with HiFi in the mid 1990s when I was in my late 20s, I found the same thing...CD was unlistenable for long listening sessions. I spent many thousands of dollars .......
295: Computer Audio Asylum, Actually, you entered the world of computer audio the day you bought a CD player.... (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2014-05-07, 12:03:16 (91.49.120.159)
IMO 'PC Audio' doesn't confer any sonic advantages but seems to appeal to those who like to play with computers. Which is fine. .......
296: Speaker Asylum, RE: New speakers for studio. Salon 2, Wilson or ?????? (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2014-05-07, 10:07:07 (91.49.120.159)
You have to look at the pro market, powered/active JBLs or K&H come to mind. Save yourself a bundle and you'll be just as happy. The audiophile speakers are simply too expensive for that application. .......
297: Critic's Corner, channels reversed?? that would explain the worse performance right there... (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2014-04-18, 23:34:55 (217.224.70.111)
If the Magico room really had the channels reversed, no wonder you preferred just about any room to that one.....LOL Also the smaller speaker's strength in the midrange, with no attempt to do low bass .......
298: Inmate Central, maybe, but unlike pharmaceuticals, homeopathy doesn't endanger your health... (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2014-04-11, 01:09:28 (91.49.119.230)
...with all kinds of nasty side effects. Or unintended consequences. Remember the Hippocratic Oath. Plus, sometimes whether something is effective or not in the moment, can be obscured by statistics w .......
299: Critic's Corner, This kind of stuff is par for the course in paid reviewing.... (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2014-04-11, 01:02:55 (91.49.119.230)
Praise the component under review, only companre favourably, don't step on others' toes...all good business practices. After all, the reviewer doesn't have any 'objective' evidence, besides his subje .......
300: Computer Audio Asylum, The totaldac room blew me away in Munich last year (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2014-04-10, 13:12:16 (217.224.64.20)
To my ears, some of the best, most realistic, palpable music at the Munich hifi show last year came from the total dac room. Of course, that wasn't only because of the dac. system was: server->totalda .......
301: General Asylum, Dynamic range is not the only issue, of course (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2014-04-10, 12:33:10 (217.224.64.20)
As you know, there are a host of problems with digital audio, and "dynamic range" is not really one of them. The best tapes have about as much dynamic range as the old 14 (real) bit philips machines, .......
302: General Asylum, best is no digits whatever!! but differences are heard subconsciously sometimes... (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2014-04-10, 06:58:28 (217.224.69.28)
...and subjects under test conditions show increased brain activity when exposed to compressed music (say mp3s) as opposed to uncompressed, or analog, signals. That means, even if people say they can .......
303: Amp/Preamp Asylum, I took the 2alpha DT (double transformer) home once for a weekend... (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2014-04-07, 13:23:37 (91.49.65.30)
...and was blown away by the midbass punch. It controlled my mid/woofers better than anything I had tried. AC/DC 'Let's Get it Up' was a revelation. The rest of the range was excellent as well. I bro .......
304: Amp/Preamp Asylum, OK then, enjoy...they don't make 'em like they used to... (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2014-03-27, 12:24:31 (91.49.78.188)
;) recapped is good .......
305: Digital Drive, RE: CD Player Upgrade / DAC Thoughts - Sanity Check (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2014-03-25, 05:57:33 (217.224.74.33)
Let the dust settle a bit with the different techonologies. Keep in mind that the quality of the source component IS still important with external DACs. The fact that an Aesthetix player sounded bette .......
306: Amp/Preamp Asylum, RE: Class A amps: reliability and security of use? (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2014-03-25, 05:45:07 (217.224.74.33)
The Sony is at least 30 years old, right? Chances are, it's not sounding as good as it did, or as good as it could, because of its age. Why else would someone sell it? And any kind of mod is a red fla .......
307: Critic's Corner, nice link, thanks. nt (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2014-03-19, 22:59:55 (91.49.110.142)
nt .......
308: Critic's Corner, We should, and TAS and SP should, too. (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2014-03-12, 00:03:39 (91.49.112.182)
"a position that people get into because of emotions, they are not going to get out of because of facts" Hi John, to be honest, I agree, but this statement runs every which way: if the reviewers/write .......
309: Critic's Corner, Look on the bright side: go used (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2014-03-11, 09:38:51 (91.49.93.165)
If you know what you are doing, you can build a great system of used components for less than the cost of one new flashy component advertised in TAS or Stereophile. However, this great used system wou .......
310: Speaker Asylum, RE: Ha ha Happened to me too! But in your case... (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2014-03-01, 01:14:10 (91.49.89.138)
Yes, you 'broke in' your speakers. Another factor that speaker makers consider is damping factor, how much does the amplifier have to 'brake' or 'push' the cones...older paper cones were designed to m .......
311: Amp/Preamp Asylum, WHOA! contact the preamp designer and send it in to him. (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2014-02-26, 05:01:44 (91.49.71.71)
You want to figure out what the problem is, BEFORE you blow more equipment (did you now just blow the B&K as well as the ARC?) Reversing the tubes MIGHT help a bit, at the risk of blowing the RIGHT ch .......
312: Inmate Central, depends on the weather... (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2014-02-02, 06:24:31 (91.49.71.71)
If it's particularly cold or snowy, Seattle by 3. If not, Denver by 6 or more. Take it to the bank baby. .......
313: General Asylum, the test was conducted by a violin maker. clear bias to sell his violins..? (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2014-02-01, 21:24:08 (91.49.71.71)
then again, whether made now or in the 17th century, it is extremely difficult to craft these instruments and if you didn't take the time or energy to do it right, any musician would be able to rat ou .......
314: Digital Drive, sorry, this post is silly: 70ps is a very low jitter figure. nt (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2014-01-15, 06:45:07 (91.49.95.11)
nt .......
315: Critic's Corner, RE: JA and AD: How about a response to Coffman's mnufacturer comment? (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-12-20, 09:02:22 (217.224.74.227)
They won't so a full review unless the thing has X number of retailers, if I understand SP's policies correctly. But you can be reasonably sure that the lack of fancy marketing budget and correspondin .......
316: General Asylum, you're right, they've ripped it off from soup to nuts (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-12-20, 08:43:40 (217.224.74.227)
then again, 'intellectual property' is only yours if you can enforce your trademark. and i'm sure the patents have expired. i doubt threshold USA is going to waste their money fighting this one. ::: T .......
317: General Asylum, RE: Where did you get that tidbit? (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-12-20, 08:37:24 (217.224.74.227)
Looks like a used threshold amp to me. But all the glitzy marketing would make me suspicious if I were actually in the market to buy something like that. On the other hand, if it actually sounds like .......
318: General Asylum, It's just a used threshhold. What's the problem? nt (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-12-20, 00:50:51 (217.224.82.206)
nt .......
319: Computer Audio Asylum, you're right, but then... (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-12-20, 00:47:49 (217.224.82.206)
...I'd rather make cassette tapes than cheap, bad sounding digital copies!! .......
320: Computer Audio Asylum, Terratec DMX 6fire (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-12-20, 00:42:10 (217.224.82.206)
These are pretty good, probably has more features than you need, including MIDI, but it does have the normal RCA ins and outs. I like my Phase 24. The recordings sound better, as you know, using the b .......
321: Computer Audio Asylum, well, i WAS exaggerating (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-12-19, 08:10:15 (217.224.87.200)
But $1800 for a phono preamp/ADC seems justified, if it sounds good, that is. I always wondered too why there are so few ADCs available. You have to look at the pro market. .......
322: General Asylum, so, what's 'natural' then? (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-12-18, 05:41:47 (91.49.107.161)
there's no absolute definition of 'natural', so it's impossible to answer the question. Any instrument is already an artifact, so any instrument is also unnatural, no matter what frequency it plays. C .......
323: Digital Drive, keep in mind that any DAC is optimised to sound best with a certain transport or source technology in mind... (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-12-18, 05:37:21 (91.49.107.161)
...which is one reason why the ARC CD2 will sound better than almost anything outside of a megabuck outboard DAC/Cable/power cable solution. Another note, A/Bing digital equipment is notoriously diffi .......
324: Digital Drive, ...and your point was.....? nt (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-12-18, 05:31:44 (91.49.107.161)
nt .......
325: Computer Audio Asylum, frankly I'm amazed people are willing to spend $20,000 on DACs, but thing $1,800 is too much for an ADC (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-12-17, 13:53:51 (91.49.78.253)
A/D or D/A conversion are so difficult to get right, that the better question is, why is $1,800 too much for a one box phono preamp/ADC? After all, the high end market is littered with $10,000 DACs. F .......
326: Digital Drive, Well.since the CD2 is a near-great player, hard to improve on it with an outboard DAC (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-12-17, 13:47:21 (91.49.78.253)
not sure why you thought you would improve things greatly by hanging a contemporary DAC onto the end of a good player like the CD2. These days, the DAC market is ruled by flexiblity, that is, the need .......
327: Speaker Asylum, maybe neither...how did you get down to those 2 choices? (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-12-17, 13:34:41 (91.49.78.253)
There are so many choices...there are many decent, high value speakers like the paradigms, psb, but also tektons, or arx, maggies, martil logans, etc. If they both allow in home auditions, then get bo .......
328: Speaker Asylum, I'd buy the Morel monitors and the matching sub (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-12-09, 07:53:04 (91.49.65.117)
Just because I love the sonic signature of those Morel midrange drivers and the extension of that tweeter. At 3-4 meters those speakers are almost as coherent as the KEFs and have an even more engagin .......
329: Critic's Corner, SP, JA, system synergy, and the role of meareuments (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-12-09, 07:29:12 (91.49.65.117)
The role of 'objective' measurements: Every manufacturer wants to pretend that his product will work well with all other products out there (to increase sales), thus everyone, including the objective .......
330: General Asylum, because most music doesn't contain any 'heavy bass' nt (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-11-20, 06:12:51 (217.224.77.116)
nt .......
331: General Asylum, Sorry, but you haven't heard a good one properly set up then (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-11-20, 06:09:46 (217.224.77.116)
Once you have, you won't want to go back. But of course, I am not talking about boosted upper or midbass, I am talking about the necessary fundamentals of the music, which only full range speakers can .......
332: General Asylum, not to mention, a laptop playing through a DAC mostly JUST DON'T SOUND RIGHT (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-11-15, 01:26:22 (91.49.117.84)
There's no 'there' there, the sound is threadbare. Give me the original analog pressings anyday over some 'remastered' files. Now, of course I haven't splashed out for a kilobuck tubed DAC and another .......
333: Digital Drive, why do you assume that the better sound is due to 48 vs 44? (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-11-14, 02:50:18 (91.49.68.214)
Why do you assume that the better sound is due only to the change in sampling rate from 44kHz to 48kHz? It could be that the way the recordings are mastered (independent of the sampling frequency) jus .......
334: General Asylum, +1, but also, NO stereo system is perfect and it's probably best to go see more live music... (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-11-07, 12:35:48 (217.224.95.217)
...than sit at home and screw around with electronics. .......
335: General Asylum, RE: The speakers can never be too big I guess! (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-10-08, 22:50:22 (217.224.67.143)
Pity about that Genesis system. Of course a 5-7" driver cannot fill a room with deep bass, but then again, a condenser microphone can't capture deep bass all that well either, which is why listening w .......
336: General Asylum, I'll gladly hook up your 7030 to a high end system (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-10-05, 01:36:13 (91.49.105.211)
You kind of picked a bad example. The difference (in end result) between a $300 CD player and a $30,000 CD player is far less than that between a $300 speaker and a $30,000 speaker. Still system depen .......
337: Critic's Corner, Meijas gave the more succint review.... (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-09-30, 23:30:09 (217.224.78.216)
...he LOVED it ('holy shit!') Based on that review, I would definitely consider it, if I had the right speakers that is. The arcams and NADs of the world are ho-hum in comparison (and I use an Arcam p .......
338: General Asylum, 'whole stores were once devoted to stereo...' (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-09-28, 08:49:56 (217.224.78.171)
"Whole stores were once devoted to stereo components. That hasn't been the case in years." HA HA HA Well the author is entitled to his opinion, but in this case, as in many other examples, he's just w .......
339: Critic's Corner, no contradiction there, really (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-09-09, 13:53:46 (91.49.104.177)
There's no contradiction, because the words he uses aren't precise enough to contradict each other. A system have a wide dynamic range in general and still become compressed sounding on complex passag .......
340: Amp/Preamp Asylum, RE: Tube Preamps (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-09-04, 01:10:54 (91.49.108.252)
Ah yes, the old problem....change in speakers necessitates a change further up the system chain!! That happens every time I get ahold of a different set of speakers. What are you trying to achieve wit .......
341: Digital Drive, RE: slightly OT (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-08-29, 00:39:39 (91.49.124.129)
hey thanks for the clarification. my PC is probably the biggest energy hog, I spend much more time on the PC than listening to recordings. (and sorry to hear about lee weiland's passing.) TS ::: TOPIC .......
342: General Asylum, RE: SACD doesn't sound anything like that here- (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-08-28, 03:56:25 (217.224.86.98)
i'm sure you've heard it before, the sense that there is high frequency information kicking around in the listening room which doesn't belong to what's happening in the music at the moment. pcm can be .......
343: General Asylum, Huh? (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-08-26, 23:33:50 (91.49.114.243)
I'm afraid the Yamaha might look a little better but it's a sideways move at best. Don't waste your money on another player when you could buy more SACDs instead..... .......
344: General Asylum, RE: Not Everybody Likes SACD..... (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-08-26, 12:54:40 (217.224.80.55)
24/96 is indeed frequently badly upsampled 16/44. The high res standard should have been 24/88 not 24/96, because it is more synchronous with 16/44 PCM. SACD does sound more transparent in the midrang .......
345: General Asylum, 10-12 years ago on AA, this topic was all the rage.... (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-08-26, 12:50:02 (217.224.80.55)
It's true that real SACD (not downsampled to pcm) does something that CD does not. But then so does DVD-A. And so does HDCD, and on and on. Audiophiles split into too many different camps (not to men .......
346: Amp/Preamp Asylum, great post. agree! nt. (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-08-23, 14:16:44 (91.49.93.18)
nt .......
347: Amp/Preamp Asylum, cool, thanks for the info guys nt (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-08-23, 14:15:01 (91.49.93.18)
nt .......
348: Amp/Preamp Asylum, thanks. they do look OK from above. (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-08-23, 14:11:45 (91.49.93.18)
no blistering or whatever .......
349: Critic's Corner, also, 'grading' components obscures the system synergy issue, which is more important (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-08-23, 14:03:07 (91.49.93.18)
A so-called 'class C' speaker mated to the right 'class C' amplifier and source, in the right room, would simply sound better than any 3 class A components put together at random, or poorly in a bad r .......
350: Critic's Corner, exactly right ! (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-08-23, 13:55:47 (91.49.93.18)
....but the ultimate value judgment does have to be made by the purchaser.... .......
351: General Asylum, amazing that the changer is still going.... (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-08-23, 13:42:39 (91.49.93.18)
...my philips changer, bought in 1994, crapped out sometime in early 1996! It did sound better with a DACinthebox from Audio Alchemy. Anyway that's when the audiophile madness started. Replaced my Cam .......
352: Amp/Preamp Asylum, variable low pass filter ?? (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-08-23, 04:28:03 (91.49.124.253)
That Dayton audio thing has only one input, and looks to be optimized as a subwoofer amplifier for car audio. I see no reason to have a variable low pass filter in a full frequency stereo amplifier. B .......
353: Amp/Preamp Asylum, that's just a power amp with no volume control though (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-08-23, 03:58:54 (91.49.124.253)
he needs an integrated. emotiva probably makes an integrated amplifier but not for less than $300. .......
354: Amp/Preamp Asylum, Just picked up a 30 year old Pioneer A-7 integrated (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-08-23, 03:55:36 (91.49.124.253)
Ah, some nice solid build quality from the late 70s-early 80s (though I can't figure out exactly how old). The front says, 'NON SWITCHING AMP' which I dare to interpret as 'Class A'. This amplifier is .......
355: General Asylum, from what you say.... (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-08-23, 03:45:17 (91.49.124.253)
Even from your post, I conclude that picking the right speakers for the room was more important than picking the CD player/DAC. The Avalons happened to be a poor match for your room. If you had found .......
356: Digital Drive, slightly OT (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-08-23, 03:30:46 (91.49.124.253)
Hey there, since you were talking about understanding the English language (also my native language by the way): I was just looking through your cable website and found this sentence. "This cable is .......
357: Digital Drive, less than one could mean .90 too (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-08-23, 03:11:16 (91.49.124.253)
I just thought, close to 1 amp is a lot for a front end (even with 4-5 components). You could have been more exact in your post by saying, about a half an amp. Part of my point is that people also und .......
358: General Asylum, the 'sound' of jitter (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-08-22, 13:24:18 (217.224.89.16)
The simplest answer is: take the extreme case of an overloaded error correction - I think we've all heard that. Sounds like blurred music. The question is, what does it sound like when it's less extr .......
359: Digital Drive, not always.... (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-08-22, 09:33:30 (91.49.66.99)
...I turn the refrigerator off for critical listening, and sometimes at night. Makes too much noise, and really, most of the time it's not really necessary to have it on 24 hrs. Only if there's a lot .......
360: General Asylum, RE: Youv'e got to have some logical method (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-08-22, 02:52:52 (91.49.83.95)
Sure, if your $50 DVD player is literally distorting (bad resistor or cap or a bad solder joint), you'll drive yourself crazy trying to cure that distortion if you couldn't identify the source of it e .......
361: General Asylum, there's a bit of frustration any which way you slice it.... (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-08-22, 02:38:49 (91.49.83.95)
....but I still think you could build a satisfying system using the $50 DVD as a start. That will give you 2v of line output and a flat frequency response. Of course, the megabuck CD players might so .......
362: General Asylum, adjusting to the sound.... (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-08-22, 02:20:23 (91.49.83.95)
...your point about adjusting to the sound of the speakers, drivers, is of course true, but then adjusting to the sound of a CD player is even easier given that everything from $100 up has pretty much .......
363: General Asylum, I really do disagree w/ you and the original poster (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-08-22, 01:54:55 (91.49.83.95)
I really have to disagree with you and the original poster. Of course, we all know that a good quality recording is important. If by 'source', you or the original poster means, 'a quality recording t .......
364: Digital Drive, RE: 1 amp is a LOT! When playing or not playing? (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-08-20, 17:50:22 (217.224.87.118)
wood's digital front end consisted of at least 3 separate components. I guess all three could take up an amp while playing. .......
365: Digital Drive, 1 amp is a LOT! When playing or not playing? (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-08-20, 03:51:53 (91.49.105.181)
If it's drawing 1 amp all the time, you're paying for a LOT of extra a/c. .......
366: Speaker Asylum, what were the amplifiers in that room....? (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-08-17, 04:26:37 (91.49.100.63)
that tiny DAC could not have been driving those janszens..... .......
367: General Asylum, you should have heard The Cranberries coming out of my monitors last night.... (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-08-17, 04:17:11 (91.49.100.63)
...my neighbors did. "Where does all that bass come from?!?" Kick ass sounding album, and it's pop. Sure, a bit compressed, but so? .......
368: Speaker Asylum, RE: When reading audio classifieds - do you, once in a while, have a "Uhh... good luck with that!" moment? (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-08-10, 13:35:28 (91.49.86.112)
the condition is not perfect, but there are many other examples of much worse deals on audiogon or ebay. for that money you won't really get much better sound anywhere else. and the amp is included. .......
369: Speaker Asylum, bass horn loading (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-08-02, 14:17:56 (91.49.117.3)
I guess I meant, measure better.... it is amazing but true, the best sounding systems/designs are not adopted by manufacturers because they won't sell enough of them or make enough money due to comple .......
370: Amp/Preamp Asylum, RE: Got a VAC 30/30 now... (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-08-02, 14:03:19 (91.49.117.3)
I remember reading a gushing review of this amp back in the late 90s in TAS. By Valin, I think. Then again, he gushes about everything that's expensive.... Congrats on the amplifier. Myself, I'm tempe .......
371: Speaker Asylum, cost.complexity.aesthetics.imaging (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-08-01, 23:23:23 (217.224.76.115)
more, bigger drivers= greater cost when materials are expensive more drivers= more crossover complexity, more can go wrong bigger boxes = more cost and harder to brace more focus on measurements by re .......
372: Digital Drive, the lack of industry wide standards hurts the outcome IMO (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-08-01, 11:59:49 (217.224.78.135)
But that's the row we have to hoe in this 'free market'....everybody is madly 'innovating' without any clear direction or consistency, and the best sound doesn't always win. Sound per dollar could be .......
373: General Asylum, yup, I believe there's a switch. then connect to a line input on the NAD. nt. (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-08-01, 11:20:27 (217.224.78.135)
nt .......
374: General Asylum, those stacked opera records.... (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-08-01, 11:15:53 (217.224.78.135)
...remember those symphonies and operas, side 1/3, 2/4 so the stacker would play consecutive sides? My dad had one of those BIC turntables with a stacker. Nobody makes those anymore! For good reason. .......
375: General Asylum, meanwhile, back in the desert... (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-08-01, 11:12:18 (217.224.78.135)
the arabs were eating their dates. My grandfather's favorite joke. Dates and fruit juice are health food compared to chips and energy drinks! .......
376: General Asylum, better than a treadmill? (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-08-01, 11:10:25 (217.224.78.135)
...y'ever log 20 minutes on an exercise bike only to find you've burned like 75 calories? Bummer. Who cares...I've got the opposite problem, can't gain weight for the life of me. Unless I start bench .......
377: General Asylum, the last time anyone dusted at my place, the $300 cartridge got...uh...dusted (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-08-01, 11:08:10 (217.224.78.135)
...was that me, drunk, or was it my 3 year old? Can't remember. Anyway, don't 'tables turn counterclockwise down unda? :) .......
378: General Asylum, drunks, couch potatoes....y'all crack me up! (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-08-01, 00:49:39 (91.49.106.71)
I can't move around when my deck's playing...it skips just pullin' your leg :) .......
379: General Asylum, Why spinning LPs is just plain healthier... (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-07-31, 15:08:58 (91.49.119.21)
My take on why computer audio of any kind contributes to the diabetes epidemic: 1. I actually have to physically get up to change the LP every 20-odd minutes. That means, getting off my ass, crossing .......
380: Amp/Preamp Asylum, that Classe preamp is a good one (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-07-29, 02:25:58 (91.49.123.211)
...and short of spending big bucks a transformer-coupled passive, there's no good reason to switch it out. I owned a classe cp35 (a slightly older model) and always had great results with it (good mm .......
381: Amp/Preamp Asylum, RE: Help me debug a BAT/CJ pre/amp problem (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-07-26, 00:07:41 (91.49.118.157)
It would be interesting to see whether the preamp causes problems running balanced into a BAT amplifier. The VK3 is up to 15 years old now, so could need some maintenance. VKhomenko used to be on this .......
382: Amp/Preamp Asylum, And the ML3 monos now sell for 127,000 Euro the pair! nt (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-07-24, 02:56:09 (91.49.72.48)
nt .......
383: Amp/Preamp Asylum, if he sold them for 4k a pair, he'd have to change the company completely (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-07-24, 02:45:03 (91.49.72.48)
He might have been able to market the same amplifiers for 4-5k the pair. But he'd never be able to keep up with orders without completely changing his company structure, which he does not want to do. .......
384: Critic's Corner, you'd then be evaluating the match between the amp and the source (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-07-23, 06:05:45 (91.49.83.63)
You could test an amplifier 'in isolation' by hooking it up to measuring equipment. You're getting the specs - distortion - power - current, etc. with a specific load. As you know, no amplifier will ' .......
385: Critic's Corner, Munson was a great catcher and hitter and that's how the public knew him (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-07-21, 04:01:43 (91.49.92.111)
...and I remember very clearly that day in 1979 when they played 'Nobody Does it Better' (the hit from the James Bond movie) on AM radio in suburban NY as part of a radio obit. I was 11, loved to pla .......
386: Amp/Preamp Asylum, AVM, from Germany (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-07-17, 12:13:02 (217.224.64.2)
The newest AVM monos output over 450 w into 4 ohms, and even have a selectable feedback filter so you can tune the sound. The output is digital switching tech., but the power supplies are analog. They .......
387: General Asylum, since you're still unsatisfied (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-07-16, 02:54:06 (91.49.64.35)
Human hearing is generaly so sensitive, that even miniscule changes can be PERCEIVED, especially in the midrange. Whether they will interpreted as important, or ignored, is sometimes a matter of train .......
388: Speaker Asylum, Merlin TSMs? (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-07-03, 06:54:58 (91.49.114.156)
I've always loved hearing these at shows, fantastic midrange. 8 watts might be enough in a small room as they show an easy load. .......
389: Digital Drive, RE: cd-vintage or new (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-07-03, 01:19:01 (217.224.77.67)
sorry, but cheap DVD players sound comparatively bad playing CDs. For a cheap CD player, the older marantz CD63 or CD 67, or some of the Yamaha 'natural sound' players sound pretty good. That is, if t .......
390: Digital Drive, watch out, there are fakes out there on the 'net (nt) (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-07-03, 01:15:27 (217.224.77.67)
nt .......
391: General Asylum, I can't talk on a cell phone for more than 30 seconds without irritation (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-07-01, 14:34:51 (91.49.98.82)
...and it's not about the person I'm talking to. Back to stereo: My right ear has wax in it and has a little HF loss, so the stereo image is not always perfect. But I tell you, even in a hifi that the .......
392: General Asylum, RE: that discussion gave me the creeps (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-07-01, 14:31:06 (91.49.98.82)
I hope I didn't cause offence. The main trouble with the 'industry' is that it's too focussed on selling unecessarily expensive boxes. What works in high fidelity systems has been known for a long tim .......
393: General Asylum, that discussion gave me the creeps (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-07-01, 04:30:02 (91.49.82.224)
I watched five minutes and what I saw was an overweight bunch of baby boomer publicists and salesmen crying that the industry wasn't selling enough product to keep the coffers full in the advertising .......
394: General Asylum, look at the tiny subpar room it's shoehorned into (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-07-01, 04:15:07 (91.49.82.224)
Another person with more money than sense, as half of the money could have been spent on knocking out a couple of walls, giving the system room to breathe, etc... .......
395: General Asylum, setup and where the listener sits are important (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-06-29, 07:00:13 (217.224.76.75)
The biggest Wilson and JM Labs models are designed to be listened to in a sweet spot in large, well-designed rooms. If you happen to be in a spot where there is too much bass and the sweet stop doesn' .......
396: General Asylum, RE: Innovation and Audio Electronics (Warning - provocative) (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-06-26, 01:01:02 (217.224.93.200)
I posted some similar thoughts a couple of weeks ago. The market is too fragmented, goes in too many directions, lacks standards, is populated by too many people too ready to believe nonsense, and wa .......
397: Critic's Corner, RE: Do you read reviews of gear you'll never be able to afford? (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-06-21, 02:49:30 (91.49.86.246)
I can't remember the last time I paid retail for something. It's all gotten too expensive. I do read the reviews of the expensive stuff, but always with a salt shaker by my side. It's a lot of work to .......
398: Amp/Preamp Asylum, RE: Turned onthe ARC Sp-15 for a few records.. The first half hour sucks.. (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-06-21, 02:04:13 (91.49.86.246)
I had the same experience with my PH2. Great sounding but did need ten minutes or so to sound best. But half an hour? The tubes in the line section won't wear out that fast, even at 24/7. Just turn t .......
399: Amp/Preamp Asylum, the point of the cheater plug on the amp... (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-06-21, 01:59:21 (91.49.86.246)
...is not only to prevent different ground pot. between components, but also to make it possible to reverse hot and neutral. Not all cheater plugs allow this because of the 'blade's width difference. .......
400: General Asylum, well pop music is not the only music... (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-06-20, 02:27:58 (217.224.90.34)
...and back then, old people used to complain about the Beatles and Elvis, too. 'Corporate rock' started way before 1974.... .......
401: Planar Speaker Asylum, about the only problem with stats and planars is... (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-06-20, 01:42:57 (217.224.90.34)
...mastering studios don't use them. Think how many more or us would have Sound Labs, Maggies, Acoustats, or MLs if someone started using them to master albums. There would be less complaining about .......
402: General Asylum, don't feel bad... (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-06-20, 00:48:36 (217.224.90.34)
...95% of what written and posted on the internet is rubbish, too :) for what it's worth, I agree. However, there are some diamonds out there.... .......
403: General Asylum, RE: ... if it was cheaper (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-06-20, 00:44:53 (217.224.90.34)
I agree. Willing to spend the money? I got a bridge in Brooklyn for ya :) Cheers. .......
404: General Asylum, RE: high end would be affordable.... (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-06-20, 00:43:33 (217.224.90.34)
I said 'the so called consumer' because I don't like to think of myself (or other people for that matter) as someone who just uses things and throws them out. Anyone who becomes a consumer instead of .......
405: General Asylum, great read...and gee, who would have thought....pdf is better than zinio! nt. (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-06-20, 00:35:47 (217.224.90.34)
nt. .......
406: Inmate Central, RE: Sopranos James Gandolfini Dead at 51 (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-06-20, 00:34:41 (217.224.90.34)
Gandolfini did an amazing job as Tony S. But I can't help but think playing a role like that would make anyone sick or suicidal in the long run. It was brilliant, and almost too close to reality. Hell .......
407: General Asylum, thanks for the exchange (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-06-18, 22:51:27 (91.49.87.4)
and for your insights. cheers. .......
408: General Asylum, yup... (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-06-18, 22:50:35 (91.49.87.4)
...I did hear the Sony speakers in Munich (high end show) and they did sound very good. Of course they were using a DSD master as their source. Not many have acces to those! Cheers .......
409: General Asylum, RE: You have unusual but interesting delusions.. nt (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-06-18, 03:06:49 (217.224.95.204)
If my remarks were completely delusionary, they'd be far less interesting. But I mean, even the theory of relativity is to some extent delusional. Delusions, illusions, visions...what would we be wit .......
410: General Asylum, $ for contemporary art is arguably money laundering and speculation! (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-06-18, 03:00:49 (217.224.95.204)
great example, but not really comparable. at least in 'high fidelity' there's an ATTEMPT at verisimilitude. .......
411: General Asylum, more baloney for ya.... (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-06-18, 02:58:12 (217.224.95.204)
Actually, protecting patents may be lucrative in the short run for a company, but it's generally not in the public, or the 'consumer's', interest. If scientists didn't share work or results (not to me .......
412: General Asylum, Audio Research tried that with 'high definition' (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-06-18, 02:28:28 (217.224.95.204)
don't know if they claimed anything from the people who sold TVs with the label 10 years later. .......
413: General Asylum, RE: I think it just means that low end equipment sounds "better" than it used to (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-06-18, 02:26:48 (217.224.95.204)
Even $500 seems high when you consider that the same thing could be made for less, and better, if it weren't for all the costs involved in actually convincing people to buy the thing at that price. A .......
414: General Asylum, compared with live acoustic music, even 'high end' is mid fi (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-06-18, 02:16:35 (217.224.95.204)
'high end' is primarily a marketing and pricing concept: the products are aimed at those with more money than knowledge about the subject. .......
415: General Asylum, RE: high end would be affordable.... (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-06-17, 08:17:17 (217.224.92.110)
Well since you didn't respond to the content of my post, but just called me 'full of baloney', the post stands. I admit I might have exaggerated a bit for effect (as usual). baloney - another mediocr .......
416: General Asylum, If you think high end audio is expensive.... (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-06-17, 05:17:26 (217.224.92.110)
...you should compare it with the opportunity cost of not having done something constructive with the time and money.....:) .......
417: General Asylum, high end would be affordable.... (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-06-17, 05:05:44 (217.224.92.110)
High end would be affordable....if it weren't for the attempt to democratise it. I've long thought that the industries involved, just like car industries, have pitted themselves against the so-called .......
418: Digital Drive, RE: Right, but not the SACD layer. It just plays as a cd. (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-06-17, 01:13:03 (217.224.92.110)
if you COULDN'T care less, why post? .......
419: Digital Drive, RE: interesting discovery (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-06-17, 01:11:06 (217.224.92.110)
Thanks for that. I've got a couple of these, nice sounding players. .......
420: Amp/Preamp Asylum, those Mitsus are priceless now!! (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-06-14, 10:04:35 (91.49.95.50)
Great stuff from the 70s .......
421: Amp/Preamp Asylum, RE: I'll bite (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-06-14, 05:23:52 (91.49.95.50)
:) EVERYTHING is available in the far east, so best to sell and buy again. However, I've noticed that real quality costs a ton these days (at least in Europe) as material costs become higher. Gone are .......
422: Amp/Preamp Asylum, I'll bite (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-06-14, 01:26:49 (91.49.95.50)
Akai 35w bought at BestBuy, at age 18 Yamaha (that felt like high end), at 21 Adcom GFA 5400 (raided trust fund...slippery slope begins), at 28 Musical Fidelity A2 (very good) Parasound HCA-1000 (even .......
423: General Asylum, RE: filters.... (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-06-12, 12:48:35 (217.224.76.119)
"almost nobody is saying that computer audio is better than traditional dedicated CD transports sonically" I agree that it's not, but try that over in PC Audio, and 80% cry foul right away. Also, abou .......
424: General Asylum, filters.... (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-06-12, 01:30:54 (217.224.76.119)
I'm amazed that anyone can hear important difference between software upsampling schemes! To be honest, I can still hear very little difference between a competent CD player (even a modest one like th .......
425: General Asylum, just as many design choices go into a digital recording/playback. (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-06-07, 00:06:44 (91.49.112.221)
If you think there are FEWER variables in a digital replay system, you're wrong. There are a thousand design choices to make when designing a digital replay system/ CD player. If you mean, a CD player .......
426: Critic's Corner, reviewers, like manufacturers, are in the 'change your components like underwear' business (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-06-01, 10:09:30 (91.49.112.128)
....which is why they tend to exaggerate how much better systems sound than they used to, or how much better something expensive is, than something not so expensive. And most of them write as if they .......
427: Critic's Corner, RE: Zinio Reader on W8 (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-06-01, 09:54:05 (91.49.112.128)
I just had a salesman at an A/V-computer outlet discourage me from going to Win8...he even said, might as well wait for Win9. That actually stopped me from buying a new PC. I think the interface both .......
428: Amp/Preamp Asylum, whisper fan. nt. (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-06-01, 09:44:01 (91.49.112.128)
nt .......
429: Critic's Corner, read the post again..... (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-06-01, 04:57:57 (91.49.118.214)
the 'benchmark product' he had in mind, in the context of his post, was the Ayre QB-9. There was never any mention of the Benchmark DAC-1. .......
430: Amp/Preamp Asylum, RE: a ridiculous comment, imho.... (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-05-30, 08:53:31 (91.49.94.209)
Your points about the continuities within McIntosh are well-taken. But it's not ridiculous to point out that the corporate financing DOES have an effect on the direction of company's products, and th .......
431: Amp/Preamp Asylum, Isn't McIntosh now part of the Denon/Marantz empire? (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-05-30, 08:22:19 (91.49.94.209)
Just a comment: funny how the use of brand names gives seeming continuity to a story with lots of starts and stops...I think the company that makes Denon bought McIntosh a few years back, so it's not .......
432: General Asylum, RE: Does anyone do competent work on Counterpoint equipment other than Michael Kelly? (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-05-27, 17:15:45 (91.49.101.245)
from http://www.altavistaaudio.com: ' FOR SERVICING, the following people have offered their expertise: In New York state, try Mike Finck of Hionfi, 3649 Erie Blvd East, Shoppingtown Mall Dewitt,NY 1 .......
433: Amp/Preamp Asylum, you missed Decware (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-05-27, 01:28:58 (91.49.101.245)
All hand made, great sounding amplifiers. Deserve much more exposure! .......
434: Digital Drive, RE: Current State of the Art - Recommendations. (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-05-23, 23:43:57 (91.49.66.85)
It would be hard to go wrong with a Marantz Sa11 SACD/CD, if they still make them. With digital, it's hard to hear differences right off (head to head)...you have to live with a component for a while .......
435: Digital Drive, RE: Current State of the Art - Recommendations. (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-05-22, 23:05:27 (91.49.77.44)
Well, progress has meant many of the manufacturers are moving away from the disc players in the stampede towards PC/network audio. The transports aren't made anymore, or the replacement parts aren't t .......
436: Digital Drive, RE: Current State of the Art - Recommendations. (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-05-22, 14:49:00 (91.49.65.66)
The Rega DAC is supposed to be really good for the price, but I wouldn't expect miracles over what you already have. The whole industry has had to accommodate more and more kinds of interfaces and fo .......
437: General Asylum, right on...3 systems (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-05-19, 11:26:30 (91.49.126.188)
I've always thought that that's a good enough reason to open an audio shop. One system is never enough...no one system does all kinds of music perfectly. I might even have saved a lot of money by hav .......
438: General Asylum, RE: Munich High End Show this past weekend (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-05-18, 23:54:58 (217.224.92.155)
I guess I didn't stick around long enough to hear those.... .......
439: General Asylum, RE: mbl and bass (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-05-18, 23:51:57 (217.224.92.155)
The British don't make washing machines or cars anymore as far as I know, on the other hand, there is little reason to buy T+A, Heco, Canton, or mbl when there is Rega, Creek, Naim, Linn, B&W etc. So .......
440: Critic's Corner, the good old days...... (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-05-17, 23:06:32 (217.224.83.123)
Hi RGA, unless someone else is paying, you're setting yourself up for a frustrating exercise. With your biases, trying to get perfect sound out of computers and DACs in this decade is like trying to g .......
441: General Asylum, mbl and bass (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-05-17, 22:28:14 (217.224.83.123)
I was standing at the wrong place at the mbl demo...where I was, there was a huge upper bass peak. I left immediately. I would think it would be really difficult to integrate the conventional woofers .......
442: Critic's Corner, RE: A Tale of Two Reviews... (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-05-17, 01:45:55 (91.49.120.117)
I don't believe I mentioned your mag :) Here's a challenge: hear a consistent and repeatable difference (leave aside 'improvement' for now) when a digital stream is oversampled (with hardware or softw .......
443: Critic's Corner, I was exaggerating a bit... (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-05-17, 01:18:52 (91.49.120.117)
....But so do subjective reviewers when they describe the sound they're hearing, attribute improvements to the component at hand, think something new and/or expensive sounds automatically better, etc. .......
444: General Asylum, electrostats and subs....impossible (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-05-16, 02:07:20 (91.49.110.208)
Almost impossible to get these to work together properly. I tend to like the transmission line designs as well (that's what you meant by TLS right?). For years my favorite speakers were Morel Renaissa .......
445: General Asylum, Well, the SPEAKERS were relatively modest... (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-05-16, 01:56:51 (91.49.110.208)
...the electronics weren't: Convergent Audio Technology (CAT) SL-1 preamp and JL-3 amplifiers. The player was a state of the art processor (can't tell what it was) playing a DSD master file from a la .......
446: General Asylum, I know...no WAF..but the sound! nt (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-05-16, 01:49:32 (91.49.110.208)
nt .......
447: Critic's Corner, RE: A Tale of Two Reviews... (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-05-16, 00:42:57 (91.49.110.208)
I'm sorry, but almost nobody could hear the difference between a 96khz and 192 khz datastream on those inputs on a commercial product, even if the interfaces and sources were perfectly matched and usi .......
448: General Asylum, photo of d1 system (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-05-16, 00:24:22 (91.49.110.208)
The d1 experience! Can't post any more photos today due to AA restrictions :) .......
449: General Asylum, Photos here! (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-05-16, 00:18:50 (91.49.110.208)
The d1 experience! .......
450: General Asylum, 'dated' only in terms of years of service... (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-05-16, 00:01:49 (91.49.110.208)
....doesn't mean it sounds any worse than today's gear. The smaller room will be challenging in terms of speaker placement and room acoustics. The kind of system you have usually does need lots of roo .......
451: General Asylum, RE: Munich High End Show this past weekend (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-05-15, 23:51:55 (91.49.110.208)
Hi there, Since there was so much going on, I only got to see and hear the Tron/Cessaro system for about 5 minutes soon before I left. At that moment, with the music they were playing (I was sitting .......
452: General Asylum, Munich High End Show this past weekend (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-05-13, 07:49:48 (87.177.119.243)
I've got about a 100 photos and 1000 things to say about Europe's biggest hifi show (in Munich, last weekend). I'll post at great length if anyone actually wants to read about it :) The best stereo re .......
453: Digital Drive, RE: I spent a small fortune upgrading my stereo 3yrs ago, All EXCEPT the digital (for reason) (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-04-29, 22:37:12 (87.177.117.48)
You won't necessarily get better sound from the Linn network stuff, but you will get into a whole different setup. These are not plug and play products; you have to add the hard drives, the interface .......
454: Computer Audio Asylum, RE: distorted rips on dB poweramp...rips inaccurate (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-04-22, 08:35:03 (91.49.107.236)
Yeah, my desktop PC works much better at ripping. The disc itself, though, is new, which is why I don't understand the trouble the laptop drive has with it. Thanks! .......
455: Music Lane, An amazingly mature performance.... (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-04-22, 02:01:18 (217.224.85.33)
IMO, that song is fairly easy to sing. But, she did it the hard way and made it look easy. Unbelievable. .......
456: Computer Audio Asylum, RE: distorted rips on dB poweramp...rips inaccurate (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-04-22, 01:41:48 (217.224.85.33)
Hey, thanks for the suggestion. I did make sure it's on secure mode (and in the meantime, registered my copy and actually read the instructions!). The laptop drive seems to have trouble with this dis .......
457: Computer Audio Asylum, the CD did rip finr on another PC/drive....thanks (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-04-18, 04:54:45 (91.49.119.152)
It must be the drive in the laptop showing its age. .......
458: Computer Audio Asylum, distorted rips on dB poweramp...rips inaccurate (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-04-17, 11:37:44 (91.49.104.92)
Hi, I insert a CD into my Win7 laptop drive and try ripping it with powerdB. The titles show up and everything. But some of the rips are inaccurate and the sound is distorted. What is going wrong? : .......
459: Critic's Corner, RE: Strange review of Thiel CS2.7 by AHC in TAS (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-04-15, 08:34:33 (87.177.119.158)
That was hardly tomservo's point. Try adding a couple of subwoofers below 20Hz to your system, placing them well, crossing them over low, and playing them for a month. Then take them out. Unless none .......
460: General Asylum, one of the greats (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-03-31, 12:07:45 (87.177.121.237)
Thanks for the link to the NYT article. Worth a read. As a Billy Joel fan, I grew up listening to Phil Ramone's productions without really appreciating just how important his work was to the sound of .......
461: Critic's Corner, once you have adequate response down to 25Hz or below, you'll understand (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-03-26, 00:01:16 (217.224.89.15)
Get a one (or a pair) of good sub-bass subwoofers installed to cross over low (say 30Hz) and run in parallel with your floor speakers, and you'll understand why. There's a 'there' there that smaller s .......
462: Critic's Corner, RE: low-frequency extension can be obtained at the expense of sensitivity (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-03-25, 00:30:45 (91.49.109.236)
"However, I do conjecture that listeners use overall distortion to set a comfortable playback level. If a loudspeaker has high intrinsic distortion, hence a limited dynamic range, it won't be played a .......
463: Critic's Corner, RE: low-frequency extension can be obtained at the expense of sensitivity (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-03-25, 00:21:24 (91.49.109.236)
That is a great point. A speaker which is -6dB at 30Hz cannot be playing low bass into a decent size room realistically at lower volumes (or without huge distortion at higher volumes). .......
464: Critic's Corner, RE: low-frequency extension can be obtained at the expense of sensitivity (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-03-25, 00:17:59 (91.49.109.236)
Great point about 'expensive'....audiophiles often end up paying more for less because of high marketing, dealership, and advertising costs, and low volume dictated by a fragmented, profit (and innova .......
465: Critic's Corner, RE: Should you care to read the review: Down 6 dB at 30 Hz. If that counts as full range is up to you, I guess. (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-03-25, 00:03:22 (91.49.109.236)
Sorry, but down 6 dB at 30 is not really full range, is it? And thanks for pointing out that JA's best response, that I hadn't heard the speaker, is mostly irrelevant. I didn't get the particular issu .......
466: Critic's Corner, RE: sound good:that would be... (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-03-24, 23:57:35 (91.49.109.236)
I think SP should shed its snobbery and do a review of the C-Vs :=) .......
467: Critic's Corner, 'full range' (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-03-24, 23:56:23 (91.49.109.236)
JA, I thought 'full range' meant 20Hz and up. Isn't there a little grade inflation going on? Anyone could 'hear' the speaker, get the impression it does real low bass (because they haven't heard real .......
468: Critic's Corner, RE: Where are such speakers these days? (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-03-24, 23:43:47 (91.49.109.236)
John, I trust your ears ever since I bought that EAD CD player you liked back in the late 1990s. :) There are many issues here, not least the semantics of 'full range' (I thought full range was 20Hz o .......
469: Critic's Corner, Yup (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-03-24, 23:32:09 (91.49.109.236)
Of course, you're right about the trade-offs. And material costs are higher than they were in 1970s, I think. Still even some subwoofers are hard pressed to do real low bass without overblowing the 40 .......
470: Critic's Corner, RE: What passes for 'bass' these days? Class B 'full range' (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-03-24, 23:17:33 (91.49.109.236)
That's true. I still think what people are hearing is room reinforcement of the upper bass, most of the time. Even some audiophiles have forgotten what it sounds like to hear the 'thump' that comes fr .......
471: Critic's Corner, RE: please, that's just silly ... (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-03-23, 00:23:57 (84.142.186.69)
I agree somewhat with most of what you're saying. You do need a refined design and good electronics to get the bass illusion from smaller speakers. Your two-ways are rated to 28Hz? Can they do it with .......
472: Critic's Corner, RE: Some folks are bass crazy, like the op here, the rest of us can get by with 'ordinary' bass I would say. LOL (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-03-23, 00:11:15 (84.142.186.69)
That's absolutely right. I also fear the speaker manufacturer's specs are quite optimistic. Sure, there can be -3dB 'response' to 30Hz, but actually loading a room with 30Hz takes some firepower. And .......
473: Critic's Corner, 'new physics' (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-03-23, 00:06:27 (84.142.186.69)
It's new physics, all right: the physics of dwindling budgets, too much concern with 'imaging' over other characteristics, and smaller rooms. .......
474: Critic's Corner, RE: What passes for 'bass' these days? Class B 'full range' (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-03-23, 00:03:16 (84.142.186.69)
Thanks for the response, even though it's of the 'hand waving' variety. If I could hear the speakers, I gladly would. There has to be some grade inflation going on for a speaker to be called 'full ra .......
475: Critic's Corner, RE: What passes for 'bass' these days? Class B 'full range' (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-03-22, 09:34:30 (84.142.185.114)
Thanks for the tip. Would be intrigued to hear these. Unfortunately not available where I am, to my knowledge. Just browsing the list though, I am surprised that these belong in the same class of 'fu .......
476: Critic's Corner, RE: ok ... (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-03-22, 09:19:28 (84.142.185.114)
I know what you mean about your sonic cup of tea and the 'sonic coffins', but once you get used to a decent multidriver array, the monitor will sound anemic. Every speaker takes getting used to. Your .......
477: Critic's Corner, What passes for 'bass' these days? Class B 'full range' (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2013-03-22, 07:18:09 (84.142.185.114)
In the April RC issue, Stereophile lists a pair of loudspeakers as 'class B full range' that has only 2 small (5.25") midbass drivers per side. While I have no doubt that such a speaker can sound reas .......
478: Digital Drive, yes, keep it ON all the time (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2012-12-28, 00:35:00 (121.73.36.200)
My Cambridge Audio player was skipping intermittently until I realized it played much better when left on all the time. No more skips. .......
479: General Asylum, RE: DAC vs. CD Player (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2012-12-21, 10:50:48 (121.73.36.200)
You could rip your CDs using, say, dB poweramp music converter software, and run a USB cable from the laptop into a Musical Fidelity VDACII (budget) or Rega DAC (more expensive). .......
480: Amp/Preamp Asylum, GFA-555 (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2012-12-13, 18:50:27 (121.73.36.200)
I believe it was the GFA-555 you're talking about, early to mid 1990s. Do you still have it? The GFA-565 was a monoblock and the 555 was a stereo, and there may have been a 535 and 545 as well, lower .......
481: Amp/Preamp Asylum, RE: HT: Anyone switch from an older Arcam to a new Marantz? (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2012-12-13, 18:37:07 (121.73.36.200)
When you mean, compare, I assume you mean 'sonically' since the main differences are bound to be features like HDMI and HD audio processing. .......
482: General Asylum, 24p is only 'jarring' if the imagery is fabricated to begin with (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2012-12-13, 16:33:00 (121.73.36.200)
So, I believe Jackson thinks 24fps is 'jarring' because so much of the movement he is 'filming' is retouched or produced from scratch digitally. I live in the neighborhood where the movie is produced, .......
483: General Asylum, i hope the tripod is included in the price . nt (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2012-08-31, 14:12:51 (121.73.36.200)
nt .......
484: General Asylum, don't make any more than one change at a time IMO (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2012-08-31, 14:06:43 (121.73.36.200)
If you're bored, you're bored...this has nothing to do with problems in your system or amplification. Don't make expensive mistakes. Do something else for a while. Come back to it later. You will not .......
485: General Asylum, yes and no (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2012-08-12, 17:30:20 (121.73.36.200)
There are two issues here, one is the physical way the information is relayed, and then the format of the digital signal. Sony Philips Digital Interface Format in consumer devices initially used a sin .......
486: General Asylum, Watching TV WILL decrease heart health (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2012-08-12, 17:18:22 (121.73.36.200)
Sitting, and watching, and forgetting to breathe will ruin your heart. .......
487: Digital Drive, RE: when a number figure is attached, - yes. (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2012-05-03, 13:31:06 (121.73.56.127)
Man there's something wrong with the language when 'budget' stated alone for a very small part of a total audio system means '$2000'.... I understand, 'a budget of $2000' is clear enough, but I was re .......
488: Digital Drive, site's being hacked? none of that sounds good (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2012-05-03, 13:26:35 (121.73.56.127)
btw I don't understand why, years after this technology was first available, why a decent, small format external DAC should cost more than $500. I think audiophiles are the first to inflate the dollar .......
489: Digital Drive, 'budget' as an adjective is pretty clear' (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2012-05-02, 15:48:45 (121.73.56.127)
Nobody thinks dCS gear is 'budget' in the context of this board. Why be pedantic? My interpretation of 'budget' in this context is $100-$500. Cheers .......
490: Digital Drive, Cambridge Audio Dac Magic nt (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2012-05-02, 15:43:55 (121.73.56.127)
nt .......
491: General Asylum, then buy a rega or a michell in NZ and be happy (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2012-04-30, 01:01:39 (121.73.56.127)
I wouldn't mess with a self imported VPI turntable, there's too much potential for headache......now you could save some dough on a cartridge or interconnects and save all the shipping and GST costs, .......
492: General Asylum, RE: Purchasing hi fi in the US (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2012-04-25, 19:18:36 (121.73.56.127)
Hi, It depends on the model of turntable. Some models will only operate at the right speed on 50 Hz whereas in the US they use 60 Hz. There's plenty of choice down here in NZ, but I guess you're tryin .......
493: General Asylum, RE: IT WAS ALWAYS NICHE!! (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2012-02-19, 21:30:36 (121.73.56.127)
Well, I think SACD sounded different to pcm, not necessarily (in principle, that is) better. And there's no sonic reason why they couldn't have done the 24/88.1 standard on DVD instead of the 24/96 w .......
494: Digital Drive, you're nuts :) (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2012-02-19, 21:15:53 (121.73.56.127)
If you like the Stibbert, concentrate your critical faculties on something else! Conventional separate DACs/transports (where the DAC is slaved to the transport) are totally passe technology. There's .......
495: Digital Drive, The transport is most definitely an issue (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2012-02-19, 21:06:13 (121.73.56.127)
And everything else too, cable, choice of digital input, etc. Unless the caps are getting old or the lens is getting dirty, it should outperform the vast majority of CD/DVD players hooked up to afterm .......
496: Digital Drive, giant killers... (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2012-02-19, 20:53:45 (121.73.56.127)
Hi there, OK OK, but look, I've been reading and posting to AA for 13 years now (I started off as TomS IIRC) and while it's great to get experienced and knowledgeable viewpoints on equipment, it's ano .......
497: Digital Drive, makes no sonic sense to go digital out on the Naim players (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2012-02-19, 20:09:33 (121.73.56.127)
I've recently bought the CD5i and find it absolutely fine and dandy with the 5i integrated, using the native DIN connectors. On the 5i there is no digital output because the designers realised that th .......
498: Digital Drive, RE: REVIEW: Schiit Audio Bifrost w/SPDIF DAC Processors (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2012-02-19, 19:37:08 (121.73.56.127)
If I am totally off base, I do apologize. The rest of your tone makes me think: 'he doth protest too much'....but I don't know. I do know what it's like to buy and sell used or new audio gear and ho .......
499: General Asylum, IT WAS ALWAYS NICHE!! (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2012-02-19, 16:37:18 (121.73.56.127)
What the industry does is cannibalize itself by needing to build much the same products over and over, in order to pay for the cost of development, and the industry as a whole PRETENDING that the new .......
500: Digital Drive, RE: I'm not even in the market (0.00)
Posted by Tom Schuman on 2012-02-19, 16:21:49 (121.73.56.127)
Check the fact (or appearance anyway) that 2 monikers with similar names have written very similar full length professional style reviews in the last month, and posted them on general asylum, to get t .......
Found total of 500 records, Query: , Author: Tom Schuman in All Forums, Time: 1 sec.