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07-26-03
Several times someone has tried to get hype going here about ... Fiddler
07-26-03: Tbg
I am not offering hype, but you are right about traction. I think the problem must be supply. North American Products just does not seem to be able to gear up production. Nevertheless, this is an exceptional preamp.
Tbg (Reviews | Threads | Answers | This Thread)
07-26-03
When there is a very small number of any product in the hand ... Twl
07-26-03
Yes twl, you express my thoughts completely. i also tried ... America
07-26-03
This whole "cloning amplifier technology" claim co ... Tvad
07-26-03: Tbg
You guys are all correct. Had I not known Roger from long ago, I probably would have been most hesitant. Even with his repeated efforts to convey what is going on, I still have only an intuitive grasp. I do know, however, that he is getting a patent. I think his web site makes his best effort to communicate what he is doing. Since it makes the claim that imaging with be exceptional and that is the case, I do not think it is all hype. But all that not withstanding, I would put this unit up against anything at any price. I was happy with my first unit, but I am overwhelmed by this version. For him to be successful, however, he is going to have to get product out the door. He seems to have everything geared up but keeps hangfiring.
Tbg (Reviews | Threads | Answers | This Thread)
07-26-03
This product reminds me of the much hyped spatial coherence ... Kana813
07-26-03: Tbg
I had one of these also having heard it at CES. Their dealer network was most limited, and it was at a time when there were dealers. The only real option at this time is to have trial periods. At one time they did talk about such a program. I think they need a few brave souls to venture forth. I am happy that I did.
Tbg (Reviews | Threads | Answers | This Thread)
07-26-03
Sounds best w/ elco :-) cables !! good post, twl. Kublakhan
07-26-03
I haven't been to the website, but agree with twl's analysis ... Zaikesman
07-27-03: Tbg
You are probably right about writing a review, but I am just too lazy. I did find the preproduction version excellent in sound stage imagining and without solid state edge but did say that the Exemplar line stage was the best tube unit I had heard. It had a richness in the midrange that the H-Cat lacked. The production unit, however, is just on another scale in terms of realism. You hear everything against a much darker background as the noise floor drops with all of this resulting in details deep in the left and right corners of the sound stage.
I have always felt that trying to verbalize sounds is useless. I have no vested interest in H-Cat but merely sought to convey my enthusiasm and to urge others to take a listen. As I said, I certainly cannot defend the circuit but whatever it is doing, it is doing it well.
Tbg (Reviews | Threads | Answers | This Thread)
07-27-03
Just a thought... i once auditioned a "little black bo ... America
07-28-03
I appreciate tbg's comments about this product. i value hea ... Jfz
07-28-03
An active two-way monitor will out-image (virtually) any pas ... Cdc
07-29-03: Tbg
Jfz, thanks for your comments. I too have heard about getting a response from NAPs and have raised this issue with Roger. I thought he was missing a real opportunity to sell preamps after the Golden Ear award, but he did pause to make very significant improvements. I do not really understand why he does not have product to ship right now. I like the guy and believe he really has something, but I suspect he is under capitalized, not that I want or have any money to invest.
Tbg (Reviews | Threads | Answers | This Thread)
07-29-03
Thanks tbg. if roger had called or emailed me back, just to ... Jfz
07-30-03: Tbg
I brought this thread to his attention last night including your common report that he did not respond to email inquiries. He said that he had greatly improved the response to such inquiries. I might suggest you retry your inquiry. Apparently he is tooling up and a trickle of product will soon become a good flow.
Tbg (Reviews | Threads | Answers | This Thread)
07-30-03
Thanks. i will give that some thought. Jfz
11-30-03
Well, i may be joining the camp that says no the question,&q ... Mike
12-25-03: Tbg
Mike, I got my final version yesterday. It is clearly another step beyond ordinary preamps. The realism is shocking. I also have never had bass that even approaches this. I hate to think what this will sound like once broken in.
Tbg (Reviews | Threads | Answers | This Thread)
01-07-04
Tbg, i am having withdrawls. i have lent my p-12 to several ... Mike
01-31-04
I have had the p-12 for a couple of months now and it is one ... Eclecticear
02-01-04: Tbg
Eclecticear, your words largely parallel my reactions to the first version I had long ago. Did you hear earlier versions? The second was supposed to be 8 times better in locking on the signal. It was drastically superior. The present or third version was supposed to be 100 time better than the second. It almost scares me in it musical presentation. Transients spring at you from very precise locations and ones mind, not expecting this, alerts you. You might expect this with live music but not with reproduced music.
In this world of so much hype, now the question is how if they are going to have readily available units and whether word of mouth can get them any penetration into the market. This is, bar none, the finist line stage I have ever heard, and far superior to anything I ever expected to hear, but few will believe it until they hear for themselves, as you have noted.
Tbg (Reviews | Threads | Answers | This Thread)
02-02-04
Mike - i would be interested in your comparison of the h-cat ... Mrpaul
02-03-04: Tbg
If I might, I had the second Syrah in the U.S. I very much enjoyed the Syrah, especially it phono. But when I had substantial problems with it and it was going to cost me a lot of money to send it back to Australia, I sent it to John Tucker of Exemplar Audio. He got it running but could not understand how I could listen to it. With my trust in him, I authorized him to move it to parallel feed and to use the 6N1P rather than the 6SN7. This dramatically improved the sound.
Later I got one of the first H-Cats, and you can read what I thought at the top of this posting. I do not think the Syrah is in the same league, nor do I know of any that are, including the Connoisseur, or even the Kondo. I know these are strong statements. I think the circuit in the H-Cat abondons the old circuits and thus nothing is likely to compare.
Tbg (Reviews | Threads | Answers | This Thread)
02-04-04
Once again, it all come down to preference. i don't think a ... S23chang
02-04-04: Tbg
I can agree that there is yet to be a straightwire with gain, or a perfect component. Nor would I suggest that the H-Cat is unaffected by cabling, isolation, and quality of ac power, but with the possible YMMV, I find this preamp clearly the finest I have ever heard by a big margin.
Tbg (Reviews | Threads | Answers | This Thread)
02-04-04
I'll add in my thoughts here, but keep in mind that i may be ... Rcprince
02-05-04: Tbg
Rcprince, Sorry I really do not know. I do know that everything save the chassis, controls, and jacks are changed, but man is it for the better.
Persist in your email. Roger claims to monitor it frequently but I too have had periods of no response.
Tbg (Reviews | Threads | Answers | This Thread)
02-07-04
I have to say what a bunch of cynics. the guy (tbg) has lot ... Bryanhod
02-07-04
Tbg: i did hear back from roger; if it goes up for sale her ... Rcprince
02-08-04
Does anyone have any experience with the h-cat preamp versus ... Lapaix
02-08-04: Tbg
I have had a string of outstanding preamps, such as the Exemplar, the TAG, and several passive units. Many of these were compared with the ARC Ref. II, the Levinson, and several Rolands. I was convinced that the Exemplar, which is a tube preamp, was the very best having beaten all comers. Then the original H-Cat came along. All that I can say is that you should take a listen if you can.
Tbg (Reviews | Threads | Answers | This Thread)
02-08-04
he-he, you probably never heard such a thing called lamm? Kkursula
02-08-04
Having heard the lamm l2 at length and the lamm ll2 for seve ... Rcprince
05-19-04
Just got a sample of the h-cat p300 phono stage and wow! jus ... Mike
05-20-04: Tbg
Mike, I also had the P300 phono stage. As I am using a Decca cartridge with a common ground, I had troubles with hum in this unit, but despite that after it had broken in four days, my experiences were the same as yours. I had to realign the cartridge given the revelations of the H-Cat. My other phono stage did not allow such clarity. I had always thought that the width of image with LPs was largely a function of the cross-talk of the cartridge, but the H-Cat proved that to be false. You get incredible separation and depth, as is the forte of the H-Cat circuit.
I will be out-of-the-country for six weeks and look forward to listening to a well broken in unit with some provision for dealing with the hum with a common ground.
Tbg (Reviews | Threads | Answers | This Thread)
05-23-04
I am one of the original owners of h-cat products, as well a ... Pastorb
05-25-04
Pastorb, i second your comments to the letter. roger is bri ... Mike
06-05-04: Tbg
Have any of you had hum problems. My unit did but I thought it was the common ground on the Decca cartridge I was using.
Tbg (Reviews | Threads | Answers | This Thread)
08-05-04: Tbg
I should followup on my hum problem with the H-Cat phono. Roger sent me the new version of the phono which he thought would solve my problem. It did not. But after much trouble shooting, I found the problem had nothing to do with his phono. The Decca with its unprotected coils and the failure to ground the Garrard 501 turntable were the source of my problem. I had the Garrard with its grounded ac plugged into the Equi=Tech, but the turntable did not prove to be grounded. Removing the Equi=Tech and getting a good ground solved the problem.
The separation of this phono, thus far used only with the Decca, remains outstanding, but the real grabber is the purity of the sound. The circuit's precise location of instruments means their music is less smeared and purer. I did not really mean for this to be a review as I still want to try the Allaeret Finish, but I will merely say that never have I heard comparable LP reproduction regardless of price. This evening I put the production Indra interconnects on the phono. This too led to an enormous jump in performance. I is an amazing combination.
Tbg (Reviews | Threads | Answers | This Thread)
08-06-04
Tbg i will simply second your comment about never before hea ... Mike
08-06-04
Mike, wow! after hearing rogers system i was convinced the ... Joperfi
08-06-04: Tbg
Joperfi, is that you Joe? You should hear the phono. You would not leave without one.
Norm
Tbg (Reviews | Threads | Answers | This Thread)
08-06-04
Norm, yep, it's joe. on my next visit i should be taking on ... Joperfi
09-02-04
Tbg - have you heard the new exemplar pre-amp? how would y ... Rb99
09-03-04: Tbg
Rb99, you cannot imagine how appropriate and challenging your question about comparing the latest Exemplar and H-Cat line stage is. The Exemplar that I will be commenting on may never be in the Exemplar product line, although to me there has never been a better Exemplar line stage, and I have had several. It is a Revelation with a separate power supply box, but the line stage itself no longer has the parafeed transformer. Instead it has the cathode follower stage used in the Exemplar/Denon 2900 mod. It differs from the new $2500 Exemplar Revelation II in that it has the more substantial outboard power supply and well as full regulation of every stage. As a really custom unit, I really do not know where it might be priced.
The other unit is the new H-Cat P12A line stage. I have been told this unit is the result of efforts to make the phono stage as good as it is. The Doppler detection unit is 30db better than the previous version. It was characterized by Roger Paul as a substantial improvement over that earlier unit, which itself had been a considerable improvement over three or four earlier versions. This was a gross understatement.
First my reaction to the Exemplar. I had here too found previous units to initially be exceptional and improving with each version. This unit shares the full-bodied sound of earlier version, which is achieved with no inkling that you are listening to tubes. It adds an exception soundstage both in terms of width and depth. Additionally the Exemplar is quite fast and has exceptionally dynamic sound. There is no edginess to the music, and one is never fatigued by the music. I have compared past versions with other tube, solid state, and passive units and always found them superior. Thus while I have not repeated these comparisons with this unit, I am confident that I would greatly prefer it over them. I would have had a major problem choosing between this Exemplar and the current H-Cat P12. The Exemplar was clearly more musical and the H-Cat clearly more realistic.
Then came the H-Cat P12A heralded as greatly improved over the P12. About 30 seconds into listening to it in my system, I became struck that this was not an incremental improvement, but rather this was a quantum improvement. Again I was struck by the precision of the soundstage that is a result of the technology used, but there was music and sounds in the mix that I had either not heard before or could not make out before. And the transients were startling; I could do nothing other than listen to the music and babble to friends about the new unit. Unlike the Exemplar which took 300 hours to reach its best, the H-Cat improved over the first night on and stabilized thereafter.
My words cannot capture the realism of the sound; I was hearing what I thought was not possible. There was such accuracy in the notes of instruments and voices that I could almost believe I was present at the recording. This was true for Lps using the H-Cat phono and for sacds and cds using the Exemplar/Denon 2900. I believe it is largely impossible to characterize the improvement of what I was hearing. If the best other preamps were 9 on a 10 point scale, the new Exemplar was a 10, but if the best other preamps were a 5 on a 10 point scale, the new H-Cat is a 10. Each new hearing of an Lp, a cd, or a sacd, is a revelation. Never have I had such an improvement in my sound.
The H-Cat is a blue cable for those of you using Omega Mikro power cords. Nearly any good cord will out-perform the Omega Mikro red, but the blue will blow everything that I have away. The H-Cat is also very responsive to acoustic isolation. It and the Exemplar performed best on the K-works isolation base on a Neuance shelf on a level 5 Mana stand.
Tbg (Reviews | Threads | Answers | This Thread)
09-03-04
Tbg- thanks for the detailed reply. i think you describe th ... Rb99
09-05-04
Zaikesman - i have felt the same way you do - that no pre-am ... Rb99
09-05-04
The above reply was in response to a posting that seems to h ... Rb99
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