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05-16-07
Jmaldonado, im going to agree with you on this one. in fact ... Roger_paul
05-16-07
Tvad, you may be right - it is more like the electronic ima ... Roger_paul
05-16-07: Zachzdb
Jmaldonado,
I can keep visiting,really? Gee,thanks Dad! ;^)
I do apprecite you clearing up your preamp situation. I must say this single piece of gear has stirred up more emotions than anything else I've seen. My fervant hope is that,excluding Guidocorona who's already verbally committed,the curious and nonbelievers expend half the energy they've demonstrated here trying to tear down Roger to actually trying to audition this pre. It is rather a bit of sport watching the energy and the self rightousness of your true natures come out. Meanwhile,us H-Cat owners sit back and smile,knowing the truth is but a mere flip of a switch away. I just wish I could personally see your faces when you hear one for the first time. Priceless!
As always in audio,YMMV.
Zachzdb (Answers | This Thread)
05-17-07
Jmaldandado, one more time, are you a manufacturer? (or did ... Audiofeil
05-17-07
Has anyone actually compared the h-cat to other top preamps ... Docsavage
05-17-07
I would like to contrast h-cat with my arc ref 3. . . perhap ... Guidocorona
05-17-07
Some time ago i compared an arc ref ii with an earlier versi ... Tbg
05-17-07
I recently purchased amp from another member here on the &qu ... Fiddler
05-17-07
Fiddler, what high end linestages did you friend compare th ... Guidocorona
05-17-07
Guido, he is not a friend of mine. i purchased an amp from ... Fiddler
05-17-07: Rauliruegas
Dear friends: Very interesting thread. I don't read all what is posted by almost all. I always told my audio friends that we have to try to learn ( on audio subjects ) every day through experienced people and through not so experienced ones.
In many ways this thread is an educational one: what to do and what not to do, depends on our music sound reproduction priorities.
Maybe a product like the H-Cat is not my perfect " cup of tea " ( I never had the opportunity to hear it but I would like to do it in the near future. ) and I say it not because I could think that the HC is not a good product/design: NO, I say it because ( for what I read through this thread ) my music sound reproduction priorities are very different from it ( any one can read it through my virtual system. ) where " soundstage/image " and the like is at the bootom of my music priorities.
>I ask first for accuracy, tonal balance and timbre: if what I'm hearing is wrong with them nothing more care me , now if the music sound reproduction achieve those basic/critical music sound reproduction priorities and additional has very good " soundstage " then I'm on audio/music heaven/extasis !!!!!!!!!!!!
I attend every single week ( every single year ) to enjoy live music/events ( classical/jazz/blues/etc. ), my target is that my home audio system ( step by step ) put me nearest to the live event or at least nearest to the recording. I'm trying hard about and I'm too far from there but working to achieve it. Btw, for the last six days I'm out of my home ( business trip ) in Mèxico city and here where I'm ( Oaxaca city. ) I had the opportunity to attend to two Filippa Giordano concertos ( I'm really lucky about ) one in an open auditorium ( 20,000 people ) in an amplified way and the other in a closed music hall unanplified, I enjoy both concertos the music experience with Filippa was just great.
One thing ( between several others ) that I learn with all those " live " experiences is ( IMHO ) that the word " soundstage " is the less important in a live event, it is not the " soundstage " what permit and give me the whole/full music enjoy, satisfaction and deep emotion/feelings that only the music can give us music lovers. As a fact and depending where you seated the " soundstage " almost does not exist ( on some ways. ), example: any one goes to a Jazz Club and his place ( table ) is on the very left side at the rear of the stage, other people seat at the center of the stage ( in front ) and a third person is on the right side at the middle of the room: what about " soundstage "? and I can tell you that these three people enjoy the music in a very high/emotional way.
I already read hundreds/thousands of posts in different Agon forums and I find that are only a " few " people " that attend ( routine ) to live events, I read too that several ( almost all ) people have the " soundstage " subject like their very top home system priority: I respect all those individual opinions ( at the " end of the day " it is important for them what they think/feel about not what I think. ) that I don't compart/share with mines.
That shoot-out that some of you are preparing is interesting too ( I love the shoot-outs if are prepared in a more or less professional way specially when we are comparing apples against apples and with people that have know-how: live music. ) and could be educational to find how different " things " could be, good luck to all of you about.
Regards and enjoy the music.
Raul.
Rauliruegas (System | Reviews | Threads | Answers | This Thread)
05-17-07
Good point r. i never heard the soundstage at the teatro all ... Guidocorona
05-17-07: Roger_paul
Guido,
You asked, “What’s a fundamental image?”
A fundamental image is the stereophonic audio signal placed at the input of a (stereo) circuit, which contains the originally captured, spatial and dimensional relationships of sound objects as “seen” by the microphones. The term “seen” is used with poetic license of course – I’m trying to convey that it is a type of “view” held by the microphones.
The fundamental image can be treated as a single entity or object. Ironically this object also contains fundamental harmonics. (What!) I knew that would get you. Sounds like an oxymoron.
Harmonics that are caused by a circuit that distorts are the bad harmonics – and just like cholesterol, there are also good harmonics. Don’t confuse this statement with regards to odd and even harmonics and how (some) tube circuits distort “musically” etc. I am referring to the harmonics that are naturally occurring in the sound of musical instruments in the real word. For example the sound of a guitar string vibrating and having overtones and harmonics – this is strictly music without distortion.
If the guitar string happens to have harmonic information at 4.3 KHz then we want our amplifier circuit to treat it as a fundament frequency of 4.3 KHz and pass it along without distorting or producing an 8.6 Khz harmonic that does not belong to the image.
Raul,
As far as the soundstage presentation of a given system – this is something that falls into place as a bonus for having good phase coherency and stabilization. Generally, if you get the distortion down low enough – the sound stage just “shows up”. There are cases where you can have problems with distortion and still have a definite soundstage. Most of the time the distortion products are layered on top of the (underlying) image as monophonic sound objects. These objects block your “view” of background objects and therefore reduce transparency.
Roger_paul (Answers | This Thread)
05-18-07
I own the latest h-cat (i never heard any previous models) a ... Emailists
05-18-07
Guido, tsk, tsk:no, of course not. you can look at it instea ... Gregm
05-18-07: Jmaldonado
Gentlemen, I believe there should be only one priority: THE RECORDING. It's the recording in the first place which sets the limits on the performance. In second place, it's the audio system.
As experienced fellow Audiogoners know, a good audio sytem is perfectly capable of creating a "three dimensional", holographic experience, all by itself and without much effort, provided the recording has been engineered that way. Width, depth, height and layering, are words often cited by reviewers as a methaphore of the system's stereophonic qualities. Experience from the past has also taught us that in the long term, human ears grow tired of anything artificial, prefering instead a more natural presentation that favors all aspects of the recording in an integral way.
I have no problem with any technology looking to enhance the spatial qualities of a recording. Certainly, SOME systems might benefit from it with SOME recordings. Still, it's my conviction that a pure signal path, combined with good speakers and acoustics, is everything we need to fulfill our musical priorities, whatever they may be. Unfortunately, there's no single component, no "alchemist stone" that will transmute inexpensive lead into gold. The temple must be constructed brick by brick.
Regards,
Jmaldonado (Threads | Answers | This Thread)
05-18-07
You are right, jmaldonado, i anxiously await the h-cat amp a ... Tbg
05-18-07: Roger_paul
“I have no problem with any technology looking to enhance the spatial qualities of a recording.”
Jmaldonado –When you look around in all directions do you see cardboard? It’s ok its just the inside of the box. With all due respect. This is just not sinking in. I must have mercy on the other readers of this thread. So here it is again for the last time.
H-CAT does not enhance.
I don’t blame you for not understanding how it could be possible.
Here are some examples to study:
You get an LP (record) at a yard sale. The owner did not take care of it when storing or handling the record. It therefore has oil from fingerprints and dust and dirt etc. If you were to play this record in its current condition and rated the audio quality – it obviously would be somewhat degraded by noise and ticks and pops etc.
Now - place the record into a world-class record cleaning machine and clean it properly without harming the grooves. Then play it again and rate what you hear. Of course the grunge is gone, the noise floor is lower and the ticks and pops are gone. A noticeable contrast in overall performance.
Much better right?
Here is the big question… Did you enhance the recording?
No.
Did you add clapping audience members to the third row?
No.
Did you stretch the soundstage or move it closer?
No.
Here is another:
You’re looking through your kitchen window at your flower garden in the back yard. It’s a sunny day and perfect weather. But your window is dingy (has not been cleaned in a while). It is obvious to you that you are looking through a window because of the dirt on its surface. You guessed it – get the windex – clean the window.
Now you see a wonderful view of the garden with all the natural colors and detail in tact. You would swear that the window was open.
Did you enhance your garden?
No.
Are there more flowers looking through the window than there are in the actual garden?
No.
Do butterflies seem more 3 dimensional?
No.
In both cases the only thing you have done is take away problems that hinder or block the source from being revealed. H-CAT does not add anything to the audio signal (that would be distortion). It does however remove Doppler. This Doppler contamination is the grunge on your record and the dirt on your window.
I look forward to the day when you find yourself in the same room with H-CAT and you see what others have been trying to put into words.
Warm Regards,
Roger
Roger_paul (Answers | This Thread)
05-18-07
Roger: speaking for myself (i realise you addressed s/one el ... Gregm
05-18-07: Roger_paul
Gregm,
Thanks for your comments. And I apologize to Jmaldonado if I seemed mean spirited. There is an overwhelming tendency to fall back on conventional thinking mostly because that’s all you have to work with.
I am delighted with my decision years ago to take an entirely different path regarding the understanding of the inner workings and “behavior” of electronic amplifiers. I wanted to know exactly what makes them “not perfect”. What’s wrong with a seemingly simple task of taking a small signal and making it bigger? Remember we put a man on the moon almost 40 years ago. What’s the big deal?
I believe the answer stems from the fact that unlike video or film or optical processes, audio is invisible.
It therefore does not benefit from the feedback of literally seeing the results. A regular TV side by side with an HD TV pales by comparison. These advancements as well as the spectacular new special effects that you see on the big screen blockbuster movies have one thing in common. They are visually verifiable.
In the case of audio gear what do we have? Better sine wave generators, THD/Spectrum analyzers.
Unfortunately we have had this type of equipment for many years now and still something seems to have escaped the scope of these tools at least to the degree that they are helpful in facilitating the design of “flawless” amplifiers. We are all familiar with the arguments regarding SS amplifier distortion measurements and tube amplifier distortion measurements and how the musical sonic aspects do not seem to match the raw measurements. (Please do not open this can of worms – I only refer to the miss tracking of measured distortion vs. what we hear.)
If you adjust the focus of a slide projector until the image on the screen is at peak resolution or in focus, it is undeniable and verifiable by all viewers at the same time.
My approach therefore was to go after the one and only tool that matters when it comes to listening to audio. I wanted to have a complete understanding of the ear-brain connection. This is after all the minds “eye” where verification takes place and comparisons to the real world are recognized. The amazing sophistication of this system can barely be described in words. It is capable of simultaneous, real time calculations on a scale that boggles our imagination. This was the tool or device that H-CAT was designed to satisfy. Knowing what the ear brain system thrives on – and causing H-CAT to comply.
Assuming that “typical” distortion and “low enough” distortion should be good enough to think something is real acoustically is not even close. There are also psychological tricks the brain uses on itself to assist in the handling of audio data that enters through the ears and is instructed to accept this [data] as real. When it falls short – it still “tries” to believe it and goes into a mode of repair. The portion of the data that is noticeably incorrect is quickly discarded and ignored. It then uses a form of connect the dots or fill in the blanks with what it thinks makes the most sense. All of this addition work causes stress especially if the gaps in reality are farther apart. This is the basis for listening fatigue.
In the real world the audio data is stable (fed to the ear brain at Mach one) and it does not have to “try” to believe anything. The absence of the recalculation process is another indicator that it is the real deal.
If you can feed the brain at exactly Mach one continuously with no variations – you have succeeded at fooling the brain into accepting data that did not come directly from the source as being in the presence of that source. This is the only “trick” that H-CAT performs.
Regards
Roger_paul (Answers | This Thread)
05-18-07: Rauliruegas
Dear Roger: +++++ " Generally, if you get the distortion down low enough – the sound stage just “shows up . " +++++
Less distortions/noises/frequency inaccuracies means not only that soundstage " shhows up ", no it means too and first than all more " music/truer to the recording ".
Through the years I was working to carry my audio system to a minimum " distortions/noises/frequency inaccuracies " operation conditions. So I understand exactly what you mean.
Through all those years my system " suffer " many improvements on several ways thank to that work ( and I can tell you that I own almost the same speakers, analog rig, amplifiers, cables, etc etc,. through the years ).
I don't want that you or any one could think that I don't care about " soundstage/imaging/focus/inner detail/etc ", I care about ( as a fact my system is very good about ) but I have other more critical and important music sound reproduction priorities. My target is to achieve all of them ( including soundstage and the like ).
I'm near to that target ( well every time I achieve some improvements I say the same and continue working about ), not an easy task, it needs a lot of time ( years ) and whole know-how.
Maybe your product could give to my system a " better " ( maybe different and not better ) soundstage but with which kind of trade-offs? against my music sound reproduction priorities: accuracy, tonal balance, timbre, dynamics, etc.
My electronics are very good achieving my priorities ( including soundstage ) and I don't know how good is yours about.
What I read on this thread are in more or less way " soundstage/imaging/spatial/etc ".
I read many things here but one of those things ( that make me " say " wow! ) was ( I can't remember who posted that ): an experience with a piano recording where this person could heard and detect exactly the " space " when the piano note was exited hitting the piano hammer, I respect this opinion and certainly that this person " think " that, well yesterday night I attend ( here in Oaxaca ) to a private piano concerto and you know what?: that I was " looking/finding " for that " space " experience, well I lost my time does not exist in any way and I change several times my seat place.
Now this was a yesterday live experience but I have a lot of live experiences anywhere and that " thing " never happen, just like almost never happen those audiophile/reviewers/non Know-how expressions: inner detail, lot of layers where I can see through, that rear wall where the sound hit and return to my ears, that single space where that or that instrument is executed ( how any one can detect in an orchestra " tutti " that instrument space between other 90 instruments in the same stage and sounding at the same time?, my God I need that " ears/brain/immagination!!!!! ) etc etc.
I applaud your dedication to mantain alive this thread ( well this too to Tbg ), this mean something, and I hope to have the opportunity to hear your product in my system in a near future.
Regards and enjoy the music.
Raul.
Rauliruegas (System | Reviews | Threads | Answers | This Thread)
05-18-07: Roger_paul
Raul,
Thanks for your comments – you are correct to go after the total picture not just getting the soundstage right. The fact is that when the audio signal is locked down to a single delivery speed of Mach one – every aspect of the music including the inner detail, overtones, timbre, spatial relationships and all other properties fall into place at the same time. This is because the reverse is also true. If the velocity fails to remain steady – the image collapses taking the soundstage with it.
Roger
Roger_paul (Answers | This Thread)
05-19-07
norm, would you also bring your phono stage to matt's place? ... Jmaldonado
05-19-07: Jmaldonado
H-CAT does not add anything to the audio signal (that would be distortion). It does however remove Doppler. Roger, Roger. "Removing" something is a subtraction operation, which is nothing less than a negative "addition". The signal entering the preamp will be irremediably different to the signal exiting the preamp. THAT IS DISTORTION.
You're obviously not a purist. If you were, you'd knew that purity means preserving the signal UNALTERED, even if that means having fingerprints, dust and whatever you are calling "Doppler" and "problems". They're not. They are just part of the recording's personality.
If you're not getting a good sound with the recording as is, it's a sign that you're having trouble elsewhere in the system (cables, preamp, power amp, speakers, acoustics, etc). Solve the problem without adulterating the audio signal.
Man, indeed you're out of the box... you're heading direct to Pluto! With all due respect.
Regards,
Jmaldonado (Threads | Answers | This Thread)
05-19-07
Yes, i plan to bring the h-cat phono to matt's or actually c ... Tbg
05-19-07
If a preamp does room correction, like tact for example, and ... Emailists
05-19-07
Tbg, are you saying the meet will be at cmo's place? has t ... Guidocorona
05-19-07: Mab33
Guido, I tried emailing you thru Audiogon, but it sounds like you didn't recieve it. PM me when you get the chance and I'll give you the details about when we're getting together.
Mab33 (System | Threads | Answers | This Thread)
05-19-07
Oops, i will have no email until at least wednesday. postin ... Guidocorona
05-20-07: Emailists
Tonight I was invited to an entertainment lawyers/friend's apartment who has bluegrass jams several times a year. Some esteemed players have shown up over the years, including Dave Grisman. (Luckily I had my friend bring over our shared pro 24P camera once David arrived and I made a great document of the night to distribute to friends.)
I had been comparing the H-cat earlier this week to another fine tube preamp, and was using as one of the comparison cuts some acoustic Dylan via USB/DAC. Fresh in my memory were the dozens of times I went back and forth between the H-cat and this other excellent sounding line stage on this solo vocal and acoustic guitar recording, comparing the string attack energy and imaging of the H-cat with the more bodiful tube pre.
I stood close to the performers, a singer playing acoustic guitar and another playing stand up bass.
I closed my eyes, realizing this is a chance to calibrate my hearing to the sound of close mic'd acoustic instruments.
I also went back in the room about 12 feet to hear what it sounded like from that position. I could clearly hear the room colorations taking on a significant part of the acoustic envelope.
Then I returned back to my approximately 3.5 foot mark from the performers mark where I listened some more. This was clearly closer to the position the mics would be in in a recording situation. (which would actually be quite a bit closer)
My listening room being what it is I actually sit mid field - about 6.5 feet away from my speakers on the short wall. I'd like to be able to back away further - but even when this system was in a larger room, this approx 7 foot sweet spot was the one that gave least room interference and the most intimate sound.
What I'm longwindedly leading up to is the fact that:
To me, the H-Cat house sound was remarkably close to the way these similar acoustic instruments sounded live.
The presence of each string on the acoustic guitar live had the same character as presented through the H-cat. The big, bold, bodied sound of the guitar through the tube pre, as nice as it was did not have the same signature of launch that the H-cat conveyed.
The live vocal I was hearing tonight was more distant that the perspective of the recorded Dylan, but the fabric of the soundfield, it's narrowness, it's specificity in space, it's bodiness (or chestiness) was closer to the H-cat prospective than the more traditional (but excellent sounding) design.
With my eyes closed, I was shocked how similar the real singer/guitarist was to my home playback system.
Then I concentrated on the live stand up bassist. This was a bit harder, because the volume of the bass was being overshadowed by the vocal and guitar. He took a bit of a solo and I concentrated on the sound. The bass I am getting in my room is quite a bit thicker than what I was hearing, and I know this is the next area of performance I have to address, perhaps with a Tact or SMS unit for my biamp woofer section.
I think the Ceramic cabinets (and perhaps also drivers) of my Cerious Too/bass contribute heavily to the extremely natural reproduction I am getting.
In my opinion, until someone has personally compared an H-cat based system to live music, they have little legitimacy posting challenges in this forum regarding H-cat, it's performance, it's technology, or it's methodology of sound reproduction.
Any detraction, aspersion, analysis or conjecture without hearing the product simply has no place on this forum.
To my ears, Roger Paul has made a significant discovery in the way that music is reproduced. Trying to deny or challenge this without firsthand and intimate knowledge of the phenonmenon being discussed is an exercise in futility perhaps bordering on personality disorder.
That perhaps being a personality disorder slightly in excess to the one a good percentage of we Audiogoners would most likely be diagnosed as posessing.
Emailists (System | Threads | Answers | This Thread)
05-20-07: Tbg
Emailists, you are a lucky man. What music I can hear where I live while created on the spot is not really live music. The theater at my university where there are a full range of performances, including opera and small jazz groups, the theater was designed?? to have no reflections. There is absorbent material on the walls and wooden absorbers above. The sound from the performers is captured with mics and reverb add with an echo chamber and sent to amps and speakers throughout the theater to give "desired" reflections. It sounds like shit. The only real place to hear anything is in the front two rows center or very near field.
None of the clubs where you can hear music uses any standard for amplification other than loud. Even when we have outdoor sound events , the amplification and mics are poor. In short I have nothing that approaches the opportunity that you have. Nevertheless, I suspect that were I to have a real piano in my listening room and to reproduce a piano with my audio system and to stand in a room next door, I could always tell the real from the reproduction despite the realism I hear with my present system. I continue the quest and probably will until I die.
Tbg (Reviews | Threads | Answers | This Thread)
05-20-07
Fascinating diagnosis emailists! komrads zdanov would be pr ... Guidocorona
05-20-07: Mikelavigne
.....an exercise in futility perhaps bordering on personality disorder.
That perhaps being a personality disorder slightly in excess to the one a good percentage of we Audiogoners would most likely be diagnosed as posessing.
LOL.
Mikelavigne (System | Reviews | Threads | Answers | This Thread)
05-20-07
Yes, in terms of abnormal psychology, everyone is a little a ... Tbg
05-20-07: Guidocorona
But now that my personality flaw has been unmasked by emailists, I am living in dread of the post police. it is typically at 3:00 a.m. that I may hear a furious knock at my door. . . and I'll never be heard from again. . . I'll send you all postcards from the lublianka if I can! Did you gents know that in reality, the hero of Koestler's darkness at noon was no political dissident, but a rabid crypto-objectivist audiophile backslider?
Guidocorona (Threads | Answers | This Thread)
05-21-07: Gregm
Did you gents know that in reality, the hero of Koestler's darkness at noon was no political dissident, but a rabid crypto-objectivist audiophile backslider? Of course, this is a well established fact.
What is less known is that Rubashov was in fact a revisionist audiophile who suddenly turned subjectivist; this could not be allowed at the time.
Gregm (Threads | Answers | This Thread)
05-20-07: Rauliruegas
Dear friends: +++++ " I closed my eyes, .... " +++++
This is what Emailists posted. I believe that every single subject that he is hearing is true for him ( no single doubt about and I have respect for that. )..
Now, and you can read on my virtual system description that I never hear/heard music through my system or any other home system with closed eyes I always do it with open eyes ( I closed only when I'm slepping. ) and with high light-on on soundstage.
Why?, very simple because in a live event ( classical music hall or jazz club or open rock concertos ) I never find a light off orchestra stage and if you take a look to the attend people everyone but the ones that are really slepping are with the eyes " wide open ", no one close its eyes, why we have to close eyes at home? this is something that till today I'm wondering about.
Our brain respond to the stimulation through our senses ( eyes, ears, touch and the like ), when we close the eyes we loose this kind of stimulation that we have through the home soundstage, when we close the eyes every thing could happen because at that moment we start to put on " play " our imagination and this imagination is only that " imagination " ( not so near to the real thing. ) and very different perception that when we have the open eyes and light-on.
I respect that Emailists " imagination " part ( like the every one ) but IMHO I can't agree with that method to ( like he say ) calibrate the ears or to make a review of any audio subject.
Regards and enjoy the music.
Raul.
Rauliruegas (System | Reviews | Threads | Answers | This Thread)
05-21-07
That is odd rauliruegas, i do not seem to experience any de ... Guidocorona
05-21-07: Rauliruegas
Dear Guido: Odd?, IMHO I don't think so.
+++++ " There are many different ways to enjoy the hobby... " +++++
This depends what do you name " the hobby ", I named " music truer to the recording ", some one else could name it: " hardaware/electronics/speakers " or " software " or what you want. Some one would like to heard it resting ( lie down ) or in his knee or whatever and you like it only with your ears but this is not the point. It is not what you or me like it but a more or les precise perception of the sound/music where there is no " place " for imagination, maybe I think in that way because I like the " real " I like to have my foots down the earth. Of course that many times is fun to " dream " especially when we can achieve those dreams in the real life.
Of course that we would like to " play " with imagination ( like you ) and like I posted ( nothing is wrong with that if you enjoy it ) it will be only that " imagination " far from the real/true.
An analogy: try to think about sex with open eyes and with closed eyes, the perception is totally different, the same with the sound reproduction perception: in the sound reproduction perception all your sense have to be " touched ": eyes, ears, feel through your skin ( like very low bass ), the environment where you are, your music/audio know-how, etc, etc., IMHO you can't let nothing to the imagination.
Anyway I'm not trying to convince you about if you don't need to have your eyes open when you hear music at your home, when you attend to a live event or when you " see " a music DVD-V then stay in that way: closed eyes, it is fine for me no problem at all.
Regards and enjoy the music.
Raul.
Rauliruegas (System | Reviews | Threads | Answers | This Thread)
05-21-07: Soliver
Umm before you continue to espouse how we should all be listening, you should know, Guido is blind.
It's just audio listening and while I am like a crack addict over the hobby, there is no need to get take on a "holier than thou attitude."
For example, I am sure, in this upcoming Austin listening session between these various preamps, we will mess something up that will invalidate everything for some. Who cares? I am looking forward to some amazing music over a great system with some high performance preamps at the helm, plus the wine and fellowship.
BTW, as mentioned above I heard Norm's system on Mother's day and it was freaking great, and I typically don't like solid-state stuff. I have also heard the Essential 3150, and Matt's system was great as well. If I had to rank the two, Norm's system is freaking unbelievably good. How much the H-Cat preamp has to do with this, I don't know. I do know that I am picky about preamps and the ones I really like are more or less around 10K MSRP. For the H-Cat to be at the helm of a system that I feel is one of the best I have heard is truly something, considering its price is what? $3900. To me that is impressive.
But I seriously doubt that I would trade it for my own preamp in my own system. And beyond my New Audio Frontiers Absolute, the ARC Ref 3, Aesthetix Callisto, etc. are each amazing in their own little ways. However, it is amazing to me how each of these high dollar preamps improve upon the $5k range of preamps. For my list of favored high dollar preamps I hope to get lucky enough for Fcrowder to bring his own Einstein The Last Preamp, so that I might add to that list as well. :) Come on, Fcrowder its only like 20 pounds! No biggie I would even volunteer to haul it from your car to Cmo's listening room. :)
Like I said "Crack Addict." LOL
Soliver (System | Threads | Answers | This Thread)
05-21-07
Raul, your are clearly a neo wagnerian. my esthetic and ph ... Guidocorona
05-21-07
Dear friends: +++++ " i recently purchased amp from ano ... Rauliruegas
05-21-07
Raul, what does the price have to do with the sound? beside ... Roger_paul
05-21-07
nothing. except that the most expensive preamps generally ... Mikelavigne
05-22-07: Soundlock
Mike, with all due respect to your mega-bucks system, which I am sure is extraordinary,why don't you get access to an H-Cat and listen to it. I have been is this hobby for 50 years and have also had some of the so-called "best" equipment. I'm sure that you have many connections in the audio world. Why don't you try and listen to an H-Cat. I just can't stand all the people that trash a product because it doesn't cost at least 10 grand without even hearing. IHMO, Roger Paul is a genius in what he has created in the H-Cat. All you good audiogoners who are trashing this product without ever hearing, give the man a break.
Soundlock (Answers | This Thread)
05-22-07: Tbg
Raul, you and your partner, Jmaldonado, are getting to be overbearing. Matt asked me a long time ago whether I would like to come over to hear the Essential. I said I would. Nothing about this was supposed to be a shootout, rather I was curious about the Essential. I have not formed any prejudgment about your Essential preamp, but certainly you seem most defensive about it.
I refuse to respond to remarks about the H-Cat being cheap. I have heard the very expensive Connoisseur line stage and thought it was very good. Could I have been happy with one? Yes. Was it the equal of the H-Cat? Certainly not in terms of the realism of the sound stage and music. I have owned 33 preamps in my 45 years as an audiophile. I have had 7 versions of the H-Cat starting with the one that won the Golden Ear Award from TAS. The present unit would make that unit sound broken. Do I think that Roger's present version is superior to other line stages regardless of price? Yes. Would I want to pay much more for more bells and whistles but no improvement in sound? Absolutely not! I have my amp and my digital frontend on Halcyonics bases which are worth every bit of their $8k price. Would one make the H-Cat sound better? I don't want to know.
Tbg (Reviews | Threads | Answers | This Thread)
05-22-07
Mike, raul & others, i have had 3 previous versions of the ... Joperfi
05-22-07: Mikelavigne
Soundtrack; where did i 'trash' anything? i simply explained why there should be skepticism. and there should be.
from 2001 until 2005 i used a $1000 Placette RVC in my 'mega-bucks' (your term-not mine) system. over that time i had 15+ very expensive (much prettier) preamps in the system......all of which the Placette smoked or at least equaled.
in 2001 i sold my 'audio jewelry' Linn CD-12 to buy the then modestly priced EMM Labs DAC6 and modified SACD 1000.
i could care less the price of gear (or even the look).....and am always open to learning. but until i hear the 'giant killer' i am respectfully skeptical.
send me an H-Cat and i'll try it. but i will warn you that a battery powered dart pre is quite formidable. OTOH if the H-Cat is better i'll be all over it.
Mikelavigne (System | Reviews | Threads | Answers | This Thread)
05-22-07
i am a retired army sgt and you are running a system tha ... Soundlock
05-22-07
Soundtrack; first, i took no offense.....your use of the wor ... Mikelavigne
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