The “Off The Shelf” Lie

@elliottbnewcombjr  close but about 2 hour South. Other food triggers are Omega-3, Probiotic, Non-GMO, Natural, Low-Fat ,and the list goes on.

@jonwolfpell yes sir, the Snells are legendary. My dad still has his Type D's in pristine shape. I am amazed how his Adcom/Snell combo from the 1990's almost bests my modern setup. He went to the Snell shop to pick them up because they were one of his adhesive/epoxy customers way back then

Paradigm is another custom driver/crossover maker who I had at one time in my setup, who is not mentioned much in audio circles. Once they started selling soundbars for HT, they may have lost their way LOL.

I think the overall sentiment of this thread is that implementation is the important differentiator of products, more so than the origin of parts.

Btw, Certified Organic has real, legal & detailed requirements & meanings & all other things being equal, is a good thing for the health of our soil & the environment in general. That said, I opt for locally grown & produced as my first option if available which supports your local farmers & producers, is fresher & limits the amount of transportation necessary to make things available. Win - win! 

There are no hard and fast rules on this. To give one example, Esoteric moved to a discrete DAC module of their own design after years of using AKM chips. I do find the discrete DAC to be better sounding - though not massively. However, I prefer the AKM Grandioso DAC to some other high end DACs using discrete components. This has less to do with the DAC topology than the overall design approach of the different  complete systems i.e. the full electronics and not just the converter.

@chayro 

But are in-house drivers or FPGA digital converters really “better” than the best drivers from Scanspeak or Vifa?

Possibly

 Is an in-house ladder dac automatically superior to the best chips from Analog Devices, Texas Instruments or others?

No, not automatically

 IMO, the end result may be superb either way, but I think manufacturers are just attempting to get audiophiles to knee jerk into believing off the shelf parts are inferior.

There are many reasons to produce components in-house, rather than use off-the-shelf modules.  One important reason is that small manufacturers cannot afford the cost of conversion.  The circuit in a Pass amp is not the same as in a Fosi.  This is not to say that one is "better" than the other.  The 2 companies have different design goals and approaches.

Similarly, for speaker drivers straight from the catalog or customized to the speaker builder's specifications.  Sure, there may be cases where they only want their logo imprinted.  However, there are plenty of legitimate alterations they might request that alter the sensitivity, resonance, roll-off, speaker Q, etc.  These may or may not make the driver "better", but if the designer is right, they will make the driver perform more optimally within the speaker they designed.

It's easy to become cynical in this hobby, but there's no need to diminish yourself like that.  We each get to decide our own context.  The rate of equipment changing around here suggests that most of us believe that the gear does matter to the final result and we're willing to spend more to get better sound.  If we continue doing so, it's because we're encouraged by the results.

@chayro But are in-house drivers or FPGA digital converters really “better” than the best drivers from Scanspeak or Vifa?

The best drivers from Scanspeak or Vifa or whoever you fancy will not be tuned to the cabinet or box. Universal drivers will work. But the hours spent tuning the drivers / Divers-Cabinet to get that sound you want takes ages. You would normally take an off the shelf driver and then work with the manufacturer to design and produce something that would match.