cundare2
Responses from cundare2
| What blues are you listening to today? Great timing. I just scored a copy of the original Polydor pressing of Wheels of Fire. You might argue that Cream is not authentic "blues," but I think it's close enough for purposes of this forum. (Having said that, my favorite tracks on the a... | |
| What one change to your room, system, or setup made the biggest improvement? Well, other than (I"m dating myself) upgrading from DCM Time WIndows to Quad ESLs, in my long life, the most dramatic sonic upgrade occurred when I added an Audioquest Niagara 5000 power conditioner / reservoir. I expected modest improvements, bu... | |
| I built a music discovery app for Tidal and Qobuz users. A lot has changed since launch. Smart enough to create a Rock in Opposition playlist? | |
| Manufacturers with great customer service T+A hands down, with IAG (Quad UK) a close second. T+A is remarkably responsive and accommodating, willing to ship replacement parts directly to customers, along with (generally unnecessary) instructions for installing them. I interacted with Qu... | |
| Best concert you've attended Mahavishnu Orchestra at the two Central Park shows that were recorded on the 2 "Between Nothingness and Eternity" albums. We sat way up front and you can hear us on the first track of the first album. Distant second is the Stones MSG performance... | |
| Favorite Beatles Song "Revolution 9". I’m serious. My undergraduate minor was Electronic Music Composition. "9" doesn’t break any ground formally, but it’s a masterpiece of craft. #2 is "Let it Be". | |
| T+A DAC 200 Burn-in I don’t have that particular DAC, but I did purchase T+A’s $19K R 2500 R receiver last year, which incorporates a very similar model -- same topology & PS design. I listened carefully and found very little benefit in break-in. I thought the ... | |
| All-In-One Options @audphile1 That’s not what I was saying, but the confusion may be my fault, dashing off messages quickly late at night. I suggest checking out the lengthy 2001-ish piece I wrote on the topic of optical-disc standards, published in one of the Zif... | |
| All-In-One Options @audphile1 I don’t want to turn this into a thing, especially since you seem to be uncharacteristically knowledgeable about the topic, but I beg to differ. I’ve written extensively on the topic in the 2000s mainstream press myself. I don’t disa... | |
| All-In-One Options @audphile1 You said "Know that SACD cannot be output to external DAC unless you use something like D.BOB." Don’t want to sound like a know-it-all, but I’ve been hearing this for years and, um, it’s not true. Yes, there is a copy-protection req... | |
| All-In-One Options One brand that many buyers in the US ignore is T+A, which is one of the most respected audiophile manufacturers in Europe and parts of Asia. Its $8K-ish DACs are superb, providing distinct circuitry & signal paths for DSD & PCM streams. ... | |
| Burn in and peer reviewed brain research ...and I have to take issue with the OP’s statement: "It found no substantial evidence for mechanical changes producing audible differences." Yes, the article does state: ":In light of the lack of substantial evidence supporting mechanical change... | |
| Burn in and peer reviewed brain research 1. The article does not conclude that sonic changes during a burn-in period are not a physically "real" phenomenon. It merely finds that, in some cases, psychological factors can influence such perceptions. 2. As the OP predicted, I can state wit... | |
| Qobuz vs. Tidal — Real-World Impressions on Selection, Sound Quality & Musicality OP asked for examples in which Tidal’s & Qobuz’s catalogs differed. When it comes to more obscure -- and sometimes not-so-obscure -- artists, they do occastionally differ a lot, although neither one always offers the more comprehensive select... | |
| used power amp under 1500 @parkergetdean Not to belabor the point, but here's the JVS review's bottom line in Sterophile: Was I impressed? I was. Replacing class-AB amps that cost many times more, surrounded by comparably high-end equipment, the ELAC Alchemy DPA-2 Switc... |