fcrowder

Responses from fcrowder

Rockport Sirius III & Micro Seiki 8000 comparison
I am hopeful that you will publish your thoughts about the two tables in the not too distant future and that at some point when you are in Houston you can stop by my home to listen. 
Stand out phono stages
I have owned the Einstein The Turntable's Choice phono stage for the last four years and have been quite happy with it. It easily beat both the hotrodded Vendetta SCP2T and the Blowtorch which I had previously owned. About two years ago, I began t... 
Reference DACS: An overall perspective
I had a chance to hear a comparison of the new Esoteric K-01, an EMM Labs XDS1 and an Esoteric P03/D03/G0 over the weekend at a dealer's home. The K01 had been played about 360 hours, so still had a ways to go with respect to break in. I would not... 
Stand out phono stages
I just had the opportunity to audition the Ypsilon step up transformer and phono stage in comparison to the balanced version of the Einstein phono stage. As good as the Einsrein is, the Ypsilon was in a different class, lovely tonality, excellent ... 
Tidal Speakers owners
I should perhaps preface my remarks by saying that I am not a Tidal speaker owner but was very impressed with the Sunrays at CES and with their smaller speakers driven in the past with Ypsilon electronics. Having said that, I was not particularly ... 
Words From the Wise
Orpheus 10,Yes, it is possible as demonstrated by my friend the "Evil Weed". He has parlayed a modest investment into a SOA system by buying his gear on the internet and then having it modified by the original designers who often no longer work fo... 
Review: Einstein The Tube Linestage Tube preamp
Mike,I strongly suggest that you consider three tweaks which will significantly impact the sound: 1) an Acapella silver power cord, 2) replacement of input tubes and teh single AU7 (the bank of 8 tubes does not really need changing), and 3) ceraba... 
Graham Phantom B44 2 or Taela ?
Mike,Can you comment on the Talea vs the Reed? 
AMR / EMM / PLAYBACK Designs
Suteetat,Thanks for the well thought out response to my posting. I think that the PD and the XDS1 are both great machines but that they will appeal to different buyers. Likewise, the choice may in the end be somewhat system dependent. A lengthy re... 
AMR / EMM / PLAYBACK Designs
My standard of comparison when I auditioned the PD in my home for anout ten weeks was my Rockport Sirius with a Lyra Titan i and later swapped out for an Ortofon A90. I did not have a reel to reel for comparison but am familiar with Albert Porter'... 
The best speaker you ever heard?
I will only comment that the reason that some names do not appear frequently is not that they lack in quality but that no one ever gets to hear them. This would be the case for the top of the line speakers of any company who primarily operates out... 
AMR / EMM / PLAYBACK Designs
Please note that the XDS1 comes with a very nice upgraded power cord from Kimber. This is not ultimately what you will want to use but may be satisfactory in the short run. Power cords are easy to change, SACd players much harder. 
Dire Straits Brothers in Arms Comparison
If you have not heard the original British pressing, you are missing a real treat as it absolutely walks over the subsequent reissues. Please note that I have various American issues (vinyl) and the latest 180 gram reissue (which is actually very ... 
AMR / EMM / PLAYBACK Designs
Two thoughts, 1) surprisingly, given the huge power supply, the XDS1 is very sensitive to the power cord used. It particularly likes the Jorma Prime and the Stage III Zyklops. Each sounds a bit different but both bring out the best in the unit. Th... 
The best speaker you ever heard?
For many years I owned Crosby modified 63's with two pairs of Entec LF 40 subs. The sound was in many ways as good as it gets, particularly with respect to low level detail and dynamics at the soft end of the scale. Sadly, the speakers did have so...