mulveling
Responses from mulveling
| Thoughts on phono stages; Audio Research PH 9 vs. the Ref 3? The "Low Gain" / MM mode (6H30 stages) was absolutely stellar; still probably the best I’ve heard / owned. The "High Gain" mode was indeed very good sounding, but not without issues and probably not quite in line with this (very high) price point.... | |
| What type of cables make the most difference The cable feeding the transducer - speakers or headphones - makes the most difference ime. Silver (solid) vs copper also makes the most sonic difference here, over exotic geometries and marketing hype. I have some nice expensive PCs and am pretty... | |
| Did The Absolute Sound use an AI chatbot to review the Soulution 717 monoblock amp? Yes it has the cadence exactly like AI chat and reads like an ad copy. Even if it wasn't AI-gen that's one of the laziest, sloppiest reviews I've ever seen. The average head-fi poster on a Tuesday puts vastly more care & effort into their gear... | |
| First foray into tube amps The listed tube power amps in the range of 60 - 80 Watts/ch have a healthy power output. Those 87dB 8 ohm speakers will do fine. Can you hit clipping if you try to play (say) a Sheffied Direct-Disc at LIVE volume, or try to replicate a The Who roc... | |
| Is my new amp TOO GOOD? @orthomead Glad you're found a better balance! You can probably refine more with the tube selections over time. The 300's are by far the most "chameleon" VAC amps I've had so far. They are VERY dynamic as you noted. Lots of bass impact, slam, wal... | |
| First foray into tube amps I think in most of these cases, given the context you’ve provided - tubes will provide the mid-range magic you seek. You’ll usually give up some bass slam and add in some slight "bloom" in that frequency range, with tubes - how much comes down to ... | |
| Why for the life of me I can’t stay awake when listening to Music? Your brain may have become wired for different kinds of stimuli than music alone. It's common these days with so many options out there - most of them far less healthy than a good music session. If these sessions are important to you: either combi... | |
| Looking for help with a Benz SL low output cartridge I’ve had a lot of carts and Benz SL (or older L2) are about as easy-peasy as LOMC come. 0.4mV is conveniently high (for a LOMC), and 12 ohm coils are a *little* on the high side for 0.4mV, but still quite reasonable and easygoing. You can pair i... | |
| 2 channel vs headphones @limomangus - why would the same number of decibels hitting your ears from headphones be any worse than the same number of decibels coming from speakers? The SPL? The speakers in headphones are miniscule compared to those in loudspeakers. I’ve be... | |
| Is my new amp TOO GOOD? @orthomead I also went from a pair of 200iQ to pair of Master 300 iQ (prototype versions). I’ve noticed these amps all vary their sonic balance quite a bit in stereo versus mono, and also with tube type KT88 vs 120 or 150. A pair of 300 sound pe... | |
| What is the norm? How many of you use the subsonic filter with your turntable? Most "audiophile" phono pres don’t make this a switchable option, or really even make clear what they’re doing. The original RIAA spec is flat to 0Hz. Some stages probably use this. RIAA IEC modified this to add a high pass at 20Hz. Other stages p... | |
| Did Koetsu Quality Decline with New Ownership Of course you’re going to get the new owner, dealers of new Koestu, and (probably) publishers singing their praises. Then you’ll probably have a few dealers of OTHER brands saying they’re no good. None of that is meaningful information. What you... | |
| Am I no longer allowed to consider myself an Audiophile? It’s 2026, please don’t drive yourself into psychosis just because the ultra-mega-luxury high-end market exists. You might not even LIKE them that much in person. I’ve heard $500K - 1mil setups that I didn’t like, at all. You’ll see LOTS of show r... | |
| 2 channel vs headphones Yes. Without additional constraints like noise, speakers are going to win out most of the time just due to the fact that their visceral, tactile full-body response and realistic soundstage adds so much to the immersion & illusion. Speakers a... | |
| why are sellers to be trusted, but buyers are not? I guess at some level this is an "elasticity of supply/demand" thing. As a frequent buyer & seller, if I woke up tomorrow into a world that operated on "payment after receipt" - then looking around here, my answer for that is "I’m just not gon... |