Over the past five years I have been on an extreme deep dive into the world of Single Ended Triode amplifiers and Directly Heated Triode filament bias preamplifiers paired with ultra high-efficiency horn systems of various topologies, Open Baffle speakers of the JE Labs variety, and field-coil drivers. All done at the highest level, and to the extend that I’m now surrounded by what I consider the best available components of their kind in every variety and configuration. I even rearranged my main listening room to give these systems and components both of the long walls.
What these simple, and some may say primitive systems, have brought to my ears is a level of intimacy and musicality in a very organic way, beyond anything that I had previously experienced with my more traditional high-end systems.
Before I go too far, I can not understate what Jussi Laako’s Signalyst HQPLAYER has contributed to my musical enjoyment, specially now with HQPLAYER 5.
What prompted me to draft this thread is that once again I got seduced into playing the “Audiophile” game of buying more and different components and experimenting with them to find pairings that deliver more than previous arrangements. As I looked up and saw my 10 mono amplifiers driven Wisdom Audio Adrenaline Rush based system in front of me, which has been dormant for the majority of the last couple of years, and then looked to my right at my ultra high-end mastering studio system, which has not been played since Jussi released HQPLAYER 4, it hit me like a lightning bolt………that I had figured this out years ago and that I had found a smarter way for my stereo system to sound exactly the way that I want.
With my SET amps, DHT preamps, field-coil drivers, JE Labs Open Baffle, and horn based cabinets experience now with me, I asked myself, can I make my big reference system sound like, as good or even better, in terms of intimacy, detail and organic character, than my 4P1L, 01A, 71A, 26, VT-25/10Y/80146, 45, AD1, 2A3, 300B, 211/VT-4-C, 845, 13E1, SE-OTL, F2J and M2X based amplifier systems that I have assembled the last few years.
Could I practice, what I have been preaching about for years on this and other forums?
In my previous mastering systems I have used a combination of both digital and analog processing to accomplish my goals. With HQPLAYER 5, I already get phenomenal resolution and sound quality in the digital domain so I decided to forgo any digital processing and take the HQPlayer straight to my DSD512 ValveDac and LampizatOr DSD-Only dac as the entry point to my system. Then I decided to only pick my favorite analog mastering tools; over the years I have gotten smarter and now don’t require 70 processors to accomplish my objectives. It is fun to have all that fire power at your disposal but this time I wanted to keep things as simple as possible, in the spirit of the SET/DHT credo.
Well after some serious fun and experimentation the last four weeks, I’m very happy to confirm that there is still is a smarter way to achieve one’s sonic objectives without succumbing to the traditional trial and error approach that is the basis of the audiophile experience.
Once a capable system has been assembled, nothing is as powerful as remastering the source material to make said system sound exactly the way we want it to sound. No engineered room, no grounding box or the latest toys from the Munich audio show will give you the power to dial in your sound the way a well thought out, capable and true high-end mastering setup will and does.
.Just think for a minute of how flawed the premise of trial and error component/cables/and associated equipment swapping is. The logic of the merry go around is shooting in the dark. There is a smarter way and if you want to know more contact me and perhaps you can have the awakening that I experienced decades ago and just recently again.
What these simple, and some may say primitive systems, have brought to my ears is a level of intimacy and musicality in a very organic way, beyond anything that I had previously experienced with my more traditional high-end systems.
Before I go too far, I can not understate what Jussi Laako’s Signalyst HQPLAYER has contributed to my musical enjoyment, specially now with HQPLAYER 5.
What prompted me to draft this thread is that once again I got seduced into playing the “Audiophile” game of buying more and different components and experimenting with them to find pairings that deliver more than previous arrangements. As I looked up and saw my 10 mono amplifiers driven Wisdom Audio Adrenaline Rush based system in front of me, which has been dormant for the majority of the last couple of years, and then looked to my right at my ultra high-end mastering studio system, which has not been played since Jussi released HQPLAYER 4, it hit me like a lightning bolt………that I had figured this out years ago and that I had found a smarter way for my stereo system to sound exactly the way that I want.
With my SET amps, DHT preamps, field-coil drivers, JE Labs Open Baffle, and horn based cabinets experience now with me, I asked myself, can I make my big reference system sound like, as good or even better, in terms of intimacy, detail and organic character, than my 4P1L, 01A, 71A, 26, VT-25/10Y/80146, 45, AD1, 2A3, 300B, 211/VT-4-C, 845, 13E1, SE-OTL, F2J and M2X based amplifier systems that I have assembled the last few years.
Could I practice, what I have been preaching about for years on this and other forums?
In my previous mastering systems I have used a combination of both digital and analog processing to accomplish my goals. With HQPLAYER 5, I already get phenomenal resolution and sound quality in the digital domain so I decided to forgo any digital processing and take the HQPlayer straight to my DSD512 ValveDac and LampizatOr DSD-Only dac as the entry point to my system. Then I decided to only pick my favorite analog mastering tools; over the years I have gotten smarter and now don’t require 70 processors to accomplish my objectives. It is fun to have all that fire power at your disposal but this time I wanted to keep things as simple as possible, in the spirit of the SET/DHT credo.
Well after some serious fun and experimentation the last four weeks, I’m very happy to confirm that there is still is a smarter way to achieve one’s sonic objectives without succumbing to the traditional trial and error approach that is the basis of the audiophile experience.
Once a capable system has been assembled, nothing is as powerful as remastering the source material to make said system sound exactly the way we want it to sound. No engineered room, no grounding box or the latest toys from the Munich audio show will give you the power to dial in your sound the way a well thought out, capable and true high-end mastering setup will and does.
.Just think for a minute of how flawed the premise of trial and error component/cables/and associated equipment swapping is. The logic of the merry go around is shooting in the dark. There is a smarter way and if you want to know more contact me and perhaps you can have the awakening that I experienced decades ago and just recently again.
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