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  1. analogsa

    Vintage amps VS today's amps

    Imho, current crop of amps are head and shoulders above the best from 30 years ago in resolution and speed, especially in the upper frequency ranges. Which is not very surprising as the old amps had to make early digital listenable.
  2. analogsa

    Vintage amps VS today's amps

    Rated at 2000hrs @85° C. For every 10° below that capacitor life doubles. Realistically, even the hottest heatsink does not exceed 60° C and cap temperature is very unlikely to ever reach 55° in any audio equipment. With the possible exception of one French amp :cool:
  3. analogsa

    Grimm MU1 vs Aurender N30SA vs Taiko Audio

    The timing of the bits is a red herring. It matters at the dac data input generally speaking (in many dacs the data input is not particularly jitter sensitive anyway), but it's really unimportant in the ethernet packets. There are all sort of mechanisms aligning, bufferring and reclocking data...
  4. analogsa

    Hi-Fi is NOT a subjective hobby.

    Do you know what "objectively" means? Is there a metric for imaging? Out of all the qualities we attribute to a system, imaging is perhaps the most subjectively interpeted and most difficult to quantity. To many listeners it is also of the least importance.
  5. analogsa

    Best phono stage?

    Oh, cmon, you cannot possibly be so uninterested in other manufacturers products. Prima Luna examples. The film caps are there only to reduce the switching spikes. The diodes only blockers are only good for offsets exceeding 0.7v, still sufficient for reasonably well designed toroids.
  6. analogsa

    Best phono stage?

    Nothing i enjoy. Equally true of the versions with caps or just diodes. The ones with caps are also super sensitive to the cap audio quality. The issue of humming toroids is also unpleasant, so i guess one has to choose their own poison. My choice is a toroid designed for low flux density which...
  7. analogsa

    Best phono stage?

    DC blockers are another can of worms, never liked what they do to the sound.
  8. analogsa

    Kuzma Stabi R compared to a Garrard 301/401??

    Please do tell more. Never heard that term.
  9. analogsa

    Allnic's AUT-8000 Step UP Transformer now with variable impedance loading!

    And better resistors. Overall, much sexier look from the outside.
  10. analogsa

    Kuzma Stabi R compared to a Garrard 301/401??

    IME and obviously according to my taste it is the slate and not the Garrard that is responsible for: "The Garrard can overwhelm sometimes with certain records and get fatiguing and slightly harsh, too in your face and too ruthless with poor recordings" A Garrard on wood sounds nothing like...
  11. analogsa

    Kuzma Stabi R compared to a Garrard 301/401??

    What is the plinth on the Garrard? Material? Construction?
  12. analogsa

    Are Ethernet tweaks/gimmicks turning out to be like the same in the USB space?

    IME disconnecting from both sides is much preferable than just from the dac. I guess between the two possible hypotheses explaining the audibility of LAN infrastructure i have chosen the one dealing with noise, both transmitted and radiated.
  13. analogsa

    Are Ethernet tweaks/gimmicks turning out to be like the same in the USB space?

    I've written exactly the same a long time ago but nobody paid any attention. Not as sexy as adding a couple more switches and replacing an upstream ethernet cable. At the same time extremely sobering. One small thing: when disconnecting the ethernet in the experiment make sure both ends have...
  14. analogsa

    Preamp shootout...Predictions on which will be the best?

    It is easy to peek under the Oppo's lid and see how little connection to reality this fantasy bears. Not only is the attenuation not passive, it is also digital, courtesy of the Sabre chip. Downstream there are a bunch of opamps, enough to exceed the signal path length of whatever is inside...
  15. analogsa

    Volume Attenuation and low volume listening

    Looks like some responses to the thread do not discuss digital vs analogue attenuation but whether an active pre should be used vs a direct connection to amp. Not the same.
  16. analogsa

    Volume Attenuation and low volume listening

    Even the earliest Sabre chips did attenuation using 48 bit maths. How many bits do you expect shedded this way?
  17. analogsa

    Volume Attenuation and low volume listening

    Not imho. Well implemented digital attenuation sounds more transparent to me than even a premium resistive attenuator with just two resistors per position. Definitely less euphonic though. Which doesn't mean I find a direct connection between dac and power amp desirable. A preamp is still...
  18. analogsa

    Robert Koda K160 Amps are on their way finally!

    Back of the napkin calculations say that the amps biased at 8.6A and having 64v rails will easily meet the 8 and 4 ohm ratings. The 2ohm is more problematic but not by a huge margin. As these are topologically 2 SE amps per channel, each has to produce only a quarter of the full power. It is...
  19. analogsa

    Classification of some top SS amps (brands)

    Could you please post links to the patents? Google is unable to locate even basic technical description related to these amps. And rather unusually, despite the huge claimed power, distortion is only quoted at a power level of 1(one) watt.
  20. analogsa

    VAC Master preamp vs ARC Ref 6SE

    Surely the 12AX7s are not in the line stage, right?
  21. analogsa

    Ageto Pre-Amplifier & QuintEssence TriodeFET Amplifier

    A way to address this is perhaps by defining what is a single stage amplifier. Can a triode driving an array of transistors be called a single stage? Is Broskie's circuit really a single stage? It cannot easily be scaled up for any reasonable power anyway. I have no agenda here, i really...
  22. analogsa

    Ageto Pre-Amplifier & QuintEssence TriodeFET Amplifier

    Not sure about this at all. Single stage often means a single voltage gain stage. Or it may mean a single stage which combines voltage with current gain. This last one may be a bit tricky to prove as being single. A TriodeFet could mean anything.
  23. analogsa

    Ageto Pre-Amplifier & QuintEssence TriodeFET Amplifier

    Yet, these cute terms, apart from "single ended" are not defined in any meaningful way; they could mean anything you want them to.
  24. analogsa

    Bitcoin

    Time to get them primed for another pump and dump?
  25. analogsa

    JLSounds USB, which DAC manufacturers use it?

    My opinion as well. Have tried all the available usb/i2s boards and this is the winner, especially when coupled to their oscillator board and using nice oscillators. And the variety of output formats makes it extremely versatile.
  26. analogsa

    Massif Audio Design racks incoming, and......

    Have to admit I am a little baffled by this thread. Ok, gorgeous wood perhaps, but how do these racks counter the overbearing sonic signature of wood? From the pics its impossible to tell. Magic footers do all the work?
  27. analogsa

    Innuos Statement: Nextgen vs Non-Nextgen

    In addition to the chokes the pictures show different approaches to rectification. The Nextgen has replaced the multiple TO220 diodes with synchronous rectifiers, a significant step forward in SQ imho.
  28. analogsa

    Atma-Sphere Class D Mono blocks

    Not Ralph here, but also find the topic interesting. Non switching amps at least, are very sensitive to being loaded. If you measure the unloaded voltage output of practically any amp you would be amazed at how low the distortion is. Once current starts flowing though, the picture changes...
  29. analogsa

    Audio Note UK vs Audio Japan Sonic Differences

    It was not a critique, just an observation. Replacing the coupling caps is not optional as the leakage they eventually develop can take a tube and even the output transformer.
  30. analogsa

    Audio Note UK vs Audio Japan Sonic Differences

    This particular pair is perhaps not a great illustration as it has clearly been modified with russian coupling caps.

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