If I were to explain my particular feelings about the audio hobby, I would declare that in my life, tubes, vinyl, kitties, and pooches have all too much in common: I love them all dearly. . . but only in my friends' homes whenever I pay them a visit.
My particular interest is the musical and sonic beauty that can be achieved through non-computer-based digital front ends, solid state preamplification, greenish low bias class A/B or class D power conversion, followed by speakers and wiring to complement the foregoing.
I do not seek the holy grail of 'tube' like sound, the holy Land of 'analog', nor the imaginary replication of that 'live venue' where I likely never have set foot in my life.
Having been involved in making or listening to music in one form or another since I was a child, I am of the opinion that recorded music reproduction today both falls short and exceeds the limits of 'live' music. It is both an engineering discipline and an art form that aspires more to becoming congruent with the original item than to reproduce it faithfully. Hence I am perfectly happy to hear greater harmonic development from a recorded grand piano than what I am likely to experience in a live concert while sitting 50 feet away from the instrument. Yet, I do grow uncomfortable if I detect intermodulation that originates from the speakers rather than from apparent psychoacoustic effects that seem to radiate from the middle of my head. Furthermore, subjectively emphasized or troughed regions of the spectrum do drive me to distraction. If my ideal sound is deemed to be but a Goldilockian fantasy, so be it of course.
While my ideals are of necessity as tempered by my financial limits as they are by practicality and available technology, my current real system and parenthetic dreams consist of the following components:
1. TEAC Esoteric X-01 Limited [perhaps sometimes to be replaced by D2 variant?];
2. Jeff Rowland Criterion linestage (true bedrock that is here to stay);
3. Jeff Rowland Model 312 stereo amp [eventually to be rplaced by Rowland Model 925]
4. Vienna Mahler V1.5 speakers [eventually to be replaced by Vienna Die Muzick]
5. Shunyata Aurora ICs and speakerwires (likely bedrock);
6. Shunyata King Cobra CX power cords (likely bedrock).
If the reader detected my partiality to Esoteric, Rowland, Vienna, and Shunyata brands, I have no compunction confirming this somewhat obvious reality. The fact is that I have found the combination of the brands and components listed above to be by far the most synergistic with my quest for the filigreed intensity of well reproduced classical music. My preference for Vienna and Rowland are reflected in my 2008 (issue 188) TAS review of the Vienna Mahler speaker and related sidebar on JRDG 312.
While I have listened to live and recorded music since I was a child, learned to play piano, sing, and even studied 3 years of classical composition at college, I ended graduating in computer science and spent over 2 and half decades at IBM working in Canada and the US, in the research/development/testing domains--initially of compiler construction--then soon in accessibility for persons with disabilities. When I was surprised by my own retirement from IBM in February of 2009 (thank you President Bush, but next time please do me no favors until I ask), I have been working as a consultant for TecAccess LLC in the accessibility compliance domain, for Jeff Rowland Design Group in technical/markcom content creation for the upcoming jeffrowland.com web site refresh, and writing equipment review articles for Positive-Feedback Online.
In my spare time, of which I do not seem to have too much, whenever I am not arguing online on some obscure point of audiophrenic passing interest, I am trying to teach myself to play the flugelhorn.. . but that is yet another story.
I can be always reached by email at:
guidoc@austin.rr.com
Best regards, Guido
My particular interest is the musical and sonic beauty that can be achieved through non-computer-based digital front ends, solid state preamplification, greenish low bias class A/B or class D power conversion, followed by speakers and wiring to complement the foregoing.
I do not seek the holy grail of 'tube' like sound, the holy Land of 'analog', nor the imaginary replication of that 'live venue' where I likely never have set foot in my life.
Having been involved in making or listening to music in one form or another since I was a child, I am of the opinion that recorded music reproduction today both falls short and exceeds the limits of 'live' music. It is both an engineering discipline and an art form that aspires more to becoming congruent with the original item than to reproduce it faithfully. Hence I am perfectly happy to hear greater harmonic development from a recorded grand piano than what I am likely to experience in a live concert while sitting 50 feet away from the instrument. Yet, I do grow uncomfortable if I detect intermodulation that originates from the speakers rather than from apparent psychoacoustic effects that seem to radiate from the middle of my head. Furthermore, subjectively emphasized or troughed regions of the spectrum do drive me to distraction. If my ideal sound is deemed to be but a Goldilockian fantasy, so be it of course.
While my ideals are of necessity as tempered by my financial limits as they are by practicality and available technology, my current real system and parenthetic dreams consist of the following components:
1. TEAC Esoteric X-01 Limited [perhaps sometimes to be replaced by D2 variant?];
2. Jeff Rowland Criterion linestage (true bedrock that is here to stay);
3. Jeff Rowland Model 312 stereo amp [eventually to be rplaced by Rowland Model 925]
4. Vienna Mahler V1.5 speakers [eventually to be replaced by Vienna Die Muzick]
5. Shunyata Aurora ICs and speakerwires (likely bedrock);
6. Shunyata King Cobra CX power cords (likely bedrock).
If the reader detected my partiality to Esoteric, Rowland, Vienna, and Shunyata brands, I have no compunction confirming this somewhat obvious reality. The fact is that I have found the combination of the brands and components listed above to be by far the most synergistic with my quest for the filigreed intensity of well reproduced classical music. My preference for Vienna and Rowland are reflected in my 2008 (issue 188) TAS review of the Vienna Mahler speaker and related sidebar on JRDG 312.
While I have listened to live and recorded music since I was a child, learned to play piano, sing, and even studied 3 years of classical composition at college, I ended graduating in computer science and spent over 2 and half decades at IBM working in Canada and the US, in the research/development/testing domains--initially of compiler construction--then soon in accessibility for persons with disabilities. When I was surprised by my own retirement from IBM in February of 2009 (thank you President Bush, but next time please do me no favors until I ask), I have been working as a consultant for TecAccess LLC in the accessibility compliance domain, for Jeff Rowland Design Group in technical/markcom content creation for the upcoming jeffrowland.com web site refresh, and writing equipment review articles for Positive-Feedback Online.
In my spare time, of which I do not seem to have too much, whenever I am not arguing online on some obscure point of audiophrenic passing interest, I am trying to teach myself to play the flugelhorn.. . but that is yet another story.
I can be always reached by email at:
guidoc@austin.rr.com
Best regards, Guido
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