The Mscaler definitely is worth the investment. It takes good recordings to another level, but also really improves poor recordings, making them much more natural and enjoyable.
Audionet Scientist Series: Humboldt Integrated vs Stern and Heisenberg Separates : Having Your Cake and Eating it Too?
- Thread starter musicfirst1
- Start date
Yes the big plus is to be able to listen to poor recordings like early Dead can Dance albums for example.
The Audionet Humboldt is my end game preamp+amp. It plays with the +$100k big boys for only (gasp) $55k. The best bang for buck price performance without sacrificing sound quality.
That, sir, is a monster review from a monster magazine. I think that the Humboldt, for me, competes with separates at (many) multiples of its asking price.
Other Humboldt reviews
TAS Matthew Clott:
www.theabsolutesound.com
TAS Greg Weaver
www.theabsolutesound.com
www.theabsolutesound.com
TAS Matthew Clott:
Audionet Humboldt Integrated Amplifier - The Absolute Sound
Audionet Humboldt Integrated Amplifier - This massive integrated amp attempts to offer the performance of Audionet’s Stern and Heisenberg separates in a single box. Matthew Clott reports.
www.theabsolutesound.com
TAS Greg Weaver
Product Preview: Audionet Humboldt Integrated Amplifier - The Absolute Sound
Product Preview: Audionet Humboldt Integrated Amplifier -
www.theabsolutesound.com
Audionet Stern Linestage and Heisenberg Monoblocks - The Absolute Sound
Audionet Stern Linestage and Heisenberg Monoblocks -
www.theabsolutesound.com
I missed Matthew Clotts remarkable review. It is a classic and should be a model for other reviewers out there.
Heard the Humboldt today and I was stunned 
. I can be enthusiastic by our shared hobby but this time I was shocked: a new class of audio has been born. From now on we have solid state, tubes and Audionet Humboldt. I know that the Heisenbergs have to be better still but I just cannot imagine how. WOW
. I can be enthusiastic by our shared hobby but this time I was shocked: a new class of audio has been born. From now on we have solid state, tubes and Audionet Humboldt. I know that the Heisenbergs have to be better still but I just cannot imagine how. WOWInterested to know what the rest of the system was, and most importantly, if you're buying??Heard the Humboldt today and I was stunned
Hi, I took my Nagra CD-player with me and a Furutech nanoflux NCF power cable. Don’t remeber the interlinks or speaker cables. PC cable on the Humboldt was an Audioquest from the top line (don’t remember which one). Loudspeakers werd Focal Scala Utopia Evo which have aprox the same specifications as my own Kef 207/2. And your question: yes, if all works out (trade in / of sale of my own amps etc.) I am going to buy it next Month. It simply is too good to pass. When I got home yesterday I just could not bring myself to connect my cd-player in my own set. Hopefully I will “manage” that today. The Humboldt should even be better at my place connected to the Furutech pure power 6 E NCF and Elrod Master Diamond loudspeaker cables. Can’t wait. Big thank you to W&W audio for giving me the opportunity to hear this beauty. They left me to it for two hours without any interruption (only to refill my cup of coffee).
Great choice! i also think it's the best integrated on the market today and i've heard most of them including Vitus SIA-030.Hi, I took my Nagra CD-player with me and a Furutech nanoflux NCF power cable. Don’t remeber the interlinks or speaker cables. PC cable on the Humboldt was an Audioquest from the top line (don’t remember which one). Loudspeakers werd Focal Scala Utopia Evo which have aprox the same specifications as my own Kef 207/2. And your question: yes, if all works out (trade in / of sale of my own amps etc.) I am going to buy it next Month. It simply is too good to pass. When I got home yesterday I just could not bring myself to connect my cd-player in my own set. Hopefully I will “manage” that today. The Humboldt should even be better at my place connected to the Furutech pure power 6 E NCF and Elrod Master Diamond loudspeaker cables. Can’t wait. Big thank you to W&W audio for giving me the opportunity to hear this beauty. They left me to it for two hours without any interruption (only to refill my cup of coffee).
Hopefully i can afford it one day.
Did you directly compare the Humboldt against other amps?Heard the Humboldt today and I was stunned
And if yes, what were the other amps?
Hi, no, I instantly fell in love with both sound and vision. No need to look any further.
Not a Humboldt comparison, but the Heisenbergs were the first amps I heard that bettered my Berning Quadrature Z's, and by a significant margin. When choosing the Bernings, I listened to a lot of amps (CH, D'Agostino, MacIntosh, Dartzeel, Ayre, Vitus, Burmester).
Similar on the pre-amp side of things - the Stern was only bettered by CH L1 + X1, comparing to VTL, Vitus, Bespoke, Mayer, Soulution etc.
I wish I had the 42000,- Euros I paid for my Vitus SIA025+SS025 biamping combo.......without counting the XLR - connecting cable from Göbel between the two.
That is big news!!! Many congrats and best wishes!!! I look forward to reading about how they fare in your system when they arrive!!! I have spoken with numerous people about the Audionets, and have heard nothing but superlatives from people whose ears I trust.Hi, I took my Nagra CD-player with me and a Furutech nanoflux NCF power cable. Don’t remeber the interlinks or speaker cables. PC cable on the Humboldt was an Audioquest from the top line (don’t remember which one). Loudspeakers werd Focal Scala Utopia Evo which have aprox the same specifications as my own Kef 207/2. And your question: yes, if all works out (trade in / of sale of my own amps etc.) I am going to buy it next Month. It simply is too good to pass. When I got home yesterday I just could not bring myself to connect my cd-player in my own set. Hopefully I will “manage” that today. The Humboldt should even be better at my place connected to the Furutech pure power 6 E NCF and Elrod Master Diamond loudspeaker cables. Can’t wait. Big thank you to W&W audio for giving me the opportunity to hear this beauty. They left me to it for two hours without any interruption (only to refill my cup of coffee).
Wow! FAST! That is even better news! I have to say Audionet is very high on my list on designs to hear: Audionet Scientist Series, Boulder 3000 series, CH 10 series
The Audionet is easy to arrange! Paul thinks you'd like them ;-)
More seriously, a compare to the CH 10 series would be interesting. I much preferred Stern / Heisenberg to CH L1 + X1 & M1 monos. The Audionet was considerably more dynamic so always made listening to music an event. It gave up very little by way of other hifi attributes despite the lower cost either.
Hi Heihei,
I have a lot of respect for Paul's ear...he knows his trade very well. And he is utterly committed to super-elite level performance.
As for CH 10, yes from everything I have ever read, heard or been told directly, the 10 series excels at tonal density which is particularly intriguing to me. Interesting comment about Audionet dynamics relative to L1/X1/M1...adds some further insight into other comments I have heard from owners of the L1/X1/M1 series.