Hello and thank you for creating this community that I followed for years before I feel I could post,
I enjoyed the debates and arguments that encouraged me to keep looking deeper when I was doing something. I listened to music on my father's mid-fi system that still works strong nowadays and enjoyed it, and as we moved on later in a remote place where the locals greetings were rusty nails or screws in our tires, or blackout at christmas (while almost all was cut), and others happy things that gave salt to life, music was a way to escape.
The arrival of Amazon in France while criticized helped to develop hugely the country and gave the freedom of choice and showed it was possible to order something better instead of the usual junk or lower quality products found in shops even in big cities, except maybe Paris or overly expensive shops. Funny thing is that criticize of Amazon forgot the supermarkets had way worst terms of sale and work conditions for decades, and developed online shopping in France allowing us to get great deals and that's how I started my own hifi, first with few hundreds of euros, at a time where even cd were quite forgotten. I remember visiting and purchasing at a big records shop that sold long time ago due to lack of clients in the big city around, and everybody talk was mp3. It was a surprise to find that some people were still looking for quality and tried there too, however, the old mid-fi from my father still sounded better, so I went more into a higher class of products and that's where my audio path really starts.
Trying new kind of products, reading about gear, cables and such, it got me curious as I felt the gear unless I went into a quite expensive area where not that well made and sellers didn't seems to know much or to have a very large vocabulary, some sellers telling me the same story about the signal making tons of move while their hands were going into zigzag in the air. All I got from here is that I was a mouse trapped into a consumer circuit and I was gonna go the full way from entry level to high end level, each time paying, reselling and so on until I can't/don't want more, having filled my consumer circuit. So okay, thought I, let's listen to the best or to the quite very high end then, let's see what it have for itself because I didn't feel like settling on products that wouldn't satisfy me but more likely create the need for something else thinking how nice this product is but it lack in this or that. So, I went onto listening sessions and I enjoyed them but it wasn't until I listened to a system that my path changed. I never asked the singer nor the song it was. It was delicate, all the details were here, you could feel the voice, everything was beautiful and gorgeous, when the singer was singing, it was crystal clear yet in my head, the singer had a blue skin, always turning even more pale, until I realize my mind was figuring the singer as dead then that it was a skeleton singing. Yet, it was so pretty to listen to, it was quite shivering to achieve this level of details, of reproduction but it was missing soul and charm, it actually felt like too much that was really possible (thank goodness, I listened to opera, string instruments concerts and such, and also visited some studios thanks to a music teacher and so on). All the others factors were totally amped. So, I looked out into what the sellers themselves were using and what used to be the pinnacle in the old days.
The issue of being young is that curiosity is easily killed when you are told that elder things are always overtaken in quality by newer products, so cd were the better way to listen to music to analog, then dac and dsd. I remember emptying the whole collection of vinyls (deep purple originals and lots of others) of my uncle and aunt to make space for my grand parents (if I knew!! if I had been a bit more humble ! But no ! I had to feel smug about being in the digital era while some others were hardly trying to make their analog system working to feel good for themselves). So, founding out that sellers were using vintage (high end) or others products that weren't always in stores, I looked more into vintage, looked more how all was working, if I was to pay something, I wanted at least to control where it was going and what I was gonna get so I made more in more researches, then got some good old gear mainly from old Nelson Pass, some Hiraga diy gear as well, or japanese brands to get some culture and enjoyment at the same time. I was always sure that dac and cd players were the way to go but once I got a system decent enough, I tried to get a good Micro Seiki turntable, and its vintage cartridge and that was quite a shock I didn't expect. I had only listen to some vinyl decks and even some pricy ones didn't feel so interesting but the build quality and the sound were a game changer, that and that MA-505 with its craftsmanship. From that point, hardly, I learnt a bit more of humility, and ordered a whole lot of books of old japanese reviews, audio memos from some high end brand designers, to learn more about what I was missing and why my generation skipped the vinyl when if properly made, it could sound so realistic, at least to my ears.
Music is quieting me and allowing me to focus, it's quite a need from darker younger time so I kept pursuing into this direction, and experimented on others products such as Saec, Fidelity Research, Audio Technica and so on. Sound was great and I am not sure what I was really looking for actually but nowadays, it helps me since I totally changed again of direction, and I prefer to skip all the details of what I got, especially I wrote long enough and hope not to bore any of you. Yet, I missed a lot of products and somewhere in my mind, I still wonder about Audio Craft tonearms, or others but I can't try it all nor keep it all. FInally, I tried on fuse and speaker cables, ic cables and learnt about cable science more seriously and here is where I had the biggest headache to try to grasp around knowledge of physics and metal science, along electricity. Yet, it seems to be more a matter of length and environment first in the case of building or choosing those cables (and I feel lucky when I read about some of you having meters and meters of audio cables to grab). For now, my system got much more simple : the source is a Micro Seiki LC-80W mc low output with audio tekne lead wires, a carbon spacer with a panzerholz spacer (for damping) with a Phase Tech headshell. The tonearm is a Saec WE-308L (I use the spacers also to add weight as I feel it helps a lot with the bass also, 308L is a very capable tonearm and while some people might not like its geometry, it sounds beautiful - for instance viv lab tonearms doesn't respect all but sounds good as well so there is more to discover about it). Yet, I am gonna change it to know more. The phono preamp is a Phase Tech EA-3, yet I used before or still, an Audio Craft PE-5000 (beautiful sound as well, as it should, not a Kaneda design for once but it was the proud base for the mighty PE-6000, yet it might be non nfb preamp while 6000 is with nfb) with a transformer that is now gone but I am still wondering to keep the Audio Craft or not...The turntable itself is a project in progress based on the writing of Micro Seiki creator that was told to some reviewer so I prefer not to introduce it yet as it's for now very modest. It all goes into a passive controller from Rotel, the RHC-10 then to a first watt M2 and finally onto some Heresy I got to try out the high rendering and viability of this system based on non nfb circuit.
The cables used for ic are made of western electric and I use Saec SPC-850 for speaker cables. The first watt m2 won't allow I think for a system with long lengths of cables but I love its tonality, yet the SIT is also in my mind, begging me to build it and try it to compare...It's very enjoyable and maybe later I'll dive into reel-to-reel with an Otari deck or go back a bit to digital, but there's enough into analog to discover (and it's possible to have clear sound too unlike what I have been fed as wrong info as a kid!). Having tried many apparels and keeping an active preamp in case I switch again, I see the difference between non nfb and nfb design as not as night and day difference, actually, the accuracy of both is quite on par with good circuits but to my opinion, I close my eyes easier and get more along with non nfb circuit but that's just me and I hardly see a non nfb circuit being able to feed more than few meters of cables as well, nor anything but high efficiency speakers or at least speakers aimed a bit at this realm. There are many more tweaks and power cables to dig in, as well as getting other speakers but I am quite content with this system to say the least and the view of my dear wife (one of my headshell is made of a wood that is her first name) dancing along or enjoying this system really cheer me up and warm up my heart.
I forgot to add I have eyes on phasemation new products such as EA-550, but I'll see for vacuum and hopefully one day, to own some Audio Tekne stuff. So far, I also use Yamamoto record weight, Final Audio VM-7 (the original model, chrome copper not the full copper copy), a fo.q 1mm mat and a UD-1 mat altogether but I wish I was puting something between the Final Audio mat and the UD-1 as I would love to reduce resonances if there are still some (should be) from the Final Audio not to go to the UD-1. Also, the carbon mat from Audio Tekne interest me a lot but I am not sure which is best.
I love luxury and high end about everything and enjoy knowing how it's being made, that's why this forum appeal me, however I only listened to mass market high end, so what you consider high end for audio, I call it more likely luxury and I feel there's a big difference between both. I only wish my wallet was bigger when I see some of your rooms or audio gear.
I enjoyed the debates and arguments that encouraged me to keep looking deeper when I was doing something. I listened to music on my father's mid-fi system that still works strong nowadays and enjoyed it, and as we moved on later in a remote place where the locals greetings were rusty nails or screws in our tires, or blackout at christmas (while almost all was cut), and others happy things that gave salt to life, music was a way to escape.
The arrival of Amazon in France while criticized helped to develop hugely the country and gave the freedom of choice and showed it was possible to order something better instead of the usual junk or lower quality products found in shops even in big cities, except maybe Paris or overly expensive shops. Funny thing is that criticize of Amazon forgot the supermarkets had way worst terms of sale and work conditions for decades, and developed online shopping in France allowing us to get great deals and that's how I started my own hifi, first with few hundreds of euros, at a time where even cd were quite forgotten. I remember visiting and purchasing at a big records shop that sold long time ago due to lack of clients in the big city around, and everybody talk was mp3. It was a surprise to find that some people were still looking for quality and tried there too, however, the old mid-fi from my father still sounded better, so I went more into a higher class of products and that's where my audio path really starts.
Trying new kind of products, reading about gear, cables and such, it got me curious as I felt the gear unless I went into a quite expensive area where not that well made and sellers didn't seems to know much or to have a very large vocabulary, some sellers telling me the same story about the signal making tons of move while their hands were going into zigzag in the air. All I got from here is that I was a mouse trapped into a consumer circuit and I was gonna go the full way from entry level to high end level, each time paying, reselling and so on until I can't/don't want more, having filled my consumer circuit. So okay, thought I, let's listen to the best or to the quite very high end then, let's see what it have for itself because I didn't feel like settling on products that wouldn't satisfy me but more likely create the need for something else thinking how nice this product is but it lack in this or that. So, I went onto listening sessions and I enjoyed them but it wasn't until I listened to a system that my path changed. I never asked the singer nor the song it was. It was delicate, all the details were here, you could feel the voice, everything was beautiful and gorgeous, when the singer was singing, it was crystal clear yet in my head, the singer had a blue skin, always turning even more pale, until I realize my mind was figuring the singer as dead then that it was a skeleton singing. Yet, it was so pretty to listen to, it was quite shivering to achieve this level of details, of reproduction but it was missing soul and charm, it actually felt like too much that was really possible (thank goodness, I listened to opera, string instruments concerts and such, and also visited some studios thanks to a music teacher and so on). All the others factors were totally amped. So, I looked out into what the sellers themselves were using and what used to be the pinnacle in the old days.
The issue of being young is that curiosity is easily killed when you are told that elder things are always overtaken in quality by newer products, so cd were the better way to listen to music to analog, then dac and dsd. I remember emptying the whole collection of vinyls (deep purple originals and lots of others) of my uncle and aunt to make space for my grand parents (if I knew!! if I had been a bit more humble ! But no ! I had to feel smug about being in the digital era while some others were hardly trying to make their analog system working to feel good for themselves). So, founding out that sellers were using vintage (high end) or others products that weren't always in stores, I looked more into vintage, looked more how all was working, if I was to pay something, I wanted at least to control where it was going and what I was gonna get so I made more in more researches, then got some good old gear mainly from old Nelson Pass, some Hiraga diy gear as well, or japanese brands to get some culture and enjoyment at the same time. I was always sure that dac and cd players were the way to go but once I got a system decent enough, I tried to get a good Micro Seiki turntable, and its vintage cartridge and that was quite a shock I didn't expect. I had only listen to some vinyl decks and even some pricy ones didn't feel so interesting but the build quality and the sound were a game changer, that and that MA-505 with its craftsmanship. From that point, hardly, I learnt a bit more of humility, and ordered a whole lot of books of old japanese reviews, audio memos from some high end brand designers, to learn more about what I was missing and why my generation skipped the vinyl when if properly made, it could sound so realistic, at least to my ears.
Music is quieting me and allowing me to focus, it's quite a need from darker younger time so I kept pursuing into this direction, and experimented on others products such as Saec, Fidelity Research, Audio Technica and so on. Sound was great and I am not sure what I was really looking for actually but nowadays, it helps me since I totally changed again of direction, and I prefer to skip all the details of what I got, especially I wrote long enough and hope not to bore any of you. Yet, I missed a lot of products and somewhere in my mind, I still wonder about Audio Craft tonearms, or others but I can't try it all nor keep it all. FInally, I tried on fuse and speaker cables, ic cables and learnt about cable science more seriously and here is where I had the biggest headache to try to grasp around knowledge of physics and metal science, along electricity. Yet, it seems to be more a matter of length and environment first in the case of building or choosing those cables (and I feel lucky when I read about some of you having meters and meters of audio cables to grab). For now, my system got much more simple : the source is a Micro Seiki LC-80W mc low output with audio tekne lead wires, a carbon spacer with a panzerholz spacer (for damping) with a Phase Tech headshell. The tonearm is a Saec WE-308L (I use the spacers also to add weight as I feel it helps a lot with the bass also, 308L is a very capable tonearm and while some people might not like its geometry, it sounds beautiful - for instance viv lab tonearms doesn't respect all but sounds good as well so there is more to discover about it). Yet, I am gonna change it to know more. The phono preamp is a Phase Tech EA-3, yet I used before or still, an Audio Craft PE-5000 (beautiful sound as well, as it should, not a Kaneda design for once but it was the proud base for the mighty PE-6000, yet it might be non nfb preamp while 6000 is with nfb) with a transformer that is now gone but I am still wondering to keep the Audio Craft or not...The turntable itself is a project in progress based on the writing of Micro Seiki creator that was told to some reviewer so I prefer not to introduce it yet as it's for now very modest. It all goes into a passive controller from Rotel, the RHC-10 then to a first watt M2 and finally onto some Heresy I got to try out the high rendering and viability of this system based on non nfb circuit.
The cables used for ic are made of western electric and I use Saec SPC-850 for speaker cables. The first watt m2 won't allow I think for a system with long lengths of cables but I love its tonality, yet the SIT is also in my mind, begging me to build it and try it to compare...It's very enjoyable and maybe later I'll dive into reel-to-reel with an Otari deck or go back a bit to digital, but there's enough into analog to discover (and it's possible to have clear sound too unlike what I have been fed as wrong info as a kid!). Having tried many apparels and keeping an active preamp in case I switch again, I see the difference between non nfb and nfb design as not as night and day difference, actually, the accuracy of both is quite on par with good circuits but to my opinion, I close my eyes easier and get more along with non nfb circuit but that's just me and I hardly see a non nfb circuit being able to feed more than few meters of cables as well, nor anything but high efficiency speakers or at least speakers aimed a bit at this realm. There are many more tweaks and power cables to dig in, as well as getting other speakers but I am quite content with this system to say the least and the view of my dear wife (one of my headshell is made of a wood that is her first name) dancing along or enjoying this system really cheer me up and warm up my heart.
I forgot to add I have eyes on phasemation new products such as EA-550, but I'll see for vacuum and hopefully one day, to own some Audio Tekne stuff. So far, I also use Yamamoto record weight, Final Audio VM-7 (the original model, chrome copper not the full copper copy), a fo.q 1mm mat and a UD-1 mat altogether but I wish I was puting something between the Final Audio mat and the UD-1 as I would love to reduce resonances if there are still some (should be) from the Final Audio not to go to the UD-1. Also, the carbon mat from Audio Tekne interest me a lot but I am not sure which is best.
I love luxury and high end about everything and enjoy knowing how it's being made, that's why this forum appeal me, however I only listened to mass market high end, so what you consider high end for audio, I call it more likely luxury and I feel there's a big difference between both. I only wish my wallet was bigger when I see some of your rooms or audio gear.
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