Natural Sound

[rando]

There are like 6 concert halls in the vicinity. I had Southbank at 20 minutes walk from work, Barbican at 25, and wigmore at 1 hour.

Refreshing, much of the world seems to have misplaced any hint of activity that might get the blood flowing preceding making or consuming music of exceptional quality. Mud stained knees at choir practice and orchestra sections coming back in sporting freshly blooming bruises contributed to more than a few revered bodies awesome reputation in concert.

Thank you for the YT channel recommendation as well.

Edit: To add a hint of topical content. PeterA skipping his Dark & Stormy's to rush home and put on music is another behavior fitting this mold.

 

[Audiophile Bill]

In that case i would build myself a "Japanese stereo set" a la 47 Lab...
Near field monitors and a MicroZotl kind of amp.... just the thought to be without.... brrrrr

Proper beer at last

 

[Lagonda]

That was never the case. Many of my reports are of multiple visits, chasing components in different set ups, planning revisits and what to compare. Many of the set ups are done by those experts at setting it up so I get to see a component optimized (as well as broken) And there are still many experts in the pipeline. This is not rocket science. Listening is easy once set up if you follow a process. Most people just don't know what to play for audition and have too many preconceived notions before listening, but the listening part is actually easy.

Keep in mind I was one of the earliest on Lampi which is the most loved digital, and was talking about the vdh Stradivarius 1 year before David found it and introduced to Tang and it became famous on the forum. The tad 4003 is much better than a Cessaro driver and it is surprising to me most people haven't got it. The Altec woofers are recommended by JC and team. As I said, listening is easy you just need to find the people and listen and want to know what the component does rather than just come here and post random stuff to back a statement made with lesser knowledge. Set up requires sensibility. People get set up wrong because they are religious, like wanting to match the wrong component just because. 95 percent of the purchases in this forum are without listening, by following a review or a random stranger on the net who people decide to follow because they connect on some posts. Most people who own gear have never heard their component properly

I certainly don't doubt your listening skills, in general i trust your findings, but i would personally go crazy if i did not have some kind of system set up for home listening, even a humble one .

 

[bonzo75]

I certainly don't doubt your listening skills, in general i trust your findings, but i would personally go crazy if i did not have some kind of system set up for home listening, even a humble one .

actually i just don’t have time for home listening. I also find daily listening unhealthy, i used to start an experiment on the system after coming home from work, then get stuck on it till night forgetting gym social life etc. Now I get to be an intense audiophile on short chosen period, get to listen to music at concerts, and think I by audiophile standards am super fit (Bill is super strong, that’s different)

 

[bonzo75]

I certainly don't doubt your listening skills, in general i trust your findings, but i would personally go crazy if i did not have some kind of system set up for home listening, even a humble one .

and again if people applied sensibility and process, listening is easy. Sensibility and process is difficult.

 

[jeff1225]

The purpose of gear is gear.

There are like 6 concert halls in the vicinity. I had Southbank at 20 minutes walk from work, Barbican at 25, and wigmore at 1 hour. Not to mention three others, one of which I traveled regularly to Oxford and always caught a live concert on a holiday. Gear is to tweak. Unless one lives in those towns where there are no concerts. Plus, UK is subsidized tickets compared to US

You have it totally wrong. The purpose of gear is to play music.

 

[wil]

Why do you assume more texture is due to distortion...real instruments have a lot of texture...

Good question. I felt what I was hearing was a slightly exaggerated texture from the LTA. The LTA also seemed to play a little slower than the Bakoon. My analogy was the Bakoon sounded like the band got a good nights sleep and just had a nice espresso. The tube base LTA sounded more like the band had been on the road for two months and just had another round at the bar. Both sound good.

 

[bonzo75]

Wel i stand corrected, to me it looked like a lot of short visits with intense a/b comparisons with the intent of finding the "best" components in each category. I do like your openness to all topology's (except Zu ) very refreshing compared to the SET only crowd. But i think you are missing out on a lot of pleasure/pride of ownership and fun of developing your own system. It is nice to go out to gather appetite, but the well cooked meal at home is really good too. You search for perfection to the point of missing out on part of the fun.

do you think when you A/b same components in different systems you will not learn anything about the system and only the component?
If I wanted a home cooked meal I would just buy tannoys

 

[Lampie519]

The tube base LTA sounded more like the band had been on the road for two months and just had another round at the bar.

You should have joint them

What LTA are you refering to may i ask?

 

[wil]

You should have joint them

What LTA are you refering to may i ask?

LTA MZ3

 

[Lampie519]

LTA MZ3

MicroZotl, ok...
This one has a limited quality input stage... not high end , but not bad either. It must not be compared with high end amps of a different level. The Zotl topology is naturally making up for this....
So if you want a Zotl with high end status you should then omit the input stage and connect a balanced source directly to the output tubes (6SN7 in your case).

 

[Lagonda]

MicroZotl, ok...
This one has a limited quality input stage... not high end , but not bad either. It must not be compared with high end amps of a different level. The Zotl topology is naturally making up for this....
So if you want a Zotl with high end status you should then omit the input stage and connect a balanced source directly to the output tubes (6SN7 in your case).

Is that the famous Samsonite Zotl, or the beginning of a suitcase bomb ?

 

[bonzo75]

MicroZotl, ok...
This one has a limited quality input stage... not high end , but not bad either. It must not be compared with high end amps of a different level. The Zotl topology is naturally making up for this....
So if you want a Zotl with high end status you should then omit the input stage and connect a balanced source directly to the output tubes (6SN7 in your case).

the big Zotl

Berning (Compared to Einstein and Vitus), Audio Machina – Zero Distortion

zero-distortion.org

 

[Lampie519]

Is that the famous Samsonite Zotl, or the beginning of a suitcase bomb ?

I wouldn't even try to pass airport security with this "hand luggage" in my possession LOL

 

[Lampie519]

the big Zotl

Interesting review ! I would think that a Zotl as preamp could be bettered by a good designed preamp in the same price range , it seems that i was mistaken... So even the MZ preamp technology is "standard" (in my view) it could equal or surpass the much pricier competition, wow... For me it does not say anything about the Zotl but more about the competition ....

 

[bonzo75]

Interesting review ! I would think that a Zotl as preamp could be bettered by a good designed preamp in the same price range , it seems that i was mistaken... So even the MZ preamp technology is "standard" (in my view) it could equal or surpass the much pricier competition, wow... For me it does not say anything about the Zotl but more about the competition

at higher price you will find good ones. my recommendation there was to keep this till you find a great one that way one doesn’t need to keep spending on every new toy.
In SS preamps I love the soulution when coupled with a valve power amp on a non horn system, the audio net stern is fantastic with the Heisenberg, and my favourite valve preamp is Thomas Mayer 10y

 

[bonzo75]

I wouldn't even try to pass airport security with this "hand luggage" in my possession LOL

i was once stopped to check the Dalby record weight by Eurostar security. He took it to his manager. Luckily the manager wasn’t an audiophile so gave it back to me and let me go

 

[Bobvin]

and again if people applied sensibility and process, listening is easy. Sensibility and process is difficult.

I for one would love to hear about your process? Maybe in another thread... I'm always curious how different people approach hearing and evaluating a system.

 

[Lagonda]

i was once stopped to check the Dalby record weight by Eurostar security. He took it to his manager. Luckily the manager wasn’t an audiophile so gave it back to me and let me go

Early 90's i moved a complete stereo system from Denmark to Florida, as regular luggage, 200lbs of electronics and Martin Logan CLS speakers, without paying extra luggage charges or having it checked, and only holding a tourist visa ! Times have changed !

 

[Kingrex]

You really need to try the SIT-3 on your system.

I think were going to see class A SS fall from its pedestal in the not to distant future.