What a junk of babling BS. Sorry for my language, but this is just another hifi component, so what’s the big deal?! Just unpack and lift the the component on to the the rack or whatever… It’s not a piece from outer space!! Just use some real muscle and don’t stand whining, and the job is done in a jiffy… Easy Peasy as One Two Three..!

/ Jk
And now tell Ralph wat we think about his cartridge loading nonsense ! ;)
 
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My wife contends that a 300% pricier component producing a 30% improvement is a sign of 3000% listener insanity.
It's all a matter of where you place the decimal points.
Does she shop for wants? Politely use an analogy back on her. ;-)
 
I don't see why that matters.
At hundreds of pages long the thread gets a bit hard to follow.

However @PeterA captured a lot of it:
I think he means if the edginess is caused by the amplifier or a bad tweeter, or a bad DAC, replacing the preamplifier may not result in a massive improvement.

Determine what the issue is and then address it if you’re looking for ways to improve the performance of your system.

The other part, and being hundreds of pages long…
Shows that equipment in flying through the doors in both directions to solve some problem that cannot even be intimated as to what it is.
It is like throwing spaghetti against the wall and seeing what sticks.
 

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Until today I have had a firm policy that I will not put any WBF member on "ignore." This is because I wanted to be fully aware of all posting going on by everybody. I have now changed my mind on this policy.

One of my mid-year resolutions is that I am done interacting with any person, especially any audiophile, whom I find to be snarky or obnoxious or not a nice person for any reason. If I don't respond to you going forward you may suspect that it probably is because I put you on "ignore."

I have made a wide-ranging decision to focus my time on my friends. Life is too short to deal with as&@oles.
 
Until today I have had a firm policy that I will not put any WBF member on "ignore." This is because I wanted to be fully aware of all posting going on by everybody. I have now changed my mind on this policy.

One of my mid-year resolutions is that I am done interacting with any person, especially any audiophile, whom I find to be snarky or obnoxious or not a nice person for any reason. If I don't respond to you going forward you may suspect that it probably is because I put you on "ignore."

Life is too short to deal with as$@oles.
^That is fine.^
(And I appreciate the explanation.)
For others following the thread though, there does not need to be a polorization between measurements and ears.

People such as @Atmasphere etc are designing gear using science and measurements.

The systems can be a bit more nuanced than just plugging in the various RCAs, and on the cutting edge some equipment can exhibit mechanisms that manifest themselves in less than optimal sound.

Know what is happening and why, is really interesting to me.
Others fine it less interesting or irksome.
That is fine, the world is big enough for everyone.
 
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The other part…
Shows that equipment in flying through the doors in both directions to solve some problem that cannot even be intimated as to what it is.
It is like throwing spaghetti against the wall and seeing what sticks.
Nice summary. I love genuine Italian food though, so let's call this Olive Garden spaghetti as I don't mind throwing that at the wall.
 
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Nice summary. I love genuine Italian food though, so let's call this Olive Garden spaghetti as I don't mind throwing that at the wall.
Yeah - they don’t do the best example of spaghetti. ;)
But that was a nice throw back to the Italians and the French discussion from earlier in the thread.

When eldest daughter was just out of pull-ups, we went to get some spaghetti at the store. We got the stuff wrapped in the blue paper, and labelled “Tipo Italiano Spaghettini.”
I told her how to say it about 10 times with the fingers bunched together, and the accent.
When we got home we were questioned as to why we did not get the regular spaghetti in the plastic pack.
And eldest daughter broke into the “Tipo Italiano Spghettini” with the fingers bunched together… :cool:
And I let out a “Mama Mia.”


However… being more of a TT and LP fellow… (versus tape or wire)… I am going to look for some pizzas tonight though.;)
 
RR...what made you choose that exact model? it´s neither the cheapest, nor the top of the line....
1) Unlike many in this hobby who believe that if it's more expensive it must sound better this is something I do not believe. This is something I admonish others for thinking fallaciously is true.

2) Relatedly, just because there is a higher model doesn't mean that, absent a direct comparison between the higher model and the lower model, I necessarily will prefer the sound of the higher model.

3) I auditioned the Incito S in my own system for several months thanks to Robert Neill of Worldwide Wholesales the distributor. I was able to compare the Incito S to other preamps in situ.

4) For me the Incito S is the best sounding preamp I've ever heard in my system.

5) By many accounts the Imperia preserves everything people like about the Incito S but improves resolution and transparency. Maybe or maybe not it gives up a very small amount of the in Incito S' tonal density. That was my totally unsubstantiated suspicion but who knows.

6) The Incito S has the highest gain structure of any of the AC preamps I believe. The unit I demoed was the low gain version with maximum gain of only 8 or 9dB. This is not enough for my system so Stavros agreed with me that the higher gain structure of the Incito S switchable between I think 14 and 19 dB (or 14 and 21dB?) would only sound better in my system than the demo unit. So my demo unit was totally inadequate gain but it was still the best sounding preamp I've heard in my system. This one should only sound materially better.

7) Everyone who has heard both units prefers the Impera. but just assuming I will prefer the higher unit is not me and it is not my philosophy. Knowing how much I like the Incito S, I'm just not somebody who's going to assume I would prefer the more expensive or higher model just because it's the more expensive or higher model.

8) I would've loved to have done a direct comparison in my own system between Incito S and Imperia, but I could not arrange that without bothering Robert Do, which I felt would be unfair and unreasonable considering I was working directly Robert and Stavros.

9) The Incito S I believe has the lowest output impedance of any of the AC preamps. A very low output impedance is helpful for me because I am driving such long interconnects and because I am sometimes loading the preamp with three different amplifiers in a tri-amp configuration. So the super low impedance of 50 ohms should help with this.

10) Unlike many people I am the guy who wants to last Ferrari off the production line, not the first one to have early adoption bragging rights and to show off in the neighborhood. It gives me comfort that Stavros has been making the Incito S continuously for something like six or seven years. Because of this production volume it should be very reliable.
 
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