FWIW, WC, the most celebrated and unbiased reviewer on Agon
I don't know if I would get so carried away here. We all have our biases. And I don't think anybody contributes here to be celebrated. There are a number of A'gon members who have contributed to these forums for 20+ years. And many have had a stable system for a year or years, with only refinements made with tube-rolling, power distribution, isolation, cabling, etc.
When such a reviewer with a stable system introduces a "new" product into the system, and gives written detail on the differences, I will sit up and pay attention. When the system is changing 2-3x a week, the comments on the differences with have minimal to little value to me. The focus must always be the System and not our infatuations with how one product is the greatest ever in its category.
has endlessly raved about Esoteric dacs whereas he has also owned LUMIN and never mentions them in same light
And the takeaway here: The reader is to assume WC simply prefers the sound of the Esoteric. And this is fine. He is expressing his own preference or bias here. Is his preference more worthy of another member's comments pro/con the Esoteric? Of course not. And for a system with constantly different amps, line stages, DACs, cables, etc, every week, this might make many readers not take his comments with much benefit.
I have been following this thread and many others related to digital streamers, servers, re-clockers, USB this, Ethernet that, etc. Time and time again, I find much value provided by the Audio Doctor team.
We are all fully aware of the salesmanship aspect of their contributions. So why let it bother anybody here? That they carry numerous lines, and many models in each these lines, gives each of us a hint into the differences as they are compared within a system that is otherwise stable. For the case that they have not compared some models directly in one system, they have commented that this will be done ....again in the context of one system; I find this of great value.
I have been a phono diehard since the late 70s. I got into the digital scene in the mid 90s, ran with the stunning Manley Ref DAC for 10 years or so and now with a Lampizator B6 which has gone through a ton of tube-rolling efforts to "match" with my system, with my biases. But I have been rather careless with the transport side of things, as I have been running with a Mac Mini for 10 years now.
This thread is making me aware of some products that I need to research for the "transport", maybe the Innuos Zenith to Phoenix to my DAC. Or will just inserting the Phoenix result in a huge sonic benefit? Again, the contributions by the Audio Doctor team is benefitting me greatly. It does not sound like Lumin is a good choice for me as I do not want an all-in-one solution. And I like what a tube DAC brings to the result. But who knows, that bias too might get chipped away.
So thank you Audio Doctor team.
