Ed .. clearly beauty is in the eye of the beholder (or beerholder). I thought that amp looked like a high end food processor.
The Best Amplifier Ever ?
OK, let's get the straight scoop! Stereophile reviewers want to push the Halcro dm58 (and presumably the dm68) into a newly formed A+ category because it is the best amplifier ever. For a moment, let's assume something like a "best" can exist, at least for one person at a time. Is this the end for all other amps in the proximate price range? Paul Bolin used words like "jaw dropping" and "utter disbelief" -- Oh I know that journalists like that kind of thing, but Mr. Bolin basically says that nothing else comes close to comparison. No contest. Not in the same league. Even in Stereophile, I can't recall something quite that glowing (except maybe for the Boulder 2008 phono preamp). What do you think?
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Hey i like my lamm's but for 10k +/- I'm not sure... I have a (don't laugh now) nakamichi pa7 that we went through and changed all wiring to 24k wire, upgraded the PC, put in black gates etc...I would compare it to ANY SS amp and were only into it for about 1000.00....The point is reviews are based upon how much $$$ you spend in advertising. Try making up your own line of anything and then go get it reviewed, you will see what I'm talking about. Listen to what your ears tell you, not what someone else "tells you" your going to hear. You'll be allot happier and have allot more $$$ left over. Craig D |
Stereophile seems a little different in it's recommended components column from what it used to be. It used to be that class 'a' was "the best sound quality attainable", at least in one area or another. And class 'b' was considered highly capable. Now it seems that anything highly capable is class 'a'. So, they need to create a new class when they get excited about something. I have lost a little respect for the rag as a result of this. They aren't the sound quality renegades they used to be. They used to openly debate amongst themselves on how good various products were, and some whether they were good or not. Now they are just to polite, never taking a chance of offending anybody with a review or just an honest take on something if it could possibly be taken the wrong way. They used to depend on the intelligence of the reader, something I appreciated, and used for my benifit, but now I use a lot af that intelligence in guessing on how thorough some of the recommendations and reviews may be. In the past, it seemed that, as intelligent readers, we were supposed to keep in mind the taste and opinions of the reviewer, as being different, or possibly close, to ours, and we were supposed to make up our own minds, and as readers let reviewers make up thiers. Lately, It seems that pure objectivity is being shorted for preserving the possibility that a manufacturer might not be shorted or for the credibility of the reviewer being challenged or lessened in favor of limited, but safer, universal, credibility. Go ahead and read the "how ratings are determined" section, and then check out what is in the various 'classes', and you will find too many inconsistancies to find it credible. (Evan as it was never intended to be perfect). I still, however, really enjoy reading Stereophile, and I still find it well written. And I still find valueable info and insight from it. I especailly dig M.F. |
I'd humbly nominate a pair of these: 845 monoblock Power, beauty, exclusivity. What more is there? oh yeah, unbelievable sound. -Ed |
Amen Philefreak. Case in point, the Halcro/Rockport room at the Hilton. It sure didn't have the musical involvement of the Joseph/Manley room, not by a long shot, IMO nor per my tastes. Some of these reviewers just get a bit too carried away with such statements. It isn't so bad except for the fact that Bolin probably hasn't heard all the competition in a complementary system. I can't tell you how many times over the years I have read the statement or to the like "The new benchmark" or "redefines The state of the art" etc. It is just meaningless other than the fact that it is worth considering or auditioning. It may be the best measuring amp and maybe that equates to greater transparency but this is not all there is to a musically involving system of the first order. Ozfly, I believe Mikey Fremer also had such accolades concerning the Rockport Sirius tt. However there are others that feel the Walker Proscenium tt at a bit more than a third the price is its equal or at least, very close. The more I read some of these reviewers, with some exceptions, the more I read their reviews more for entertainment than gaining serious insight. Many just aren't good at conveying their perferences. There are many on this site who's opinion I hold in higher regard. |
"The Best Amp Ever"?-- Easy choice--Mine,cause it's paid for and in my room. Ok,I think I know part of where you're going with this. TAS does the same thing,kinda. From month to month we get new reviews;each being "the best I ever heard". I would like to see more "shoot-outs". But hey we know that can't happen;somebody has to loose-- Probably the mag,as that mfg. quits advertising. |
It's ridiculous. The next thing will be A++ and then....... For every Paul Bolin there will be someone with a different scoop. It's ridiculous and like Philefreak says;everything is very system dependent. Hey we're audiophools. It's an incurable disorder, with a built in nomenclature, that is at times, incomprehensible. Not a life threatening disorder, but lifelong.. |
Best is absolutely system dependant. You would not want to drive 106db sensative speakers with this amp using an Ayre K-3x preamp. It just would not work PERIOD. Way too much gain and power. The speakers would be blasting at the first volume notch you could get to... A 1 watt SET tube amp would work MUCH better. KF |