Hello 'goners,
Although we at Globe Audio Marketing have made a practice of monitoring the Forums on Audiogon for many years now, we have not taken part in discussions regarding the products we carry. For the most part, our products and reputation have been defended quite admirably by our customers, who love our products and the level of service they get from us here at Globe.
However, in cases like this thread, where we see some confusion about the product and incorrect assumptions being made, all without the people involved having actually called us to ask for clarification about the issues, we feel that we should step-in and clear-up some of the questions.
As one of you has pointed-out, the Capitole Reference (not called the "Mk.III" as we have seen it called already!) is not the same thing as the S.E. upgrade we have been offering for the Capitole Mk.II (and Prima DAC) for a few months now. For the record, that SE upgrade does not offer just "a bit" of a difference in the performance of the Mk.II, it is an excellent and obvious difference that any good system will allow you to hear. Our dealers and Srajan Ebaen at 6 moons.com are unanimous on this point. It is well worth the relatively low cost for the upgrade - people have been spending as much or more on upgrades to their cheaper multi-players just to get their redbook & SACD playback to barely acceptable levels! The Audio Aero performance goes way beyond "acceptable"!
The Capitole Reference player/preamp is the replacement for the Mk.II, and you won't find many valid opinions out there on its performance for the simple reason that no one has them yet, except for a couple of our dealers. We only started receiving and shipping them last week!
The changes are more than just cosmetic. The new features of the Capitole Reference are:
- redesigned mother board using an Altera FPGA chip as the heart of the system for overall control
- new STARS 2 processor (patented by Audio Aero) for more dynamics and precision
- new top-of-the-range Burr Brown 24/192 DAC that replaces the previous Analogue Devices model, resulting in better resolution and Signal to Noise ratio
- redesigned power supply that can handle higher current peaks
- USB input for software changes and upgrades
Sonically, this all results in better dynamics, improved soundstage, detail, and extended bandwidth, while still retaining the realistic and natural sound that the Capitole has been famous for. We have heard the Capitole here, and we are very enthusiastic about it.
The new Prima Integrated amp and CD player have also undergone internal changes and improvements to go with their new cosmetics. The new Prestige SACD player/preamp is available now also, offering stellar SACD playback and even better redbook performace than the Capitole Reference, which is saying a lot!
So, we urge any of you that have questions about our products to feel free to contact us anytime. Audiogon can be a good resource for people looking for opinions about audio, and there certainly LOTS of those, but it is not always the best place to look for facts. Current information is available on our website and at www.audioaero.com It's always a good idea to go to the source for factual information about changes and specifications in a product, and we welcome your calls.
Jody Hickson
President
Globe Audio Marketing
www.globeaudiomkt.com
info@globeaudiomkt.com
Although we at Globe Audio Marketing have made a practice of monitoring the Forums on Audiogon for many years now, we have not taken part in discussions regarding the products we carry. For the most part, our products and reputation have been defended quite admirably by our customers, who love our products and the level of service they get from us here at Globe.
However, in cases like this thread, where we see some confusion about the product and incorrect assumptions being made, all without the people involved having actually called us to ask for clarification about the issues, we feel that we should step-in and clear-up some of the questions.
As one of you has pointed-out, the Capitole Reference (not called the "Mk.III" as we have seen it called already!) is not the same thing as the S.E. upgrade we have been offering for the Capitole Mk.II (and Prima DAC) for a few months now. For the record, that SE upgrade does not offer just "a bit" of a difference in the performance of the Mk.II, it is an excellent and obvious difference that any good system will allow you to hear. Our dealers and Srajan Ebaen at 6 moons.com are unanimous on this point. It is well worth the relatively low cost for the upgrade - people have been spending as much or more on upgrades to their cheaper multi-players just to get their redbook & SACD playback to barely acceptable levels! The Audio Aero performance goes way beyond "acceptable"!
The Capitole Reference player/preamp is the replacement for the Mk.II, and you won't find many valid opinions out there on its performance for the simple reason that no one has them yet, except for a couple of our dealers. We only started receiving and shipping them last week!
The changes are more than just cosmetic. The new features of the Capitole Reference are:
- redesigned mother board using an Altera FPGA chip as the heart of the system for overall control
- new STARS 2 processor (patented by Audio Aero) for more dynamics and precision
- new top-of-the-range Burr Brown 24/192 DAC that replaces the previous Analogue Devices model, resulting in better resolution and Signal to Noise ratio
- redesigned power supply that can handle higher current peaks
- USB input for software changes and upgrades
Sonically, this all results in better dynamics, improved soundstage, detail, and extended bandwidth, while still retaining the realistic and natural sound that the Capitole has been famous for. We have heard the Capitole here, and we are very enthusiastic about it.
The new Prima Integrated amp and CD player have also undergone internal changes and improvements to go with their new cosmetics. The new Prestige SACD player/preamp is available now also, offering stellar SACD playback and even better redbook performace than the Capitole Reference, which is saying a lot!
So, we urge any of you that have questions about our products to feel free to contact us anytime. Audiogon can be a good resource for people looking for opinions about audio, and there certainly LOTS of those, but it is not always the best place to look for facts. Current information is available on our website and at www.audioaero.com It's always a good idea to go to the source for factual information about changes and specifications in a product, and we welcome your calls.
Jody Hickson
President
Globe Audio Marketing
www.globeaudiomkt.com
info@globeaudiomkt.com
