How do you have your Droplet cdp hooked up?

Mrtennis is incorrect. The Droplet compared to an inferior player (there are many out there) should sound much better than that player even in a less than top notch system. If that is not the case, then the system has problems and does not deserve a top player like the Droplet or any other player. Getting to the point of the preamp. I found that it was better going through an active pre-amp. The extra gain really helps most CD players. Keep in mind that I only experimented with 2 pre-amps. The Steelhead which is a reference piece and the darTZeel which is in another universe compared to any other pre-amp I have heard.

Denf-Soundstage was slightly more extended in all directions and although the droplet has a good quality sound, it just sounded smoother through the Atma-sphere.

The droplet is definitely worthy of consideration IMO and is on my short list.

hi bkonig. you are stating an opinion just as i have. opinions are neither correct nor incorrect. only that which can be proven true or false can be correct or incorrect.\

there is no way to prove the correctness of your statement any more is there a way to prove the incorrectness of my statement.

as i have said and will continue to say, statements expressed on this and other forums are opinions, as they are based solely on experience, hence induction. there are no true or false statements accept as based upon mathetics or logic.

there are equations and laws of physics and in that "realm", true and false is applicable.

our listening experiences, however many, do not bring us closer to knowledge regardless of their consistency.

Mrtennis-

our listening experiences, however many, do not bring us closer to knowledge regardless of their consistency

Hmm, having experience running sound (which I still do) I'd have to say I depend on the many listening experiences I have had, which has increased my ability (and knowledge) of what constitutes what I believe to be a good performance. I'm also confident in saying there are many audiophiles (as well as other folks with astute hearing) that can immediately pick up not only a bad note but a good one as well. This is not something you just decide to be good at one day. It is a skill, which must be learned by repetition. This is true in other endeavors, which require learning the nuances of a craft. Fine woodworkers, jewelers, and artists...they all spend years refining their trade and keep working at their craft. Why would listening to music be any different? It's a skill one can be very passionate about or one can just be a casual listener but you cannot classify all audiophiles or music enthusiasts or whatever title you want to assign to everybody with such broad generalizations.

I'm sure those who have been to an amplified event have been less than thrilled at the presentation at one time or another. A lot of what the audience hears depends on the soundman’s ability. The better he (or she) is at his craft, the better the presentation. Of course, this includes the home stereo, as it too uses an amplifier to produce sound, although the limits are defined by the equipment choices for the most part.

Perhaps the true musical experience can only be had by listening to unamplified instruments that were designed to be listened to just that way but I would venture to say most audiophile listening is done via an amplifier connected to some sort of stereo system.

BTW, the main device I use when I either run sound or listen to a stereo is my ears.

Now that I've said all that, I wonder if I can get a job as an acoustic soundman?

hi driver. what is knowledge. knowledge is the result of deduction from premises, axioms, postulates to a yield a result which can be proven as true or false.

knowledge cannot come from experience. the process of learni8ng from experience is induction. if i hear something 100 times i have confidence that, ceteris paribus, i will hear it again. i do not know i will hear it again.

still all of the statements made on this forum are opinions, by defintion. it's all about logic.

your concept of a bad note is still one person's opinion.
what is a bad note ? is it intrinsically bad ? how do you know ?

just stating that you know does not mean that you know.
proof is necssary. experience is not proof. rather one experience confirms another. proof is a rigorous proces with rules. usually some form of logical and/or mathematical reasoning is required.