Atma-Sphere vs. Supratek
I placed an order last year for a Supratek Cortese LCR preamp; it will still be a few months until it will arrive at my home in Silicon Valley. Meanwhile I keep reading good things about the Atma-Sphere MP-1 and Mp-3 instruments. Can anyone voice an opinion about those two brands, both hand-made tube machines in a similar price range? I listen to all kinds of music, including opera, mostly on vinyl [Basic 2200 Signature with Vector 4 arm and Benz Micro LP-S cartridge, Sunvalley phono stage with EMIA SUT, MSB Platinum Signature CD transport and DAC, LinkwitzLab NCore6 active crossover/amplifier, and Linkwitz LX521.4 open-baffle speakers (best speakers I have ever heard)]. For preamp I am currently using Ed Shilling’s The Truth. For me a natural-sounding soprano voice is the pinnacle of well reproduced music.
An interesting choice in the use of the word "complex." Is your "complex" someone else’s "messy"? Is it possible the designer of Supratek sees his creations as you see yours: complex and purposeful vs. messy? Absolutism in our hobby is not healthy nor helpful. The audiophile equivalent of judging a book by it’s cover gets in the way of moving our shared passion forward. |
@david_ten The poster that you are criticizing stated that given the two, from a wiring perspective only, he would choose the Atma-Sphere. He specifically mentions he is making his choice not based on sound quality. And his comment about messy wiring is well known, nothing new. |
@jetter Exactly! Originally, I heard about this issue with Supratek from good ole Georgehifi (now banned), I just thought some of his criticism justified here, unlike many of his contentions.
I presume showing people side by side internal photos of Supratek and Atma-Sphere and asking which one appeared to be better constructed, I'd bet nine or ten out of ten would pick the AS. This is not judging the book by the cover, we are seeing the guts with our own eyes. I agree, sound quality is another thing altogether. |
A gentle reminder from Marcel Proust on the influence of our own biases over actual evidence: "We pack the physical outline of the creature we see with all the ideas we already formed about him, and in the complete picture of him which we compose in our minds, these ideas have certainly the principal place. In the end they come to fill out so completely the curve of his cheeks, to follow so exactly the line of his nose, they blend so harmoniously in the sound of his voice that these seem to be no more than a transparent envelope, so that each time we see the face or hear the voice it is our own ideas of him which we recognize and to which we listen." - Marcel Proust, Swann's Way |
