Atma-Sphere vs. Supratek

Why consider an exotically produced product when there are US based options?

I have never seen any of Ralph's gear at our local Hi-End repair shop which

but I have seen Supratek. (Not a scientific poll). 

Of course it is fun to have a piece few others own but if you need

to buy 2 of them to stay in business I think the excitement factor dwindles

quickly.

@david_ten I don't see this as subjective opinion or biases affecting our judgement. There are  objective value judgements in regard to what are best build practices in assembling audio components. I can only say the photos I've seen of Supratek internals don't conform to these best practices.

Reliability is our means to measure whether particular product conforms to best build practices. Chorus claims he's observed reliability issues, this is only anecdotal evidence at best. Only a survey of many Supratek owners over relatively long period of time will reveal true reliability. If there are no reliability issues, messy internals are only esthetic issue, otherwise it is an issue.

On presumption it isn't an issue. Why bother with neat and tidy, well laid out wiring and parts if reliability is of no concern? Is this kind of assembly and build quality only a marketing ploy?

I'd like to throw out my above comments as to assembly tidiness and best build pracitces to audio equipment manufacturers out there. I understand you may not want to come out and criticize Supratek, but tell us why you observe and conform to well organized, neat and tidy build practices? Does this have bearing on sound quality or reliability? Are there objective best build practices, or is it an arbitrary construct that you feel obligated to follow?

To be fair to Supratek, the later units are better built than earlier ones. Early ones were a complete and utter rats nest of bad connections, poor grounding, and downright dangerous wiring.

However they are still not very neat and tidy inside which does lead to problems.And like Chorus above, I’ve a higher percentage of Supratek, than Atamasphere.

You can see what a new one looks inside here (at the bottom, left photo) on my website. Full disclosure, it's compared to my lower priced preamp.

https://www.blackdoghifi.com/About.html

Blackdog - While i happen to agree w much but not all of your design and manufacturing principles, I do think for transparency you should add your industry affiliation in signature block to each post.

Best to you

Jim