David Berning live

@lancelock here is I wrote:

In my opinion, David Berning is one of the top audio engineers of our time. Mark Schneider on the other hand did not impress me at all.

Here is what you wrote:

@clio09 so you’re not impressed with David Berning’s choice to work with Mark?

What I wrote was an opinion based on comments Mark made during the presentation. What you wrote was based on the assumption that I was commenting on the relationship between Mark and David. Not sure how you arrived at that conclusion but it is completely wrong.

I understand you're quite enamored with LTA as a product owner and I'm happy for you in that regard. I'm also happy that David Berning has found a situation where he can focus on what he loves doing which is R&D and designing circuits, while leaving the heavy lifting, namely manufacturing, sales, and marketing, to others who have more expertise and patience in these matters.

@soix Thank you for posting the link to the chat David gave. I had only known about LTA’s products from a video of their latest product, I think it was a 40 Watt integrated amplifier, but I was so impressed by both their quality of construction and their price. I want my next amp to be a ZOTL amp. I found David’s exposition of the basic DC to DC conversion fascinating. He was able to make relatively complex things seem simple enough that I felt I could begin to grasp them. It is much better, to me, to be looking at a schematic than talking about various stages of amplification. I had to break up the video into two parts; but I watched all of it, while changing the oil in my truck and checking the air in the tires of my two vehicles and cooking spaghetti for supper. Great stuff in the video, appreciate the fact you shared it and I’m envious of you getting to listen to a ZOTL amplifier.

Happy listening!

One of the LTA missions was to bring the Berning designs to a much wider audience at an affordable price.  Their focus is on the craftsmanship of the finished product, their working with Fern & Roby to fine-tune the industrial design, and their exemplary customer service are all among the reasons that they have been so successful in doing this. 

It's also amazing that they don't raise their prices every year like so many others.  They offer an improved version of the Z40i and don't raise the price!  I can't think of another manufacturer that is dedicated to their mission in that regard  LTA only passes on actual increases in their costs not whatever they can get away with in the marketplace.  In light of all that, any criticism of Mark based on a video seems specious and misguided.

I'm hardly new to Berning gear or the man himself.  When I wanted to hear what Merlin speakers sounded like with David's amps, Bobby Palkovic (RIP) reached out to David who graciously invited my wife and me over to his Potomac house about 20 years ago to hear his setup.  One of the most enlightening 90 minutes I've ever spent in audio!  Also learned a little something about model trains :-).

When I bumped into the LTA version of the microzotl at CAF a few years ago (maybe 2015 or 16) in a headphone lounge I almost jumped out of my seat I was so excited.  I think Mark was nearly as excited as I knew what it was,  There is a reason David chose Mark and his team to expand the reach of his work,  Turns out to have been a great choice!