Ricevs,
Pardon my incorrect reference to my amp: it was the VTV AMPLIFIER Stereo Purifi Audio 1ET400A Amplifier. The guy that bought it from me was over the moon happy with the sound of the amp.
300b lovers
I have been an owner of Don Sachs gear since he began, and he modified all my HK Citation gear before he came out with his own creations. I bought a Willsenton 300b integrated amp and was smitten with the sound of it, inexpensive as it is. Don told me that he was designing a 300b amp with the legendary Lynn Olson and lo and behold, I got one of his early pair of pre-production mono-blocks recently, driving Spatial Audio M5 Triode Masters.
Now with a week on the amp, I am eager to say that these 300b amps are simply sensational, creating a sound that brings the musicians right into my listening room with a palpable presence. They create the most open vidid presentation to the music -- they are neither warm nor cool, just uncannily true to the source of the music. They replace his excellent Kootai KT88 which I was dubious about being bettered by anything, but these amps are just outstanding. Don is nearing production of a successor to his highly regard DS2 preamp, which also will have a unique circuitry to mate with his 300b monos via XLR connections. Don explained the sonic benefits of this design and it went over my head, but clearly these designs are well though out.. my ears confirm it.
I have been an audiophile for nearly 50 years having had a boatload of electronics during that time, but I personally have never heard such a realistic presentation to my music as I am hearing with these 300b monos in my system. 300b tubes lend themselves to realistic music reproduction as my Willsenton 300b integrated amps informed me, but Don's 300b amps are in a entirely different realm. Of course, 300b amps favor efficient speakers so carefully component matching is paramount.
Don is working out a business arrangement to have his electronics built by an American audio firm so they will soon be more widely available to the public. Don will be attending the Seattle Audio Show in June in the Spatial Audio room where the speakers will be driven by his 300b monos and his preamp, with digital conversion with the outstanding Lampizator Pacific tube DAC. I will be there to hear what I expect to be an outstanding sonic presentation.
To allay any questions about the cost of Don's 300b mono, I do not have an answer.
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Snapsec, the unstated point of the Quanta article is that objective reality cannot be experienced directly ... the entire ear/nervous system/brain/mind system processes everything into mental images and impressions. This is no little man watching a movie theater inside your head. It’s all signal processing, from the neurons in the ear to everything else, continually pattern-matching against memory, expectation, and emotion. Surprisingly, the brain can actually physically alter the hair cells in the cochlea with feedback mechanisms, altering perceptions right at the sensory level. This is happening all the time ... there is no such thing as passive listening. For that matter, hearing and signal processing are still going on as you sleep, ready to wake up the rest of the fight-or-flight mammalian brain at a moment’s notice. Over the last 30,000 years, the powerful social experiences of speech, story-telling, and music gradually overlaid our mammalian brains, and made our species into the humans we are now. This is why the notion of an Absolute Sound is inherently absurd. That’s like saying an Absolute Dream, or Absolute Taste. The entire hifi system is an illusion (and emotion) generator, and the quality of the illusion depends a great deal on the set and setting of the listener ... at that moment. Considering how vastly different our individual realities are, it’s amazing we can agree on anything at all. |
Hmm, Well if that’s the case how do you determine or judge the sound quality of reproduced or recorded music via electronic audio components? How did you reach the conclusion that your amplifier sounds “right “? A reference point is needed to evaluate and judge against. In my opinion the late Harry Pearson was right when he strongly advocated listening to live acoustic instruments and human voice. What is a more thorough/better assessment of an audio component than a comparison with an authentic instrument (Un-amplified)? Are you exclusively reliant on your test measurements and dismissive of actual listening? How do you determine your products mimic or come close to the sound of a real cello, saxophone, piano or human vocalist? I’m genuinely curious as to your approach striving for sonic realism (If you believe that it even exists). Charles
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In relation to what @lynn_olson is sharing about the listening experience being a stimulus and the impression that can form resulting from the stimulus being encountered. I have on many occasions been an invited party to offer a 'pair of ears', and to offer a assessment of how a New Design is evolving. There are devices experienced that have been built in parallel and a early prototype is kept as such, with a second prototype undergoing changes to see where there is improvements to be discovered. This method is sort of similar to a modern Photo Editing Software Tool where at the Click of a Button, the before image is immediately viewed. There are also devices that are sole builds and the experiences of receiving demo's a a result of changes being made are in theory a variant of a previous device used. Much of this is reliant on recollection of previous experiences. This as a method is also quite dependent on the demo's not be too fart apart and the other devices in the system being consistent and not being exchanged. Relating to the first method, it is much easier to identify if the ongoing work, is able to create a improved impression. It is also much easier to suggest trying out a different supporting ancillary as the two Prototypes at hand enable a very useful evaluation of how the exchanges interface with other ancillaries. Relating to the second method, I find written records of how the demo' was able to impress and sharing through discussion where it has been perceived attractors/repellents are present is a constructive approach. Follow up demo's usually reveal differences are developing, and where there is betterment being perceived. There will be a time that a divisive situation evolves, as individuals are unique in their preferences for a sonic. The Range of Attraction for Lean/Transparent through to Overbearing/Muddy is what sets all individuals apart. No one can tell an individual where there attractors/repellents are in the scale, they choose these themselves. When it comes to buying a Device designed/built by the hand of a Trusted EE with Time Served Experience in producing audio devices, it is not just the realised product being bought into, but the designer/builders philosophies for audio reproduction and their IP, the hooks utilised to create the sonic on offer. It is no secret such IP is classed as a asset, is their not Circuits that when, investigated there are no values to found on components, the printed info is removed to protect the design from being easily plagiarised. |
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