Did Amir Change Your Mind About Anything?
It’s easy to make snide remarks like “yes- I do the opposite of what he says.” And in some respects I agree, but if you do that, this is just going to be taken down. So I’m asking a serious question. Has ASR actually changed your opinion on anything? For me, I would say 2 things. I am a conservatory-trained musician and I do trust my ears. But ASR has reminded me to double check my opinions on a piece of gear to make sure I’m not imagining improvements. Not to get into double blind testing, but just to keep in mind that the brain can be fooled and make doubly sure that I’m hearing what I think I’m hearing. The second is power conditioning. I went from an expensive box back to my wiremold and I really don’t think I can hear a difference. I think that now that I understand the engineering behind AC use in an audio component, I am not convinced that power conditioning affects the component output. I think.
So please resist the urge to pile on. I think this could be a worthwhile discussion if that’s possible anymore. I hope it is.
Amir seems to like to argue for the sake of arguing. I noticed that he conveniently fails to highlight in his example the words…’However, I couldn't escape the feeling that the amplifier's tonal balance was on the lean, cool side.’
instead of believing what I posted about Halcro’s, I suggest Amir buy a set of their amps, he will marvel at their spec’s, and he will probably enjoy their sound. Plus, he can get a very good price on them…I wonder why? LOL. |
@daveyf Clearly he likes it. He has spent so much time its kind if not believable on here. And he is arguing on his site. I like a good debate as much as the next person but at a certain point I want middle ground and a commonality. He is like the Antifa or Maga of audio |
The feedforward technology in that Halcro amp (and prior, from Kenwood and others), has completely transformed the headphone amplifier market. THX reintroduced it by eliminating the inductor in the design and with it, make a giant leap in distortion and and noise. Drop.com shipped an amplifier with it in it and changed the industry forever. The amplifier was raved about by both objectivists and subjectivists. The THX design then created an arm race among a number of companies to even better its performance. They used a composite op-amp technology (op-amp in feedback loop) which avoided THX patents while producing even lower levels of noise and distortion. Topping was the first company to do this. Check out their latest incarnation, the A70 Pro:
Check out the stunning performance as far as distortion and noise: Distortion is at whopping -150 dB. As a way of reference, best case hearing threshold is -115 dB. We now have 35 dB of headroom! The noise performance is better than the best DACs even though this amplifier produces more power: At $499, this headphone amplifier costs less then the shipping cost of many high-end gear! It is this kind of transformation which is fueling interest in what we do at ASR. The measurements have created a closed loop process with clear goals of what needs to be done to create state of the art audio products. Same technology is now used in low to mid power power amplifiers with similar stellar results. Again here is Topping LA 90 Discrete: It now beats Benchmark AHB2 which was also based on same feedforward technology as Halcro/THX: Will be interesting to see if they scale it up in power some more. Net, net, there is an incredible world of technology that you are not aware of. It is advancing in real time and provide incredible pleasure to us as true music lovers who want full transparency to the source. "LOL" indeed but not in the way you meant it. |
Putting aside that my last job was a Corporate VP in charge of a full division including marketing, business, PR and of course engineering, my job is to remove those shades of gray. I strive to find audio products that shrink impairments below threshold of hearing as you see above. This is what gives clarity and confidence to buyers. This is why so many people are gravitating to this science and engineering based method of evaluating audio technology. High-end audio industry wants that gray fog out there. They want you to not know left from right. They want you think any and all thing can change the sound. They want you to think you all are the greatest listeners there and what one hears has little to do with what another hears. That way, all of you can be simultaneously right. There is a market for everything then. You cut through the fog by combining multiple disciplines together. We use audio research in advance areas such as perception of sound in a room. We use electronic engineering design to tell the difference from real to imaginary in design. We use measurements to tease out the performance of a product or lack thereof. And we use controlled listening tests when needed to arrive at unbiased outcomes. Yes, some gray is still left in there. Speakers and rooms are that way and headphones eve more. But outside of that if you think the world is gray, that is just wrong. We cut through that day in and day out ad are happier for it. |
@amir_asr gray is everywhere. Space in your head. In outer space. There is color too. Black and white thinking causes racism. It causes wars and intolerance. Which is what you’re propagating. I believe in old audio as I do in new. I heard atc recently. Sounded neutral. It sounded boring compared to the harbeths next to it. Why would I buy something that doesn’t interest me or excite me to look at and play every day. That topping dac is nice in its measurements but the benchmark looks better and is made in the USA so for those reasons I’ll take that over the topping. Why can’t people take measurements into account and spice them up with other variables? The only good black and white I know is in an Oreo cookie. |
