Sam Tellig likes lean and smooth sounding gear.
MF gear of that period tends to sound lean. Sam likes lean.
MF gear of that period tends to sound smooth i.e. lacking in rough or abbrasive qualities without any sense of sibilance or grain, but possibly at the expense of resolution. Sam likes smooth.
Judging from the above, it's not hard to see why Sam and others might like this product. Having said that, the MF products from this time period tend to lack body, warmth and PRAT. They are a step up from many of the lifeless sounding SS alternatives out there, but they aren't really all that musically accurate. You get the sense of high resolution because it sounds lean and clean, but the music lacks weight, emotion and inner-detail.
This is kind of like comparing the natural beauty, warts and all, of a gorgeous and lively woman to that of an air-brushed model. They both look good on the surface, but one is kind of glossed over, artificially primped and lacking in the reality factor whereas the other is the real deal with less gloss, hype and artificiaity to their beauty. As such, you can do worse than MF gear, but you can also do better. Sean
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PS... MF gear is NOT warm. The warmth region lies between the bass and midrange regions of reproduction. Added warmth gives a bigger, full-bodied sound that tends to sound lush on the typical digital recordings but thick on good quality analogue recordings. As such, too many people confuse a lack of glare i.e. smoothness with that of being "warm". They are NOT the same thing.
