Preamp Deal of the Century

Hi Asa, Well... for the past several months I've been all over the map with audio. The introduction of a turntable has been very, very interesting... In fact, after owning many of the top digital players, I no longer have a CD player at all and I am totally 100% okay with it. I was fooling myself with digital, throwing as much money at it as possible with cords, interconnects, etc. With the turntable, it took 3 seconds to realize how wasteful the pursuit of digital perfection truly was.

That said, I still have my Chardonnay and using a simple Black Cube phono stage into the Chardonnay with a Linn LP12 & Shelter 901 - it beats ANY CD player I have ever listened to by an enormous margin.

I am ordering a Cortese from Mick in the next few days and building a custom Teres.

WOW, all the way to analog! Very excited for you, bwhite. Let us know how the Supra phono sounds in comparison, and then again when the Teres is introduced. BTW, that friend of yours who bought the CJ amps (and I think the Oracle later too) but wanted to jimmy the Syrah up with HT extras, how is his system going, if you know (sorry, I forgot his name. You get a guy to buy $10K of gear and then can't remember his name! whatta jerk I am, please apaologize for me...)

Well guys, I ordered my syrah last october 1, and am still waiting. If anyone is considering one, put your deposit in early. It's a long wait.
To all you guys with analog, do you mostly listen to old stuff? Or do you buy current releases? I am thinking of getting an analog rig, but wonder if there is enough music that i would like available.

Asa, He went all analog too! :) We both have 100% separate home theater systems and in cases where we need to play a CD, we just pop it into the DVD player.

Analog has been such a revelation for me that I hardly have time to post to Audiogon anymore! Go figure.

OK, Bwhite you are making me jealous. So, I think it is necessary fir ne to stick up for digital, heh heh...

I think most of the problems that many digital components have is with AC cords. They are so AC sensitive and most people do not see the value in putting some serious $$$ into a great AC cord. I know I did not up until a few months ago. I have heard a Dodson 217mk2 DAC with numerous AC cords, and I really did not like it one bit until I mated it with a Kimber Palladium PK10 AC cord and a ML transport with an Elrod 3 Sig. This combo was STELLAR. I thought I was listening to totally different digital. All I can say is if you have a nice CDP or Transport, try out an Elrod 3 Signature on it. Unless you are using an amazing AC cord to begin with, you will be AMAZED at how good the Elrod will make your digital sound. OK... it still does not hold up that much to analogue... But it still can come very close. VERY CLOSE. I recently heard a reference system with MBL's top of the line Transport and DAC, and the sound was INSANELY good. It sounded like fine vinyl. I was in total awe. Of corse that front end is $37k or so retail and the rest of the system was about $130k or so... But this digital sound could rival much of the best analogue I have ever heard.

Also for all you folks you have the Supratek Syrah preamp... One of my friends just got one, and I will tell you AC cords can make a serious difference with piece. I have not tried an Elrod with it, but we did try a Kimber Palladium PK10, and this combination was very very good. I love the Kimber Palladium cords, they are about as neutral of an AC cord I have tried across the entire frequency band.

My theory with digital is that I have an Ayre CDP with an Elrod 3 sig AC cord plugged into a PS audio P300 plugged into the wall with a Kimber Palladium cord. This combo is about as much money as I will sink into digital, and I got every piece at very good prices. And truthfully, I am just way too lazy to switch 100% vinyl, heh heh.

KF