Tube Research Labs Dude vs. Shindo Labs preamps

Vinyljh, I agree. I myself have participated in that same presumptuous and fickle behavior. An older audiophile friend of mine said, in regards to speakers, to live with them for at least a year before moving on.

Along those same lines, you had referenced the Shindo philosophy of system matching and how it was advantageous to try and create an all-Shindo system along with high efficiency speakers. I think that approach does have a lot of merit and could save people a lot of pain and missteps.

Pdreher,

I think you misread the post.

Agear,

Yes, I have found an approach that works for me and many of our clients. Nothing is for everyone and their is no doubt more than one satisfying approach. I started into this hobby trying to get closer to my music and like so many wound up listening to sound and not the music. I think thats why we see so many visual descriptors- people are looking and not really listening to the music. Not to mention guys with hundreds of feedbacks here on agon... how would one have time to listen to music with gear changing so often.

Its the 'drive by' comments or the hidden or sometimes not so well hidden agendas I see repeatedly that frustrate me. Thats where my 'pointless' comments come from which Pdreher misunderstood.

At the risk of being flogged let me be clear. I did not hear the Shindo in my system I heard it at a dealer. I also heard the Tron at a dealer. My system hasn't been updated because I'm still waiting to receive the unit (they are built to order). The Shindos are indeed great preamps it was merely a matter of personal preference in chosing Tron. My point was simply that there are many great preamps out there in his price range.

Latinsamba, there is a lot of good equipment out there, and the Tron pre-amp may be a good piece, but unfortunately, Vinyl caught you with your pants down. You heard two "systems" and liked one better than the other. You cannot surmise much from that experience until you plug different pre-amps into your own rig. Of course, I am guilty of hypocrisy here. I have participated in multiple drive-by shootings on Audiogon.

Speaking of your rig, I was intrigued by your single driver speaker with a driver fabricated out of hemp....that made me chuckle. Dude....

Vinyl, I agree with your observations on sound vs music. Endless ruminations about sound may be one manifestation of an unsatisfying and unmusical system. On the flip side, I have heard systems that were billed as "musical" only to find them unmusical in that they came off as soggy and slow hifi. These systems did not produce an effective auditory illusion.

"The Dude abides...."

Just to mention that the ShindoAuriges line stage is under $3000 new. I have the Auriges with the mm phono stage and it is wonderful at $4500