like or dislike or ambivalence

.......................................................................

You observe your reactions, try and judge the degree, then try to comment on why you sense, feel, this way about the sound quality , or lack of it.

Having a few references and other alternatives to go back to helps a lot .

'Go back' is very important, helps you to address errors, short term mood changes, and when you are sometimes mistaken.


MartinC

Hello,
first I want to wish you all Merry Christmas.

Although not a subscriber yet, this will be improved today, I would like to see a review of this DAC/Preamp:

http://www.antelopeaudio...m/en/zodiac_rubicon.html

Kindly

VA

The critic Ruskin stated that" There is hardly anything in the world that someone cannot make a little worse and sell a little cheaper and those who consider price alone are this man's lawful prey". As Bohr said, the opposite of every great truth is another great truth, in this case it is there is hardly anything in the world that cannot be gilded a little and sold at an extravagant price to those who judge quality by price alone.

I must say the Vitus gear sounded very very good at the 2008 Munich show through those large Mythos speakers.

I would like to see a variety of mains conditioners examined eg Quantum, Audience, Vertex. I know you have covered PS Audio but not many alternatives to my knowledge.

I see that they have a free home trial in the UK. I suppose that is so you can see if they are the real Missing Link or just Piltdown Cable.

Unbiased and vintage. A bit tricky.

I never liked Audiolabs when they first came out and I dont think they really improved. If I read a new review revisiting them saying something like "they are still the giant killers we remember", I wouldnt be moved to listen to them anew thinking "wow, perhaps I was wrong for the past 20 years" etc. I am sure the same would be true for someone who had the same view of Naim if a 72/hi-cap/140 review said "its still a bit ragged round the edges but it still knows how to party"?

When I was in retail we could blitz an A400 with a Rega Brio, one customer quote "what have you done to my amp (A400), it sounds terrible" when we compared the two. So would looking back at A400s still have me thinking everyone was wrong, or were the rumours of hotrodded models (amps not girls) going out to reviewers true? Hopefully the all star fave of Marantz 63/A400/Missions finally be told that they are ok individually but not all together? There should be plenty of these systems out there, ask your friends and be realistic. Good for age might be ok dating(!) but not for hi-fi.

Also older kit can be a bit worn out. I heard some KEF 105s a couple of years ago and the treble sounded plasticy and terrible. I know they shouldnt sound like that but what can you do with older kit, you get what you are given especially with the availability of spares. I would still like to hear some KEF KM1's though.

Edited by user 06 January 2010 18:27:53(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

Room and system tuning: Acoustic Revive enhancers like the Ground Conditioner, the Negative Ion Generator and the Ultra Low-Frequency Pulse Generator, MFSL record brush and others.

No experience, fast diagnosis! I'm glad you are not my doctor. Try the ion and the pulse generators in a decent system. You might be surprised.

How about a review of the PS Audio PWT (the transport) and the PS Audio PWD (the dac) - although it may be worth awaiting

- the "Bridge" option (a PWD slot in device) which enables audio from computer and internet too; and

- the PW Audio NAS external hard drive.

I think the former is just becoming available and the latter was demonstrated at the CES - see http://www.psaudio.com/ps/forum/viewthread/659/