Give me a reason NOT to do this

[crisnee]

although, quite frankly, I have no idea why anyone who can afford one hasn't yet bought one...

What makes you think they haven't?

I haven't, but that's because no matter how hard I try to justify it, it still comes out totally beyond even my excellent justification ability. And I'm afraid it always will. 

But I bet every believer in NOS dacs that knows of the NOS1 and can easily afford it has ordered one (or more:).

-Chris

[christoffe]

... any news on the amplifier front.

But I'll let you know what transpires...

Hi Mani,

from your activities during the last 12 month I can see that you are  searching for the final "medicine to kill the highend virus". Your weak point seems to be the power amp.

My gear hasn't changed since 5 years and the "highend virus" is dead , except the DAC, which is with the NOS1 the final unit.

There is a nearly identical power amp to the Soulution 710 available from the manuf. Accoustic Arts, the AMP II - MK 2. second hand for € 5700,00 at www.audio-markt.de
or a Dartzeel, also second hand for € 8900,00  from  www.highend-broker.com.
The Accoustic Arts amp has an output power of 2 x 260 Watts at 8 Ohms. The weight is 56 kg!!
The AMP II - MK 2 got amazing reviews, and the Soulution 710 was in a review by a very, very small margin superior only. The value for money of this AMP II - MK 2 is .................. .

Nevertheless it is very interesting to follow your journey to ...... and read your ideas and impressions of the components.

best

Joachim

[Bigear]

I've really set my mind on Bert's amps for now - I've just got to hear what a powerful gainclone sounds like with a pair of Quads/quote]

Hi Mani,

I believe that there are many people on this forum that use these gainclones with good results and they have an excellent price/performance ratio...
Very curious on your results here.


Cheers.

[Scroobius]

Hey Mani,

The offer of a return session to come down to mine and listen to my humble system still stands. NOS1 is away for a short break in Holland (apparently having a good time  ) but when it returns (should be soon) you are most welcome to come and listen to my el cheapo (in high end hi fi terms) gain clones. They are by far the biggest surprise I have had in hifi. Bring your OTL Berning I think it will be very enlightening.

My speakers now have hemp base drive units. Boy have they needed some burning in!!! but now they are really beginning to sing. I have to say that at times I have felt more like smoking them than listening to them  - well maybe not but they sound so much better now with a few hours on them (I was warned).

As I posted elsewhere I used to have Quad 57's driven beautifully by a 12watt DNM transistor amp for many years and they sounded great. Very room dependent though (no surprise there).

Maybe you could even bring your small Quads with you and see what they sound like on the end of gainclones.

All the best

Paul

[christoffe]

Hey Mani,

The offer of a return session to come down to mine and listen to my humble system still stands. NOS1 is away for a short break in Holland (apparently having a good time  ) but when it returns (should be soon) you are most welcome to come and listen to my el cheapo (in high end hi fi terms) gain clones. They are by far the biggest surprise I have had in hifi. Bring your OTL Berning I think it will be very enlightening.

That is a good idea! Mani has one NOS1 in "spare" too.
It would be interesting for us to read Mani's opinion.

Joachim

[PeterSt]

The AMP II - MK 2 got amazing reviews

Not talking about this amp or any other specific one ...

I just tell you and everybody : all reviews are totally moot as long as the standard remains as it is, and it is totally sh*t.

Again I experienced today's standard, last Saturday. I was at some demo, but coincidentally that was hosted by the Turtle Records recording engineers (and I think Turtle Records is a superb label were it for SQ). Quite some other audio geeks and gurus were there.

Maybe not everybody agreed the sound was 100% for various reasons, but there was no way that I could find even 1 person who said it was total-sh*t. And I really tried everybody (could be 40-50 persons).
Mind you, there will be a review about this on CA. Now, watch this coming ... (maybe it's already there, I didn't look).

The sound : total non-sense. TO ME. But not to the others. Not that I could find.

So the funny thing and message is : what review ? what will it tell ? IT SHOULD TELL TOTALLY NOTHING because all audio is used to standards which are completely obsolete.

And for Joachim, better take my listening room as a reference - and even that is totally obsolete as well (since you were there to collect your DAC ever back). You will see ... (2 days before Christmas).

I have so much more to say about this, that I will spend a topic about it. And let's say it was also proven;
I sold an NOS1 right from the trunk of my car. Right there at this event. Let's say I could do that because sometimes it works to talk about sound and how it should be - and can be these days. The man was an engineer himself (but video) and maybe I could bring the real message across.
Later (which was only last Tuesday) I invited him to my place (while normally auditioning or something is not allowed). Just because we had such a nice talk (and not because he bought an NOS1). Well, I hope I can say it on his behalf : he was floored for 5 hours in a row.

So, things have really changed, and no single current review of whatever it is will say one thing. So, be warned ...

haha
Peter

[Scroobius]

Well said Peter. Last year I sold my record deck (to raise funds for my NOS1 ha ha) and agreed to meet the purchaser at the Heathrow Hi Fi show. I went with my hifi friend David who knows the sound of my system very well. As we were in the car park we thought we might as well go into the show. I had not been to a hifi show for over 20 years.

The sound quality in most rooms was poor. I was not surprised and is why I stopped wasting my time at hifi shows years ago. But the real surprise to me is that the presenters / sellers of the systems and most of the audience seemed to have no appreciation of how poor the sounds were. There was one demonstration in a large room in which it should have been possible to get a good sound. We both agreed that the mid / high was good but the bass was truly dreadful (& looking at the way the speakers were set up not surprising). The timing in the upper bass was just totally ruined and there was no lower bass at all (just a wash of muddled sound). Well OK but the truly astounding thing to me was that so many in the room thought it was good. The Emperors clothes?.

All I know about hifi is that the only things I can rely on are my own ears (and Peter & Phasure of course) - they are the only things in hifi that I trust. There is no way ever that I would rely on any review of any equipment.   

P

[christoffe]

The AMP II - MK 2 got amazing reviews

Not talking about this amp or any other specific one ...

Selection of highend music components in general

There are thousands of audio manufacturers around the world and it is impossible to select ……… .
The starting point to select components is an advice by friends and catching informations from online and paper publications and whispers inside the scene.
All reliable authors (TAS, Stereophile, HIFI+, sixmoons, ToneAudio etc) are writing the reviews about the components heard in their own reference room. So these guys can write about the differences compared with their own audio gear. There is a tendency to favour equipment from certain manufacturers due to economical pressure (advertisements).
With all this informations you have an idea/ a tendency for the brand/unit you intend to buy (do not forget the WAF), and then the component shall be tested/listened to in your OWN environment.

Prices /Value for money.
I heard someone saying, that the sales price of his unit is just above the material and working investment and his margin is very small. When we are comparing the interior inside / and the research of a DAC for appr. €3.500,00 with the construction of a Soulution 710 the price difference is quite obvious. But the sales price of more than € 28.000,00 for a Soulution 710 is extraordinary and nobody is buying. (The former German distributor for Soulution Audio is advertising his demo units with a high discount without any success since a year)

The highend manufactures have problems with their sales of the expensive units around the world, except in some countries of Asia. The main problem is the distributor, his margin is extraordinary and the profit for the dealer is between 10% and 20% only (without sales discount).
The only chance for the highend industry to survive is to get rid of the distributors, selling the components via AMAZON etc. for a reliable price (the buyer has a 14 days return guarantee by standard already) and to perform REAL HIGHEND DEMONSTRATIONS during the trade shows around the world. Most of the demonstrations at the Munich Trade Show 2011 were not on the level necessary to encourage the visitors to buy. The lack of quality of the highend demonstrations seems to be a major problem on all fairs.

Joachim

[Bigear]

The lack of quality of the highend demonstrations seems to be a major problem on all fairs./quote]

Guess we are utterly spoiled....

I quitted going to 'high-end' shows since music from CD became the standard demo ('it's so much easier to set up`) and demo from LP became the exception.

With the NOS1 and 0.9z-6 I finally can forget I'm listening to a digital source...

[manisandher]

The offer of a return session to come down to mine and listen to my humble system still stands.

Hi Paul. I very much doubt you system sounds 'humble'. In any event, I definitely want to take you up on this. It looks like I might have some time available in 4-5 weeks, so will PM you to organise.

Yep, happy to bring the Berning 300B OTL, but will really struggle to get the Quads (even the small ones) into my little Honda

Mani.

[manisandher]

The only chance for the highend industry to survive is to get rid of the distributors, selling the components via AMAZON etc. for a reliable price (the buyer has a 14 days return guarantee by standard already)...

Yes, I would love this. But hang on... this isn't very far-removed from how I've bought my Sanders amp and of course NOS1 DAC. Even my speakers were factory direct from Quad, albeit through a UK dealer (with his margins).

I'm not sure that shows are the only outlet to evaluate products. I know that I myself am increasingly looking to people such as you lot on this forum, with interesting setups, to hear what's out there. Paul is a case in hand. When I get some time, I'd definitely like to visit Peter again. And I'm sure many of the rest of you also...

One thing I know for sure is that I'll have a much more productive and pleasant time doing this than spending time with dealers or at shows.

Mani.