More 'Audiophile' bullsh*t

[Harry Flashman]

TEKNOPUG said:

Well this thread has certainly taken a turn for the tedious.

In the spirit of tediousness, I've just ordered a NAD C298 power amp from Sevenoaks, at a slight discount, with the ability to return it if it doesn't work for me.

The thread appears to have saved me from the audiophile bullst of having my old amp expensively refurbished, but led me to spend even more money on a new one.

But it wasn't a NAD M33 as I already have a NAD C658 streamer that I love, and £4500 on a one box solution that looks nice and has a fancy screen seemed a little...excessive.

Hence an ugly new power amp.

I shall buy some cables made out of Shergar's mane, hand-spun by 12 year old Norfolk virgins (the very rareness of such beings with the correct number of fingers to do the work being the main appeal/cost , in order to build some thread credentials, and to sufficiently entertain TEKNOPUG.

Technically, given the nature of my speakers, I should have spent far more money on amplification, but I am beginning to suspect that this too can be audiophile bullst...

Edited by Harry Flashman on Saturday 25th February 15:39

Um, I should probably start another thread on this, but the NAD C298 is scarily, scarily good. And mine isn't even really run in yet at about 6 hours of use.

A friend and I have spent the whole evening playing with it, and his McIntosh MC152, with my speakers and a very varied music selection, streamed from Tidal in high resolution.

The Mac does classical and acoustic music a bit better, and gives some instruments a woodier feel. But any music that is even vaguely electric or electronic, and the NAD absolutely walks it.

But the Class D interloper just has better control, bass and clarity and is just more musical and fun to listen to. This may be because it tempers the warm nature of my speakers better than the McIntosh, but I'm a bit shocked at how different (better) my system sounds with the NAD as the core.

The McIntosh had a better soundstage. But then I programmed my preamp's DIRAC room correction, and that completely levelled the playing field.

My old Musical Fidelity amp is completely outclassed, unsurprisingly. I am glad you lot told me that an upgrade to the MF would probably be a waste of money. I think you were right. Seems like the latest Class D amps are really a new level in what you can do for your budget.

If anyone wants a new power amp, I'd audition this NAD thing. It is, sadly, ugly as sin and looks like it costs 20p, unlike the Mac, and indeed MF A3.2, which look beautiful. But the way it plays music...

Edited by Harry Flashman on Wednesday 1st March 00:18

[911hope]

said:

This is a sound decision. The amplifier performance is unbeatable.
Spend 10x more and you wont get better.

[Sporky]

TEKNOPUG said:

Well this thread has certainly taken a turn for the tedious.

Here you go - a modestly priced SATA cable.

https://shop.highend-audiopc.com/collections/sata-...

[Harry Flashman]

Yeah. Seems a bargain for such major returns.

[thebraketester]

Harry Flashman said:

TEKNOPUG said:

Well this thread has certainly taken a turn for the tedious.

In the spirit of tediousness, I've just ordered a NAD C298 power amp from Sevenoaks, at a slight discount, with the ability to return it if it doesn't work for me.

The thread appears to have saved me from the audiophile bullst of having my old amp expensively refurbished, but led me to spend even more money on a new one.

But it wasn't a NAD M33 as I already have a NAD C658 streamer that I love, and £4500 on a one box solution that looks nice and has a fancy screen seemed a little...excessive.

Hence an ugly new power amp.

I shall buy some cables made out of Shergar's mane, hand-spun by 12 year old Norfolk virgins (the very rareness of such beings with the correct number of fingers to do the work being the main appeal/cost , in order to build some thread credentials, and to sufficiently entertain TEKNOPUG.

Technically, given the nature of my speakers, I should have spent far more money on amplification, but I am beginning to suspect that this too can be audiophile bullst...

Edited by Harry Flashman on Saturday 25th February 15:39

Which speakers? (Sorry if I missed that bit)

[Harry Flashman]

https://www.futureshop.co.uk/nordost-valhalla-2-re...


Hahahahahahahahahaaaaaa!!!

[Harry Flashman]

thebraketester said:

Which speakers? (Sorry if I missed that bit)

I didn't say! Sonus Faber Cremona M...a warm and rich sounding thing that I think was made a little too warm by my Musical Fidelity amp, especially in the last few months as the amp seems to have deteriorated...

Edited by Harry Flashman on Saturday 25th February 17:13

[TonyRPH]

Harry Flashman said:

I didn't say! Sonus Faber Cremona M...a warm and rich sounding thing that I think was made a little too warm by my Musical Fidelity amp, especially in the last few months as the amp seems to have deteriorated...

Edited by Harry Flashman on Saturday 25th February 17:13

Or you're losing (more of?) the top end of your hearing?

That would make the system sound warm.

[Sporky]

Harry Flashman said:

https://www.futureshop.co.uk/nordost-valhalla-2-re...


Hahahahahahahahahaaaaaa!!!

They don't seem to charge for burn in, which I suppose reflects the improvement achievable.

[Harry Flashman]

TonyRPH said:

Harry Flashman said:

I didn't say! Sonus Faber Cremona M...a warm and rich sounding thing that I think was made a little too warm by my Musical Fidelity amp, especially in the last few months as the amp seems to have deteriorated...

Edited by Harry Flashman on Saturday 25th February 17:13

Or you're losing (more of?) the top end of your hearing?

That would make the system sound warm.

Heh. Maybe!

[Harry Flashman]

Sporky said:

Harry Flashman said:

https://www.futureshop.co.uk/nordost-valhalla-2-re...


Hahahahahahahahahaaaaaa!!!

They don't seem to charge for burn in, which I suppose reflects the improvement achievable.

Also, the £6,400 price is for the 0.6m version.

I'm pretty sure that RCA works just fine over such short distances.

[robinessex]

Harry Flashman said:

https://www.futureshop.co.uk/nordost-valhalla-2-re...


Hahahahahahahahahaaaaaa!!!

Future Shop again.

[tdm34]

The New Yamaha R-N2000A all in one streamer thingie is getting some good reviews comes in at £2999

https://www.avforums.com/reviews/yamaha-r-n2000a-i...

https://www.stereonet.com/au/reviews/yamaha-r-n200...

This video reviewer I think is very good, he’s worth watching as he has a real no nonsense style and makes everything very understandable

https://youtu.be/6Ft3LxNym_4

Edited by tdm34 on Saturday 25th February 18:59

[Tony1963]

tdm34 said:

The New Yamaha R-N2000A all in one streamer thingie is getting some good reviews comes in at £2999

https://www.avforums.com/reviews/yamaha-r-n2000a-i...

https://www.stereonet.com/au/reviews/yamaha-r-n200...

This video reviewer I think is very good, he’s worth watching as he has a real no nonsense style and makes everything very understandable

https://youtu.be/6Ft3LxNym_4

Edited by tdm34 on Saturday 25th February 18:59

Reviewed by some last summer

[anonymoususer]

Would painting speaker cables green keep in the digital bits that get lost ?
Asking for a friend

[ShortBeardy]

depends whether its the +ve or -ve and we're talking conventional current or electrons. But I think the international rule is Red Right Returning

[Gary C]

Sporky said:

911hope said:

LOTS of misunderstanding growing, following someone's statement about mixing with random digital noise, in a DAC.

What is actually happening as called adding dither.

Ah - I understand dither.

except of course in an image where lack of dither is easy to see its negative effect, an image remains in the digital domain, whereas audio passes into the analogue domain through a reconstruction filter or uses oversampling and interpolation which should remove any need for dither as the steps as shown in the linked images just don't exist in anywhere near the amplitude and bitstream DAC's should even remove the potential nonlinearity of full width DAC's

[OutInTheShed]

Gary C said:

Sporky said:

911hope said:

LOTS of misunderstanding growing, following someone's statement about mixing with random digital noise, in a DAC.

What is actually happening as called adding dither.

Ah - I understand dither.

except of course in an image where lack of dither is easy to see its negative effect, an image remains in the digital domain, whereas audio passes into the analogue domain through a reconstruction filter or uses oversampling and interpolation which should remove any need for dither as the steps as shown in the linked images just don't exist in anywhere near the amplitude and bitstream DAC's should even remove the potential nonlinearity of full width DAC's

I think people are conflating the concepts of digitisation 'error', i.e. the difference between the output of an ideal DAC and the analogue signal it's trying to reproduce, and 'digital noise' in the sense of interference from the digital circuits adding to the analogue signal?

[Sporky]

OutInTheShed said:

I think people are conflating the concepts of digitisation 'error', i.e. the difference between the output of an ideal DAC and the analogue signal it's trying to reproduce, and 'digital noise' in the sense of interference from the digital circuits adding to the analogue signal?

I think the confusion/conflation was down to how it was presented initially.

[Harry Flashman]

I think this argument is quite relevant to the thread title.