… hear that it is stinking up Denver [now THAT’S a switch ]

They were using helicopters yesterday to dip buckets into the new lake on the backside of the ridge our house is on (can’t see it from here because of all the trees)

You can see our front porch gutter silhouetted in the foreground. For awhile I did not know what was up, and wondered if this was an air rescue copter ferrying someone to the emergency room [we get those periodically, and since we are on the top of a ridge, we get to kind of experience a lot of airborne traffic first hand]. Then I saw that slight stream of water coming off the bucket…

Yes, they are flying directly above our house. [They are back at it this morning, and are taking various routes, not all of which are directly above the house].

This is why I started taking photos of the copter: the water droplets from the bucket ‘leaking’ water was catching the sunshine and leaving a long trail that looks like smoke. Increased the humidity here a little [good] countered by the smell of diesel fuel exhaust [oh bad]

[This is the only show report which we have found, over several years, to have any in-depth content.]

I will only talk about rooms we both saw that he commented on.

The link to his report is here:

JV’s RMAF 2010 Show Report

=== Evolution Acoustics / darTZeel ===

I was originally going to cover this in our show report, but, even though I made an attempt to get back to this room - and got really, really close, I only heard it once. Neli also heard this room and I will take her observations into consideration with respect to my comments here.

I think we all agree that this was the best sounding EV / dartZeel room at a show in years. I heard the R2R only, and I did NOT hear any “slight edge in upper mids”. What I heard was a nicely fleshed out sound [as opposed to a somewhat midrangy sound at previous shows]. What I also heard, and Neli seemed to as well, was a highly separated sound that did not seem to congeal into a whole. I spent my time there trying to determine if it was the fault of the R2R, but Neli heard the Playback Designs digital and had the same experience. This is often a symptom of sitting too close to the speakers - which in these small hotel rooms is not all that uncommon.

=== Magico ===

Well, surprise surprise JV is on the Magico bandwagon in spite of the “There was just a trace of dryness and sterility” comment.

One has to wonder what the spectacular Magico marketing budget has been this year - and other speaker manufacturers, all kinds of audio manufacturers in fact, must be wondering if such an all-out effort may be worth it or not. Depends on the eventual backlash I guess - usually campaigns like this are staged so that they unfold over years.

We’ve already talked this room to death, lets just say that this year’s cheerleader system, the Magico / Spectral system is Waaaaay better than last year’s cheerleader YG Acoustics / Soulution system, and that both speakers, although good, are not very useful for our purposes because they cannot generate sufficient micro-dynamics, in large part because they are so darn hard to drive, requiring very large [and to date] inferior amps to drive them with.

=== JBL / Levinson ===

[I did take pictures of all these rooms, maybe I’ll insert them in here…]
[[Oh look! I did!]]

JV says “very dynamic, … and maybe a slight edginess in the upper mids.” Hmmmmm… I guess this could be described that way. The sound of the Levinson electronics came through clear as … it came through very clear. Levinson, which we’ve owned plenty of, is somewhat dull-sounding when it is not being somewhat edgy. The JBL speakers are dynamic horn-like speakers [wanted to hear these speakers last year on the Pass Labs… but considering the Pass Labs [excluding the First Watt amps] is somewhat similar to the Levinson, maybe not.

=== Walker / Technical Brain / TAD ===

“lightning quick on transients and nearly dead-neutral in midrange balance, without a smidge of the darkness, phony warmth, sibilance, or spittiness”

… yes, yes, TAD speakers do dynamics, not sure what he means by midrange balance unless he means overall balance of things in the midrange region. He seems to be talking about perfectly neutral in terms of warmth versus coldness… and I guess I would not argue with that. But

“Absolutely phenomenal when it came to low-level detail,”…

Say what? JV should be very familiar with the Walker sound, he may even still own one, so I am not sure where this is coming from since almost no low-level detail was present during my visit on the last day.

Perhaps

“slight brightness and dryness of the tiny room”

explains the problem - if he heard this room early in the show, and they did something to ‘fix’ the brightness, then perhaps they removed the low-level detail as well…? Because I heard no brightness in this room.. and no real dryness beyond what is kind of expected for solid-state systems.

Then again, “dryness” versus “phony warmth” versus “dead-neutral” ? Not sure that this isn’t just a tad confusing…. JV tries to say something good and then gets down to business about what he really thinks [when he is not prohibited from doing so by commercial realities].

So he really found it “bright and dry with good low-level detail and midi-dynamics” and we found an “extreme lack of low-level detail and micro-dynamics with good midi-dynamics”. Somewhat of a disagreement on the ability of that system to render the details that were no doubt coming off the Walker like water from a firehose.

=== Big YG / Soulution room ===

Don’t really disagree with any of his impressions except that my conclusions are very different. With all the problems that he notes with the sound, this system from my point of view is unable to produce sound that goes much beyond the “Plays Loud with Disappearing Speaker Act” that Boy Toy systems seem so very, very proud of.

=== Venture / FM Acoustics ===

“… exceptional resolution of low-level detail and very good recovery of ambience. However, I thought I detected a trace of brightness in the midrange, which also sounded a little forward in this room;…”

Ah, we reviewed this room, and a pattern is forming here

1) there was a lack of low-level detail here - and in fact these speakers are not known for their low-level detail [they are known for being beautiful to look at, laid back, hard to drive and pleasant sounding].

So, obviously, we are looking for a LOT more low-level detail in our playback than JV, which in some large sense is related to micro-dynamics and inner-detail etc. This is where the emotion and skill of the musicians and type of violin etc. are found. I can now see that he might not actually HATE the Soulution, not looking for all that much low-level detail in his music these days.

2) Brightness in the midrange…? [uh oh, deja vu] This system was not bright. We were chatting in the middle of the room, and one of their guys cranked up the sound on us to try and tell us to shut up [didn’t work But I was talking to Darrin, the owner of the room, so there ]. I am sensitive to brightness [don’t need anything to make me MORE irritable than I already am dammit ] . It wasn’t bright and hung together fine at the higher volume.

=== Big TAD / Walker, Technical Brain ===

All I can say is that isn’t capitalism grand? And bosses suck.

=== Our room: Marten / Audio Note / Emm Labs ===

“little bright and lacking in body (those farchachdat hotel rooms, again), the Coltranes were nonetheless extremely lovely to listen to—a sound very reminiscent of the better Kharma loudspeakers”

JV was in our room and I think it was the first hour of the show. [I’m ignoring the ceramic driver praise and slap - he is just setting us up for his real opinion]. They were indeed a little bright. They were also a little thin as well [I would say ‘reticent’ more than thin, due to the drivers not moving as freely as they should because they are not broken in, but let’s not quibble. Of course, they were also very clean with incredible micro-dynamics and musical content - unlike anything anything else people have heard before, and that is a fact that would be news in other hobbies not so dominated by adv. $ … What hobby would that be, you might ask? I’ll let you know…]. This of course got quite a bit better as we broke them in - and JV no doubt understands that the sound would be better in a day or two, but was presumably unable to get back to us later in the show. [Funny, he says to me something like “I’ll try and come back later”… which is just what I say to people when I know I SHOULD come back, but all the while knowing that there is like ONE percent chance of it happening at a large show like this with so much to do. Seriously, our lines do not command large advertising budgets, and our rooms do not draw reviewers because they are looking to help their magazines keep in business etc. So it was nice of JV to stop by in spite of all the reasons he had not to]

Oh! I almost forgot. Now, about that Kharma comment… these speakers are as different as Wilson and Sonus Faber, but because they both use ceramic drivers [Kharma only for mids and tweets] people think they are the same. We carry both speakers, and they are both excellent speakers, but to compare them like that … I understand it is probably a compliment, but … first, it is likely to cause an international incident, and second, Kharma could NEVER sound like that. Kharma is exuberant sounding, incredibly involving and with very high midrange resolution [and rarely thin sounding]. Marten is incredibly transparent to the upstream components - it can be whatever you want [after it is broken in]. See? Different.

OK.

Anther year, another RMAF. CES and T.H.E. Show(!) is just around the corner. Can’t wait!

Tone Publications reviewed the Loricraft in their latest issue, although their actual conclusion was more like “At Least As Good, Quieter, Cheaper”

We meet the nicest people through the Loricraft. And now we’ve met Jeff Dorgay, who also seems quite nice, of Tone Magazine at RMAF - though every time he would say Hi! I would turn around to see who it was and BAMM he was already gone - like that Star Trek episode where some people are moving WAY faster than everybody else [though in actual fact it was me moving WAY slower than everybody else, which is, in fact, my goal, so I can concentrate on what I am hearing - and apparently I am quite good at this being slow stuff ]

We plan on doing a lot more coverage of the Loricraft record cleaners. Different cleaning fluids and strategies, the efficacy of using forward and/or reverse, putting the Loricraft on HRS Nimbus and M3x platforms to further reduce vibration during cleaning…

… a whole BUNCH of fun things. Shootouts are a little difficult with cleaning machines, since every LP is different… but we’ll try!

[There was another fire about a mile south of us again today. The wind, blowing East, caused evacuations and, I imagine, difficulty breathing as it swept toward Boulder this time and not us. It appears to be out as I write this]

In order to make progress here, I will go out on a limb and just start listing things *I* think are present when I have experienced large does of Drug-like sound in the past:

* Decent to excellent Micro-dynamics
* Very High resolution
* Good, often vivid harmonics
* Good continuousness, sometimes even good PRaT

SUSCEPTIBILITY

Personally [and all of this is personal, but hopefully there will be consensus as you all reflect upon your experiences], I am often ‘lulled’ by the music [sometimes assisted by being tired from overwork on my part] into a dream-like state before ‘waking up’ and experiencing some really cool mind-blowing experiences.

So let us assume that there is an extreme comfort with the sound [and the situation] required as a prerequisite for us to even appreciate a drug-like sound.

It is this lulling into a susceptible, dream-like state that I think requires a sound that the listener is very comfortable with, a sound that matches their preferences quite well. I think tiredness can help us ignore some harshness and sound that is NOT exactly to our tastes [but being this tired is not all that much fun, let me tell you ].

I think, also, that no matter what your preferences, a decent, perhaps vivid harmonic content is of value to assist the lulling… it’s guarantee of approachable sweetness is comforting.

INGREDIENTS

For me, it seems to be the swirling change of the mathematical relationships between various melodies [which appear to evoke corresponding patterns in the thinking side of the brain. We talked about this several years ago] which kind of occupy and lead my thinking brain places …COMBINED with extreme harmonic color and/or purity [which often sounds extra-vivid during the experience, perhaps because the thinking (distracting) part of the brain is occupied elsewhere] that kind of satiates the emotional ‘heart’ part of the brain.

So…. …. *if* we use this as a template for what is required/ happens for / during drug-like music experiences, then we need:

* Decent to excellent Micro-dynamics [and separation, to be able to hear and differentiate the melodies and their relationships to each other]

* Very High resolution [increases the number of melodies - there are beautiful, evocative relationships between the transitions between various harmonics in every tiny note. You can hear this on very big notes like, say, Roy Buchanan “The Messiah will come again”]

* Good, often vivid harmonics [To lull us into a susceptible state and to please and entertain our emotional side during the drug like music experience. In some sense this is the ‘engine’ that keeps us from burning out on too much detail and complexity in the micro-dynamics and high resolution. Note that this does NOT necessarily require tubes, that very good solid-state has a natural purity that tubes must work hard to achieve (but they CAN achieve it!)]

* Good continuousness, sometimes even good PRaT [the melodies are sequences of notes in time, if there are no flowing marching sequences - then there is no melody and one just has a hodgepodge of distinct notes appearing all over the place in the soundstage]

Uh Oh.

I accidentally read a paragraph or two in a review a few minutes ago.

Accidentally because I know it is just trash, and life is too short to waste on reading trash when there are such wonderful content out there to experience and enjoy. But it mentioned a few a cables that I am familiar with, on a system I am familiar with, and it caught my eye.

Essentially several magazines, and their reviewers, feel that it is their duty to say whatever they can to promote the current product under review, regardless of the obvious (to a casual observer not trying to pump up the industry thinking it will just wither away and die otherwise) and complete lack of ethics, moral integrity, basic sense of honesty, and compassion for the people who read their trash.

Perhaps the obviousness of the lies in some of these types of reviews indicates that it is their complete and utter incompetence [and that of their editors]. Don’t really care and I do not see as how it matters. The result is the same. Utter confusion by people trying to learn what sounds like what and choose what to buy.

[Perhaps I should explain. While searching for a price I found this review. Skipping all that fluff in the top 90%, I came to the data I needed. What I also found was the declaration that his $60K system, populated with components that I am familiar, with good resolution to less than average resolution, had the most resolution of any system, at any price, that he, or his friends have heard, now that it uses the cables under review. This is a ‘reputable’ magazine and the review is by one of their more ‘reputable reviewers’.

So what happens when your average reader, a potential audiophile, finally finds all this stuff out? They will think our entire industry is populated with charlatans and that high-end audio must be nothing but high-tech snake oil.]

Reading reviews to select your components is no better than throwing a pair of loaded dice, throwing a dart in the ocean, or saying you want to only get components that start with the letter ‘A’ [which hardly reduces the choices at all, does it? … (about half of the brands out there start with the word ‘audio’. Well, it sure SEEMS that way, anyway)].

And I propose that THIS is what is causing the shrinkage of our industry. People who want to spend a minimal amount of time selecting equipment and maximal amount of time listening to it - end up buying something that ends up not at all pleasing to their sensibilities, nor their spouses nor their friends. And these people tell THEIR friends, and they tell THEIR friends. And buying high-end audio gear ends up being a big joke.

Boy Toy systems, by definition [since we are the ones going to do the defining] are large systems designed from the get go to produce massive bass, a very loud midrange and, sometimes, some large amount of what sounds like detail in the showroom. They are also usually designed to transfer a significant amount of cash from one person [aka buyer] to another [aka seller].

That’s it.

This is NOT about systems designed to produce music at life-like scale and dynamics. However this is what Boy Toy system marketing staff would have us believe we are buying.

What are some obvious differences between the two?

As we have been talking about for several months now, micro-dynamics is one indicator, a major indicator, of a systems ability to generate the subtle details that communicate everything from emotion to the difference between an electric guitar and piano.

No micro-dynamics? Then you are just hearing a very, very large and expensive clock radio [no not boom boxes. Boom boxes sound better than a lot of these systems do].

Why do manufacturers make such large clock radios?

Because it is easier to throw together lots of big drivers, heavy cabinets, machine a thick aluminum chassis, solder together lots of MOSFETS or tubes, and stick a megabuck price tag on it that it is to design and manufacture something that actually works well. So, manufacturers being people, lazy bums like myself, there are an awful lot of these kinds of products on the market.

Why do reviewers say nothing, and often actively promote such equipment?

To some extent I think it is inertia and path of least resistance. “Everybody else is saying good things about the Y speakers with the S amps, so it will just be easier if I say the same thing”. Some of it is that reviewers get good to great deals from many of these types of manufacturers if they say something good [aka corruption. It is a reason why many other manufacturers avoid reviews like the plague; i.e. you are known by the company you keep]. There is a lot of pressure on reviewers to not say anything bad about anything [as we know from personal experience here on the blog] BUT an honest diligent reviewer doesn’t ever have to say anything bad - they COULD just describe the purpose of a piece of equipment, what it sounds like, and how it is different than its closest competitors.

Why do people buy this equipment?

Because they are inundated with all this money-backed misinformation [yes, JUST like politics] including co-promotion deals between speaker manufacturers and amp manufactures, and with the reviewers of course, and finally there are testimonials from honest owners who THINK their system sounds great because their dealer told them so and they never ever got to hear what a real Practical or Drug-like system sounds like.

So, essentially, the industry is screwed until another person like HP comes along [who has a large system that is indeed designed to be listened to - based on testimonials and just looking at what he uses, but who has kind of run out of energy this last decade or so (just read something he wrote 10 or 15 years ago)] who can transform people’s idea of what we should all be caring about when it comes to designing a system. At one time it was all about measurements. Then it was about how maybe we should use our ears a little and if it did not sound anything like real-life music [aka the absolute sound] then maybe we should not buy it, no matter how well it measures.

Until that time, we will try and create an oasis here for people to talk about building [often, but not always, large and expensive over-the-top] systems that are designed to be listened to and enjoyed in ways that significantly impact our lives in a very positive manner.

But expect some disconnects if you venture out and read some of the ‘mainstream’ industry poop. Argh. I keep hoping it is going to get better.

I thought it might be useful to list some systems that I found drug-like, and you are invited to as well, and see if there are some commonalities.

If there are commonalities, then we should be able to retrofit existing systems so that they, too, can have that little extra mind altering something that is so inspirational, transformational and, dare I say it, orgasmic.

We are going to assume that a system first has to be, not just Enjoyable, but Emotional - and mildly drug-like even during the normal course of listening.

Going back in time, … back…. back… to the dim recesses of my memory.

… about 7 years ago.

Tenor OTL 6C33C-tube based amps on various Kharma speakers. Audio Aero and Emm Labs as digital sources. These had extreme micro-dynamic detail and very good midi-dynamics as well. Very exhilarating and can make a person giggle. Not aware of drugs like this [well, I’m not! ] but maybe it is like someone you are interested telling you they feel likewise. Slightly on the mind side of the Mind-Heart spectrum.

Joule Electra OTL 6C33C-tube amps on Talon speakers, Elrod power cords, Audio Aero Capitole CD player, probably HRS rack. Forget the cabling. Lots of harmonics and PRaT. Very good micro-dynamics. Very engaging and warm, like a quick glass of wine or a shot of Bourbon. Way on the heart side of the Mind-Heart spectrum.

Lamm ML2.1 amps on Marten Coltrane speakers, Jorma Prime cables, various power cords, HRS MXR rack and platforms everywhere. Very good midi- and micro-dynamics and nice color. Hypnotizing and engaging. I don’t know, kind of looking up at the stars where there is no light pollution for the first time. Slightly on the mind side of the Mind-Heart spectrum.

Audio Note Kegon amps on the Acapella Trilon speakers, Jorma Prime cables, various power cords, HRS platforms. Very open, harmonics, and great midi-dynamics. Kind of like being King (or Queen) of the world. Slightly on the heart side of the Mind-Heart spectrum.

Bladelius amps and pre and CD player on Marten Coltrane Supreme speakers. All Jorma Design Prime cables. Extremely detailed and accurate. Neli and I both found this system to be extremely hallucinogenic [we wrote about this extensively in the CES 2003? 2004 show report]. Somewhat on the mind side of the Mind-Heart spectrum.

Audio Note Ongaku on Marten Coltrane speakers, wired directly from an Emm Labs player with Nordost ODIN interconnects and power cords. Jorma Prime speaker cable, HRS or Acoustic Dreams platforms. [This is our show system at RMAF 2010 this year, and an evolution of the Lamm ML2.1 system above]. Very pure, very quiet background, extreme micro-dynamics, good midi-dynamics. Like a breath of fresh mountain air after living in the city for a year - clears the mind and makes you feel like things might make sense after all [yeah. right. Just trying to communicate a little about what I think the drug-like effect is, as bizarre as this is turning out to be]. Slightly on the mind side of the Mind-Heart spectrum.

Lamm ML3 amps and L2 Reference pre on the Marten Coltrane Supreme speakers. HRS everywhere, Jorma Design Prime and AN PALLAS cables. This is a very high resolution system [the RMAF 2008 system]. Very good micro-dynamics and mini-dynamics. This is like finally understanding Calculus [:-)]. Slightly on the mind side of the Mind-Heart spectrum.

Audio Note Gaku-On amps, M9 Phono pre, DAC 5 Signature, S9 stepup on the Marten Coltrane Supreme speakers. HRS everywhere, Nordost ODIN powercords and interconnects, Jorma Design Prime and AN PALLAS cables. This system is significantly better than any system we have heard, here or anywhere. Resolution not as high as the Lamm ML3 version, but extreme midi- and macro-dynamics, extreme harmonic truth, very good micro-dynamics. Really have not been able to grok this system yet. This is like taking a hotrodding spin in the Space Shuttle. Somewhat on the heart side of the Mind-Heart spectrum.

And a special note about 100% Audio Note systems setup correctly [we do not have corners here, which they require to perform at their peak, and most rooms in hotels have things in the corners, like air conditioners, etc]. These systems have excellent midi- to macro-dynamics, very good micro-dynamics, great harmonics and PRaT. These are mostly fun and playful, but can quickly turn into one being awestruck, then into an adrenaline high, then into numerous other mind-bending states. Definitely on the heart side of the Mind-Heart spectrum.

————————-

I know, some of these descriptions of how these systems make me feel belong more in the humor category.

As you can see, they are very different systems, some are only medium resolution, some are not very accurate, some do not have perfect bass, some are expensive and some are not so much.

But there are obvious commonalities:

* Very good to great Micro-dynamics

* They are also fairly accurate, so that we can suspend our sense of disbelief.

* They have something(s) special going for them, something extreme: midi dynamics, or harmonic color or harmonic truth, or extreme accuracy or detail. Perhaps something that is hard to hear even with live music, for all the reasons that make the sound of live music not quite perfect.

As I remember some of the most transformative experiences I have had, it seems to me it helps to be a little tired and worn out [not a problem these days, I imagine, for most of us ].

So what do you all think? Any of this resonate with your own personal experiences?

Perhaps I’ll describe the actual experiences we/ I had with these systems… Certainly are fun to remember! But here I really wanted to point out the variety of systems that I found to be at least somewhat Drug-like

We came, we saw, we listened, we reported, we come away a little smarter.

We are now dividing systems into categories based on their purpose:

* Boy Toys: systems that are designed to make loud noises

* Gee Whiz: systems that amaze through their use of new technology

* Practical: systems that make music, no fuss no muss

* Drugs: systems that expand the soul and take us to wonderful new worlds

[have to work on the mixed plural and singular cases here]

Previously we have categorized personal basic preferences as points on a linear scale:

* Heart < -----> Mind

And previously we have also categorized system sound as a combination of [more or less linearly independent] flavors:

* Impressive, Natural, Real/Accurate, Emotional, Sweet, Sophisticated and Magical.

We talked about Soul and how many of the ‘touted’ systems at the show were soulless [100% Mind] or Boy Toys.

================================

Next we will talk about:

* Why the industry pushes Boy Toys to the almost complete exclusion of the other 3 types of systems.

* The relationships between the Soulful/Emotional aspect of a system, Heart/Mind preferences and Drug-like systems

(interestingly, there may be no relationship. Emotionally communicative systems tuned to our Heart-Mind preferences may just be there to keep us happy with our system between Drug-like Magical experiences that reveal the deep beauty and mystery of life [kind of like spouses and friends ]. In this characterization, good systems are like glasses of wine that are periodically, but infrequently, spiked with something a lot more powerful. For me, this is much more manageable a characterization than systems that are always powerfully Drug-like. Opinions?)

* Methodologies we can use to create Drug-like systems

[and can they be made affordable?

Are they addictive (yes. Doesn’t everybody get the shakes when looking for that new album that will really thrill us, and failing to find it time after time, as the months go by… making us more and more desperate and frustrated? Maybe it is just me…)

Do we need more and more powerful (likely expensive) Drug-like equipment over time? (I think no, thankfully(!) because we can change the music we listen to, perhaps radically, to shock us out of our familiarity. But we need more tests and more test subjects )]

* The categorization of small tube amps into various lists based on their performance characteristics (one of which is how well they drive typical speaker loads)

* The categorization of equipment and cables in terms of their usefulness in making Drug-like systems

* The categorization of Drug-like systems

(into beer, wine, whiskey, and other drugs none of us is supposed to be familiar with. Well, we will just all have to pretend we are familiar with these drugs, OK? In some sense our system at RMAF was like a marathon runners high(?). I have never run a marathon, so I am pretending, extrapolating from the feeling I get after lots of exercise. Similarly we shall invite all of you to help us describe the kind of experiences that you want, and those that you have experienced in the past, while listening to music)

Well, ambitious but really fun topics, I think…

Next show: CES 2011!

You know, I was thinking about how dangerous these shootouts are becoming.

We do them in the evening, and sometimes we order out some food [usually Vietnamese] and we draft somebody [Neli. ] to go pick up it and bring it back.

We then consume mass quantities and listen to a CD or LP kind of casually and chat about how cool it would be to have X, Y or Z for the next shootout.

Then it is back to the shootout proper: listening, going up to the system and switching cables, powercords, whatever back and forth. More listening.

Ponying up to the system, my tummy being overly full to the point of me whining about it to everybody who will listen [that would be, as it always is, nobody] I then had this terrible waking nightmare:

The button pops off my shorts, goes sailing through the air like a button who really hated being under extreme pressure all these years, and strikes one of the tubes on the most lovely sounding, exquisite, amps we have ever heard.

And the tube *explodes* from the impact. Glass is everywhere. Sparks are flying. The lights in the kitchen are flashing off and on.

I start wondering if Neli is going to kill me with knife or pistol.

Then an extremely unlikely and not very nice event occurs. The exploding tube generates some kind of freak surge and the dying amp takes out not one but both speakers. Drivers are now sailing across the room in cannonball like trajectories.

One lands in the bowl of Red Curry Stew with extra Tofu, and splashes Red Curry Stew with Extra Tofu all over the stack of LPs we had brought upstairs for the demo.

The other hits the floor and starts rolling across the room like the old Bridgestone Tire commercials, continues until it encounters the stairs going down to the other listening room - which it then starts plopping down ‘plop’ ‘plop’.

It then continues to go ‘plop'’plop’ down the stairs in the now very, very quiet listening room as I look at everybody else in the room and present them with the stupidest grin I can come up with.

All this to say that I am resolving to be on the safe side and eat less take out at our shootouts from now on.

[Even though that take out *is* really, really yummy… Hmmmm, maybe I’ll just walk up to the system sideways, facing any buttons AWAY from the system.]

YG Acoustics speakers of various sizes were found in 3 different rooms [at least].

There are a few interesting things to say about these rooms, I think, but in the future we will likely not talk much at all about YG Acoustics because they, or the rooms and people that use them, are too often just going for Practical or Boy Toy systems - and these just do not interest me, no matter if the speakers are worthy of much more [as many other speakers are as well].

At their best [on big old Krell amps, which I heard them with several years ago and I hear they ran them with again at the Dagogo show], these are speakers with a very linear response. Not perfect in all aspects, but speakers very worth listening to. Put something soulful up front [instead of the Krell Pre and dCS they usually use] and a person could well achieve a Drug-like intoxicating soul-expanding sound.

None of these rooms gave any indication that the speakers might be able to do this. Kind of like Wilson in that respect; if you were to go by the sound in most rooms that use Wilson speakers at most shows [and I guess most if not all dealer showrooms], you’d think they were a bad sounding, in-your-face, its-all-about-marketing speaker.

ROOM 1: This was the best sounding room with the YG Acoustics if you value musicality, listenability, and to a large degree accuracy and true-to-the-source realness.

The MBL integrated amp used in this room was relatively modest [100 - 150watts range if I remember correctly], and the fallout from this choice in amplification (a choice made in order to keep this a modest, balanced system [but there is no law that says the amps can’t be larger and several times as expensive as the speakers ; MBL makes many beefier and very heavy amps which would be very interesting to hear on these little speakers]) was that the dynamics of the midrange was quite a bit less … dynamic… than that of the self-powered bass. So there was a disconnect between the mids and bass and it was much like a satellite speaker with a very tightly controlled subwoofer [subwoofers with aluminum cabinets like these… now THAT is subwoofering ].

One of the more interesting things at the show this year was the source in this and the next YG room. They recorded LPs [a few scratches and pops too ] onto digital and were using this pre-recorded digital music as their source.

It 1) DID retain some of the analog magic and 2) the ways in which it was not exactly like the original analog showed exactly how far digital recording and playback has yet to go if it is going to be at all convincingly like the music it is recording.

The quality of the pre-recorded LP playback is way better than the iPod playback components (which I saw NONE of this year - hurray! - and we instead saw a lot of reel-to-reel tape decks [Yay! but is this cheating? How many people have R2R in their systems?]). The LP playback was not as good as good CD playback, but it did manage to reproduce a little of the natural bloom and some of the PRaT [not exactly what I mean. There was a dynamic flow between the notes that was LPish, but there was also a stark discontinuousness that was unlike CD or LP] and a little of that harmonic richness that is found on [most] LPs.

ROOM 2: This was the GTT Audio room with big YG Acoustics and Soulution electronics and the LP-on-digital source we talked about above.

This system was much the same as last year, with the exception of the source now having pre-recorded LPs instead of… pre-recorded CDs(?) last year. This is your standard Boy Toy system [as we talked about many times before, amps like the Soulution, despite its name, are not useful outside of the Boy Toy type system because of their lack of micro-dynamics etc.].

Maybe someday we will rank these but for the present they are not all that interesting to me. Sure am curious why SO MANY of these types of systems are foisted on us - it is like as a group the high-end audio industry has decided that only Boy Toy-loving audiophiles want big dynamics, or perhaps it is that most have decided that ALL audiophiles are looking for Boy Toys, and those that have limited funds get small Boy Toy systems and those that are more wealthy get BIG Boy Toy systems.

The Soulution front end.

The equipment used to record? and playback the pre-recorded LPs

ROOM 3: The Veloce room also had small YG Acoustics speakers.

The Veloce electronics has a sweet, pleasant family sound. What was interesting, to me, here was that the sound was so … ordinary… by which I mean it sounded like your typical room at the show. Much of the linearity and resolution of these speakers was not in evidence [I believe many of the people who favor Practical systems think that this is probably a good thing].

Close up of the equipment rack.

Close up of the little YG Acoustics speakers.

SOUND.

The first thing we did was to hook up the player to the Edge NL Reference ‘pyramid’ amplifiers.

We noticed several things. That the sound was warmer and more approachable than it had been with the solid-state Emm Labs player [more on this shortly]. We also noticed a high noise floor between notes. We thought nothing of this, really, since we had just come from RMAF and a system that had the lowest noise floor of any system we know how to build. But it was kind of ‘Oh Jeez, well, this is kind of too bad’ but we had a lot to do and we just let the player warm up for the rest of the evening and into the next day - playing this and that CD in the background - doing careful listening every so often - but no shootouts or anything.

From our past experience with the Audio Aero Capitole and Prestige, we know that using HRS Nimbus underneath the players helped lower the noise floor and increase definition. From my office the sound was sounding ‘out of tune’ [it is often easier to hear this off-axis or in another room, for me anyway]. So I finally badgered Neli [yeah, spouses need to be badgered about 99.9% of the time if you want them to do something when YOU want them to do it] into helping find 3 sets of Nimbus and slide them under the player while I lifted it. It was then that we noticed that the factory-supplied feet looked like Stillpoints and not the standard BDR cones. Regardless, we slid them under [these medium height ones are just tall enough to lift the player off of the feet]. And pressed play.

It was an ENTIRELY different player. My first statement was, ‘Oh no, we just wasted a *day* and have to start our listening impressions all over again’ . Listening from my office revealed that timbre was back into the normal range we hear with most gear. Closer listening revealed that there was now plenty of space between the notes. The only negative, if you want to call it that, was that the sound was not quite as overtly ‘warm’, which was apparently just a lot of notes decaying noisily into the start of other notes. [more about this below].

SHOOTOUT

We did the shootout with the LaSource taking on the Emm Labs CDSD-SE / DCC2-SE CD/SACD player with linestage.

Why is this a good comparison and why is it bad?

Good: They are both CD/SACD players with line stages

Bad: the LaSource costs twice as much as this Emm Labs pair.

Bad: The Emm Labs player we are using in the shootout is a few generations behind the newest Emm Labs players [the shootout SHOULD be between the LaSource and the XDS1 player + new Emm Labs PRE2 linestage - both because the prices would then be approximately equal and because these are their latest and greatest products].

Good: (and this is the real reason) The rap against tubed players [actually this is a solid-state player with a tube linestage - but almost everyone will use the linestage - so bear with me here] is that they are fuzzy, and lack detail, and are inaccurate. So what better test than to compare it with one of the best 4 or 5 solid-state players [the others being mostly other Emm Labs players ]. The CDSD/DCC2 is detailed but not overly detailed, accurate and predictable. Whether you respect these players as much as we do or not, you have to admit that they are a great representative of solid-state player competence with which to compare the new LaSource upstart against.

OK. We had Kevin assist us as he does with many of our shootouts here [thanks Kevin!] Kevin is able to listen carefully and talk about what he is hearing. His preferences are slightly to the ‘Heart’ side of neutral, Neli slightly to the ‘mind’ side of neutral, and me, I think I am in the middle somewhere.

Our test tracks were [we had 4 this time instead of our usually 3, which was good and bad: more test tracks is good, the longer periods between hearing the track on one configuration versus another is bad]:

Sailing to Philadelphia (Knopfler, Taylor; title track [this is wearing a hole in our brains too, but it allows us to immediately compare each player to 100s of other systems, as well as to the other player, and also helps keep us from getting things into a weird state and not knowing it)

Nelson’s Mass (Haydn; King’s College Choir (decca legends) track 1)

Amnesiac (Radiohead; track 2 [track 1 is wearing a hole in my brain, so we are now using #2])

Tumbleweed Connection (Elton John, SACD, track 6 ‘Where to now St. Peter?’)

We ran both players through their internal linestages into the Audio Note Ongaku [yes, 2 linestages in the chain - but it worked wonderfully well]. We put Elrod powercords on the Emm Labs and an Acrolink Mexcel powercord on the Audio Aero. The idea was to kind of assist them in sounding more like the other player: the LaSource will now tend to sound more detailed and the Emm Lab more relaxed and open - i.e. the characteristic sound of these two brands of power cords. We also put HRS Nimbus Couplers under the Emm Labs CDSD transport and DCC2 DAC/linestage to match those under the LaSource.

[Jim P., if you are reading this, this is the same demo you heard except for the power cord changes and the HRS under the Emm Labs - which did make them sound much more alike - but which we do not think in anyway invalidates your choices, but in fact make us more confident you made the right choice for your particular preferences]

IMPRESSIONS

First, we were all amazed at how close the players were to each other. The EMM Labs is much more musical than one might think, given that it is solid-state, and the Audio Aero LaSource had a lot more detail and a quieter background than one might think from hearing their earlier players or looking at their design [aka It Has Tubes!].

We all agreed that the LaSource is a remarkable achievement. It’s a huge step forward from their previous generation top of the line CD/SACD player, the Prestige.

In some sense the ultimate goal, the holy grail [from our point of view] is for the LaSource to sound like an Emm Labs player [aka the best solid-state player] with a little [some amount anyway] of that vacuum tube warmth and soul. To a large extent this is what it sounds like Audio Aero may be attempting to do with the LaSource.

I will transcribe the notes I took of the shootout - in order - so you can get a feeling for the evolution of our analysis of the LaSource sound. We pretty much discussed and agreed to each of these points.

LaSource: Sweet sounding (Haydn). Slightly less air causing voices to be ever so slightly compressed generating a more solid image of the singers (Sailing to Philadelphia). Slightly less micro-dynamics causing some notes to be the tiniest bit more strident, and others to be richer sounding.

EmmLabs: More clarity and voices easier to understand. Again, imaging not quite as solid, less vibrato on the voices and instruments. Surprisingly, only *slightly* less rich. The PRaT here was equal but different [the smaller notes carrying much of the drive of the song on the Emm Labs and the stronger notes driving the song on the LaSource (Sailing and Radiohead)]

The LaSource was complemented here on how fast it loads CDs - much faster than the Prestige [most new SACD players now are quite a bit faster than the older SACD players]

The EmmLabs has less bloom. Soundstage depth was greater (Haydn) [I think that the soundstage depths are differently formed, EmmLabs separated out each violin, the LaSource grouped things together more, but still had depth].

On the Haydn [everything really] the EmmLabs was more real but it could also be a little less engaging [though we HAD heard most of these tracks about, literally, 50 times on EmmLabs in the last 3 weeks :-/]. It depends on how you are listening. The LaSource is easy to listen to [I was going to say more approachable, but my notes has us agreeing that voices were more approachable on the EmmLabs because they were more articulate and easier to understand. Yet, on the LaSource, the voices were more solid and present]. I hope you can start to see how close these are to each other, and also how they are different and in what ways they are different. Perhaps it is more about just how deep do you want to be ABLE to listen and about how deep you USUALLY listen.

Elton John. There was a stark difference here and we all agreed that 1) that Elton track is jaw-droppingly magical, 2) that the magic dust must be in the very subtle details because the EmmLabs picked it up and the LaSource did not [but see note on using the Nordost Odin power cord on the LaSource below], 3) I shock myself thinking about buying a CD, the first in several years [I usually want to get the LP first, and then later get the more expensive CD if I really like it. Besides, we have 4 - 5000 CDs, seems stupid to buy more when there are some here I have not heard for decades. Luckily Kevin left the CD here for us to drench ourselves in]

RadioHead. The EmmLabs picked up the subtle background information [swirlies] that the LaSource did not (+1 for Emm). The voices were more solid and present on the LaSource (+1 for LaSource). The foreground effects [big swirlies ] were more solid and present and tonally rich with the LaSource (+1 for LaSource). So the vote [we listened to all of these several times and had the same discussion every time ] was +2 to +1 in favor of the LaSource in terms of how much fun it was to listen to this track.

Haydn, Sailing to Philly: We never brought these two to a vote, but hopefully from the above, you will understand that there are pluses and minuses depending on how you look at music and how you listen. Since we all listen differently at different times, this can get somewhat confusing - and in some sense that was what we had to deal with when looking at the differences.

A few notes on extracting the last bit of low level detail with this player. Although we had a very good power cord on the player, the Acrolink 7100 series (about $2500) we did try to keep shootout fair. We COULD have used the Nordost Odin power cord to extract MUCH more low level information.

The Audio Aero LaSource, then, is a very good DAC combined with a tube linestage that adds a slight spice of warmth, bloom and soul to the music. It is extremely tasteful in its restraint - just adding enough to ’sweeten’ but not ‘overwhelm’.

People who like the Audio Aero sound will LOVE this player. {{Neli says: It’s got the classic Audio Aero voicing, with better everything — PRaT, detail, extension, lower noise floor. And it’s got one of the big Esoteric drive mechanisms, built like a tank — so we all hope that the transport issues that plagued the Prestiges are over. forever.}}

People who like their system to ALWAYS be fun to listen to, and yet still hear almost the same level of detail as one of the worlds best solid-state players, will LOVE this player.

We will be shipping a free set of three HRS Nimbus, to use instead of the factory-supplied feet, with every player we ship.