Axpona 2015 Pics

mep said:
Well, if they only brought 3 MQA files, somebody should know if one of them was the Dave Brubeck Take Five. I wish I would have stopped by the Meridian room and heard the MQA demo to see if the reality lives up to the hype. When I read about all the things that MQA is supposed to do, it seems like they are promising the world. It reminds me of the old saying that if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is. MQA is supposed to reach all the way back to the original A/D converter used in the recording studio and then MQA somehow tells your D/A converter about the A/D and your D/A converter somehow becomes the studio machine so you magically hear what the recording/mastering engineers heard when they made the recording. And all of this is going on in the data they have folded down because they are throwing high-rez data out of the digital window because you don't really need all of that resolution anyway. And most interesting is that they claim to be able to take a 24/192 file and 'improve' it by converting it to a lower resolution file and suddenly it will sound like the master tape.

Hey, I gotta run. Somebody just called me and said they were from Microsoft and they need to take over my computer and run a virus scan so I need to sign off and let them take over my computer. :)
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Thanks Mark. I love magic too. All I can say is:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmwqnqL3Hbg
 
FlexibleAudio said:
I am no doubt going to get a lot of flack for this but the main purpose of my trip to Axpona was to spend as much time possible comparing the current sota digital to analog to make a final decision about my next step. I spent a ton of time in the two Lampi rooms and the two DCS rooms as well as the Kronos, AMG, Clear Audio, DS Audio and Doshi rooms. I wanted to prefer the Lampi for convenience. I would choose it's DSD over the Vivaldi. But I could not get there against the analog and frankly I am not sure I ever will.
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What were the digital transports in those rooms? As you know Transport is half the battle for SOTA sound.
 
FlexibleAudio said:
I am no doubt going to get a lot of flack for this but the main purpose of my trip to Axpona was to spend as much time possible comparing the current sota digital to analog to make a final decision about my next step. I spent a ton of time in the two Lampi rooms and the two DCS rooms as well as the Kronos, AMG, Clear Audio, DS Audio and Doshi rooms. I wanted to prefer the Lampi for convenience. I would choose it's DSD over the Vivaldi. But I could not get there against the analog and frankly I am not sure I ever will.
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I don't think a show is a suitable environment for this purpose? If you could arrange a one person after-hours demo, then maybe, but even then I'd be a little surprised. Generally the best one can do at a show is identify promising items for further evaluation. I have had some demos at shows where I've had the chance to listen to systems alone (or nearly so) for prolonged periods, but that's pretty much a happenstance occurence and still not really suitable for comparing specific pieces.
 
MDP said:
Mark, having heard the Scansonic 3.5's, I will concede that they won't play at headbanger sound levels. But they will "rock". As long as you don't push them past around 90db. If you go too loud, the woofers will pop.

That being said, I plan on ordering a pair for my second sysytem beacause of that beautiful Raidho sound. I love my Salons, but Raidho speakers have a seductiveness that's hard to get over once you've owned them.
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Great move, Mark! I still can't get over the price of the 3.5's. What a value. I know what you mean about the seductiveness of the Raidho sound. It's hard to be without. :)

Best,
Ken
 
Alpinist said:
Great move, Mark! I still can't get over the price of the 3.5's. What a value. I know what you mean about the seductiveness of the Raidho sound. It's hard to be without. :)

Best,
Ken
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Yes, they did sound very nice indeed. :peace:
 
FlexibleAudio said:
I am no doubt going to get a lot of flack for this but the main purpose of my trip to Axpona was to spend as much time possible comparing the current sota digital to analog to make a final decision about my next step. I spent a ton of time in the two Lampi rooms and the two DCS rooms as well as the Kronos, AMG, Clear Audio, DS Audio and Doshi rooms. I wanted to prefer the Lampi for convenience. I would choose it's DSD over the Vivaldi. But I could not get there against the analog and frankly I am not sure I ever will.
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No flack from me. The only advice would be to arrange an in-house demo with your chosen SOTA transport. Just arrange a generous trial period and make up your mind definitively.

I wish you would pick up the phone when you have time, as that is the only way to do a decent brain dump. I HATE long typing, as I am a hunt and peck kinda typist. LoL
 
wisnon said:
What were the digital transports in those rooms? As you know Transport is half the battle for SOTA sound.
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Norman,

I don't recall them all but they were not slouches. I did not pay a lot of attention to the streamers but I believe they were at the levels of the systems in general.

-- Streamer with Vivaldi Stack and Magico M and Jubilee Amplification

-- Aesthetix Romulus Elclipse CD with Magico Q7 II and Aesthetix Amplification

-- ARC Ref CD9 with SF Lillium and ARC Amplification

-- Streamers with the Lampi B7 and GG
 
rbbert said:
I don't think a show is a suitable environment for this purpose? If you could arrange a one person after-hours demo, then maybe, but even then I'd be a little surprised. Generally the best one can do at a show is identify promising items for further evaluation. I have had some demos at shows where I've had the chance to listen to systems alone (or nearly so) for prolonged periods, but that's pretty much a happenstance occurence and still not really suitable for comparing specific pieces.
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I take your point but it's not every day you get several million dollars of gear at your disposal in the same afternoon. I was able to do direct a/b comparisons of analog and digital on several of the top systems at the show. I can be a bit pushy.

It wasn't perfect but I learned a bit. Of course there will never be a substitute for long term observation in your own room.
 
FlexibleAudio said:
I take your point but it's not every day you get several million dollars of gear at your disposal in the same afternoon. I was able to do direct a/b comparisons of analog and digital on several of the top systems at the show. I can be a bit pushy.

It wasn't perfect but I learned a bit. Of course there will never be a substitute for long term observation in your own room.
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Paul, I'm very curious as to what you're thinking. My guess is that you were impressed with vinyl and are leaning that way.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Mike said:
Paul, I'm very curious as to what you're thinking. My guess is that you were impressed with vinyl and are leaning that way.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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Pretty good with tea leaves Mike. I just keep coming back to the realization that everything involved with digital seems to be about getting closer to vinyl but never quite doing it. For me, I just find I relax better with analog compared to even the best of todays digital and that's what is important to me. I am not saying digital won't come to my system eventually but right now I am leaning away from 1 and 0's for the first step.
 
+1 to Paul's comment. Even the best digital front-end is not there IMO. For all its infuriating setup and aggravating rituals, the fact of the matter is the very best digital is outclassed sonically by vinyl setups costing a quarter of the price. And pinnacle analog setups handily outpace equivalent cost digital systems.

Shodhan
 
Bobolaclune said:
+1 to Paul's comment. Even the best digital front-end is not there IMO. For all its infuriating setup and aggravating rituals, the fact of the matter is the very best digital is outclassed sonically by vinyl setups costing a quarter of the price. And pinnacle analog setups handily outpace equivalent cost digital systems.

Shodhan
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I couldn't disagree more, but of course it's all about sonic preferences and opinions.
 
Digital's issue is not the hardware (DAC) per se....it's how the CD was mastered from the analog source. Digital brick walling, normalizing, ect all contribute to degrading the analog master's sonic characteristics. If the original music was mastered in digital, there is no real issue...it only happens on older music that was mastered originally on tape. Since 95% of the music I listen to was mastered in analog, it makes sense to listen to it in that domain for best sound.
 
rbbert said:
I couldn't disagree more, but of course it's all about sonic preferences and opinions.
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Really? Quite a surprising response. In a field littered with controversy, argument , contentiousness and widely divergent viewpoints , there are few things most audiophiles would agree with more (reluctantly or otherwise), than the sonic merits of analog over digital. There may be a justifiable preference for digital over analog from any number of standpoints (cost, convenience, availability ....) but it would be a tough stance to take with any test Group of carbon-based lifeforms , that the digital sources sounded better. Maybe I've led a sheltered life for the last 20 years of audiophilia but I can't recall ever hearing someone defending digital over analog when it came to more authentically reproducing a musical performance.
 
Bobolaclune said:
Really? Quite a surprising response. In a field littered with controversy, argument , contentiousness and widely divergent viewpoints , there are few things most audiophiles would agree with more (reluctantly or otherwise), than the sonic merits of analog over digital. There may be a justifiable preference for digital over analog from any number of standpoints (cost, convenience, availability ....) but it would be a tough stance to take with any test Group of carbon-based lifeforms , that the digital sources sounded better. Maybe I've led a sheltered life for the last 20 years of audiophilia but I can't recall ever hearing someone defending digital over analog when it came to more authentically reproducing a musical performance.
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It's trendy now to like vinyl, but since no existing sound storage and reproduction system sounds very much like live music (acoustic, unamplified music), I don't see why it's so hard to understand that someone prefers his reproduction with no wow/flutter, with accurate pitch reproduction, without added noise, and without the "fuzziness" that LP lovers characterize as "warmth" but which sounds to me just like fuzziness compared to the real thing.
 
Trendy.... ok you seem to be an authority on this subject so I'll exit this conversation before we experience the added noise and all the wow/flutter an intelligent discourse might generate . I guess I was ahead of the times when I kept my vinyl from 30 years ago and played my turntables ever since. Love being a trendsetter .....
 
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