I am hardly anonymous since I post a link to my website with every message. I just use a professional name rather than a personal one.
Again, I am not singling you out, sorry I kept your moniker in the quote. I just stated my preference, that people use their real names. Everyone, not just you specifically.
For those that are interested, my impressions of the 2015 Rocky Mountain Audio Fest.
The 2014 RAF is here.
Overall impressions? It's nice to hear interesting technology, and the Ionovac certainly qualified. It's the only tweeter that's reminded me of the Plasmatronics I heard at the 1979 CES. For some reason, the German ionic tweeters don't sound like that. No idea why.
Also surprised that for two years running, I preferred the sound at my place and at Thom's place to anything I heard at the show. I didn't even bother to bring a CD of my own to the show, since most exhibitors were using music servers with (boring) audiophile-standard playlists. Exhibitors didn't want to attach "strange" USB sticks to their computers, because of the risk of infection and a crashed show demo. (The rooms cost between $3500 and $5500 for the weekend, so a crashed demo room is a big deal. More than one room was out of action because of computer problems.)
There were no high-res SACD's or DVD-A's for sale, but a fair number of records were for sale. More rooms were using phonographs this year compared to last year or the year before (when there were almost none). It's starting to look like CD's will be replaced by high-res downloads and records.
The CanJam headphone-exhibitor tables overflowed the main room and spilled out into the ground-floor hallways. As far as I can tell, headphones attract a younger demographic than the old fogeys who sit down to listen to music in the living room. The headphone enthusiasts seem to go for USB DACs that attach to computers, combined with high-end headphone amps (yes, some with triodes). I'm satisfied with some pretty old Sennheiser and Beyer Dynamic headphones, so I'm not in their target market.
The 2014 RAF is here.
Overall impressions? It's nice to hear interesting technology, and the Ionovac certainly qualified. It's the only tweeter that's reminded me of the Plasmatronics I heard at the 1979 CES. For some reason, the German ionic tweeters don't sound like that. No idea why.
Also surprised that for two years running, I preferred the sound at my place and at Thom's place to anything I heard at the show. I didn't even bother to bring a CD of my own to the show, since most exhibitors were using music servers with (boring) audiophile-standard playlists. Exhibitors didn't want to attach "strange" USB sticks to their computers, because of the risk of infection and a crashed show demo. (The rooms cost between $3500 and $5500 for the weekend, so a crashed demo room is a big deal. More than one room was out of action because of computer problems.)
There were no high-res SACD's or DVD-A's for sale, but a fair number of records were for sale. More rooms were using phonographs this year compared to last year or the year before (when there were almost none). It's starting to look like CD's will be replaced by high-res downloads and records.
The CanJam headphone-exhibitor tables overflowed the main room and spilled out into the ground-floor hallways. As far as I can tell, headphones attract a younger demographic than the old fogeys who sit down to listen to music in the living room. The headphone enthusiasts seem to go for USB DACs that attach to computers, combined with high-end headphone amps (yes, some with triodes). I'm satisfied with some pretty old Sennheiser and Beyer Dynamic headphones, so I'm not in their target market.
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Lynn,
Thank you for the link. As always, your write-up is informative just as it is entertaining. You wrote about listening to Tom Mackris' NiWatt 300B amps at his place. Not too long ago, maybe two or three months back, you had talked about an amp that Mr. Mackris was working on that was similar (cascaded 6SN7's into 300B finals) to the Flesh and Blood amp. Would the NiWatt amps you listened to recently at his place be those same amps mentioned earlier in this thread?
If stuffing the big back chamber doesn't help, how would stuffing that small front chamber help?
Tom's NiWatts are an evolved version of the actual Reichert Silver 300B's, which were a bit different than the Sound Practices published version. AC heating throughout, with 100-ohm balance pot and 10-ohm current-diverter resistors for each side of the 300B filament, but similar operating points to the published version.
I suggested a "Karna" type of power supply (but on the same monoblock chassis), with separate B+ transformers, vacuum-tube rectifiers, and CLC filtering for the input+driver tube, and the 300B power tube. In addition, a separate power transformer for the 5V filament power for the 300B, and another separate power transformer for the 6SN7/12SN7 heater supply (all AC heated and balanced with respect to ground). The power switch has 3 positions ... OFF, Preheat, and ON.
Since the original Silver 300B/Flesh & Blood runs the 6SN7 sections pretty hard (close to plate dissipation limits), Thom decided to use separate 6SN7's for the input and driver tubes, and then grounds the unused sections. This allows about 30% greater plate dissipation, and eliminates minor nonlinear crosstalk between tube section (this point was brought up by John Atwood several years ago ... he's measured section-to-section crosstalk, and it's a real phenomenon).
The very high isolation between the sections gives the NiWatt a noticeable similarity to the Karna amplifier, while simplifying construction and overall build cost. The sound of Thom's system and mine have converged over the past year ... it's not the same, but there's a strong similarity, despite Thom's being all-analog with different speakers, and mine with a digital front end and the faithful Ariels (and REL Strata II subwoofer).
I'm not normally a fan of single-ended amplifiers, but the sound of the NiWatts has won me over. Maybe the best tonality of any amplifier I've heard, and very dramatic and vivid-sounding. It would have been nice if one amplifier at the show sounded as good.
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Interesting how quickly things change. 5 or 6 years ago the music servers were rare, I brought tracks on USB and could never find a room to play them in. I always tried to have file playback in any room I ran, as well as CD. Never brought a turntable, tho.
Playback is evolving fast, not so speakers and amps.
Thanks tnargs but if that was a serious comment i don't find any amp by that name. I thought the passing comment from Lynn about a class D amp in Duke Lejune's room was pretty interesting but alas no details whatsoever about which amp it was. I work with a lot of college kids, some of whom are music students and can appreciate when a sound system is at least some semblance of the real thing. I'd love to be able to at least suggest something in the affordable range for a starter serious system.
Nice follow-on in AudioCircle from Duke, the fellow who designs and builds the Audio Kinesis speakers. I can see why he liked the Acoustic Imagery amps as well.
What keeps the RMAF interesting is the upsetting of expectations. I wanted to see and hear the new (solid-state) power amp from XYZ corporation, based on the reputation of the company and a number of interesting and forward-looking XYZ innovations. They had a room with their own well-regarded DAC, their amp, and their new XYZ speaker. Nothing left to chance, it was an all-XYZ room.
The sound? Not for me. It could have all been MP3 source, from what I could tell. Generic transistor and digital sound, pretty much the same as an iPod or an iPhone with decent headphones.
Maybe the room wasn't good. Maybe the speaker was a flop, although XYZ is known for serious engineering and a high-value approach to their products. No idea why it sounded like that; anything can go wrong at a show.
On the other hand, Duke mentioned in passing there's going to be a "visitor" amp after hours. Nothing much was happening right after 6PM, I dropped in, and the visitor amp, just another anonymous-looking aluminum box, sounded pretty interesting. Good tonality without the annoying metallic coloration, open and transparent, and quite good dimensionality, areas where solid-state Class AB tends to fall down. At the time, a mystery box, but it obviously worked well with Duke's room and speakers.
That's what happens at shows. Expectations of great performance turn into disappointments, and unknowns appear with interesting new products.
In my own system, at home, those experiences could reverse again. Then I get to hear my own music on my own speakers, in a much more relaxed environment. A couple of shows ago, a very good friend of mine brought over a DAC that his associates had been working on. I expected, based on a number of glowing reviews and the impressive credentials of the digital and analog design team, that it would be way superior to the modest Monarchy PCM-1704-based DAC I've been using for the last eight years.
But that's not what Karna and I heard. The visiting DAC sounded worse than my own, despite selling for five times the price. Why? Maybe it didn't like the weird load of my transformer-coupled amplifiers, although they should be easy to drive, with the impedance in the 100K-and-higher range. No idea why. Maybe Karna and I just like the Burr-Brown sound after listening to it for twenty years (first a DAC based on the PCM-63K, then the PCM-1704).
My experiences differ so sharply from mainstream reviews (and audio-forum quickie reviews) that I've pretty much given up on them for any guidance, except for test data. Similarly, I feel little uneasy recommending equipment for other folks, if they have mainstream tastes. They may not like the things that I do.
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