AVS Thread: Does anyone base there [sic] buys off audiosciencereview?

[Deleted member 43441]

The peddlers are pretty easy to spot… that is if you want to spot them. Some people want to believe in fantasies, or esoteric topologies that someone dreamed up. The bottom line is that electrically and scientifically most of our audio chain has been well understood for decades. yes there have been some improvements like class D amplification, streaming technologies, digital technologies and the like. But when these guys go against electrical, audio, mastering etc. engineering they are like the Titanic to me and I jump ship. That being said I do agree that our ears only hear so good, but also quality in no way shape or form has a lot to do with price. Look at the reviews on here! Can you say money grab? Let’s call it for what it is some of the stuff is a complete money grab, and they think we are gullible enough because it’s put into a fancy enclosure with a bunch of blinking lights and bling that would make R2-D2 jealous.

 

[JABrown]

Oh yes, reviews plus forum input on actual experience with products. I bought the THX Onyx yesterday despite an assertion by a random Amazon "questions answered" guy that it didn't have enough power for my 300 ohm Sennheiser HD 6xx based on Amir's contrary evaluation. Particularly convincing in this case since Amir is a regular user of the HD 6xx and used it in the subjective portion of his review of the Onyx

 

[Descartes]

Unless there is real scientific data I don’t listen to YouTube evee et n when they show data I am always concerned since they also sell the products and make money by pushing them out!

 

[C. Cook]

I bought an Uptone Audio Regen before getting on ASR and seeing Amirm's review. I sold it after reading the review (without using it).

I recently purchased a Benchmark LA4 preamp based on both the Stereophile review/measurements and also the review/measurements of Benchmark equipment here, such as Amirm's review of the Benchmark AHB2 amp.

How do you like the LA4 and what other equipment is it paired with? I just found a used one for about $400 off retail here: https://tmraudio.com/components/preamplifiers/benchmark-la4-stereo-preamplifier-la-4-remote-black/

It looks like a pretty sweet little pre, but unfortunately it doesn't have a phono stage and I just ended up spending about 900 bucks on a TT and phono preamp because I will be getting a bunch of old first pressing LPs that I don't want to just sell or whatever. I honestly didn't want to go down the vinyl path, but here I am (or will be as soon as the U-Turn TT arrives).

Anyway, I'm rambling. I'm curious as to what you think about the Benchmark preamp and how it might compare to other preamps you've used in the past.

 

[C. Cook]

Yes, I make buys and sells all the time based on Amir and some of the other guys' test reports and Amir's listening impressions. I've never been disappointed with anything I've bought on this basis and I have saved a ton of money compared to mfg's like PS Audio (and recouped some on sales of sub-standard "hi-fi" equipment that tested badly, lol).

 

[C. Cook]

ASR measurements are a useful tool and are very interesting to look at for analog nerds like myself, but some people seem to worship Amir as a god.

One thing that I have noticed is that the default assumption around here seems to be that any equipment that measures poorly must be built and sold by science-denying scammers, so I can see why there are some adverse reactions to this forum.

Ridiculous, lol. Quite the opposite from what I've read here compared to forums like PS Audio's where in fact certain PS Audio employees *ARE* venerated like gods.

Regarding default assumptions, one can make these without any contact whatsoever with ASR or Amir's test reports. Any company that sells $1000 AC mains cables or $7000 'power cleaner' devices (or "noise harvesters") is in fact science-denying scamming going on.

 

[Deleted member 43441]

I have more than one preamp LOL, I actually have the Freya + that is pretty much everything they say it is and maybe more. I was going to go for the Benchmark for looks and possibly a little better performance. In the end I doubt it would be audible between the benchmark, and the Topping pre-90, and the Freya. I removed a highly reviewed preamp and replaced it with a Freya… for now.

 

[C. Cook]

I just checked out the Freya and of course, no phono stage. It's like everyone is trying to maximize profits by separating every possible function out into its own piece of equipment. I'm guessing Schiit sells a separate phono stage, but the combined price would make it undoable for me in my present situation (of having spent already a ton of money on audio gear in the past half-year).

 

[Deleted member 43441]

I just checked out the Freya and of course, no phono stage. It's like everyone is trying to maximize profits by separating every possible function out into its own piece of equipment. I'm guessing Schiit sells a separate phono stage, but the combined price would make it undoable for me in my present situation (of having spent already a ton of money on audio gear in the past half-year).

I understand what you’re saying, but most of us vinyl guys would rather pick our own phono stage anyway. I think most would agree that integrated phono stages are lacking transparency. At least the ones made in the last 10 or 20 years.

I’m using the Parks Puffin Phono preamp, I have the digital coax going into the Topping D90, and then XLR into the Freya. That’s a pretty stellar set up. A little more money involved, but it’s the best vinyl playback I’ve ever had.

 

[Deleted member 43441]

If people opt for the Freya S, we’re talking $600, and pretty much perfectly transparent. That’s hard to beat, and they have the Cambridge dual moving magnet, and moving coil phono stage on eBay right now I think it’s B stock or C stock for 199. That’s the one that sits on the top of Amir’s phone review list, I bought one.

Just a thought, I almost went with the benchmark, but I have other preamps.

 

[C. Cook]

If people opt for the Freya S, we’re talking $600, and pretty much perfectly transparent. That’s hard to beat, and they have the Cambridge dual moving magnet, and moving coil phono stage on eBay right now I think it’s B stock or C stock for 199. That’s the one that sits on the top of Amir’s phone review list, I bought one.

Just a thought, I almost went with the benchmark, but I have other preamps.

I have that Cambridge Audio sitting unopened in the bag/box Amazon sent it to me in, awaiting return. I only discovered after hitting "buy" that the knob on the front doesn't control the line out volume, just the headphone amp (that measured pretty ******, IIRC), but even about 30 minutes after purchasing, the seller supposedly wasn't able to cancel the transaction because of "how fast" their fulfillment system is. I call BS on that because it was late on Saturday night that I made the purchase and tried to cancel.

Oh, BTW I also have the Puffin waiting for the TT to arrive. I bought it on the recommendation of another ASR user and partially on the ASR measurements/recommendation.

 

[Xulonn]

I have that Cambridge Audio sitting unopened in the bag/box Amazon sent it to me in, awaiting return. I only discovered after hitting "buy" that the knob on the front doesn't control the line out volume, just the headphone amp

Same with my Topping DX7s - seems to be a common practice with many DAC/headphone amp manufacturers. I will use the MoOde software volume control for casual listening via my YaLand tube amp, and crank the MoOde app volume control to max and use the amp's volume control for "critical" listening.

 

[C. Cook]

Same with my Topping DX7s - seems to be a common practice with many DAC/headphone amp manufacturers. I will use the MoOde software volume control for casual listening via my YaLand tube amp, and crank the MoOde app volume control to max and use the amp's volume control for "critical" listening.

Can you point me to more ASR conversations about this MoOde stuff or at least recommended videos and analysis? I'm genuinely interested. Does it interface with Windows ASIO or something?

 

[C. Cook]

I understand what you’re saying, but most of us vinyl guys would rather pick our own phono stage anyway. I think most would agree that integrated phono stages are lacking transparency. At least the ones made in the last 10 or 20 years.

I’m using the Parks Puffin Phono preamp, I have the digital coax going into the Topping D90, and then XLR into the Freya. That’s a pretty stellar set up. A little more money involved, but it’s the best vinyl playback I’ve ever had.

So here's my current plan: I don't want to buy a separate (full size form factor especially) pre-amp with phono stage or any of that. So I've got the Puffin sitting here waiting on the turntable to which it will be connected. I plan to connect the little coax SPDIF out on the back side to my RME ADI-2's coax digital input and use the ADI-2 as the actual preamp, but with two separate volume controls...AND...to use a Nobosound switch to send the Puffin's analog outs to which will be fed directly to my Hypex nc500 / nc1200 amps and using the Puffin's volume (and gain?) controls to modulate. Is that a workable scenario in your mind/experience?

Slight edit: Those are two separate listening use-cases. One will involve the Puffin's coax digital out going to the RME and the other will be the Puffin's analog RCA outs going to the Nobosound RCA-XLR switch for no DSP/DAC/Whatever straight to the input of my XLR only n-core power amp which is the only option in that particular signal path.

 

[Deleted member 43441]

So here's my current plan: I don't want to buy a separate (full size form factor especially) pre-amp with phono stage or any of that. So I've got the Puffin sitting here waiting on the turntable to which it will be connected. I plan to connect the little coax SPDIF out on the back side to my RME ADI-2's coax digital input and use the ADI-2 as the actual preamp, but with two separate volume controls...AND...to use a Nobosound switch to send the Puffin's analog outs to which will be fed directly to my Hypex nc500 / nc1200 amps and using the Puffin's volume (and gain?) controls to modulate. Is that a workable scenario in your mind/experience?

Slight edit: Those are two separate listening use-cases. One will involve the Puffin's coax digital out going to the RME and the other will be the Puffin's analog RCA outs going to the Nobosound RCA-XLR switch for no DSP/DAC/Whatever straight to the input of my XLR only n-core power amp which is the only option in that particular signal path.

I’ve heard some people say they are using the Puffin as a volume control, But to confirm what you want to do, I would get a hold of Shannon Parks, and he will definitely steer you in the right direction. [email protected]

 

[Xulonn]

Can you point me to more ASR conversations about this MoOde stuff or at least recommended videos and analysis? I'm genuinely interested. Does it interface with Windows ASIO or something?

I'm really a newbie with respect to MoOde. I have use Daphile in the past as a headless digital audio player, and liked it, but it is an old Logitech Squeeze derivative, and rarely updated these days. Daphile has almost fallen completely off the internet radar. I use Kodi for video/movies - but is is too complex for simple audio playing, and its headless operation apps are very limited. Volumio is popular, but buggy, and like many others, I could not get it to work with my Raspberry Pi 3+. So, without extensive research on MoOde here at ASR, I installed it and it worked.

The MoOde headless controller interface, which is designed to work with tablets and smart phones, is a little quirky with tapping/clicking on objects rather than menu options for some of its navigation. As an example, there is no menu item for accessing your music library - you have to click or tap on the big "now playing" graphic to get there. Now that I understand the navigation - and the method for adding non-default radio stations - I really like it.

I don't use streaming services like Spotify - I just play music from my own NAS library or listen to internet radio. So I can't comment on MoOde's usefulness for commercial music streaming.

Edit: A search for "moode" here at ASR brings up lots of good discussions about various aspects of using this excellent RPi headless music player app.

 

[C. Cook]

I’ve heard some people say they are using the Puffin as a volume control, But to confirm what you want to do, I would get a hold of Shannon Parks, and he will definitely steer you in the right direction. [email protected]

Whoops, forgot to mention that I have, in fact, been in touch with Shannon and he was very helpful. Confirmed that yes, my intended use case for the Puffin would work just fine and that the volume control will do what I need it to!

 

[C. Cook]

Edit: A search for "moode" here at ASR brings up lots of good discussions about various aspects of using this excellent RPi headless music player app.

Hmmph...Maybe I spelled it wrong when I searched yesterday. I do see what you mean; several discussions about it when spelled correctly ;-)

 

[gfinlays]

I've bought 2 DACs (SMSL Sanskrit 10th V2, Topping E50) a DAC/Preamp/Headphone Amp (Topping DX7 Pro), a headphone amp (Topping L50) and 2 amplifiers (Topping PA5 and Benchmark AHB2) based on ASR reviews and measurements. I've not been disappointed by any of them.

 

[DaveOttley]

I SOLD my Genelecs after hearing Amir bash their amplification (btw we both love their products). It led my to buy a beefy amp and spend way more on speakers, thanks Amir!