Stereophile Amplification Product of the Year

[mhardy6647]

"Tonmeister" instead of "Tonemeister"? Ton of something, I suppose...

Ton = 'tone' (sound) auf Deutsch.

e.g., Tonband.

(tape recorder)

 

[MKR]

And I second that

 

[computer-audiophile]

I think that's covered in Ecclesiastes.

Yes, good idea. But my reference was the brilliant humourist Loriot, who once said. "Life without a pug dog is possible but pointless''

 

[MEGB1262]

Hi again,
looking here https://dict.leo.org/german-english/der Tonmeister
you see "der Tonmeister" in German is the "the sound engineer" or "the recording engineer" in English - isn't it ironic...

so far so good, Stefano

 

[mhardy6647]

Seems like there is an asymptotic limit on price where even an amplifier of nearly infinitely poor ranking still costs something. Is it around $1000? Is that "cloth ear" territory?

One may extrapolate using the fits I posted above.

 

[HarmonicTHD]

"Tonmeister" instead of "Tonemeister"? Ton of something, I suppose...

A ton of money

 

[computer-audiophile]

'Tonmeister' is an honourable title. Seems a bit old-fashioned today, when people like to talk in anglicisms to appear modern.

 

[MEGB1262]

'Tonmeister' is an honourable title. Seems a bit old-fashioned today, when people like to talk in anglicisms to appear modern.

In the old days when the baby boomer were young in the early 80's of the 20th century i started to think about to try the recording engineer academic study, but the admission quota was about 1 of 300 of those who tried to apply - the admission requirements were really hard to fulfil, the rule of two or three instruments and good to have perfect pitch to hit the standard pitch, i gave up in the first place knowing that i wouldn't have even a slight chance
it turned out that it was hard enough for me to get the master degree of electronic science

 

[Blumlein 88]

so, this was my first thought in response to the data in the OP.

View attachment 328081
and this was my second thought
View attachment 328082

In other words linear increase in ranking requires an exponential increase in price.
Testable hypothesis: @John Atkinson et al. need to test some $150,000 to 300,000 amps.

Well, I don't know about $300k, but they've tested several over $50k, $70K, $100k, and at least one at $150k per monoblock pair.

Recommended Components Fall 2023 Edition Power Amplifiers

Power Amplifiers: A (SOLID STATE): Ayre VX-8: $6800 See Ken Micallef's review in this issue. (Vol.46 No.10 WWW) Bel Canto E1X: $6200

www.stereophile.com

I think the Ongaku SETs in the 1990's were pushing $100k which inflation adjusted is way on up there. You can look up several of the variants of those in Stereophile's old reviews. They all have measurements almost identical to the amp which is the topic of this thread.

 

[Ken Tajalli]

Ugly looking thing....

And that is the best part of it.

 

[fpitas]

Good question, you've got the problem!

My JFETs substitute for tubes. They're even in a mu follower circuit.

 

[Blumlein 88]

My JFETs substitute for tubes. They're even in a mu follower circuit.

No vacuum, no good. Nature abhors a vacuum, but audiophiles love and crave it. Lets the electrons fly free, not like being shoved around like in a JFET.

 

[LTig]

In the old days when the baby boomer were young in the early 80's of the 20th century i started to think about to try the recording engineer academic study, but the admission quota was about 1 of 300 of those who tried to apply - the admission requirements were really hard to fulfil, the rule of two or three instruments and good to have perfect pitch to hit the standard pitch, i gave up in the first place knowing that i wouldn't have even a slight chance
it turned out that it was hard enough for me to get the master degree of electronic science

LOL, sounds familiar to me. And I'm happy I stayed with EE (my dream since age 10) instead of trying the Tonmeister study. I could not play piano. It would have taken years just to qualify and then they took only 10 students each year in whole Germany.

 

[mhardy6647]

No vacuum, no good. Nature abhors a vacuum, but audiophiles love and crave it. Lets the electrons fly free, not like being shoved around like in a JFET.

View attachment 328133

Cats. Cats abhor vacuums vacua(?) too.

 

[rdenney]

Because they get advertising revenue.

What do you think would happen if Topping or SMSL sought to advertise their products in Stereophile? And then send them in for review? The ads can't be that expensive. I predict that the snobs would fill the social-media airwaves with lamentations about the selling out of Stereophile.

The ads could show AP results, credited to Amir at Audio Science Review, with some testimonial quotes, etc. How would Stereophile refuse the ad?

Rick "asking sort-of seriously" Denney

 

[Blumlein 88]

There has been this:

Topping DM7 8-channel D/A processor

www.stereophile.com

Topping Pre90 line preamplifier

There has not been a conventional preamplifier in my main audio system for quite a while, because no multichannel preamp is available that's of high enough quality. Instead, I use the high-precision digital volume controls in my players and DACs and choose sources with a relay-based multichannel...

www.stereophile.com

Both reviewed by Kalman Rubinson who is a member here.

Class A for the Preamp same as several preamps costing more than $50k.

Class B for the DA unit.

 

[rdenney]

There has been this:

Topping DM7 8-channel D/A processor

www.stereophile.com

Topping Pre90 line preamplifier

There has not been a conventional preamplifier in my main audio system for quite a while, because no multichannel preamp is available that's of high enough quality. Instead, I use the high-precision digital volume controls in my players and DACs and choose sources with a relay-based multichannel...

www.stereophile.com

Both reviewed by Kalman Rubinson who is a member here.

Well, of course it would have been Kal...he's one of us.

That formulation makes me giggle a little bit, like our clique versus their clique. We are the Anti-Snob Snobs.

And, of course, Kal is far too fair-minded for that.

Rick "proud member of the A.S.S." Denney

p.s. I'm still hoping for a Topping full-page ad in Stereophile with quotes from Amir and others on this forum, and picture credits to Amir's testing. I might even buy the subscription just to read the comments.

 

[Skeeter]

What do you think would happen if Topping or SMSL sought to advertise their products in Stereophile? And then send them in for review? The ads can't be that expensive. I predict that the snobs would fill the social-media airwaves with lamentations about the selling out of Stereophile.

The ads could show AP results, credited to Amir at Audio Science Review, with some testimonial quotes, etc. How would Stereophile refuse the ad?

Rick "asking sort-of seriously" Denney

A full page advert back cover or inside front cover or back cover is $10 or 15 thousand (2016/17 prices for a run of 6-12 months which was when I looked). It may have changed, but I doubt it. 1/4 page adverts anywhere in the mag are much less but still exorbitantly expensive for startups. I’m afraid the industry in general doesn’t like newcomers or anyone that is likely to rock the ‘feedback is bad, low distortion kills the music etc’ mantra. These people have corrupted a whole industry and a very few are making some money out of it. They are protecting their game. HiFi+ magazine is just as bad. The guy said to me ‘How much are you prepared to spend on adverts? We can do a good review’. No measurements just verbiage. The hi-end thing seems to be about selling bling and glossy magazines. Spare a thought for the people doing the serous stuff in the electronics used to record all this music.

I’m afraid the whole hi end thing is rotten. And don’t get me started on UK dealers.

 

[Fahzz]

Great movie.

 

[Purité Audio]

A full page advert back cover or inside front cover or back cover is $10 or 15 thousand (2016/17 prices for a run of 6-12 months which was when I looked). It may have changed, but I doubt it. 1/4 page adverts anywhere in the mag are much less but still exorbitantly expensive for startups. I’m afraid the industry in general doesn’t like newcomers or anyone that is likely to rock the ‘feedback is bad, low distortion kills the music etc’ mantra. These people have corrupted a whole industry and a very few are making some money out of it. They are protecting their game. HiFi+ magazine is just as bad. The guy said to me ‘How much are you prepared to spend on adverts? We can do a good review’. No measurements just verbiage. The hi-end thing seems to be about selling bling and glossy magazines. Spare a thought for the people doing the serous stuff in the electronics used to record all this music.

I’m afraid the whole hi end thing is rotten. And don’t get me started on UK dealers.

When I first started we were the importers of a ‘hot’ product a U.k. magazine asked to review and I thought ‘why not’ the week before the review was due to be published I received three calls from the magazines advertising department and finally from the magazines editor asking that I advertise.
I politely refused the editor asked if they could keep the dac for a group test, in that group test my ‘dac’ came very bottom.
Welcome to the world of Hi-Fi.
Keith