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Top 3 hi-fi brands (and "honorable mentions")

Burning Sounds

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2: Magnepan. For the music I like to listen to I haven't heard any speakers I could actually afford I like more.

My experience with Magnepan for service and durability has been excellent.

My MG1s are still going strong - they'll be 40 years old this year - x-over caps replaced and that's it. Now doing duty as surround speakers.

My MG2.5rs are 31 years old and have had the ribbons replaced once ($120 including shipping from US) and wires rebonded at top and bottom of panel - all DIY. They are active these days (an easy mod) and used as mains in my 5.1 system together with CC2 centre speaker.

I think Magnepan can still repair any speaker they have ever made.
 

Willem

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My personal praise in no particular order is first for Peter Walker of Quad, for his revolutionary electrostatic speakers and his contributions to the developement of modern amplifier technology that was and remains as good as a 'straight wire with gain', as he used to put it.
Second to the Philips/Sony team that developed the CD. To add some info about the Philips part of the story, see here: https://www.philips.com/a-w/research/technologies/cd/beginning.html At the time Philips had a massive physics lab where all kinds of fundamental research were done without too much concern about the immediate benefits. In some ways the Hypex technology is the last fruit of this Philips audio research tradition.
Third, I want to mention the research into speaker design at the BBC, producing not only some memorable designs, but also the methodological groundwork for speaker research, and the launch pad for the Harbeth brand of speakers.

So my list is equaly divided by innovation in electronics and speakers. In those early days amplifiers were not good enough to be transparent, and people like Peter Walker made them become that. Similarly, analogue sources were not really good enough, and the CD changed all that. Ever since, sources and amplifiers can be better than human hearing acuity, so subsequnet innovation can only be about manufacturing technology. Speakers and their interaction with the room remain the weakest link, hence my praise for, again, Peter Walker and for the BBC and Harbeth's Alan Shaw.

However, the list is not complete without a reference to the esthetically and functionally most memorable designs, those by Dieter Rams for Braun.
 
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BigVU's

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I think my first system came from one of these...
1565755036570.png

A plastic rack system, tape deck, graphic eq, and receiver, may have weighed as much as a box of cracker jacks. hey it worked though.

Dad had a Pioneer - that was pretty cool with the Led Zep frisbees. We didn't get to play with it much as that was sort of - off limits to the kids.

I wish I could contribute to this with a laundry list of experience and first hand knowledge but alas nope. I have been doing a lot of reading and some researching though.

Accuphase has a short vid out on their factory. Very modest - blue collar and what "felt" sincere, genuine and honest. In a take over for purchase power and expense efficiency world of today, it appeared Accuphase was resolved to their craft. Really made me want to root for them and based on all I read, also really made me want one of their 2 channel amps.

Luxman also crossed my screen a lot. Other than you tube vids (there are some wtf ones out there oh boy) I haven't seen or heard them or the aforementioned amplifiers. Though these look nice and apparently also receive many kind words as well.

Couldn't be more subjective I suppose other than the science of the new Benchmark - which doesn't have Big VU's!
 

watchnerd

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Luxman also crossed my screen a lot. Other than you tube vids (there are some wtf ones out there oh boy) I haven't seen or heard them or the aforementioned amplifiers. Though these look nice and apparently also receive many kind words as well.

Luxman gear is very nice, a great blend of modern and old retro craftsmanship.

I've been thinking of getting one of these to use as a headphone amp / bedroom system:


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At $2800 it's less than some equivalent top end tube headphone / speaker amps from more boutique audiophile brands.
 

Zog

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1. Schitt, for puling the wool over most people's eyes.
2. Beats, for overpriced mediocre headphones and great marketing.
3. Apple, for the iPhone and wireless earbuds. Who needs a great music system when you can be a mobile phone zombie.

Runner up: Bose
Schiit - for creating crap products.
Beats - for selling Schiit products.
Apple - for selling Schiitloads of crap products.
 

BillG

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For me, in terms of what I've had experience with, the following:

The Harmon Kardon group of companies (specifically Revel, Infinity, and JBL) for their profound R&D - Speakers

Yamaha, as they seem to be more honest than most, if the recent WXA-50 performance analysis here is a reliable indicator, and at reasonable prices - Amplifiers

Google, as Chromecast was/is a game changer - Streamers

Honorable mention: SMSL, as their DACs, and ICEpower based amplifiers, seem to be worth the money.

Boutique brands? I wouldn't touch them with a ten foot pole... :rolleyes:
 

Vahd

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1: Denon. My dads dcd 1560 still sounds amazing, over the years he did some light maintenance himself. Tbf my only comparison is my Marantz cd-63se and Topping d10.
2: Magnepan. For the music I like to listen to I haven't heard any speakers I could actually afford I like more.
I have my old (year?) Denon 1560 that I haven't hooked up in 3 years now, and am interested in that your arrangement is. And yes, iy always outperformed other CD players next to it.
 

Sal1950

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TimF

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No mention of Wadia or Esoteric. It is clear we all have equipment that charmed us, that we loved. I had a Sony ES707 or maybe it was an ES777 cd player. It was built like a tank and a fine watch. Overbuilt it was. I can imagine it displayed on a shelf as a piece of industrial art with an IBM Selectric II next to it. How I loved the the print ball on the IBM Selectric.
 

ahofer

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Does Bryston still offer lifetime guarantees? Magnepan and Thiel (until their death) always serviced my speakers for nothing, and even replaced packing materials for me. All three companies earned some loyalty from me for these attributes, which anyone aspiring to luxury or 'high-end' should consider price of admission.

But Thiel is gone, and I think I heard Bryston has now put an expiration data on its warranty.
 

Feanor

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Top of my list would be Pass Labs. They only make amplifiers and preamps. They deliver superbly listenable amps, not the lowest distortion by any means, but a excellent balance of transparency, dynamics, and listenably -- all at crazy-high prices, granted.

I owned a Pass Labs X150.5 for a number of years. Didn't have the resolution of my current Purifi but was a lot more enjoyable to listen to.
 

Zog

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Top of my list would be Pass Labs. They only make amplifiers and preamps. They deliver superbly listenable amps, not the lowest distortion by any means, but a excellent balance of transparency, dynamics, and listenably -- all at crazy-high prices, granted.

I owned a Pass Labs X150.5 for a number of years. Didn't have the resolution of my current Purifi but was a lot more enjoyable to listen to.
I have pretty much the same amp (X150.8) for a few years now. Nothing to rave about ... just so reassuringly solid. And despite my condition of audiophilia nervosa I have no plans to upgrade.
 

dougi

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I have had that CD tray problem on Panasonic and Philips players and now my Yamaha player won't open on first push on the button. The Panasonic problem was disablement due to an inbuilt 'send to service' scam that Panasonic was later exposed for.
Really? Apparently my garage door motorised system is sort of like that. There is a service light which goes on after a certain amount of operating hours. Mine is on. It can be reset somehow.
 

dougi

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This perfectly illustrates why the word brand has no real value to the customer, all too often as soon as they are seen as a quality brand they exploit it. And why independent testing is required.

On the other hand surprised no one has mentioned Rega, quality products usually at sensible prices, what the market needs more of.
I loved my Rega Planet CD player! Looked cool, sounded good but every so slightly noisy mechanically from the top load mechanism.
 

Feanor

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I have pretty much the same amp (X150.8) for a few years now. Nothing to rave about ... just so reassuringly solid. And despite my condition of audiophilia nervosa I have no plans to upgrade.
I found the Pass Labs X150.5 to be a superbly balanced amp. It had excellent resolution and transparency and dynamics while a the same time delivering a slightly "warm", listenable presentation. What I dislike most about it was the long, 30-40 minute warm-up before it sounded its best, and the 200 watt idle power usage -- in don't know if the .8 version is better in these respects..

Said transparency and dynamics were not, however, as good as either the Purifi or Hypex MP. But the Pass was definitely more listenable than the Purifi.
 

SIY

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I found the Pass Labs X150.5 to be a superbly balanced amp. It had excellent resolution and transparency and dynamics while a the same time delivering a slightly "warm", listenable presentation. What I dislike most about it was the long, 30-40 minute warm-up before it sounded its best, and the 200 watt idle power usage -- in don't know if the .8 version is better in these respects..

Said transparency and dynamics were not, however, as good as either the Purifi or Hypex MP. But the Pass was definitely more listenable than the Purifi.
Uh huh.

You missed mentioning the extra refulgence of the Hypex, as well as its obsequious character. There's a purplish coloration in the midrange of the Pass amps which can often bring out a bluesy quality in orchestral textures, as well as their saucer-like upper midrange.

Perhaps with more experience and better wires you might be able to pick up on these subtleties.
 
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