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Insanely Expensive Audio

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Ron Texas

Ron Texas

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Mark Levinson licensed his brand to Harman for car audio. The "connected" automotive side of the business is probably more valuable than the pro audio business. What's Best is a rather pretentious name.
 

gorg

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'world's best monitor' under 28k $ and with stands? Bargain!
 

cjfrbw

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At the other end of the expensive spectrum are the 'bargain shocks'. I bought my little aluminum Chinese headphone amp for $129 delivered. I was intrigued with the circuit, all discrete components: single ended JFET input (aka Boz-like Pass driver) driving dual MOSFET voltage gain, then push pull MOSFET current driver. The line stage is taken off from the JFET dual MOSFET voltage driver and bypasses the push pull MOSFET current driver.

I have six line stages, all the rest tube, ranging from very expensive (Allnic DHT preamp)(Manley Neo300b) to DIY (two 26 DHT, a WE417 transformer coupled Euridice). I rotate them in and out of my active crossover setup with amps, and use the line stages for gain equalization when needed.

So, using the little Chinese JFET/MOSFET as line stage? Sounds high end with no apologies, even compared to the others. Explicit, clean, kinna sweet, spacious with excellent tonality and intense internal detailing and very quick dynamics. Manley Neo300b opens things up with unfolding of imaging and that nice second harmonic stuff, but I could actually live with the little Chinese aluminum block. Do I prefer the costlier tubed units? Yes, ultimately, but not as much as I would expect, which is incredibly annoying.

Makes you wonder what the heck you actually need for sound quality vs. vanity purchase.
 

lotse888

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@cjfrbw

The description of your hp amp stirred my interest. Would you mind post a link to the product? Thanks!

Regards,
 

cjfrbw

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I have talked about it before. Only indication of brand is "Musical Spring" on 7"x6"x1.5" box. There's also a MOSFET in the power supply regulation, a lot of stuff in such a small box. I'm listening to it now driving a Yamaha B2 amplifier into a crossover-less panel. Sounds wonderful
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amirm

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I believe many other ASR members, including Amir (who once was an admin of WBF), have been banned there as well.
I was 50% owner and co-founder of WBF with Steve and he still banned me! So you all had no prayer. :)
 

RayDunzl

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I was 50% owner and co-founder of WBF with Steve and he still banned me!

*takes a peek:

"Looking to replace my current Light Harmonic LightSpeed USB 20G cable. Very good cable but needs to be recharged like every 2 days of normal use, forget it and it's dead. I'm looking at a Siltech Royal Signature Golden Universal II at the moment but suggestions in the $2-3000 area are welcome. Not interested in lower priced ones because I own plenty of those already "

Do you really miss it?
 
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Ron Texas

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Yeah, nothing like a $2k USB cable.
 

Wombat

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A spoof on insanely expensive equipment: Nikon


:)
 
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Sal1950

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Ron Texas

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Mikey would be embarrassed to review the clicks and pops of his fav LP with a power amp that cheesy.
darTZeel NHB-458 @ $144,500
Now updated to the 500 wpc NHB-468, new price so far unknown but sure to be higher. o_O

Yeah, $55k is only a little crazy. It's got to be 6 figures to be truly insane. Those monoblocks weigh in at 154 lb each. That's really insane. One failed during Stereophile's review.
 

cjfrbw

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"Mikey would be embarrassed to review the clicks and pops of his fav LP with a power amp that cheesy."

Heh, Heh!
 

Sal1950

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Yeah, $55k is only a little crazy. It's got to be 6 figures to be truly insane. Those monoblocks weigh in at 154 lb each. That's really insane. One failed during Stereophile's review.
LOL, yes we've discussed such things at length here. There many times seems to be a reverse plot between the cost of many high end components and their reliability. That a bit curious and sad actually. :(
 
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