Jeff Rowland 535 Stereo Amplifier Review

[OCD HiFi Guy]

Okay, respectfully, and in the spirit of helping you and you wanting to learn.

https://www.time4writing.com/writing-resources/paragraph-writing-secrets/

Since you dropped out of high school, please learn to write in paragraphs.

So far instead of appearing to want to learn or even discuss back and forth, you come off as someone with the experience from on high, and until we give you credit for it, you'll not converse with us. And I somehow doubt you will then.

Also your videos come off as a stream of undisciplined consciousness like your forum posts without paragraphs.

LOL, you seek to control... I dont respond to that. again, this is not finishing school and I dont even desire to be a debutante. Not a journalist, remember... no, Im the high school dropout with a $100K rig.. If you have a way for me to reprogram my brain to stop saying "UM" that would be appreciated. but I dont write

 

[Blumlein 88]

LOL, you seek to control... I dont respond to that. again, this is not finishing school and I dont even desire to be a debutante. Not a journalist, remember... no, Im the high school dropout with a $100K rig.. If you have a way for me to reprogram my brain to stop saying "UM" that would be appreciated. but I dont write

Not seeking to control. Seeking to improve communication. If you don't wish to communicate or make the effort to understand, then that is okay. Don't complain when you are not understood.

 

[BDWoody]

Not a journalist, remember... no, Im the high school dropout with a $100K rig..

Do you think that gives you credibility?

Funny how people think expensive must be better...course that's just ignorance. There is a LOT of it out there...

For example...people who believe a listening comparison between sources can be reliably done without strict controls are simply demonstrating ignorance. Most of us have been there.

Once they know the truth about it, to continue to exploit that area of human perception in others for personal gain is simply dishonesty in action...

Then again, maybe they reject the validity of the science, which simply shows them as determined to stay ignorant.

Often hard to tell whether people in this industry are ignorant or dishonest...for a while at least.

 

[OCD HiFi Guy]

An anecdote I wanted to share. Back in 2017 around when I first got into this hobby I had a nice budget to spend on a new pair of speakers, amp, and yes possibly even some decent cables and interconnects. I live in Toronto, just 15 minutes from Israel Blume who is the owner/founder of Concident Technologies. He made what I thought at the time was amazing state of the art speaker designs and really attractive amps. And to be fair to him, I still agree with his approach to audio in general, simpler is usually better.

But anyway I asked him if he could reccomend me something in my budget, it was something like $10k and I was hoping he’d cut me a good deal on a pair of his super victory speakers and an amp. My friend, the one I reccomended I purchase from him told me that Israel often offers good discounts and parities the Canadian dollars to US dollar if buying more then one thing. I had this money all in cash at the time and I was also told that Israel likes to do cash deals... it seemed like a great idea though. $10K USD order is closer to $16K after taxes for me because of conversion rate...

Anywho I email him and long story short he told me to come to his place and have a listen and we could talk in person. He smelled a deal I guess because I mentioned I wanted to pay cash and if he’d give me a significant discount. He said yes and to stop by.

His house was beautiful, and his setup also beautiful. He only had his top of the line pure reference extreme speakers hooked up to his TOTL Frankenstein monoblocks. I just stress this was the first time I ever heard a 5 figure system. It blew my mind it could sound so good. So after we finished listening I told him what I was willing to spend and he did something very unexpected: he told me to buy his lowest end speaker and amp and he’d sell them for very cheap... I forget the number but it was almost 50% off I think. And he insisted I buy his high end cables... he wanted me to spend 40% of my budget on cables!!!!

I didn’t realize them but a few weeks later as I pondered his offer I met another local gentleman who also was a manufacture of high end gear who was also in my area, Frank Ing from Finale Audio. He told me that Israel sources all of his transformers and also the chassis from China.

His website claims that he makes everything in Canada. After much research I discovered even the mdf wood panels for his speakers come from Chinese sourced lumber.

Anyway I only mention this because this is the kind of person Israel Blume is. Insulted my intelligence by suggesting I spend 40% of my quite substantial budget in &$!@ing cables. I’m just glad I met a helpful soul like Frank over at Finale who helped steer me away and made me understand that when it comes to high end audio and being a newbie I need to watch my back.

I’m sorry for the long tale but I’ve never told it to anyone before and it’s been something that I’ve wanted to get off my mind for a while. It was my first experience in high end audio and I’ve had even worse experiences that I don’t really want to get into now.

When I see people like Mike Powell trying to sell expensive cables to absolute newcomers to this hobby, I remember my first experience and I wonder if those people will be going through what I did.

Show me evidence of me "trying" to sell cables. By the way Kudos for purging what youve held for so many years. I am in full support of sharing and communicating .. so Ive never placed one advertisement anyplace for my cables in the last 10 years, only when I first started and thats all I could offer. Talk to anyone that has ever bought a component from me and find even one person where I attempted to upsell cables to. There is so much absolute lying in the cable industry that I chose 10 years ago to stop talking about cables. So I never "try " to sell cables ever. If people ask, I answer thier question. My cables are made in USA and I boycott Chinese product. My top level I still make by hand, and they sell for less than half of what they beat. I dont have even one 10K cable, my line tops out at $5K for something that can actually be tallied up for value unlike Nordost $30K per half meter. Finally, I am not a hustler. My morals and integrity do not let me accept exponential profit from my fellow audiophiles. and high end cables are for seasoned audiophiles not newbies. So Im pretty sure this is a Jeff Rowland 535 thread, and im not trying to prove any damn thing to you guys, so stop the undying negativity... I mean is this the energy you guys operate on ? More proof I am really doing the right thing with my group..

 

[OCD HiFi Guy]

Do you think that gives you credibility?

Funny how people think expensive must be better...course that's just ignorance. There is a LOT of it out there...

For example...people who believe a listening comparison between sources can be reliably done without strict controls are simply demonstrating ignorance. Most of us have been there.

Once they know the truth about it, to continue to exploit that area of human perception in others for personal gain is simply dishonesty in action...

Then again, maybe they reject the validity of the science, which simply shows them as determined to stay ignorant.

Often hard to tell whether people in this industry are ignorant or dishonest...for a while at least.

Come and listen and let me prove it , Im not a lame reviewer that has no rig, I have one that proves, it does not matter cost, I was sticking my tongue out to polly purebred control freak. LOL< this is a tar baby im holding here... lol, what area human perception do you exploit for personal gain ? lets talk about your career and let me shoot it full of holes, lol watch me do it instantly.. you are mighty self righteous and arrogant. Science is valid of course.. I dont tell people GOD makes the gear sound good.. if you even knew anything about me you would know I show people how to make a server and show them how its a complete farce to believe a "music server?" is anything more than a computer. and my $100K rig was maybe hmmm $25K out of pocket, and I show others how to beat the HiFi rigged system.. now its clear you are talking out your butt and have done zero fact finding its a feeble conversation at this point. sad this is what I get from "science" guys ..lol do some research on mre first, then bring fact, proof. Irrefutable evidence.. too much to ask I guess.. I will most likely not reply after this as its a waste of my time now... Best wishes all..

 

[direstraitsfan98]

You talk about high end cables in your videos...
Just talking about it is perpetuating it. You’re only proving my point.

And wow it’s so nice of you that you sell your TOTL cables for only $5,000 instead of $30,000. Lucky us that we can save 80% buying from YOU instead.Shall I kiss your emerald ring, your highness?

We all know that there’s a 5000% markup on cables. Don’t deny it. Only perfume has higher margins. There’s a reason WHY Nordstrom charges $30K for their TOTL cables while you can only charge a sixth of that. And it rhymes with carpeting.

 

[OCD HiFi Guy]

Not seeking to control. Seeking to improve communication. If you don't wish to communicate or make the effort to understand, then that is okay. Don't complain when you are not understood.

Are you claiming you dont understand English unless its in proper paragraph form. ? Cmon man..lol jeez... try another one .. I am all about communicating, I am not about formality clearly. I find the idea concept or meaning to be important enough to drop formality. My apology fine sir.

 

[OCD HiFi Guy]

You talk about high end cables in your videos...
Just talking about it is perpetuating it. You’re only proving my point.

And wow it’s so nice of you that you sell your TOTL cables for only $5,000 instead of $30,000. Lucky us that we can save 80% buying from YOU instead.Shall I kiss your emerald ring, your highness?

We all know that there’s a 5000% markup on cables. Don’t deny it. Only perfume has higher margins. There’s a reason WHY Nordstrom charges $30K for their TOTL cables while you can only charge a sixth of that. And it rhymes with carpeting.

LOL, OK, yep, I charge 5000% markup and my cables suck, Im a complete liar about cables I charge $5K for every length and metal type its only for idiots.. So,,, now thats over... lets move on.. Gotta think of a good name for a perfume company.. then I can rip women off, YES !!

 

[BDWoody]

. I will most likely not reply after this as its a waste of my time now...

Please God...let it be so.

 

[OCD HiFi Guy]

Just for shits and giggles let me ask the group of know it all scientists. What would you like to see me do a video on ? Let me try to offer something to the naysayers and scientific community .... Can I make myself more of a target ? tell me what people would really like to see, please.

 

[OCD HiFi Guy]

Please God...let it be so.

I thought you were a scientist, GOD can not be measured.. dont go weak on me..

 

[Blumlein 88]

Are you claiming you dont understand English unless its in proper paragraph form. ? Cmon man..lol jeez... try another one .. I am all about communicating, I am not about formality clearly. I find the idea concept or meaning to be important enough to drop formality. My apology fine sir.

So having looked at some of your videos you also don't know how to do good level matching. You use the sound level meter half-ass matching with music on all your comparison videos?

Would like to know how to do it right?

 

[BDWoody]

Just for shits and giggles let me ask the group of know it all scientists. What would you like to see me do a video on ? Let me try to offer something to the naysayers and scientific community .... Can I make myself more of a target ? tell me what people would really like to see, please.

How to set up a properly controlled level matched double blind test, and why it is critical in any valid comparison.

Edit: be sure to include a part on Clever Hans...

 

[Blumlein 88]

How to set up a properly controlled level matched double blind test, and why it is critical in any valid comparison.

Good one! Yes let us see that video.

 

[peanuts]

Ocd guy, your current cable is a crazy outrolled capacitor. no way it will have correct specs for its use. it can cause your amplifier to oscillate and break.

 

[Frank Dernie]

People that like tubes, me included are people that love colored sound. They measure like absolute crap dont they ? If people like cables , same thing.

It isn't the same at all.
Valve power amps alter the FR of the speaker they are connected to due to the interaction of the higher output impedance. This is a simple fact as is the fact that we are very sensitive to changes in FR. Also most output transformers have a lot of distortion at low frequencies, since most of the music volume is at low frequencies this distortion adds loads of harmonics in the mid frequencies, this may be audible too. People may well like this, and that is fine by me, but it is not "high-fidelity" to the input signal and should not be pushed as such.
Cable bollox on the other hand is demonstrably a con, there is no mechanism whatsoever by which one properly engineered cable could possibly differ from another at audio frequencies. None. Just lies and legal thievery.

I tend to buy nice stuff and keep it a long time since audio is a mature technology and not that challenging technically.
About 10 years ago fancied a DAC that could decode files bigger than 16/48, my system was Goldmund Mimesis 20, 22 and a pair of 29.4 monos. I tried several all expensive by ASR standards, the dearest being a Linn Klimax.
In carefully level matched comparison there was no audible difference between any of them, which in retrospect there wouldn't have been since all of them have distortion, noise and FR better than human ears can detect. I did hear a difference between some of the dCS filters, but they influence the FR so not unexpected.

Since then I realise when the system is sounding particularly good it is me or my mood not some new component, since there are no new components.

And I compare direct with original analog tape recordings on a Studer A80.

As an amateur recordist, starting with a valve mono reel-to-reel in the mid 1960s and graduating eventually to a Revox B77, which I still have, I know that there is no analogue recording method where the output of the recorder sounds indistinguishable from the microphone feed. An expert can get reasonable recordings but on the sort of music I record if the levels are set to make sure no noise is audible the peaks clip. Luckily tape recorders clip gracefully (a popular limiter for digital recording is a tape recorder emulator) so as long as it isn't too much it sounds nice enough.
In fact the first recorder I used where I couldn't hear an obvious difference between the recorder output and microphone feed was DAT, a StellaDAT which I also still have.

So expecting me to take the output on an expensive tape recorder as a reference rather than expensive current fashion bollox is also unconvincing based on my experience.

 

[q3cpma]

Now that's one trainwreck of a thread. But that's exactly why it's fun to continue reviewing overpriced junk.

 

[Absolute]

@Thomas savage is gonna piss his pants

@Frank Dernie; to be fair, you can easily make cables with a messed up enough relationship between the capacitance and inductance to make it alter the frequency response after the impedance curve in the loudspeaker. Of course, only people with fog on their brains would rely on that particular randomized mess to "fix" the sound issues in their system.

Apparently there's a lot of those people among the audiophiles.

 

[Thomas savage]

@Thomas savage is gonna piss his pants

@Frank Dernie; to be fair, you can easily make cables with a messed up enough relationship between the capacitance and inductance to make it alter the frequency response after the impedance curve in the loudspeaker. Of course, only people with fog on their brains would rely on that particular randomized mess to "fix" the sound issues in their system.

Apparently there's a lot of those people among the audiophiles.

I'm on the loo so pants remain unsoiled.

 

[Frank Dernie]

@Thomas savage is gonna piss his pants

@Frank Dernie; to be fair, you can easily make cables with a messed up enough relationship between the capacitance and inductance to make it alter the frequency response after the impedance curve in the loudspeaker. Of course, only people with fog on their brains would rely on that particular randomized mess to "fix" the sound issues in their system.

Apparently there's a lot of those people among the audiophiles.

That is why I explicitly specified "properly engineered" in my post.