Recent content by AVphile

This is a crazy idea, I fear, and may not be feasible at all, but would it be possible for an algorithm to be created that attributes a numerical score for each individual test (e.g., SINAD. dynamic range, etc.) Amir uses in his objective determination of the performance of a DAC -- weighting...

My wish would be that Amir could test Bricasti's latest version of the M1, namely its M1 Series II. DAC performance is steadily improving, so testing a prior-generation product is, to me, a bit unfair to the manufacturer. Moreover, a side-by-side comparison would give the reader a good sense of...

This is beginning to get really annoying — reading posts of those ignorant self-professed experts. This past weekend, I attended AXPONA. Prior to coming, I had arranged to have a one hour private session with the CEO/founder of Grimm Audio — primarily to explore the capabilities of the company’s...

The incremental cost comes from McIntosh's addition of analog inputs and outputs. In the Trinnov Altitude 16, (a) there are only one XLR and one RCA analog inputs and (b) the Trinnov has to convert the analog signal into digital and then again back into analog to output. The MX180 has six analog...

You are missing the quality of the MX180's digital to analog capabilities.

I just discovered this post. I was curious about Mike Lavigne's audio system, did a Google search, and consequently came to ASR. I am uncertain how much money Mike has invested in creating his audio system, but I would not be surprised if its cost has approached $1 million (and very possible...

Excuse me if I missed this in a prior posting, but I am curious which DAC chip the MX 180 uses. I suspect it is an ESS variant, but I really don't know. Does anyone?

Two considerations: (1) the quality of the mastering counts, which is why sometimes vinyl sounds better than digital and other times the converse (ironically, I have found that remastering more often than not sounds worse than the original); and (2) perhaps there is some validity to my...

My reply is most likely far too late, but -- just in case -- I wanted to mention the Theta Digital Casablanca V. Although costly, it is both a remarkable preamplifier (loaded with digital/HDMI/TOSLink and analog inputs) as well as a state-of-the-art audio processor. I have an extensive system...

Because of all the clamor about the superiority of vinyl, I recently spent a second absurd amount of money in an attempt to have a vinyl playback capability up to the standard of my digital playback capability. What I have found is that they are both great but clearly different sounding.

Dear Old Sysop -- as I am insatiably curious, what do you see as my "generalized judgement errors"? I reread what I wrote and confess I seem blind to whichever I inadvertently made.

The challenge is to live the dream. This is my first posting, so please excuse my hubris. I have been slowly developing my audio system for now close to 20 years -- adding a component here and there until I recently reached the point where, rather than play music to listen to my equipment, I...