Sopra
2.0 and Alexia 2: when?
June
25, 2018
Marc,
I
very much enjoy reading your equipment reviews. The Wilson Alexia 2 and the Focal Sopra
2.0 have been on your to-be-reviewed list for a very long time. Can you tell me if you
will still be reviewing them and an expected ETA?
Peter
Kunz
Thanks
for your message and the reminder. Reviews take their own course and require their own
time. Both the Focal Sopra 2.0 and Wilson Audio Alexia 2 reviews are very much in the
works, and you'll see them soon -- "soon" meaning when they're written, edited
and formatted. Our apologies for the delay, and we hope you'll enjoy reading both reviews
when they are posted. -Marc Mickelson
Buying
and rebuying music
June
20, 2018
Marc,
As
you remarked sometime ago, I ask difficult questions, and that is because your responses
are so insightful and perhaps because I have always encouraged my students to ask
questions. So here is a question where I suspect your answer will help me in my thinking.
I
have a bad habit of feeling that I need to get the best-sounding recording, often due to
your reviews, so I purchase the LP. Then I switch back to thinking that convenience is the
ticket to audio satisfaction, and I end up buying SACDs of the same music. It's a bad
habit.
At
the moment, largely due to the purchase of an Ayre
DX-5 DSD, I am again leaning towards SACDs. In fact, I am about to make a huge
purchase of mostly Mobile Fidelity SACDs from Music Direct, with a 20% discount, but many
of the titles I already have on vinyl. I'm thinking that so many of my special LPs --
first pressings, incredible-sounding originals, etc. -- are enough for me to listen to on
vinyl, and it is best to get the SACDs while they are still available and sell my vinyl
reissues, especially the same titles from MoFi. Of course, I spend a lot of money trying
to upgrade my system as best I can and therefore feel bad at times purchasing anything but
vinyl when The Audio Beat and Analog Planet consistently find the LP
better than the SACD.
What
are your thoughts on this dilemma?
Jeff
Levine
We're
actually in the same boat. I buy different versions of the same recording, though probably
for a different reason. It's often instructive, when reviewing a piece of audio gear, to
hear the same music in a different format or from a different mastering. I can get an
especially good idea of what the equipment is able to resolve -- or how it changes the
sound -- by listening to different versions of the same recording.
For
serious listening, however, I find that digital and analog present different experiences.
I can put on a CD or SACD while I do other work, or I can sit and listen intently to them.
Good recordings of great music satisfy no matter the format. But when I put on an LP, I'm
wanting to devote the time to listen carefully, not so much for sonic differences but to
enjoy -- and revel in -- the music.
Thus,
I don't feel any guilt or anxiety over owning the same recordings in more than one format.
In fact, I seek them out. If you buy multiple versions of the same music and listen to
them over time, I don't see the issue in putting down hard-earned money for them all.
You're getting what you paid for -- music you want to own. -Marc Mickelson
Allnic
error
June
15, 2018
Marc,
I
was just reading your news story from 12/29/17 on Allnic Audio's 2018
offerings and wonder if the information in the following quote is correct: "The
L-8000 DHT ($21,900) is the latest addition to Allnic's indirectly heated triode, product
range."
Shouldn't
that read, ". . . to Allnic's directly heated triode, product range"? Apologies
if i am incorrect or misreading what was written.
Joseph
Sheehan (an aspiring Allnic owner)
Thanks
for pointing this out. Knowing that the DHT in the product name stands for direct-heated
triode, I used "indirectly" in error. The product's manual says, "The
L-8000 DHT preamplifier [is] pure DHT, from signal input to output." Accordingly,
I've corrected the error. -Marc Mickelson
The
role a dealer can play
June
5, 2018
Marc,
The
next time you see John Giolas of Wilson Audio, whom you mentioned in your TuneTot blog, please give him a smile and a warm greeting from me.
He may or may not remember me. I bought a couple pair of B&W loudspeakers, a Krell
amp, and a Proceed CD player (remember those?) from him in the early 1990s.
I
was always into music and music reproduction, but John is the main reason I'm an
audiophile. I was just a kid, 17 maybe. My parents were shopping in Salt Lake City at
Granite Furniture, when I noticed a sign about stereo equipment or something. I wandered
into Audition Audio, a store run by Giolas. He asked if he could help me. I said I was
interested in stereo equipment. He said "Sit down" and located me in a single
chair right in the sweet spot. I remember big Magnepan speakers, Mark Levinson amplifiers,
Audio Research preamps. What I really remember is my jaw hitting the floor when I heard
music reproduction like I had never heard before. John spun cut after cut. I was
enthralled and captivated. Then he handed me a stack of slick brochures on all the
components I heard that day. All this for a kid he knew wouldn't spend a dime that day.
I
took those brochures with me to college. I'd thumb through them, thinking I was getting an
education, in part to be able to afford equipment like I heard at Audition Audio that day.
And guess what? Forty years later, I still play with and dream about equipment like I
heard that day.
When
I heard John Giolas was giving up Audition Audio and going to work at Wilson Audio, I sent
him a thank-you e-mail. I didn't get a response, so I don't know if he got it or not.
So,
please, the next time you see him, shake his hand, and say "Thank you" from me.
John
Leosco
It's
surprising how one person can influence our entrance into audiophilia. Audiophiles often
cite their fathers, but for me, as with you, it was a dealer -- Bruce Jacobs of Salon One
Audio (and now of Stillpoints), in my case, who was generous with his time and especially
equipment, which he loaned to me so I could hear it in my own system. Bruce's patience and
willingness to loan me just about anything in his store (a business model that, in my
case, led to multiple sales) were instrumental in my evolution as an audiophile. Like you,
I still covet products I heard because of him (and I also own and use a few, including the
Timbre TT-1 DAC).
I forwarded your letter to John Giolas, and here's his response.
"I
very much remember John Leosco. He became a good client -- one with whom I very much
enjoyed spending time. He’s a great guy. I miss him and many other clients who hung
out at the store. I really appreciate the effort he took this many years later (decades,
really -- the time he’s talking about when he first came into the store was in the
mid-1980s) to write this thoughtful message. It means a great deal to me.
"I’m
almost certain I didn’t see the e-mail he wrote back then. I’d like to think
that if I did, I would have returned it." -Marc Mickelson
Reader
list
June
1, 2018
Marc,
Please
add me to your reader e-mail list, and a special thank you to Roy Gregory for his presentation on LP EQ at the Munich show. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Bruno
Manusso
You've
been added. To join TAB's reader list and find out about new articles first,
send e-mail to rl@theaudiobeat.com.
-Marc Mickelson
