Strictly for fans of Audio Note UK (all things Audio Note UK)

Yeah the Cobra seems to have disappeared. Or perhaps delayed - I believe most of the lower end products like level zero are made outside the main plant and perhaps that becomes the problem. Plus there are a TON of companies already making EL34 and KT 88 amps none of which IMO sound better than the OTO Line SE. So maybe they would also be competing against their own amp?

Personally I would like to see Audio Note engineers give themselves and uber challenge by making a first rate SS amp. Oh the humanity.

 

Lower end products made where? Still in England or Asia?

 

DAC 0.1x is made in Lithuania - AX Two made in Denmark.

 

Was there ever any reference to where the Cobra will be made?

 

Now why mess with artificial vacuum tubes? <ducking>

 

Production was always scheduled to be made in the UK.

 

Most if not all of the digital products are made in Lithuania. Tadas does exception work from his facility with his team.

 

Those are gorgeous; enjoy!

 

Quick note on the IQ1 cartridge (paired with R-Zero phono stage).

Really impressed. It has a bold but really natural and non-fatiguing sound, and produces more (nice) top end shimmer than I was probably expecting too. No tracking issues so far.

Did find it particularly sensitive to VTA with sibilance issues at the tail-down starting position.

Not half intrigued to see how the IQ2/3 styli would sound... but can happily live with this for now.

 

Yes I was going to buy the IQ3 and I will but the IQ1 is good enough that I haven't felt the need to rush to do that - the DAC 0.1x is the same thing. I was going to get the DAC 3.1x but now maybe I can hold off and strive for the 4.1x instead.

My understanding is that you can replace the stylus on the IQ 1 with the IQ3 stylus anyway. So it has a semi upgrade path - the IQ3 cantilever is made of Titanium and the other two are aluminium. So it doesn't make much sense going from IQ1 to IQ2 since you can just change the needle to IQ3 for probably less money.

I'd try the IO but from what I can tell the entry level MC set-up (need a SUT) will be ~$5,000

 

Is that the price for the cartridge or the cartridge plus an entry level SUT?
Do you have any idea what the approximate price difference is between HK and US prices?

 

Hi John - my older (2016) price list says $3300 for the IO cartridge and $747 for the S1 step up.

I know next to zero about their MC carts - I just listen to the stuff so I am not sure how good the S1 is but people generally seem to push the S4 which is close to $5,000.

I just get the sense that for most people the IQ3 is probably more than enough unless you have a real big collection. I grew up in the 80s so I mostly had CD and I came back around to vinyl based on the Voyd Reference 3 motor (An made a version of it later) but with vinyl hitting $40+ a pop and good original recordings becoming collector pieces - the sheer amount of money makes it a difficult proposition to get into. CDs are in that old vinyl stage where you can pick them up 5 for $1 at second hand shops so I am a bit mkore tempted to spend the bigger dollars on the CD transport and AN DAC and then stick with the TT2 and get the IQ 3.

AN's new turntable with basic power supply apparently will be under $10k US - AND Peter tells me I will be able to change the voltage/frequency to the US/Canada 110 - so it just became a LOT more appealing. I probably have about 500 LPs - I tend to only keep things that I actually listen to - not a collector for collector's sake - if I have not played an album in 5 years out it goes. Even 500 could probably get chopped in half. I tend to want to explore new music not listening to the same songs I listened to 25 years ago which kind of makes me a bit different - but we all knew that now didn't we

 

I probably shouldn't come clean about this (since I do like to sell stands), but I like your brick stands . They don't look pretty, but they will after you follow step 2 below. And I am sure they will be very effective, if you finish coupling them between the speaker and the floor, as follows:

1) They need spikes under the lowest brick, that pierce the carpet. Four cones, like the old Mod Squad Tip-toes will do wonders for the bass quality. Ebay has them, very inexpensive. Buy 8 of the original large Tip-toes, if you can find them.

2) Go to Home Depot and get their version of Blu-Tack. They have earthquake stabilization putty (for under pottery and statues, etc), and they have putty to put behind paintings on the wall, to keep them from shifting. Then get rid of the towels, and just put 4 big globs of the putty, between the bottom of each speaker and the top of the bricks. Press down on the speaker until it is super stable on the spikes and (now flattened) globs.

 

The AN-S2 is seen as a good step up from the AN-S1 and it is a small increase in price. It is selling for CDN$1200 new, which would be about U.S. $900. That is usually seen as the 'gateway drug'. Once you have gotten used to the natural body and texture of the music, especially vocals, you want more : ) That is when the AN-S4 comes in....
As for the Audio Note MC cartridges, they are simply at another level, compared to the MM cartridges. I have heard and enjoyed the IQ3, but in my experience the Io cartridges are substantially better. As always, once you have heard better, it is hard to go back. Once your friend lets you borrow his Mercedes/BMW for the weekend while he is away, it is hard to go back to your Chevrolet Cavalier!

I do really like that AN lets you change the cantilever to upgrade from the IQ1 to the IQ2 or IQ3. Buy what you can afford and when it has seen plenty of use, save up and upgrade to a better model.

 

Yes you can stick the any IQ stylus on their universal body. My own kinda logic was/is try the IQ1 and if I like the sound get a 2 or 3 stylus later then use the 1 for older, more worn records. Will also try the Benz again when it comes back from them (maybe months) as some system/room changes since its departure. Will be interesting to see/consider.

 

Latest Auduo Note review has been published.

Audio Note DAC 0.1x Audio Note UK DAC 0.1x Review

 

Nicely written and very informative. I will likely add an AN DAC to my system eventually, and almost certainly one of the lower levels. Do you think I will need to disclose that my current DAC is a sociopath when I sell it?

 

Well my M3 - line arrived today and straight out of the box it sounds great - cant wait to hear what it sounds like with 300 - 500 hours on it. Am very happy.

 

in case anybody is interested, this DAC will be at CAS this weekend

 

Nicely written. No surprise. You said in the review: "What is interesting is that I prefer hi-res music on my computer through the DAC 0.1x than via my Line Magnetic 502CA even though the latter plays those files natively." Question (not specific to AN components): should a higher res file sound better than Redbook standard source material through a DAC that is only using a 16 bit chip? Is there a technical reason why this is so, if true?
Not trolling- curious.

 

The theory goes that a DAC that is 24 bit plays the 24 bit recording in 24 bits. The AN will downconvert the 24 bits to 16 bit.

It's worth mentioning as some people care avout such things. It doesn't have any real world impact on the sound quality IMO because it has not been established that 24 or 32 bit /192khz sounds better than 16/44 of CD. Audio Note has been pitted against SACD and DVD Audio and 24/192 time and again and comes out on top.

AN makes no attempt to reduce jitter and it sounds better than all the manufacturers writing pages about their jitter reduction efforts. If they sounded good they would not need the technobbable.

 

!! And SS DAC! If they did, overseen by PQ, I'd order both unheard (along with a pair of the wee AX speakers.)

 

Well any good amp starts with a quality transformer. I think they could make a pretty awesome class A single ended SS amp. Ei or their C core.

 

Thanks. I'm experimenting with some of this stuff now, and am curious.

 

Does AN have a US distributor now or do they do it on their own?