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

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by Richard Austen, Mar 19, 2015.

  1. Shiver

    Shiver Forum Resident

    Location:
    UK
    Have you actually heard any of the front-loading CDPs though? Any thoughts if so?
     
  2. Richard Austen

    Richard Austen Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Hong Kong
    Yes - but the thing with Audio Note CD players is the demand placed on the preamp regarding impedance. But I reviewed the 2.1 CD player a long while back and it was superb - but I use an Audio Note OTO integrated thus Audio Note preamp stage. Art Dudley reviewed the front loading transport and DAC (near entry level models) and found them to be one of the three best digital sources he has ever heard - not bad since the other two are both more than double the price (and one of them an Audio Note).

    But some find the drawer to be finicky on the older front loading models. Personally I prefer going two box with them when the times comes. The CD Two/II is the Philips Pro 2 mechanism with the top loading and then a DAC. Granted this costs more but second hand you could probably get the separates for the same price as a new single box. So for me it makes more sense.

    For instance I saw this one for about $1,000 used so this with an AN DAC - like the DAC 0.1x for $1200 used would be less money than their one box unit. This to me seems more robust. Still the 2.1 sounds very good indeed with the right impedance matching. In a Sim Audio system with Sonus Faber speakers the 1.1 sounded rather lean and unforgiving. Several people in the room and I all agreed it sound more truthful than the homogeneous sound we got from both the Sim Audio CD player and the Bryston CD player - even the huge Bryston fanboy was impressed. I can say that either the 1.1 or the 2.1 are better than my CD 215 and DAC 502 combination in my system. My LM gear sounds very good but it has an "added sweetness" to the top end of everything (same for the 515) that doesn't go away. Albeit it is nice - it is less interesting.

    [​IMG]
     
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  3. Shiver

    Shiver Forum Resident

    Location:
    UK
    Thanks. My CDP does everything really well apart from -I've concluded over time and as the rest of the system has been upgraded - sound particularly organic. I've never heard an AN unit but the descriptions of the sound, and design, appeal.

    - Could you elaborate please, and how would that relate to the Croft pre (with active line stage).
     
  4. Richard Austen

    Richard Austen Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Hong Kong
    I have not heard Croft as I don't believe it is available in Hong Kong. AN CD players and DACs need a preamp
    "The Audio Note DAC needs to be used with preamplifiers that have an input impedance of at least 100k ohms if the low frequencies are not to sound lean." According to Stereophile.

    This is probably fair as the CD players can sound lean with some of the SS integrated amps. So if the Croft is above 100k Ohms the CD players will work. I looked up the specs on the Croft 25 and it has an input impedance of 100k Ohms. The thing with Stereophile is that they kind of put the fear into people about AN which is bizarre. Most people who buy an AN CD player will very likely own at least a tube amplifier and pretty much every tube amp I have seen has 100k Ohm input.

    Of course whether it will sound good with Croft - i have no idea but given how much people like the Croft I can't imagine it would be a bad match. Most dealers will let you try it first.
     
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  5. David Cope

    David Cope Forum Resident

    Location:
    Gales Ferry, CT
    Absolutely right.

    In the stand-alone DACs, once you move into the part of the range that is transformer coupled rather than cap-coupled, that concern no longer applies as the DAC's out impedance is extremely low.
     
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  6. Richard Austen

    Richard Austen Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Hong Kong
    A first look at the production (prototype??) affordable Cobra amp and their new turntable. At 1:23

     
  7. David Cope

    David Cope Forum Resident

    Location:
    Gales Ferry, CT
    Neither the Cobra nor the TT3 will be in production until next year, so I guess you'd call them very late photos or pre-production.
     
  8. Richard Austen

    Richard Austen Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Hong Kong
    The volume and presumably control knobs don't look like they're ready yet from this video - and personally from a style perspective I hope they go with piano black not matte black. There is stiff sexy looking established EL34 type amps from Prima Luna and Melody Valve Audio and even the Line Magnetic 211IA which for $1500 is a pretty great little amp. I can't wait to hear it - it looks beefier than the ones I mentioned from a parts perspective - still "Piano Black" is my hope.

    Or you know - baby blue or something. For the love of Pete - I am so tired of matte black.

    [​IMG]
     
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  9. Richard Austen

    Richard Austen Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Hong Kong
    Of course sound trumps all - but 40+ speaker finishes - let's see some variety on the amps, CD players and that TT3 turntable which looks great in white - but racing green, a deep purple, Candy Apple Red - that would be so awesome. The younger folks buy latptops from xoticpc with all these great skin option and they're paying an extra $200 or for it on a $700 laptop. Maybe people will poy an extra $400 on the turntable??? I wonder.
     
  10. David Cope

    David Cope Forum Resident

    Location:
    Gales Ferry, CT
    The shop in Hove does custom colors on electronics. They had a school bus chrome yellow Jinro last time I was there.

    The table comes white or black. That's not paint - it'a in the plinth material, so it's not as simple as spraying different colors.

    I was expecting milky white knobs. These are too close to clear. I'd like to see the Cobra in Shelby Cobra livery - that wild blue with a white stripe front to back an illuminated knobs like headlights. The output transformers are C-cores, BTW.

    Mostly I just want it produced!
     
  11. Richard Austen

    Richard Austen Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Hong Kong
    AV Showroom's interview with Peter Qvortrup on CD replay.

     
  12. Shiver

    Shiver Forum Resident

    Location:
    UK
    Painfully sycophantic in parts but interesting nonetheless - thanks for posting
     
  13. Shiver

    Shiver Forum Resident

    Location:
    UK
    Richard - to update: I ended up with an AN DAC One 1x (and CDT zero) and it's working really well with the Croft. Never personally heard digital sound quite like it.

    Recently a blunder on my part blew a fuse in the Croft and while waiting for a replacement I switched my old Cambridge SS amp back in... and it didn't sound quite right. Not just the inferior amp as such, but the bass impact wasn't there as I'd have expected. Whether it was due the input impedance thing (47k Ohm) I don't know, but it did appear less well matched.

    Either way, cheers for the heads-up on it.
     
  14. Clay B

    Clay B Forum Resident

    Richard Austen

    Just returned this afternoon from my first audition of Audio-Note speakers and preamp/phono stage with a SE amp the name of which was unfamiliar. The sound was just very very special. Your comments and descriptions got me motivated to give them a listen in the first place so a big thanks. Makes you wonder if a lot of this hobby of ours hasn't lost it's way a bit. Again, thank you.

    Clay
     
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  15. Richard Austen

    Richard Austen Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Hong Kong
    Hi Clay

    It's a synergistic set-up and it puts music front and center. It's really all you can ask for. As shivermetimbers alludes to though - it doesn't necessarily like being mixed together with non AN gear. Though that does depend on what is being mixed and matched.
     
  16. Don Parkhurst

    Don Parkhurst Forum Resident

    Location:
    Vancouver, BC
    I will repeat what Richard said. I found that as I added more and more Audio Note pieces to my system, the more that it gelled and brought the focus to a singular style of music reproduction that I have really enjoyed. Put simply, it gets better and better. However, if someone were to say that they prefer high powered solid state and digital, computer based systems, I can respect that - everyone is allowed to like what they like. I have had those sort of systems in the past and Audio Note's focus on the music/performance/emotion is what has caused me to switch.
     
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  17. Rob Hume

    Rob Hume Forum Resident

    Location:
    England.
    Further to Don's last post I spoke to Peter Qvortrop a week or so ago and he referred to a conversation that he recently had with one of the UK's most respected hifi reviewers Paul Messenger. Paul has always been a true Naim hifi devotee but he told Peter that he feels that "Audio Note are the new Naim". Naim were for many years the pioneers for manufacturing products that focused on the music/performance/emotion over all else but sadly have lost their way in my and many other peoples opinion. Audio Note UK equipment has in my opinion taken over the mantle for producing the most engaging sound available from recorded music!
     
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  18. triple

    triple Senior Member

    Location:
    Zagreb, Croatia
    It's a bit like saying that Bugatti is the new Mercedes. What I mean is that in both cases the mentioned companies travel in very different circles.

    Btw, what happened to that Audio Note R2R dac? Could it be that Audio Note shares the development cycle length with Bugatti - about 10 years? Yeah, we already know that matching resistors is a bit of a problem, but others seem to have found a way around it, for example Totaldac.
     
  19. Rob Hume

    Rob Hume Forum Resident

    Location:
    England.
    It was Paul Messenger's view. Mine is that Audio Note are in a different league to Naim sound wise (polar opposite design philosophies considered) and I owned a high end active Naim system for many years. Thankfully the current spec AN DAC's are excellent sounding because as you rightly point out that the AN development cycle is chronically slow! The TT3 half reference being a classic case.
     
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  20. beowulf

    beowulf Forum Resident

    Location:
    Chula Vista, CA
    From what I've read ... that just seems like such an ironic comparison. Audio Note, a tube amplifier based company, that IMO has more in common with McIntosh than any products from Naim/Linn ~ would have most likely been persecuted and laid to waste by the whole Linn/Naim controlled, UK Flat Earther scene of that era. There are many who still think that those 2 companies (Linn/Naim) stalled hi-fi progression in the UK for 2o years or more.
     
  21. Rob Hume

    Rob Hume Forum Resident

    Location:
    England.
  22. Richard Austen

    Richard Austen Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Hong Kong
    I don't think there is anything out there like Audio Note. LINN is the only comparison in that they tried to sell the whole chain. But LINN was more about source first. Their amps and speakers IMO don't compete. And they really on compete at the lower end of the scale.

    NAIM I just don't see a link. It's SS and they don't have anywhere near the offerings. I always thought of NAIM as a higher end Arcam/Rotel.

    But nobody offers the sheer product catalog that AN offers. A bunch of it isn't on the website. My new AN E/Spx Alnico for example and Soro SE Signature and various power amps or the M6 Signature two box preamp.
     
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  23. Rob Hume

    Rob Hume Forum Resident

    Location:
    England.
    I really have opened a can of worms here haven't I? It wasn't my intention. Based on the how I perceived PQ's explanation of Paul Messenger's comments he was alluding to how Naim (along with Linn) were for many years (based on sales figures and reviews) considered to be the "best" UK manufacturers of hifi equipment. They have over recent years lost this mantle in the eyes of Paul and many others with the release of less than spectacular sounding products.

    Audio Note UK gear on the other hand is now regarded as producing a benchmark of sound quality at different price points by many audiophiles/reviewers/dealers in the UK. This is regardless of the SS v Tube presentation of sound and irrespective of the number of products that they produce. Paul is a high profile UK hifi journalist and has long been seen as a die hard solid state "Naimee". So his comments for anyone who has followed the UK hifi scene over the past few decades were quite profound!
     
  24. Clay B

    Clay B Forum Resident

     
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  25. Richard Austen

    Richard Austen Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Hong Kong
    New big Audio Note

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]
     
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