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

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

  1. Litvin

    Litvin Forum Resident

    Location:
    Singapore
    Argh. I forgot how to post them in this forum. There was some interim step wasn’t there?
     
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  2. Footsurg

    Footsurg Forum Resident

    Location:
    Albuquerque

    You need to use a hosting service to host the pictures. Imgur is popular because it works well and it is free. Once you have uploaded the image files to Imgur then you need to copy and past the corresponding BB Code for each image file into this forum. I think the limit is 5 images.
     
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  3. Litvin

    Litvin Forum Resident

    Location:
    Singapore
    Some time ago I posted my first post, "The Audio Note Saga," which received a warm welcome, so I thought perhaps you would appreciate an update, and maybe offer advice.

    One of my favorite books is The Great Gatsby, which I personally think is a book about a period of rapid, uncontrollable change in society, provoked by new technologies, a period such as that we are experiencing now. There is a moment in the book when Tom Buchanan, upon showing Nick Carraway his mansion, declares "Many a man has converted a stable into a garage. I will be the first man who will convert a garage back into a stable."

    Using this very principle, I sold my Meishu Silver and purchased, with a considerable release of audio capital, an OTO Phono Signature! A part of it is that the market conditions for legacy Meishus are very good here. The switch to Tonmeister priced many regular audiophiles from a new Meishu range, so a like new unit like mine turned out to stand good chances of success. I sold it for the same amount I bought - from dealer, as a demo unit. I listed it for fun and immediately had record ad performance on the local classified app (Carousell.sg - works for overseas, highly recommended). I then bought a used Oto Phono Sig, at a very reasonable price.

    More importantly, since the very start I was hesitating between the two. I auditioned them at dealer using the "evaluation by comparison" method and first chose Oto Sig (line). Then the memory of the voluptuous 300B sound haunted me, I called Singapore Hi Fi and upgraded my order. Then, recently, when the Meishu was at the service and the dealer loaned me an Oto Sig, I got the chance to experience it in the reality of my home and lived with it for a week and ... living with it proved to be easier and more satisfactory than with the Meishu. Yes, cheesy analogies with high maintenance glam girlfriends vs. warm hearted soulmates are asking to be written, but, long a married man, I will refrain.

    I stick to my assessment that Meishu is a better amp, next level really. But that does not mean I should have it. I am enjoying the Oto tremendously. I want to tap and sing to it. Jeff Day came up with a concept of an entry level component that can also be an exit level component - that is, one where you stop the gear and focus on records. Let's see, but it is the best value in audio, for sure.

    Now this brings an interesting dilemma. The phono within the Oto Sig is actually very good! Does this make my M2 RIAA redundant? I feel it does. The technological difference is power supply only. The EQ is the same. It does make a sound difference, but not $3k+ difference, I feel. I am thinking of selling it (there is a ready buyer) and just living with the Oto Sig, while a used M3 RIAA miraculously comes up.

    Opinions?

    By the way, I think I will use the proceeds to seriously move up the TT. So if someone is interested in Origin Live Calypso, like new, less than one year, bargain price, pls PM. 230v though - will need a new adapter block for the US.

    Thank you for reading
     
  4. Footsurg

    Footsurg Forum Resident

    Location:
    Albuquerque



    Thank you for sharing your experience. It is always refreshing to read about music being more important than the endless quest for the perfect equipment. My opinion is if you are very much enjoying the sound of the phono stage in the OTO, then why lust after an M3 RIAA? Yes it is better than the phono stage in the OTO, but you know where that road leads. Once you hear the difference that makes, then you start questioning the OTO, speakers, cables and everything else. I say if you are playing more records with the setup you have now, and enjoying music at a higher level than you can recently remember, then don't change a thing. Save your cash for records or a new record cleaning machine. I have not changed anything in my system in 10 years. An opportunity came up recently to purchase a pair of AN-E SEC Signatures. I really considered them, but I just could not do it because I really like the sound of my current speakers in my current listening room with my current equipment. I truly enjoy the system I have now to the core. Why change anything? If I had bought those speakers then I would have starting thinking "I need level 5 amps and a preamp now". I know myself. And I would have become obsessive about it. My focus would have shifted from music to gear. Right now my focus is and has been music. My system now needs to be no better than it already is. Can I afford to upgrade all that stuff? Yes. Is that the best decision for me to make? No. I have about 8000 records. I probably buy on average 15-20 new records a month. I obsess over which version of a record I should buy. The reissue? The original? Should I pay top dollar for a NM first pressing versus a NM second or third pressing for a fraction of the cost of the first but equally musically satisfying? Or hunting down hard to find out of print reissues that I missed when they were first released. This is the kind of obsessing I think is most healthy for me. Point being if you are enjoying music immensely with your current setup, don't change a thing. Listen more. Gear drool less.
     
  5. Litvin

    Litvin Forum Resident

    Location:
    Singapore
    Thank you, Footsurg! System unchanged in ten years - if there is an audiophile credential this will be it! This hobby has many dangerous, but one absolute advantage - through it we meet outstanding people who otherwise would not have entered our worlds. Appreciate the wisdom of your advice.

    My technological predicament now is even trickier now - the Meishu had no phono, and the Oto has it by accident, so now I have both the built-in and my M2. If I do not get rid of one of them, or create a decisive advantage, I will spend more time switching cables than listening! I will report on the decisions later.
     
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  6. Litvin

    Litvin Forum Resident

    Location:
    Singapore
    Attempting to post pics. If successful, you will see both the "Meishu Silver version" and the now "Oto Phono Signature version"

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  7. Fred Hansen

    Fred Hansen Forum Resident

    Location:
    Europe
    Hi Litvin, thanks for sharing your story, and thanks Footsurg for valuable advice (I can attest that a long period without upgrades is great).
    Litvin, are you happy with your S3 SUT?
     
    Litvin likes this.
  8. Gjo

    Gjo Forum Resident

    Location:
    Los Angeles
    Litvin, beautiful mirror matched veneer on your AN-E. Just lovely. A lovely system as well. Enjoy.
     
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  9. Litvin

    Litvin Forum Resident

    Location:
    Singapore
    Thanks, Fred. Yes, happy with the S3. In the same way as Footsurg said, of course I could swap it for an S4, but is there a reason to? None at all. That said, I tried S2 and the difference is appreciable. For me, this seems a sweet spot.
     
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  10. Litvin

    Litvin Forum Resident

    Location:
    Singapore
    Thanks, Gjo.

    Here is Saturday evening, and a after a day of focused listening I can safely say that my previous dilemma "stand alone M2 RIAA vs. built-in phono in OTO" is not really a dilemma. The former stays! Oto is great, but sustained listening shows that M2 brings more life into it. Oto will be back up, or if I ever get the 78 rpm enabled remod, then a 78MM can go directly there. Not bad!
     
  11. jonwoody

    jonwoody Tragically Unhip

    Location:
    Washington DC
    Lovely system and nice room Litvin thanks for sharing.
     
    Litvin likes this.
  12. Salectric

    Salectric Senior Member

    Location:
    Maryland
    Beautiful veneers! And a very nice looking system.
     
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  13. Litvin

    Litvin Forum Resident

    Location:
    Singapore
    Thanks! Living room, not a dedicated listening room. The wooden panel on the back (the property of landlord) looks good and helps the sound in some ways, kinda like a concert hall, but has a drawback for AN speakers. It is detached from the wall, and the wood is thin. Someone commented here that ANs need a solid wall for the corner placement. That would be ideal. Maybe will be my condition for lease renewal LOL.
     
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  14. NapaBob

    NapaBob Forum Resident

    Location:
    Napa Valley CA USA
    My Audio Note guy stopped by today for a nice lunch overlooking the vineyard and to let me test drive the S9 step up transformer in my office system

    [​IMG]
     
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  15. Salectric

    Salectric Senior Member

    Location:
    Maryland
    Another beautiful system! Very nice @NapaBob.
     
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  16. Litvin

    Litvin Forum Resident

    Location:
    Singapore
    This being an office system I am scared to think what is in the main one :)
     
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  17. Litvin

    Litvin Forum Resident

    Location:
    Singapore
    Here's one of Wojciech's masterpieces: PTP Audio SOLID9 Audiomods SERIES FIVE Turntable + Tonearm - Positive Feedback

    Besides the review of the unit itself, it contains excellent philosophical introspections, and in which one of them he states: "Every now and then I feel I might be Japanese. Perhaps not a native, but one that thinks of himself that way. I feel somehow connected with them. I will never be a samurai, but I think that thanks to the music and audio we can have something in common."

    I admit that I share this sentiment. South East Asia, where I live now, makes it easier to be connected to things Japanese, not just in terms of proximity, but also via the enormous influence that the country has on the region, in particular cultural influence. The thoughtful understated elegance and nobility, characteristic of the Japanese culture, are especially seen in the audio world. Below is a pic of the main lobby of Villa Concordia, a boutique hotel in Hakodate, Hokkaido, Japan. We had a family trip there in the fall of 2018, having booked it not knowing what a treat was awaiting me. I could have easily spent my stay in that room, but there was more! When I was there, the room featured the same speakers (horn DIY by a transformer company), a classic Marantz 7, and a 2A3 by Yazaki-san. Despite an unassuming front end - classic Pioneer direct drive with an Audio Technica MM - the wall of LPs you can see on the pic transformed into a musical fairytale. It played wonderfully, romantically even. Besides that system, various pieces of tube gear were scattered around the hotel, playing the role of interior design artefacts, and - in the top floor breakfast room, the audiophile proprietor was cooking and serving delicious breakfasts by himself - from behind two more refrigerator sized horns, driven by a small tube SET, to the music of Mozart. The first thing I do when the travel restrictions are over will be book a ticket to Hokkaido for a two week stay in this audio nirvana retreat!

    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: May 9, 2021
    klonk, Footsurg, Musicophile and 4 others like this.
  18. celester340

    celester340 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Chennai
    Hello people. I was tossing and turning and just going plain nuts trying to figure out which DAC to get to match my setup. I have a soro phone SE signature and a E LX he hemp speakers. My digital source is a not so very audiophile Cambridge CXN streamer. I was considering a denafrips ares 2 dac and a chord qutest. I think good sense prevailed and I got a well kept used 1.1 DAC.

    Haven’t heard it yet since it will be with me in about 10 odd days, but is that a good choice? Or shud I have maybe gone with the chord? I was just thinking, is there such a thing as too many tubes in a setup?
     
  19. Gjo

    Gjo Forum Resident

    Location:
    Los Angeles
    I have been auditioning Lexus bi-wire speaker cables. Speakers are AN-E SPe HE, and amplifiers are Conquest Silver. I find the Lexus to be quite enjoyable...delicate highs, deep bass, wonderful midrange, and authoritative presentation. Bass is a little "bloomy" and overemphasized at times. Resolution of bass guitar or stand-up bass gets a bit lost.

    Does anyone have similar reaction to Lexus? Any comparisons to AN-SPe cabling? AN-SPx is beyond my budget...way beyond. ;)
     
  20. Encore

    Encore Forum Resident

    It looks like the CDT has wifi antennae? :confused: That would be a very un-AN mod :laugh:
     
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  21. Fred Hansen

    Fred Hansen Forum Resident

    Location:
    Europe
    Celester, you'll be happy with your choice of dac and won't have too many tubes
    Gjo, the usual question: was the lexus burned in? At any rate, I don't think the cable can be responsible for boomy bass. That's speaker positioning
     
    celester340 likes this.
  22. Gjo

    Gjo Forum Resident

    Location:
    Los Angeles
    Hello Fred Hansen, and thank you for your reply.

    Yes, cable are burned in.

    The Lexus cable bass "boominess" is in comparison to my other speaker cables, which do not have the same characteristic.

    Speakers are placed in corners per Audio Note and dealer instructions for optimal bass response: 2" from side wall, 7" from front wall. I have finessed placement over a decade. Moved them out, Moved them in. They are well positioned.

    Anyone have a comparison of Lexus to AN-SPe cabling in their system?
     
    Last edited: May 10, 2021
  23. Fred Hansen

    Fred Hansen Forum Resident

    Location:
    Europe
    Thanks for this information. Interesting! I have been using Spe for four years and couldn't be happier
     
  24. Salectric

    Salectric Senior Member

    Location:
    Maryland
    I have Lexus, ISIS and SPx speaker cables but I haven't heard SPe in my system so can't comment on that.

    Lexus speaker cable is definitely warmer sounding than SPx but I wouldn't call it boomy. The SPx cable has excellent bass in my opinion; it's deep, tightly detailed and reasonably dynamic. ISIS is also warmer than SPx and it's more dynamic in the lower midrange/upper bass range but it isn't as fast, clean and detailed as the SPx across the entire spectrum. I have gone back and forth between ISIS and SPx many times but always seem to return to SPx for the long-term.

    Lexus has a tonal balance similar to ISIS but it's looser and not quite as detailed. I use Lexus for the internal wiring for my woofers and midrange horns and I really like it in that application; however, I use SPx for the HF horns due to the increased clarity and extension. (These are not AN speakers.)
     
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  25. jonwoody

    jonwoody Tragically Unhip

    Location:
    Washington DC
    I use the previous 80 strand version of Lexus in a single wire setup with Kimber jumpers and AN-J/lx's I can't say I find the bass boomy or bloomy. I have not however compared it to any other AN speaker cables.
     

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