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

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

  1. Rob Hume

    Rob Hume Forum Resident

    Location:
    England.
    In what way Bryan?
     
  2. finn

    finn Forum Resident

    You will come out of that front room scratching your head and thinking what did I just hear. Aside from the spl level Noisia gets played at and watching the bass drivers move in a way that you never thought they could, the transient speed of whatever is being played is incredible, be it Johanna Martzy or Puscifer and the concept of a note or beat being played and every note and beat having a time and place to fully exist is abundantly clear. The rest you just have to hear.
     
  3. Rob Hume

    Rob Hume Forum Resident

    Location:
    England.
    So a recipe for owned system discontent, at least until aural memory starts to fade :). I will prepare myself for tv catch up for a few days after the trip!
     
  4. David Cope

    David Cope Forum Resident

    Location:
    Gales Ferry, CT
    I listened to K1000s off of an AN P3 for a while years back. Gorgeous sound.
     
  5. Rob Hume

    Rob Hume Forum Resident

    Location:
    England.
    Having spent a couple of hours at PQ's house yesterday I concur with 'Finn's' post regarding his listening experiance. Sublime sound quality from a system that lists for £700k! It was an experience that I will never forget.

    Interestingly I have to say that listening to well recorded vintage vinyl on a TT2/IO Gold/S9 combo was easily as satisfying to as £200k's worth of CDT Six/Fifth Element on any CD played. I was grateful to acquire a copy of Noisia's Split The Atom though. A jaw dropping listening experience on PQ's kit and not half bad on mine!
     
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  6. Don Parkhurst

    Don Parkhurst Forum Resident

    Location:
    Vancouver, BC
    That sounds like huge fun! I hope to visit one day as well.

    Your experience with the TT-2/IoGold/AN-S9 versus the CDT Six/Fifth Element mirrors my experience with my own system. I played Sonny Rollins Way Out West on 20 year old Analog Productions vinyl, on my own TT-2/IoGold/AN-S8. Then played it on my CDT3/DAC4.1X Balanced Signature from the Analog Productions dual layer SACD, playing the CD layer.

    For me (and Rafe at the time)....but really for my own personal taste...the vinyl killed the digital version. Much more body, texture, depth, realism on the vinyl. It was immensely satisfying. I still really enjoy digital, but for me it is always a more satisfying experience with vinyl.

    I would love to compare the AN-S8 versus the AN-S9 in my system. I keep hearing that the S9 is amazing with the Io Gold cartridge.
     
  7. Rob Hume

    Rob Hume Forum Resident

    Location:
    England.
    It was Don. Peter is a very good host with an excellent taste in liquor as well as music as Bryan intimated at.

    I've just bought an S8 as it happens. Peter made it quite clear that the S9 is a big step up. By the way Don I've managed to upgrade my CDT Two/4.1 Balanced to CDT Four/DAC 5 Special via a swap with a guy who has fallen on hard times. Unlucky for the guy but wow! Not a CDT Six/Fifth Element but a huge upgrade from what I was using! Don't forget Black Pallas. It's really coming into it's own now with the better gear....
     
  8. finn

    finn Forum Resident

    Glad you enjoyed the experience Rob. It is quite a unique sound and even though I rarely listen to Split the Atom, it's fun to play something that dynamic for people who think 2 way 8" drivers can't do bass. Good to hear the system is working out for you.
     
  9. Rob Hume

    Rob Hume Forum Resident

    Location:
    England.
    Thanks Bryan. Yes Split The Atom on PQ's system is a never to be forgotten experience isn't it!
     
  10. tommylion

    tommylion Well-Known Member

    Location:
    Burlington, VT
    Hello,

    I am new here, and hope you don't mind my posting a couple things I think might be of interest to those who frequent this thread.

    Back in March, I had the great privilege of meeting, and chatting with (mostly me listening), Peter Qvortrup at the Montreal show. I'll share the most interesting (at least to me) tidbits:

    Being a fan of transformer/autoformer volume control, and knowing they had been working on this in the past, I asked him about it. He said they found problems with phase shifts, and other anomalies, between the different taps. He then told me they were were working on a valve (tube) volume control, that was very promising. I have not seen this mentioned anywhere else. I could only find one reference to something like this on the web:

    6BE6 volume control

    I don't know if AN is doing something similar, or completely different.

    Regarding the discrete resistor DAC, he said that they were choosing between several different ways to implement it.
     
  11. Rob Hume

    Rob Hume Forum Resident

    Location:
    England.
    Having spent half a day with PQ on Saturday I thought one or two people may be interested in an update on the new turntable releases.

    TT3 is due out first around Sep/Oct with 7 decks being shipped to certain dealers. Then around Dec/Jan the new TT3 half reference is due out and PQ advises that it will be something special but at 3 x the list price of the new TT3 . I'm looking to hold out until spring next year and buy the big brother if it lives up to expectations.

    I also picked up an S9 SUT last week. The S9 with my IO2 is simply superb!
     
    Last edited: Jul 2, 2017
  12. Don Parkhurst

    Don Parkhurst Forum Resident

    Location:
    Vancouver, BC
    That is great! Did you get the S9 SUT new or used? There is a used one for sale in the U.K. Wish I could afford it, but can't. I will have to manage somehow with the S8 : )

    I wasn't aware that they were also updating the Half Reference. That is going to be amazing if it improves on the older and already fantastic version.
     
  13. Richard Austen

    Richard Austen Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Hong Kong
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  14. Pomodori

    Pomodori Well-Known Member

    Location:
    Montreal
  15. Pomodori

    Pomodori Well-Known Member

    Location:
    Montreal
  16. Pomodori

    Pomodori Well-Known Member

    Location:
    Montreal
    The more I listen to these speakers the more I love them. Had Harbeth for 8 years before making the switch; ideally matched for my 15 wpc amp.
     
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  17. Don Parkhurst

    Don Parkhurst Forum Resident

    Location:
    Vancouver, BC
    They are fabulous speakers. I really like Harbeths but the AN speakers match up to AN amps which isn't too surprising.

    I hung out at a friends place one night last week and he had a TT-1 turntable feeding a Soro SE Signature amp which was driving a pair of AN-J/Lx speakers. It was a great combo that was very enjoyable and musical and had amazing imaging and depth. Mainly it was just very musically enjoyable.

    It was exactly what drew me to Audio Note in the first place. AN is really enjoyable at all levels.
     
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  18. Pomodori

    Pomodori Well-Known Member

    Location:
    Montreal
    Couldn't agree more. I'm using a Leben 300 integrated amp, not an AN...but really happy with the results.
     
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  19. Richard Austen

    Richard Austen Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Hong Kong
    Nice set-up. I missed a lot of threads away in Vegas and covering the Californis Audio Show in Oakland.
     
  20. Richard Austen

    Richard Austen Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Hong Kong
  21. Richard Austen

    Richard Austen Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Hong Kong
    So to the other AN fans what are your favorite combinations.

    I have been considering a preamp and power amp combination such as M3/M6 with Empress monoblocks BUT then for around the same money one could buy a Jinro!

    Granted the Jinro doesn't have a phono stage but it seems to me that the Jinro has the least amount of circuitry getting in the way and is closest to the theoretical straight wire with gain. The Jinro can be used as a power amp and you can always add a pohono stage later. Ideally I would try for the Tomei just because nobody seems to have them and no one talks about it. But I believe it is double the price of the Jinro and is getting into BMW car territory if not more. :mudscrying:
     
  22. tommylion

    tommylion Well-Known Member

    Location:
    Burlington, VT
    From what I understand, the Jinro Shochu is a different design than the integrated version. It uses the same circuit as the Kegon Balanced, and is even simpler (I believe no coupling capacitors?). You'd still need a pre, though. Personally, I would go with the MFA Baby Reference, because I am a big fan of passive magnetic volume control.
     
    Last edited: Aug 24, 2017
  23. Richard Austen

    Richard Austen Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Hong Kong
    The Baby reference was an option but they told me I had to buy it first without hearing it. So that was a no go. Another option came up but I suspect the resale value would be non-existent. I have always prefered active tube preamps to passives so that has an influence.

    Anyway I bought an M3 Phono Preamp today (delivered tomorrow) and a DAC 0.1x the latter of which I had in my home a couple of years ago. I prefer the M6 Phono but the problem is that it just takes so long to save the money that I can't get to a satisfactory level. And then it hit me that AN level Zero is satisfactory. So why not just get into AN somewhere and worry about the higher level stuff later. I actually went to the dealer looking for an M2 Phono. But the M3 is a sweet spot sort of thing and I always used to say Level 3 does most of what AN does for a reasonable price. Level 4 is better but holy cow the prices go way up. The Dac o.1x is basically holding the fort down until I can afford an DAC 3.1XII. Plus it will be fun to compare the DAC o.1X to the Line Magneitc 502CA DAC.

    The next step will probably be Empress Silver monoblocks and IQ3 cartridge. I would go for the M6 but I am saving to buy a house. So you have to try and be sensible. The M3 is no slouch. I love my OTO and the OTO's preamp is I believe the M1 or M Zero so...
     
    Last edited: Aug 24, 2017
  24. Henley

    Henley Forum Resident

    Location:
    The Netherlands
    Personally I would just buy an Oto Signature until you have saved up for your dream AN pre/amp combi. The resale value of the Oto Signature remains high, even after a couple of years. And you can really make a nice upgrade to the Oto with some Telefunken ECC83 smooth plates or Philips ECC83 long plate D-getters and a nice quad EL84's like Philips, Mullard, Brimar or Tungsram.

    With respect to DAC's I would wait with any significant investment until it becomes more clear whether the AN r-t-t DAC will go into production. Furtermore other developments of multbit and r-t-r DAC's are quite interesting as well. I'm pretty pleased with the redbook playback I'm getting from the Schiit Gungnir MB right now for instance.
     
  25. Richard Austen

    Richard Austen Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Hong Kong
    Hi Henley - I like your idea but I've had my OTO since 2003 and as a reviewer it is beneficial to have separates. The OTO is essentially an M1 preamp and P1SE power amp in one case. The M3 is a sizeable improvement over the M1 and M2. And the second hand price of the M3 is still fairly high. I can then review power amps and when I get a power amp I can review preamps. With the OTO I can do neither as there is no power amp out or preamp in. Besides, my KingKo KA-101 amp is an EL84 amplifier and one of the better values I have seen in all of audio and will serve as a power amp. It's basically acting like a P1PP

    The 0.1x is still a non oversampling no filter DAC and is reasonably priced. Non oversampling DACs continually sound the best to me - at the California Audio Show - three rooms had non oversampling DACs and those three made my top 4 rooms (and top spot) which is probably not a coincidence. I primarily use CD but it does have USB input for computer audio (limited probably to Redbook).
     
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