Classy Audio – beauty is in the eye of the beholder
I recently had the pleasure of listening to a high end audio system costing 3000U$, NAD amp and Mission speakers.
Gryphon Antileon Solo Monoblock – source: Manuel María (Wiki)
When I left the showroom I felt that there was something lacking in the audio. Make no bones about it, the sound was incredible but it did not give me that tingly feeling which it should have if I was to part with 3000U$. Paying out a few thousand more would not have done the trick either – I was looking for something different.
[GARD]
Classy Audio – money doesn’t always do it!
I don’t always think that money, lots of it, buys you the best in audio. Good audio is all around your own listening pleasure, not necessarily something which can obtained through the advertised high specification sheet in front of you. An audio amplifier, actually most types of amplifier should faithfully reproduce an output exactly the same as it’s input, the magnitude been the only difference. The best sounding system I ever heard was an Akai 30W+30W driving a set of Technics and playing Alanis Morisette. Or was it a home brewed EL84 15W+15W into Akai speakers playing Cat Stevens. Or maybe the 150W+150W commercial pro-audio MOSFET amplifier into Wharfedales and playing “Nutbush City Limits”?
[GARD]
The list goes on and on. One needs to listen to quite a few permutations of amplifiers, speakers, music and input sources before calling it a day. Rushing out to buy a system based on price is as dangerous as buying a car based on price.