Intact

xo · Post by xo » 31/03/2005 - 16:15

Oh the pain [0]. This [1] is what I dream about. This [2] is what I see as a near possibility (The 'S' model, note the significant price difference.) This [3] is what may end up getting. I'm pretty excited though. Have any of you ever heard a TacT amplifier? And what about their speakers?

[1] http://www.tactaudio.dk/amp_millennium.html
[2] http://www.tactaudio.dk/amp_2150.html
[3] http://www.tactaudio.dk/amp_sdai2175.html
[0]

Romeo Knight · Post by **Romeo Knight** » 31/03/2005 - 18:13

Hey,what about this one?[4] Much better price/value-ratio.

[4]<a href="http://cgi.ebay.de/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie ... 49&rd=1</a>

<now starting a useless emotional discussion>
Forget this HighEnd-Sh*t!
You won't hear a difference in a real test anyway!
Spend your money on decent speakers and a flat where you can position them how it's meant to be.

xo · Post by xo » 31/03/2005 - 21:02

I'm not nervous about getting quality from TacT. However I have now found a critical review of the cheapest integreated amplifier from TacT - the SDAI2175. So this one I'll not be buying. I was expecting spectacular sound as in the other TacT amplifier but unfortunately performance degrated significantly with the price. A shame. EUR2000 is the most I'll spend for an amplifier but it seems that even at that price I can't get a reasonable integrated TacT amplifier. Wow that excitement went away quickly. There are also a lot more expensive models with room correction (e.g. MK3) but that would be a theoretical discussion as my economy does not allow me to spend EUR10000 on that. Oh well, back to the drawing board.

I'll take a look at that amplifier Romeo.

Romeo Knight · Post by **Romeo Knight** » 31/03/2005 - 22:29

exoskeleton wrote: I'll take a look at that amplifier Romeo.

LOL!

xo · Post by xo » 31/03/2005 - 22:50

It's the "I want this but I'm too poor"-emoticon.

I'm not implying I didn't like the amplifier you linked to, yet.

xo · Post by xo » 01/04/2005 - 0:06

I'll tell you though that after the TacT SDAI2175 disappointment I'm warming up to Cambridge Audio high-value low-cost systems.

Cambridge Audio Azur 640A
Cambridge Audio Azur 640C

The CD player has a pretty good DAC although I curse the state of affairs where DACs are placed in CD players. I mean why not just have one great DAC in the amplifier and both digitial and analog inputs? Its a mess as it is; well generally speaking, there are lots of exceptions of course.

The Wolfson DACs
The Wolfson DAC used in Azur 640C

I dig the specs at the price. Oh, not to forget... The review.

xo · Post by xo » 01/04/2005 - 10:25

Okay, heard Cambridge Audio. Its crap. Next up: LINN.

Romeo Knight · Post by **Romeo Knight** » 01/04/2005 - 13:02

exoskeleton wrote:Okay, heard Cambridge Audio. Its crap. Next up: LINN.

What's the reason you're looking for such exotic stuff?
Of course you have to pay more for the same sound qualities due to the smaller number of production pieces than if you go for such brands like Denon, Marantz, etcetc. They have excellent stuff, too.

xo · Post by xo » 01/04/2005 - 13:43

Of course whether other less pricey products will perform nearly as well may be possible. I've heard these play and they sound good compared to the other stuff I've heard. Thus I've now made the purchase. If we're talking about TacT then Denon et al would not only be behind the curve they would be out of their league, mass production or not. The Linn amplifiers come with 5 year warranty. Lastly it doesn't hurt that they look nice. I'll say you're right that Denon does make good stuff. Their CD/DVD players are tempting.

Next step speakers. Any recommendations for great speakers that cost less than 1000 EUR? I've heard mixed reviews about Aurum Cantus.

Romeo Knight · Post by **Romeo Knight** » 01/04/2005 - 15:23

exoskeleton wrote: Next step speakers. Any recommendations for great speakers that cost less than 1000 EUR? I've heard mixed reviews about Aurum Cantus.

Yeah! My next choice will be Event 20/20! Yes, you're right, they're studio monitors and only about 400 Eur. But I have 3 pairs of them in my studio suites, they sound really pleasurable (unlike other studio speakers)and I am so used to their sound that this will be my next purchase when my good ol' selfmade Mivoc speakers will be totally destroyed by the fiddly fingers of my 3-year-old girl and her gang of evil dwarfs (friends)

http://www.event1.com/Products/20_20/20_20.html

xo · Post by xo » 01/04/2005 - 15:58

Monitors you say. It's a nice price and it's a nice description. But I'm unfamiliar with monitors except that they sound designed for studio purposes and perhaps even speciel positioning and may not be well suited for an appartment.

Also. Any experience with the TerraTec Producer Phase 24fw?

Romeo Knight · Post by **Romeo Knight** » 01/04/2005 - 17:55

1. Don't buy any speakers you didn't test listening to your preferred music!
2. Best spend half of your full hifi equipment budget on the speakers. 1500 Eur amp plus 500 Eur speakers does not make sense. Technical, the speakers are always the weakest spot in a hifi-system's transmission path.
3. Be absolutely sure to position them right and check the acoustics of your room. Any speaker demands that, not only studio monitors. Sloppy positioning will be money thrown down the drain in any case.

Except these points the speaker issue is really due to personal preferences. Studio monitors sometimes sound crappy, the Yamaha NS10 for example. Lots of studios use them only cos they're somekind of near field standard. But in fact they're really trashy. A lot of other monitors sound very harsh with lots of presence that make you feel inconvenient "just listening to music" after a time. I had big JBLs some time ago that worked good for concentrated listening during recording sessions but just weren't nice to the ear if you know what I mean. The 20/20 sound more like typical hifi-speakers, if you know what I mean.

exoskeleton wrote: Also. Any experience with the TerraTec Producer Phase 24fw?

With the Phase 22. I use it effective in 2 computers with low latency for softsynth applications and Guitar Rig. Thanks to ASIO 2.0.

xo · Post by xo » 01/04/2005 - 18:13

Sure positioning always matter I just thought monitors had special requirements. I agree that its always advisable to hear speakers with your own music. Since I haven't really had high-end speakers before I also want to be a bit careful. I'm looking for bargains.

I found a page here on the Right Mark forum. It has threads about tests of sound cards. Some of these threads are highly technical but anyone can compare the numbers. :~) The cheap ESI Juli@ card looks nice. There's also a thread about Phase 24...

http://forum.rightmark.org/?id=4

Oh yes, this is a definite bookmark candidate.

http://audio.rightmark.org/test_results.shtml

And while we're at it. Read this article about some spectactular upcomming stuff.

"The 24-bit DAC from the company's Burr-Brown Pro Audio product line features a 118dB dynamic range, total harmonic distortion of less than -100dB, and up to 200kHz sampling."

"192kHz, 32-bit, multi-channel audio"

http://www.stereophile.com/news/041904ti/index.html

Last but not least a very interesting thing. A nice alternative to a PC soundcard, albeit far beyond the price of such a card.

http://www.lessloss.com

Thanks for taking the time to digest this spam. :~)

Romeo Knight · Post by **Romeo Knight** » 01/04/2005 - 21:41

exoskeleton wrote: "The 24-bit DAC from the company's Burr-Brown Pro Audio product line features a 118dB dynamic range, total harmonic distortion of less than -100dB, and up to 200kHz sampling."

"192kHz, 32-bit, multi-channel audio"

http://www.stereophile.com/news/041904ti/index.html

http://www.lessloss.com

WHO NEEDS THIS?
I'm really serious about this question!
Ever asked yourself what's your ears dynamic range and THD?

xo · Post by xo » 01/04/2005 - 22:05

DVD-Audio was not invented for the hell of it. I'm sure 32 bit precision is audible or at least has some other advantage, e.g. in mixing, that make it worthwhile. All I can say is that as long as the difference is audible I'll go for it. The audibility can of course be proved or at least made probable to the extreme using multiple blind tests. I'd love to test a 32 bit vs a 24 bit system.