Bristol Hi-Fi Show 2018

[User211]

All you zombies - tweet, tweet, tweet.

[User211]

Excuse the abstract nature of my previous post...

Anyway, anti-bling Nain and Focal. There was a whole group of Naim appreciatives inspecting the anti-bling boxes in a section next to these pics. But no music above about 50 DB when this was taken.

[User211]

The Cary setup made a bit more real...

[Marco]

I had a long chat with Reinhard Thoress at Munich, I had been pondering this kit before I got the EAR 912. I did get to hear it there with his own-design speakers and amp, but I wasn't overly impressed with the speakers and anyway you can only come away from shows with a limited impression - just the big picture, no subtleties.

Thoress is still an avenue I might pursue at some stage, what I'd really like is the opportunity to do an extended comparison with the EAR, into Radford + Tannoys. I must admit I'm attracted to it at least in part for its 50s-60s lab equipment looks, perhaps retro-chic is just another kind of bling!

The ideal for me would be his three input phono preamp (with all the equalisation options), with one linestage input for a DAC. He prefers active MC over SUTs though so I'd be tempted to have all inputs set to MM, and run one or more SUTs into the other inputs. I'd miss the Swiss Army Knife flexibility of the EAR though.

Lol - no 'retro chic' is cool (as is understated, but purposeful looking hi-fi), and true bling is boxes adorned with shiny gold knobs, etc... That shit just makes me feel ill.

I've not had the opportunity of listening to any Thoeress equipment. I simply admire the looks and (some) of its design principles. If it ticked the right boxes, in terms of its musical abilities, I'd happily use it at home.

I'm with you on the MM/SUT (or head amp) combo, over active MC, and the EAR is great. The other phono stages I really rate are those from Allnic Audio. Have you seen and/or heard any?

A friend of mine has one. If you weren't aware, Allnic Audio phono stages feature the use of built-in SUTs, which with the removal of any interconnecting cables (hardwired directly to the circuit) is surely the ideal way of implementing such devices - and they sound stunning!

Marco.

[Pieoftheday]

I've never been to a Hifi show, what's the point if manufacturers arn't playing music through their gear?

[User211]

I very nearly ordered a $20,000 Allnic preamp going for $7,500 the other day - brand new unused but an old model. Lotus have (or had haven't checked) a nice Allnic DAC on ebay. Pretty tempted to just buy it, keep it for a bit and pass it on... but went for some of Jerry's cheapo recommendations instead

[User211]

There are some caveats with Allnic kit - the DAC got the worst ever Stereophile tech report for a DAC, and the preamp I was looking at uses some microphonic STC valves (but you can subs a KR which apparently is OK).

Here is that preamp. Nice hunk of metal. Note you can make an offer on the $7500 but you'd have to blag him into UK shipping.

[montesquieu]

other phono stages I really rate are those from Allnic Audio. Have you seen and/or heard any?

A friend of mine has one. If you weren't aware, Allnic Audio phono stages feature the use of built-in SUTs, which with the removal of any interconnecting cables (hardwired directly to the circuit) is surely the ideal way of implementing such devices - and they sound stunning!

Marco.

Can't remember the model number of the Allnic phono stage I heard, but I thought it was very good and comparable at the time to the Aurorasound Vida I was using - which for all that it doesn't use tubes is still a very good phono stage (I think I had mine for three years which was something of a record). That is actually quite a recommendation as I liked the Vida a lot - not sure the Allnic was any better despite being more expensive - I didn't feel the need to rush out and buy one.

[Marco]

There are some caveats with Allnic kit - the DAC got the worst ever Stereophile tech report for a DAC, and the preamp I was looking at uses some microphonic STC valves (but you can subs a KR which apparently is OK).

Here is that preamp. Nice hunk of metal. Note you can make an offer on the $7500 but you'd have to blag him into UK shipping.

It's really only the phono stages I rate.

Marco.

[Marco]

Can't remember the model number of the Allnic phono stage I heard, but I thought it was very good and comparable at the time to the Aurorasound Vida I was using - which for all that it doesn't use tubes is still a very good phono stage (I think I had mine for three years which was something of a record). That is actually quite a recommendation as I liked the Vida a lot - not sure the Allnic was any better despite being more expensive - I didn't feel the need to rush out and buy one.

As ever, context is everything, so much depends on how well it suits the partnering system, and also which cartridge(s) you hear it with, but from your description you didn't seem to find it too shabby

I also rate the Vida, and indeed had an opportunity to buy one (as Guy sent me a unit to home demo). I was suitably impressed to recommend it to Martin T (of TAS), who after hearing it for himself subsequently bought one.

However, ultimately for me, I found it lacked the beguiling midrange lucidity, vocal texture and 'airiness', I get in spades, from my (heavily modified) Croft and Paul Hynes MC head amp.

Marco.