"lack of passion is fatal"
Vinyl: Thorens TD-124mk2 / SME-312 Aluminium 'special' / SME M2-9R / STEREO: Etsuro Urushi Cobalt / Shure M3D / Ortofon SPU A95 / Cartridge Man Music Master / Shure - SC35C (US) / SAEC C3 MC MONO: Miyajima Zero B 0.7mil mono / Miyajima Premium 1.0 / Amps & SUTs: Radford STA25 mk3 / AD Audio 'Satchmo2' pre & LCR phono / Hashimoto HM-7 SUT / ETR-MONO SUT Digital: Audio Note 4.1 (with DAC5 upgrades) DAC / Roon / Tidal Speakers: Tannoy 12" MGs' in RFC custom 'Rutland' Cabinets with RFC crossovers / Tannoy ST-100 Super Tweeters Cables: LFD Grainless phono / RFC Mercury / Duelund DCA16GA tinned copper / Kimber 12TC / SW1X Audio Design USB-SPdif / Duelund DCA20GA interconnects / SW1X Audio SPDIF Aero 6 / Mains Power Conditioner / Box Furniture rack / Audiodesk Systeme Vinyl Cleaner / a very beautiful & understanding Wife!
Absolutely spot on.
A lot of folks buy with their eyes. How many people actually read about the measured performance before a purchase?
Personally, I find it quite astonishing that things as fundamental to the unit's performance such as RIAA accuracy and hum from the traffo, seem to have been completely ignored. They MUST have tested it before it went into production.
Actual transcript* from the pre launch meeting at Lounge Audio:
'But what happens if the reviewers start measuring the units and discover the truth'
'We will issue a pre-emptive strike by launching the golden eared reviewers to hype the amp to the stratosphere, using phrases like giant killer, musical, and veil lifting, now get on YouTube and start selling!'
*may not be THE actual transcript
Yes, agreed, it's not the greatest, Alan. As you say, a comparably-priced 'normal' stage easily bettered it ... in my case a Rothwell Simplex.
To my ears, the current Lounge Audio version seems to have been voiced with small, cheap speakers in mind ... bass boost and treble cut. It also seems to have problems with presenting a consistent soundstage. In fact on some recordings, whole instruments seemed to go missing! I had an earlier version a few years back, and it had neither of those problems, at least not to that degree. Since then, the designer has, apparently, listened to 'user feedback' and changed (ruined, actually) the design. Shame, as the original was quite a decent product for the money.
Must say that it did rather amuse me that neither of the engineers who tested it for ASR bothered to actually listen to it after seeing the test results.