Macca's Lash Up 2: Lash Harder

[Macca]

Martin, well over your budget but well worth saving for is the Mytek Brooklyn. I recently got one and it really has been a game changer for me. Never thought digital could sound this good.

Read a bit about that one. £1600 though. Not a question of saving up, I could buy one at that price but my budget is a self-imposed restraint to stop things getting out of hand. You can bankrupt yourself quite quickly in this game otherwise.

[Ali Tait]

Well if there is somewhere nearby you can demo one, give it a go. Or, give Dave Brooks a shout, he would most likely send you one to try if you like.

[Ali Tait]

I have a pretty fair vinyl front end, this dac beats it frankly.

[Gazjam]

I have a pretty fair vinyl front end, this dac beats it frankly.

"pretty fair" being a faint description of it..
Need to get a listen to the Mytek mate, though may be TOO tempting so dunno!

Does Brookie stock them?

[Ali Tait]

Aye he does. He's away at the Bristol show this weekend though.

We'll have to have a board meeting soon mate.

[Macca]

A couple of years ago now Alan (Firebottle) came around mine with an OTL valve power amp that he had knocked up from bits he had lying about.

I thought I was getting a pretty good sound, thought I had my amplification sorted, at least.

The OTL amp (I had not heard one before) sounded wonderful, I thought it to be better than what I had, not earth-shatteringly better, but a subtle improvement. This was until Alan left, I put my power amp back in the system - and it sounded worse. Not just 'Not quite as good, I'm an audiophile so I can spot these little differences' worse, but 'So much worse that it sounds broken'.

It took me a week to re-acclimatise. But you can never truly go back. I had realised amplification really matters. Okay so that is not as bad as discovering interconnects or speaker cables really matter. But still a bit of a shocker for me.

Anyway: The upshot being I love this Krell amp and if it were not an abomination of God's Laws I would marry it and have its little heat-sinked babies.

Just had to share that. As you were.

[jandl100]

Which socket do you prefer? - mains, RCA or XLR?

[walpurgis]

Nice having a good amp innit.


I look at what some are using and shudder. That's not me being snobbish, just the awareness of how much their systems are being held back by amp choices.

Of course, there are some 'standout' amplifier choices in every price range, new and second hand. But it's all 'mix & match' really. Even the finest amp can sound grim with the wrong partnering gear.

[Macca]

Which socket do you prefer? - mains, RCA or XLR?

LOL

I best not take the miscegeny analogy any further....

[Macca]

Nice having a good amp innit.


I look at what some are using and shudder. That's not me being snobbish, just the awareness of how much their systems are being held back by amp choices.

Of course, there are some 'standout' amplifier choices in every price range, new and second hand. But it's all 'mix & match' really. Even the finest amp can sound grim with the wrong partnering gear.

The thing with this Krell, and with the OTL I mentioned, and the Firebottle SECA Dulci amp I have, is that they just sound right. Not some specific ability like detail or 'rez' or bass, the sound is just right in some subliminal way the brain picks up on and says 'Oh yeah, that's it, that is hitting the spot.' The Radford STA15 also does this for me. The XTZ I was using previously could do it, but only a good day and with a tail wind.

Also since I have got a good match on the speaker cable I'm no longer bothered about the speakers 'WAF Tower' bass character since the bass no longer appears to be coming from the speakers i.e it is more 'effortless' in a way that reminds me of my favourite speaker, the coveted JBL 4365. In fact starting to think I don't need to upgrade to them at all. Which is good as I cannot really afford to buy some anyway.