What to see the insides of gear...

[RGA]

One little thing that bugs me about Accuphase is that some of it seems to be re-badged Kenwood.

"By the way, Accuphase company was started by Kenwood employees, and all Accuphase top players have Sony KSS190A mechanism. So they are siblings so to speak. Only we know it and most people don't, so we can still buy the Ken for 1/10 th of the Accu price."

[frenchmon]

One little thing that bugs me about Accuphase is that some of it seems to be re-badged Kenwood.

"By the way, Accuphase company was started by Kenwood employees, and all Accuphase top players have Sony KSS190A mechanism. So they are siblings so to speak. Only we know it and most people don't, so we can still buy the Ken for 1/10 th of the Accu price."

You forgot the link RGA! Go down to the 8th picture to find the quote. Even has the same color of board as Accuphase.

Kenwood 9010x transport

[Feanor]

One little thing that bugs me about Accuphase is that some of it seems to be re-badged Kenwood.

"By the way, Accuphase company was started by Kenwood employees, and all Accuphase top players have Sony KSS190A mechanism. So they are siblings so to speak. Only we know it and most people don't, so we can still buy the Ken for 1/10 th of the Accu price."

Haha. You're just smarting from Joe's remarks about the Audio Note player..

But you're right that the Accuphase is through-back to the gorgeousnes of high-end Japanese equipment of the late '80s and early '90s -- not a bad thing.

[emaidel]

Certainly, looks aren't everything, but the 8 photos of the insides of my Adcom GFA-5800 are pretty impressive, and there's certainly a lot of stuff in there!

I've owned the amp since the mid 90's, and have been delighted with it since then. Nelson Pass designed it, amongst others, but has been quoted as saying it's the best-sounding Adcom amp ever. Whether that's true or not doesn't really matter, but it's certainly the best sounding amp I've ever owned, and I've had others that were considerably costlier.

[RGA]

Actually the link will make me take a closer look at Kenwoods - you never know if you see one on the used market for cheap it might be a good pick-up.

Here in HK I saw a used Wadia sitting right beside a TEAC (coincidentally). The TEAC VRDS transport is the same one used in the Wadia transport - the price difference was massive. Wadia has the name - but you'll get every bit the player in the TEAC for about 1/8 the price.

Granted some companies actually modify units they receive from suppliers but not all and that link seems to suggest Wadia did absolutely nothing (at least to that model).

Audio Note doesn't really have competition in the sense that they arguably make and use the best transformers and caps in the industry. They use them and others don't so it gives them an advantage right off in the parts quality game.

As to whether something is worth the money well - AN operates between a 3-5% cost to retail mark-up. Terry at Soundhounds told me that the rest of the stuff in the store operates on at LEAST a 10-1 mark-up. That means not a single competing component does better than a 10-1 cost to retail price scenario (and worse that covers marketing, shipping, packaging, labor.

So that means the $500 speakers are at best $50 in materials the $2000 are at best $200 in materials. Soundhounds sells the following Products

Labour is big which is why AN has a kits division to take British labour out of the equation (mostly as they still spend hours pair matching parts of the kits).

Unlike a lot of manufacturers Audio Note is not simply buying a CD player taking the cover off and putting their own cover on and multiplying the price by 10.

Virtually every thing they make is a two box unit first. They then take the two units and put them in a large case making it an integrated - or one box. Most companies have a number and they make something to hit the number so integrateds are designed as integrated or one box players. The OTO Phono SE is an M1 preamp and P2 power amp and Phono stage placed into one large box. The price goes down because it shares one case (less materials). But the actual parts inside are identical to the separates.

I like that there is a kits division - you want to save money then all you need to do is build a Dac 2 Sig Kit and buy a Chinese transport that uses the Philips Pro 2 and you can very likely cut the CD 4.1 price below half because you're not longer paying for labour. This assumes you can trust the Chinese version of the Philips transport but personally speaking as much as I like the 4.1 I would go two box and save money and get very close. Some people want less clutter I guess.

Like I say I would personally not buy the AN CD 4.1 - it sounds first rate but I think you can get the same/very close to same results far cheaper.

First, few people can drop $12,000 on a CD player in one go.

So I would do it in stages. I don't buy that the transport is as critical as some. This is why I bought the LM CD 215 which uses a decent Sony mechanism - but more to the point it sounds very good in its own right as a one box player. Really good. I could then add a DAC 3.1 later and combined I'd be getting a better DAC than the one in the 4.1 and lose a bit on the transport but it would cost less than half the price.

If a transport is critical this is what I would buy

The Opera consonance Droplet since it uses the Philips Pro 2M transport and looks gorgeous ($3200)
Consonance Droplet CDP-5.0D Fully Balanced Tube CD Player

Then I'd add an AN DAC 4.1 later (which is a higher end DAC than the one in the 4.1) for $3,275. Audio Note Kits - DAC Kit 4.1

Total is $6,475 and takes up considerably more space but personally that is what I would do. Pay $200 or so and they'll build the DAC for you to boot so even if you're chicken to build it is still a much cheaper proposition.

Now if only every other company would offer kits - It would be nice to have those $2000 speakers Soundhounds sells in kit form for $350-$500

[Feanor]

...
Then I'd add an AN DAC 4.1 later (which is a higher end DAC than the one in the 4.1) for $3,275. Audio Note Kits - DAC Kit 4.1
...
Now if only every other company would offer kits - It would be nice to have those $2000 speakers Soundhounds sells in kit form for $350-$500

I agree about kits in general. The AN DAC 4.1 (kit) obviously is an exotic design with some exotic and doubtless costly parts; transformer coupling, etc.. I'd go so far as to say it's "good value" ...



But is it worth $3215 more than my current $60 DAC from eBay ... uhmm ... maybe not.

[RGA]

I agree about kits in general. The AN DAC 4.1 (kit) obviously is an exotic design with some exotic and doubtless costly parts; transformer coupling, etc.. I'd go so far as to say it's "good value" ...



But is it worth $3215 more than my current $60 DAC from eBay ... uhmm ... maybe not.

Depends on whether one likes the sound better or not. Since I've heard a lot of digital over 20 years and none of it sounds better than Audio Note digital then it's worth it. But according to the Stereophile review - it doesn't play well in all systems due to impedance issues. But then it's not designed for all systems.

The issue of "worth it" applies to anything. Is it worth it to buy a $550 Sennheiser HD 600 over the free ones that come with your iPod - they both, after all, produce sound. Is it really "worth" $550 times more than the $1 headphone they provide?

I go back to my AN OTO experience back when I was a huge Bryston fan.

I sat there looking at my financial options - I could buy the Bryston Pre/pro combination for the same price as an OTO integrated. Bryston with the 20 year warranty versus the OTO with only 1 year. Bryston with the impeccable reputation for taking care of the customer, Bryston in the recording studios, Bryston with the reviews and name recognition and I could sell easily on the second hand market. Bryston with more dealers and less likely to go out of business. And separates (more option) - more inputs, looks better, no costly tubes to replace, better measurements.

The they pushed play.

Had it even been close I would have bought Bryston because contrary to popular belief I will sacrifice a bit of sound quality for Features, Aesthetics, Warranty, Resale Ability, Customer Support, and Ergonomics. Unfortunately, like Wes Philips - after my auditions in the dealer like his at CES - after AN the rest was noise.

The problem is that as much as I like Audio Note - it's not affordable - I can't blame them - part of it is supply and demand - more demand you can raise the price - people are willing to pay $12k for the CD 4.1. I can like it without attaching a value to it because IMO so long as it "sounds the price" or betters the competition then it's fine. Personally I would go with a DAC and cheaper transport. I could pick up a used TEAC VRDS for $600-$700 and that would probably be a top 5 to 10 transport and the AN DAC and CD is done.

The interesting thing though is CD is in a bit of a death rattle. Computer audio has taken over and AN has not really been on board. So if you want a great USB DAC from Computer I doubt the AN holds up very well.

Again personally speaking I want a DAC that can be used for a CD player AND computer. Strike 2 to Audio Note.

I am looking at Lindeman, Eastern Electric, Halide, and some others as a DAC.

The Eastern Electric Mini Max Plus is very nicely priced and has gotten raves by virtually everyone. For around $1k to me it is possibly a better option than Audio Note. It's certainly very likely to be a much better option for computer audio. The AN's outsource their USB Dac section to Hagerman in the U.S. for a custom job I believe but it's not as current.

This is a possible option for me later in the year MMpreIntro