GoodSoundClub - Romy the Cat's Audio Site

In the Forum: Analog Playback
In the Thread: Ultimate Turntable

Post Subject: Rowuk, let's stop the pissing match.Posted by dkarmeli on: 5/9/2014

I'm not here for that and I'm sorry for getting caught up in it!
Regardless of price like any product the AF1 has a specific market target, only you know if its for you or not.
The reason I never got into the sound is because that no one on this thread was getting past the msrp, so why bother. If you really are interested in the sound from me, I need to bore you a bit telling you about my listening bias. My only criteria for any piece of audio gear is how now natural it sounds, i.e. does it transport me beyond the wall of mechanical reproduction or not. Without this sense of reality and musicality the rest of the audiophile standards have very little or no value to me. That's the only way I judge a system or any part of it. Of course the system should perform at a veryhigh level but when I'm distracted from the music and impressed by any part of the system's performance, it stops working for me. That's when I get analytical and try to rid myself of what I see as strong coloration.
The AF1 has a choice of 3 platters, Acrylic, Duralumin, Stainless Steel, and will deliver all the superlative audiophile goodies with any of them, but there are differences. In my system and setup, the Acrylic platter gives you the so called vinyl sound, like what you used to get from early Linn Sondek prior to all the power supply upgrades, but at a much higher level. The Duralumin and SS platters are what I feel make the AF1 great. If you haven't heard any of the top Micro Seiki tables, its impossible for me to give you comparatives. There's no "vinyl" sound here, and almost no particular character. If the rest of the setup is up scratch then all you get is the recording and you'll forget about they system. Your body and mind will relax and allow you to have the same emotional connection with the music as you'd have in a live venue and any you'll be able to see into the performance with any average or better recording. I listen classical music most of the time but what I wrote is true for all types of music, specially live recordings. I have no better adjectives than "natural" and no other descriptors to communicate with the tts like the AF1, SX-8000II are about. If you want to use a "natural" scale of 1 to 10, 1= best digital and 10= Live venue, then AF1, in a setup of equal quality, can and will give you a strong 7. Most analog front ends don't even get to 1 for me.
david

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