Hi Jhs,
Can definitely imagine that the naim would be better, but I have to marry my source with both amp and speakers. You know the typical naim/SN2 sound, which I do indeed enjoy, but my LS are SF Cremona Auditor Ms which are inclined to further darken/thicken the overall restitution. Therefore, in these conditions, I’m afraid too much of the naim house sound might not be a good thing…Bottom line, I should shut up and do some home demos…Thanks for your advice.
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hi CG
I don’t like the look of Chord products either.
And I love the monolithic blocks Naim design.
But if I loved the sound of Chord I’d still buy them and get used to what they looked like.
Cheers
Jim
I agree with your principle even though I disagree on Chord. I like kit that disappears visually. Mine doesn’t quite do that, but comes close.
One thing I can’t stand is transformers that buzz or radio break through. Once I know it’s there I find I’m always listening for it. I also think that it should be possible to turn all lights out and not have to power anything on when not in use. Hence my enthusiasm for Chord Electronics.
I really like the Linn Selekt design where it is one box and you select the modules you need.
I used to have a Croft amplifier, sound quality wasn’t bad at all, but it was very ugly. In the end it had to go.
Hi,.Which Croft did you had.?
I have had this Croft OTL-amp around 1996 (below on first picture).
But I didn’t have it that long,.because I thought this…Audion Silver Night 300B Push Pull mono-block (picture in the middle) played significantly better.
• Croft OTL-amp.
• Audion Silver Night 300B Push Pull monoblock.
• Audion Silver Night 300B Single-End monoblock.
This is the latest version,.that I had later.
/Peder🙂
It was around 30 years ago: Croft Super Micro Pre with Series 5 Power. It was not a popular choice with Mrs TB. I also had reliability problems with the large central valve in the Power Amp which Glen replaced twice. Possibility my fault for using Furukawa speaker bi-wires (recommended by Croft dealer). The Croft end had two sets of wires into a single banana plug (something I’d never do now). I believe Glen did a redesign for a new model that didn’t use this big central valve. The sound quality was fine especial when fed with a TEAC VRDS CD player. I also used a very fine Leak TroughLine tuner, which again received criticism for its appearance, but not its sound quality.
I have not heard an Audion amplifiers. Valve amplifiers I have heard are Tube Technology and Conrad Johnson. I liked both of these. If I look back to school days, my grandparents had a Garrard TT with Mullard valve amplifier: I used to like to play my Shirley Collins and Beatles records on it.
I replaced the Croft with a Nait 5i in a bid to simplify my setup; it is still doing great service at my mother’s house.
Interestingly TiberioMagadino,.I actually had a smaller Croft OTL-amp too.
Before the big one in the picture earlier.
Conrad Jonsson I’ve listened to,.but never owned one myself.
But Tube Technology I have had,.this one in the picture,I had around 1997.
It was incredibly beautiful when the pipes shone in the evening,.and it was a bit darker in the room.
But even here,.Audion Silver Night 300B was better.
/Peder🙂
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Tube Technology made the Fulcrum CD Transport and DAC. These were forerunners of Chord Blu2 and DAVE. Fulcrum used a Pulse Array DAC which was a virtual DAC built on Xilinx processors and is now fundamental to Chord Electronics digital replay.
I auditioned the Tube Technology amp you had against the Croft and found it very hard to choose. I went for Croft on price.
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Any news? Have you managed to home demo the Lumin streamer? I just realized that Matrix Element streamers have not been mentioned in this thread. I have no first hand experience with Matrix products but the Element X and Element M look like well designed products at a reasonable price. There are some favourable measurements of another Matrix DAC on audiosciencereview.
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Hello,
No not yet…will still be a while but I will report back once it’s done.
Brgds.
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