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Funny stuff....

Posted by Nietzsche (A) on January 4, 2004 at 16:37:47

In Reply to: Panasonic sa xr 45, how does it work, sound, vs PS Audio posted by Tom C on January 3, 2004 at 13:01:18:

This is a funny topic. I can't help but continually shake my head while reading some of these replies! I own the PS Audio HCA-2 and PCA-2, love the sound they offer, and recently had a friends' broken in XR45 in home to play with, which was about a month old. You might think it foolish to compare $4000 and ~70lbs worth of gear to a $300, 9lb receiver, and....you'd be completely right. There was no comparison; if the PSA gear is class A, the panny gets a C. Great grade for the price, I'll admit that is sounds better then $300 worth of gear should, but let's be realistic, folks! Worst thing about this machine is that you can't get even halfway decent sound from any source but CD-direct, so Vinyl and SACD lovers (like myself) will NOT be fans of this product.

The Panny sounds more like the Bel Canto on the topend and below 160hz, and like Carver ZR1600 in the midrange, speaking tonally, yet still nowhere near their leagues either, overall. The PS A is much richer, more dynamic, FAR superior bass, is quieter, images better and can drive the stuffing out of any speaker. The panny is clearly a digital amp with the digital amp strengths in amazing PRAT, bass, detail and clarity, but it's very rough around the edges, thin sounding, rough up top, can't drive difficult loads (87 dB full range speakers), does better with small monitors (90dB VR 1's), missing ambient cues to indicate hall size and is compressed at high volumes. It is a product that one can tolerate for lack of glaring faults, or would be great in a very tight budget, but to compare it to dedicated separates, especially in the $10K plus system I used it in, was a complete waste of time, IMO. Personally I couldn't live with the panny long-term, and I suspect others will find the same. To folks that have heard the panny and like the distinctive sound I highly suggest a audiophile oriented digital amp, such as the Bel Canto, Spectron, EAR or PSA amp, to name a few, to really see what digital amps can do....and, to think, this is just the beginning!

On the subject, if you'll allow me to rant, I've personally grown absolutely disgusted with the "bang for the buck" mindless drone BB postings, it actually has turned me off to many audio BB's, as I now rarely visit any online sites and take every thing read now with a elephant sized grain of salt. There is far too much wish fulfillment in "budget" audio enthusiast crowds, it seems. I've gone through a dozen budget products that where touted to be "better then players X times as expensive" (I HATE that pharase), reported "giant killers' (hate that term too); such as the Philips 963 (supposed to better Meridian-hah!), Jolida JD100 (supposed to better the NuVista - hahaha, not even close!), Panny XR45 (replace $8k worth of gear! Maybe gear bough in 1963!), Adcom GFP750 (Levinson killer! Please!), a long list of DIY cables and one really popular DIY dac (that I won't mention for fear of a stoning), and each time I auditioned them against admittedly more expensive and well regarded components I was GREATLY let down.

I'm frankly sick of wasting my time, energy and money on chasing so-called bang-for-buck gear that exists in the cheap (under $500) realm, for, as far as I've seen, it just doesn't exist but in the minds of the susceptible. I don't think I am alone in my sentiments, either. One clearly don't always get what they pay for in audio, yet, with more money and careful component selection, better sound is readily available in proportion to what one spends. The dollar dilemma becomes a more obvious truth the longer you are in the hobby, that is, the better trained your ears/brain become. I do fully believe in a law of diminishing returns, but the cheap and cheaply built gear touted by the budget-freaks gets nowhere close to pushing that limit for me....and I admittedly wish it did, which is why I chased after it to begin with.

Sorry, budget freaks, but you've lost a potential follower with all the overblown hype. How about tuning the enthusiasm down a bit, hold fewer on-line circle-jerks, and replacing them with a trace more objectivity, just for the rational and innocent readers among us.... :)

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