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Audio Critic Good Guys / Bad Guys

post #1 of 6
8/18/09 at 3:45am
Thread Starter 
The Audio Critic used to do lists of the good guys and bad guys in audio. He hasn't done in a while, and I'm curious if there are any new players that should go on the good guys list.

I'm looking for companies like Bryston that make products with long warranties, products that measure and spec well, without charging ridiculous prices.
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post #2 of 6
8/18/09 at 4:08am
simaudio is great
also another canadian product

5 year warranty i think.

from what i remember, you can also can trade up within the first year for full credit of your equipment and pay the difference
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post #3 of 6
8/18/09 at 4:58am
Quote:
Originally Posted by seacard View Post
I'm looking for companies like Bryston that make products with long warranties, products that measure and spec well, without charging ridiculous prices.
Lake People. They produce headphone amps with the same sound quality as other, well known solid state competition but for a fraction of their price. G99/2 (now G100) is very good and versatile.
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post #4 of 6
8/18/09 at 12:05pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by majkel View Post
Lake People. They produce headphone amps with the same sound quality as other, well known solid state competition but for a fraction of their price. G99/2 (now G100) is very good and versatile.
Doesn't talking about a passive component's sound quality defeat the Audio Critic's spirit? Most companies, even the "bad guys," are capable of making an amplifier with high input impedance, low output impedance, flat frequency response, low distortion, and low noise floor which will sound the same as any other amp when operated at matched levels and not clipped, or a CD player with a flat frequency response, no [audible] jitter, etc.

I think he usually looked for companies with a lot of science behind them, with big names in the audio engineering business at the helm (Linkwitz, Tanner, etc.).
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post #5 of 6
8/18/09 at 12:20pm
Did the Audio Critic ever weigh in on Pass Labs? Pass' designs get some criticism, but I like how open he is with his designs. He allows them to be cloned and experimented with, and I haven't seen much in the way of magic components, etc., it's all about the circuit.
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post #6 of 6
8/18/09 at 1:16pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Uncle Erik View Post
Did the Audio Critic ever weigh in on Pass Labs? Pass' designs get some criticism, but I like how open he is with his designs. He allows them to be cloned and experimented with, and I haven't seen much in the way of magic components, etc., it's all about the circuit.
I don't recall ever reading about Nelson Pass on Audio Critic, but of course that doesn't mean all that much. He didn't cover everybody -- just gave you things to look for and things to avoid. And as far as amplifiers go, he readily admitted that he would much rather have a high-end one than a cheap one even if they sound the same. He never said anything bad about companies like Krell or Mark Levinson that manufactured solid products that may sound just as good as a Behringer at 1/20th of the price but gave you a much prettier, much better-built product. His main problem was (a) cable/power supply people (Cardas, Monster, etc.); (b) tube (esp. SET) people (Audio Research, Cary, etc.); and (c) audio reviewers who heard differences between two components that have the same specs (Pearson, Atkinson, etc.).

Most other companies that simply designed good products, even if overly expensive products, fell somewhere in the middle. He always raved about McIntosh stuff, for example, even if he thought it overpriced. The good guys didn't simply engineer good products -- they innovated. I wish Aczel was still as active as he used to be (rather than mostly reviewing CDs these days), or that somebody else would take over the magazine (there must be plenty of science-minded, well-versed audio engineers and designers that could do it).
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