The Altmann Tera Player - Thread

[flymetothemoon]

Hello i thing that i am guilty for the jump of the price, i sent yesterday an email to mr Altmann asking if the price of tera was for real (6720 €!!!!!!!!!) And he answered that it was real and that will be increased , I told him that he is free to do what he wants and i respect that but for who says that have a passion so great for music,is giving up to hype and for money ,...the answer for him ends in "**** you"...what a caracter))

You don't need to be guilty as even at 6720 €, you'll find no justification to get the device as I am a former owner of Tera and it was let go with good reasons...humbled by another device that costed much less than 6720 €...the AK240...to which I'm still using as my only DAP.
 
I've sold the Tera at cost, to which I've paid  890 € with just a tad over 2 years of ownership.  I've made extensive comparisons between the two (using Tralucent Ref.1/Uber as reference IEMs) before decision was made which one has to let go.  
 
​I can understand why fellow headfiers addicted to the Tera as it has an unique sound signature appeals to some.  For me, I'm looking for truthfulness from the recordings and this is the area that Tera falls short of.  
 
My humble advice is...we need to keep a clear head as we are not "investing" into valuables (like time pieces & certain jewellery) and it is one digital product and its value will diminish over time when displaced by newer technologies (like my Leica M-P240, but not necessarily the Leica lenses).  This principle has been reflected by your attention in reviewing what level of resolution that one digital music player can accommodate as the resolution of the source has been increased dramatically over the last few years.  Be wise.
 
You might challenge my knowledge on analogue sound but below is my credentials (my 30 years old system that I'm about to put it back together)...
 
 

 

 

 
 

 

 

[musicday]

Here is not about one man's character,it is about the Tera-Player itself that is tremendous, remarkable high quality sounding portable music player.
And I am sure if Charles wanted to make lots of money he would have sold it cheap and have someone helping him to build it a larger scale.
The fact is: sounds so realistic is enough to debate among those who have heard the Tera and many other music players.
And i am one of them and so far nothing come close to it.
And as stated before i am willing to meet people and let them hear what i am talking about,and after that let them judge and post here their impressions if they want to.

 

[denis1976]

I do not know if you saw the video this on youtube that shows someone (maybe mr charles ?) put together a tera player, that assembles in one hour or something, that one labor hour components EUR 10000 I already thought when I bought the paw gold was making fun of the poor, but this breaks all records

 

[musicday]

I do not know if you saw the video this on youtube that shows someone (maybe mr charles ?) put together a tera player, that assembles in one hour or something, that one labor hour components EUR 10000 I already thought when I bought the paw gold was making fun of the poor, but this breaks all records

I understand very well what you are trying to say my friend, but i have the Tera player and the Paw Gold, and the last even being the best out there in my opinion, when compared to the Tera sounds digital, not analogue.

 

[denis1976]

I understand very well what you are trying to say my friend, but i have the Tera player and the Paw Gold, and the last even being the best out there in my opinion, when compared to the Tera sounds digital, not analogue.

ok but the diference between digital sound of paw gold (that sounds awsome but not with apples buds ) and analogue worth 8000 euros?

 

[flymetothemoon]

ok but the diference between digital sound of paw gold (that sounds awsome but not with apples buds ) and analogue worth 8000 euros?

Nope.  My humble Technics cassette deck (probably it worths less than 100 €) on tapes (sourced from my HeybrookTT2/SME3010R/Dynavector cartridge) beats the Tera hands down on analogue sound but absolutely not portable LOL.  The myth... Tera vs. real analogue...the answer is...Tera sound... very digital.
 
 
 
 
 

 

[tgdinamo]

I do not know if you saw the video this on youtube that shows someone (maybe mr charles ?) put together a tera player, that assembles in one hour or something, that one labor hour components EUR 10000 I already thought when I bought the paw gold was making fun of the poor, but this breaks all records

 
I agree EUR 10k is absolutely crazy expensive but still it should be pointed out that it's not really helpful to think of cost in terms of how long it takes to assemble one device (labor to build one device).
Astronomical price most likely reflects intelectual property including couple of years of research it took Charles to come up with the custom software/hardware combo that make the magic happen (and also his strong belief that nothing better exists in this class of devices).

 

[warrior1975]

Astronomical price due to years prior? That player has been out for how long now? Just to watch the prices escalate, while technology elsewhere advances, and Tera remains the same. It's just absurd. I don't normally complain about prices, but I find this comical. I'd love to know the number he sells, just out of curiosity.

 

[Currawong]

 

I do not know if you saw the video this on youtube that shows someone (maybe mr charles ?) put together a tera player, that assembles in one hour or something, that one labor hour components EUR 10000 I already thought when I bought the paw gold was making fun of the poor, but this breaks all records

 
I agree EUR 10k is absolutely crazy expensive but still it should be pointed out that it's not really helpful to think of cost in terms of how long it takes to assemble one device (labor to build one device).
Astronomical price most likely reflects intelectual property including couple of years of research it took Charles to come up with the custom software/hardware combo that make the magic happen (and also his strong belief that nothing better exists in this class of devices).

No, he got pissed off that there were DAPs more expensive than his player, because he still thinks it is the best out there, and kept raising the price above them as each model was released. It happened after the AK120, then AK240, and AK380. 
 
As I've already suggested previously in this thread, if one wants a warm, non-digital-sounding but reasonably detailed DAP for close to the price the Tera Player was before the insanity, the Soundaware M1 Analog version, or M1 Pro (the latter which I haven't tried yet) are available. 
 
As wonderful as the Tera Player sounds, it has simply been beaten by technology, and any chance of it being an interesting DAP to purchase and enjoy ruined by its inventor.

 

[musicday]

Or maybe his stock of Philips R2R DAC chips is very limited so he won't be able to make many players.
And i fully agree with Tgdinamo-The Tera player took many years to make,tune and adjust the sound to Charles liking that is mine as well.

 

[Ruben123]

Or maybe his stock of Philips R2R DAC chips is very limited so he won't be able to make many players.
And i fully agree with Tgdinamo-The Tera player took many years to make,tune and adjust the sound to Charles liking that is mine as well.

Just a quick search http://www.diyinhk.com/shop/audio-kits/87-tda1545a-r2r-isolated-nonoversampling-nos-audio-dac-with-fifo-reclock.html
Also that member who posted about another sort of diy tera could prove that making such an mp3 player is not years of hard work but just shopping at diy sites, a bit of diying yourself and finding people crazy enough to buy multiple 1k$ mp3 players.

 

[musicday]

That's a great find, but without the knowledge what can we do with it?
I am sure someone else would have done it before Charles if he knew how to.

 

[Ruben123]

That's a great find, but without the knowledge what can we do with it?
I am sure someone else would have done it before Charles if he knew how to.

You don't have to be a genius to design some software to play wav only without any user interface. In China you can buy mp3 players as cheap as $0.75 and I have tried them. No screen so almost same programming needed as the tera. Volume, next, previous, ff and fr. Sound quite descend and have a battery life of some 8 hours or so. Maybe 3 if you play loud. Their profit may be around $0,01 per sold player which makes quite a lot in the end, but that doesn't mean their engineers are heroes or very smart people. With some basic software and hardware engineering experience you can make a tera player. Please don't keep looking up to Charles, he is just a hobbyist wanting to earn lots of money. I can't make a tera myself, but I also can't properly draw a circle which numerous other people can.

 

[denis1976]

No, he got pissed off that there were DAPs more expensive than his player, because he still thinks it is the best out there, and kept raising the price above them as each model was released. It happened after the AK120, then AK240, and AK380. 

As I've already suggested previously in this thread, if one wants a warm, non-digital-sounding but reasonably detailed DAP for close to the price the Tera Player was before the insanity, the Soundaware M1 Analog version, or M1 Pro (the latter which I haven't tried yet) are available. 

As wonderful as the Tera Player sounds, it has simply been beaten by technology, and any chance of it being an interesting DAP to purchase and enjoy ruined by its inventor.

I full agree with this, about the time that mr alltman spent to reach tera player believe it took, but if that's the reason the starting price should be 10000 euro and not 840 and then increase as his head decides ;on the 2r2 of phillips also exists a version equivalent in 1703 burrbrown one not mistaken that is not delta/sigma, that is the devil to mr Altmann

 

[flymetothemoon]

That's a great find, but without the knowledge what can we do with it?
I am sure someone else would have done it before Charles if he knew how to.

Digital audio is a moving target, you can do nothing about it.
 
Over time new technologies displaced over older technologies and if some can stay with the old one you may enjoy obtaining the older device at a much lower price. My Sony Walkman DC2 was one of the top portable cassette player in its era... I can bet it sounds awful when comparing to the above said Chinese MP3 players (at a fraction of a cost).  From this simple example, you can see technologies advanced in both sources & amplifications that obsolete older technologies.
 
In this hobby of headfi, we need to keep a clear head as we are chasing a moving target.  We can see fellow headfiers let go their gears and some of them are of remarkable reputation in the market.  I do not think I will put money behind admiration only to pay respect to someone produced an excellent gear, in this case is Charles... my motto is...the world changes, if you not, you are history...this is how we stride for self improvement each and everyday in order to survive in this competitive world.
 
Cheers