[PhilNYC]

Sonic Spirits is proud to announce that we are now an authorized dealer for Dodson Audio!  Ralph Dodson is a retired scientist from General Dynamics. He has spent at least half of a lifetime designing digital circuits for warplanes and missiles as well as space rockets.  He now dedicates his brilliance to designing what some audiophiles consider to be the finest digital audio products in the world.

We are pleased to have the Dodson Audio DA-218 Cryogenic Digital Processor as a new addition to our demonstration system.  The DA-218 is a statement product, throwing down the gauntlet to challenge newer digital formats such as SACD and DVD-A with stellar red book audio CDs.  It was reviewed last year in Ultimate Audio: http://www.dodsonaudio.com/UltimateAudio_DA218_Review.htm

The DA-218 was recognized in 2003 by Enjoythemusic.com as "Audiophile Product of the Year 2003": http://www.dodsonaudio.com/Best_of_2003_DA218.htm

Information about Dodson Audio can be found here: http://www.dodsonaudio.com

[NealH]

$8K,,,,,,geeesh!  Good luck selling them.

[WilliamL]

Way to go Phil. I remember talking with Galen Carol years ago about Dodson when he started to stock them. Seem like great products. (Now I really gotta come by your place and do some listening : :  Being the city boy I am: Are you near public transportation? )

Best Regards,
Bill Laurent

[mcrespo71]

$8K,,,,,,geeesh! Good luck selling them.

Um, you do realize that NYC has the highest concetration of millionaires in the entire world- don't you?  If you are going to sell the ultra high end, this is the place to do it.

Michael

[PhilNYC]

Bill,

Yeah, I'm pretty excited about this...I needed to fill in my product offerings with a really high-end DAC (yes, rnhood, because some of my customers have been asking for one!   ), and Dodson came really highly recommended by a good number of manufacturers and reviewers I know.  I was able to spend some time with a DA-218 a few months ago, and was really knocked out by it.  

There's a bus from Port Authority/42nd Street in NYC to my town (Closter) here:
http://www.redandtanlines.com/schedules/20_north.htm

The bus stop is about a half mile from my place, and I could pick you up there.  Are you coming to the NY Audio Rave on the 19th?  And didn't you move to NJ???

[NealH]

So how does this expensive player differ sonically from the well reviewed, and respected, somewhat affordable Resolution Audio player duo?

[PhilNYC]

So how does this expensive player differ sonically from the well reviewed, and respected, somewhat affordable Resolution Audio player duo?

The Resolution Audio Opus 21 is a fantastic cd player in its price class; relative to other players in the $3K-$5K range, I think that objectively, it provides comparable performance in terms of things like detail, soundstage, imaging, etc.  Subjectively, I am very fond of its voicing, tonal balance, and overall organic warmth that it exhibits.  Obviously, everyone has their own taste, so some may prefer other players in its price class, but IMHO the Opus 21 is certainly one of the better performers in its class, and certainly worth an audition if you are in the market for that class of player.  The bread and butter of my business is in this price class, so I am happy to be able to represent Resolution Audio in my product lineup.

The Dodson DA-218 is simply in another performance class.  All of the objective characteristics...imaging, soundstaging, detail, etc are just another level beyond.  And the subjective characteristics are very much to my own personal preference...not trying to be cliche, but it has an analog warmth and body to it that I just really love.  The resulting overall realism and energy that you get is nothing short of amazing.

Over the last few months, I've been working with some customers and industry colleagues with some really high end systems (done right...not done the way they are done at showroom dealers, where systems are set up and broken down on an hourly basis...but done with days of tuning an fine-tuning of placement, acoustic treatment, etc).  And believe me, you can hear the differences between a $3500 player and a $7995 DAC.  Not just the Dodson, but DACs like the Weiss-Medea, Zanden, dCS, Meitner, etc.  It's really confirmed for me the idea the price/performance is very real in this industry.  Is it worth a $5K price difference?  Everybody's got a different viewpoint on diminishing returns.  But I do know that for some of the systems I've been around in the last few months, the performance you get with the likes of Dodson, Weiss, etc is a signficant upgrade, and in the context of the price of the rest of the system and architectural design of the rooms...and in those systems, the Dodson is a good value.

So....does this make me an audio snob?  

[mcrespo71]

[/quote]

So....does this make me an audio snob?

NO!    With the exception of Frank's glorious and cheap system, which goes to show that the room plays THE BIGGEST part on the sound, there are undoubtedly different performance classes between gear.  Hell, I knew that when I was a punk 12 year old kid looking at all the gear my dealer Dad had coming through our house.  

Let me put it this way, if I won the lottery, I wouldn't be dicking around worrying about modding cheapo DVD players, I'd get a super player that matches my listening predilections- maybe a Naim CDX3 w/XPS or Linn CD 12.  Or, perhaps after I hear the Dodson, a Dodson with a nice transport.  That's not to say that there are not sweet spots in high end or some serious diminishing returns in audio, but the top tier stuff, is still that, though not all top tier stuff has to be the most expensive, as I've heard a buttload of overpriced CRAP out there.

Michael

[PhilNYC]

but the top tier stuff, is still that, though not all top tier stuff has to be the most expensive,...[/quote]

Yep...the Dodson is less expensive than the others I mentioned...