[PhilNYC]

http://www.stereotimes.com/mw2006.shtml

[Ethan Winer]

Phil,

> http://www.stereotimes.com/mw2006.shtml <

Is that serious? Someone there is obviously confusing price with value!

--Ethan

[mca]

A few interesting pieces in there that don't break the bank. Hyperion, Mobile Fidelity, Silverline, NuForce and Opera.

That new CD player from Rega looks interesting as does the C.E.C. belt drive player. 

How about the prices on that Sunny Cable 

Anyone heard that new Rega?

[ted_b]

I'm gonna be purchasing some new main speakers, and the AZ Adagios are clearly on that list (along with Zu Definition Pros and Sason Ltd, and fall back option with good ole VMPS if all three fail to impress).  Talked with Robert Lee last night.  Great guy.

It's quite weird that all three "finalists" come from companies that are more well known for their standard products, cables/interconnects, than their new speaker lines.  However, all three are seeing incredible success with the new radical designs, Zu being the furthest along, in market acceptance, of the three.  Having access to the designers/founders (Steve from Ridge, Adam from Zu) is a great benefit.

[KJ]

Anyone heard that new Rega?

Haven't heard it myself, but I've spoken with a couple people that purchased it and wound up returning it.  They said it was very clean and neutral sounding, but they found it to be a bit sterile.  Try before you buy I guess.

[mcrespo71]

Phil,

> http://www.stereotimes.com/mw2006.shtml <

Is that serious? Someone there is obviously confusing price with value!

--Ethan

Are you referring to one product in particular or the whole list?

[PhilNYC]

Phil,

> http://www.stereotimes.com/mw2006.shtml <

Is that serious? Someone there is obviously confusing price with value!

--Ethan

I think there's a pretty good representation of a wide range of prices on the list, with some sub-$1000 components as well as some $50K+ stuff...

[JLM]

The real question should be:  "How much advertising does each do with Stereotimes?"

[Ethan Winer]

Phil,

> I think there's a pretty good representation of a wide range of prices on the list, with some sub-$1000 components as well as some $50K+ stuff... <

I guess I was mainly reacting to their including $700 power cords and magic resonators etc, but not a single bass trap.

--Ethan

[Jon L]

"Nova Physics Group Memory Player (starting at $10K depending on options)

From the near demented minds of George Bischoff and Mark Porzilli, the same dynamic duo that bought you the Pipedreams and the Melos SHA Gold, comes a product that is sure to bring ire from the competition and absolute pleasure for music lovers. I'll say that since serving as the sacrificial lamb, and being the first reviewer to hear this latest offering from Bischoff, Porzilli, and Rod Handley life hasn't been the same for standard 16/44 playback.

The short and sweet of this player is: serving as a computer based design the Memory Player is capable of disabling error correction coding with its patent-pending “Read Until Right” (RUR) trademarked software. Moreover, it stores songs on memory-based solid state, akin to using flash, which the guys from Nova state "induces nearly zero jitter and certainly less than a hard drive." Yeah, I know. You're going to say you know of some other devices that also do the same. Well, not quite. Sonically speaking, there's nothing that I've heard that comes close to the performance of this computer based transport playing back uncompressed WAV files. And I've taken it around and tried it against the very best available including the Reimyo and the Wadia. They both fall short. I can go on and on detailing its sonic qualities but will save that for my upcoming review. For more info go to there Beta website www.memoryplayer.info or the upcoming www.novaphysics.com "

So apparently Memory player uses solid state memory instead of a hard drive, a noble thing in my opinion in terms of reliability, but there would be NO benefits as far as sound quality and ability to pull pure data off of the memory (hard drive or flash). 

It also means Memory player simply is not going to have humongous memory capacity like hard drives would, which can be Terrabytes in certain players like VRS. 

I can now predict with certainty yet another Oh-my-God-how-did-I-ever-listen-to-this-crap-before-the-memory-player raving review at Stereotimes.  If anyone from Stereotimes is reading, pretty please, before such rave review is printed, obtain some valid competitors for comparison, i.e. VRS top-of-the-line or maybe the I2S PC audio DAC solutions from Empirical Audio.

[mcrespo71]

The real question should be:  "How much advertising does each do with Stereotimes?"

It appears that Clearaudio, The Cartridge Man, NovaPhysics, Rega, CEC, Marantz, Opera Audio, Karan, Luminance, Lavardin, Tidal Audio, Herron Audio, Red Dragon, Dali, Bolzano, Focus Audio, Silverline, Esoteric, Consensus Audio, Mobile Fidelity, ATC, Argento Audio, ELCO, VH AUDIO, Audio Art, Acoustic Systems, and Shakti don't advertise with Stereotimes.  So why are they on the list?

[WEEZ]

good point..

I happen to enjoy reading the equipment reviews in Stereotimes. Never once paid attention to who advertises. Same with most reviews- whether on-line or in print.

....well, come to think of it, I DO notice the Musical Fidelity/Stereophile phenomena but....Quicksilver gets good press there and they never advertise anywhere.

One can draw whatever conclusions they wish from any review. Usually, if you read carefully, you can get the general picture, though.

Thanks for the 'heads-up', Phil.

(again, good point, mcrespo71)

WEEZ!

[Wind Chaser]

Reviewers and manufacturers have ways of cutting deals that aren't so obvious… 

[mcrespo71]

Reviewers and manufacturers have ways of cutting deals that aren't so obvious… 

Ok, so edify us.  What are they?  Can you provide any real data to substantiate your claims aside from conjecture or hearsay (e.g., you were once a reviewer that took free equipment for positive reviews)?

[Wind Chaser]

Ok, so edify us.  What are they?  Can you provide any real data to substantiate your claims aside from conjecture or hearsay (e.g., you were once a reviewer that took free equipment for positive reviews)?

Bingo!

[mcrespo71]

Ok, so edify us.  What are they?  Can you provide any real data to substantiate your claims aside from conjecture or hearsay (e.g., you were once a reviewer that took free equipment for positive reviews)?

Bingo!

OK, point made.