OK, I finally would like to comment on the review here. I want to thank Sean not only for an honest and straight forward, well written review, but also for the dedication he showed. I have not had a reviewer shown this much attention, communication, and also curiosity before. Very, very nice.
Now, as far as the Epihany's are concerned, Sean is right on. It is absolutely, completely, 100 % the way I feel about music, and I probably have to repeat myself again and again here, but.
1. Emotions. You have to have goose bumps on your favorite music. If you don't, and if you can't get lost in the harmonics and beauty of the music, then you either have a wrong synergy in your system, or you like it overly analytical. Nothing wrong if that floats your boat, but it is 180 against what I try to achieve.
2. Soundstaging. I am an absolute sound stage freak. The sound has to be full bodied, and extremely wide and deep with exact spacing in between. Once you truly heard the complete "disappearance" of speakers and walls, how can you not get hooked ???
3. Tonality. For me the biggest kiss of death of enjoying music is fatigue. This comes mostly from high end problems, sibilance, brightness, disorientation, etc. You can't cut off the highs, energy still has to be there in full force, or otherwise the performance is not palpable, and also, you're looking at a host of problems with the sound staging issue. It has to be natural, woven into the fabric of the music, harmonically correct, etc. Only in a system that has these traits are you able to truly kick back and enjoy hours music, forgetting about the components.
Ultimately, who cares about amps, speakers, cables, etc. My belief is that these are vessels for the music, a means to an end, BUT in order to get there, you have to understand as to what you like, who you are. And if anything, my idea of enjoyment are quite nicely reflected in the Epiphany's, trying to accomplish this for under $ 800.
Now, as of November 24, I will have 2 pairs ready for a US travelling tour.
Anybody interested ??
Late,
Klaus