hm...intersting would be

@jokrmidnite Yes!! Thank you.

You most probably have bought your dream system by now? A pair of Sonus Faber Aida driven by the Dan D’Agostino Relentless monoblock.🤓👍🏼

@Anthony Pierre, ya I remember the numbers race of the late 70’s and early 80’s for distortion and the such which produced some of ugliest sounding gear produced imho. I stopped looking at specs decades ago and simply go on the sound.

@@Carl-bd1rf I remember the "Stereo Review" days of mass audio. If it specs the same, it sounds the same. And Julian was right... it all sounded bad!

@Anthony Pierre, lol yep I was raised on Julian’s reviews, subscribed to stereo review, Audio magazine, high fidelity magazine.

@@Carl-bd1rf I subscribed to all 3 at one time. Believed that the better the numbers, the better it was suppose to sound. That was not true. Then I found Absolute Sound.

Anthony, sad part is we really don’t know how a piece of equipment is going to sound in our listening environment until we hook it up and turn it on at home!!

Nelson pass please! I am about to get the x250.8 myself.

Most of the time the work of great artists is usually only acquired by the wealthy...The working man can still appreciate it, but more so from a far. I do totally agree with you however.

You can find old Krell amps pretty reasonably priced. 20 years from now you'll probably be seeing D'Agostino amps that us average guys can afford, too. Or you can always forgo the boat or motorcycle at your mid-life crisis and spring for audio gear instead.

Brian, I’ve done hit my mid life crises and am on the other side!! Won’t be around in 20 years to be able to afford his amps, well at least some young and up coming audiophile will!!😁 I really wonder if all that cash for an amp really makes that much difference, I think not, but hey they look cool!

@@Carl-bd1rf they do look cool! I'm just getting to mid-life myself. I'm going the audiophile route with it. I have had an Aragon 8008 BB amp and B&W 804 speakers since the mid 90's. I'm jumping up to Pass XP20 preamp and 250.8 amp, Esoteric k05xs CD/SACD player and probably Magico A3 speakers, although I want to hear the upcoming PS Audio speakers before I commit to a speaker purchase. This will probably be my last stereo system as well. I might break my bank account, but I shouldn't break any bones in the process. Twenty years from now I will hopefully still be here, but I will be nearly 70. I will definitely be retired.

Brian, you’ve got and are looking at some good equipment there! Very cool. I had a pair of B&W cdm9nt’s until several years ago I picked up a pair of Legacy Focus speakers. Currently running a Schiit Saga pre amp, Schiit multibit dac, and Will Vincent ST-70 EL34 tube amp. I’ve owned countless amps over the years, probably spent enough to buy a 20k amp!! I never seem to keep my stuff for long. About the only piece I’ve given up that I wish I still had was a Mac C-220 pre amp. It’s fun trying to find that perfect sound.

DwightMS1 It’s science but it’s much more complicated than traditional simple distortion numbers can judge. Human perception of audio is still science. Perhaps some day we understand this enough to create some much better types of measurements that can reflect the actual perceived quality.

@@ThinkingBetter Ah, a scientist to the end.

DwightMS1 Lots of things are seen as a mystery perhaps as art until we find a good scientific understanding of it. I’m not suggesting today’s methods of measuring audio will find all truths.

HH Scott I was thinking the exact same thing man. Paul McGowan had a video not too long ago where he said very similar things about designing his equipment for a specific sound instead of a statistics drag race. The comment section had more empty soap boxes then a laundromat dumpster.

@@07zx14White "more empty soap boxes, then a laundromat dumpster" 😂😂😂 I love that one. 😊 You've got to admit. It is very odd though, no? Especially when they're usually so fervent in their arguments, too. Maybe they had a convention today, and didn't let on about it to those of us with working ears. And they'll comment on Monday when they get back, maybe? It's a shame there's not really any here. Because this is what I was most looking forward to as I watched the video. See I personally find BS endlessly entertaining to listen to/read on here. It can get very creative sometimes. Especially when the story teller is very passionate, and/or angry. They can really plumb the depths of the septic systems of the world, and come up with some real doozies. Alas, people like Steve, and Paul seem to, at least lately, have really been taking the wind out of their sails. Oh well. I guess I'll have to listen to my clicks and pops off my crappy old turntable, that's hooked up to a horribly measuring vintage tube amp, through my distortion filled loudspeakers, for entertainment instead of reading their comments. I predict misery, if their side is right. What do you predict? I may even really torture myself, and use a pair of horn speakers. Then I can get terrible colorations, cupped hands effects, and the dreaded SHOUT! Egads! It's going to be unbearable! So here we go, I've got it all hooked up. It's playing some old jazz songs. I'm expecting torch, and pitchfork wielding crowds outside my condo any minute now. Yet oddly enough, as it's warming up. It's sounding absolutely beautiful. Hmmm? That's crazy! How could that be? It's as if our ears, don't hear the same way a measuring machine does. Very strange? How could that possibly be? 🤣 🤣 🤣

HH Scott Blasphemy and lies in the name of statisticians sake the world over. How do you torture yourself? Your stereo must sound like the aggressive divorce of hook and loop Velcro on a megaphone. My music is so clean that I don't even need speakers. I'm so sophisticated and savvy that I just connect directly to my beloved oscilloscope and I feel the passions of music through visual metering bliss. One time the THD was so low that it registered zero all down the board, it was pure heaven until I realized the amp wasn't on. It's almost as if people judge music and sound quality with their ears. Whoodathunkit 🤔🤐😊

What are you expecting? D' Agostino said that he, like all others , wasn't able to find the definitive correlation between measurements and listening . The question of question is: Can any designer recognize his own product under blinded conditions. Carver showed long ago how to modifiy a solid state amplifier to let it sound like any tube amp. That has proven the relevance of applied engineering. D'dA is not claiming, that his amplifiers are "the best" . So why argue? Let alone the fact, that his amps are to pricey for any objectivist.

Christian Goergen aka AstraOovier I have no real dog in the fight my friend. I'm simply stating that I make my opinions on sound quality with my ears. Statistics are an interesting and needed endeavor as well but the bottom line is no matter how good or bad the stats are, the end resulting sound is by far the biggest portion of my deciding factor. I love the science of electronics...A LOT, but how the music sounds is incredibly more important for me.

hifi noob 2018 because he’s old school, pre internet.

nicholascremato, what is the source of that data?

I just said that because I can only afford his 20 y.o. stuff.

Of course he does!