It usually comes down to the room above a gear price threshold. Is his room and pertinent treatments a lot better than yours? It could explain why yours sounded like a toy in comparison w.r.t airiness, soundstage, etc. If his setup was migrated to your room and it started to sound like a toy, there it is...
Opening up the Rowland amp was truly a real treat, thank you to you and your friend, awesome! And even though I don't believe in expensive cables myself, if it feels right and money isn't an issue, why not? It's all about having a good time after all. 😊
Thank you Thomas and special thanks to your friend for allowing you to share a glimpse of his system. I listened to the earlier sound clips. Gives a great hint of what it must be like in the room. Effortless clarity. The system is also visually stunning. I for one do not have a system in this price range, but very much appreciate the opportunity to experience it. My DIY goals are to get as close to these as possible. Speakers will always be the limiting factor in my world.
Such an amazing set up, I’ve never heard such a thing in my life, I appreciate you doing something different. Audio research is such classy gear, so well made.
Thomas , thanks so much for sharing. It reminds me when a close friend called me and had just bought a pair of 45,000 dollar speaker. He had hooked them up to a mono block McIntosh system and wanted me to come over to listen to the new speakers. Never in my life have l heard such a wonderful system. We played classical, jazz, rock, vocal, instrumental. Everything we threw at this system made music you just wanted to sit back and listen to the beautiful sound stage and separation. This reminded me of that day. Thanks again for sharing and it’s it exciting to hear other peoples systems and share our experiences and joys of hearing some beautiful music fidelity systems out there….
@@auggysimcity The plan is to move it to the side, it will cost him about $30k to do it because that is the cost of the XLR interconnect. He will eventually do it.
@@ThomasAndStereo Tney do not need to drop 30K. Check out box audio furniture. Handmade in Brooklyn U.S.A. If its good enough for stereophile reviewers, I’m sure they will love it! Custom or stock. Whatever one desires. Good luck
Thomas, thank you so much for going back to the high end and showing proper hifi systems, I remember this system, and it was the reason I owned a pair of Raidhos on my journey
I would be very nervous to open the cover of such a beautiful machine...😅 Thank you Thomas and your friend's commitment to make this video happens. Awesome! 👏👏
Thanks for taking us along to see this system. So glad you enjoyed it too. Your piano friend is correct; you can hear the piano's mechanical parts moving while playing if you are maybe two feet away from it (there are actually more than 12,000 parts in a piano). However, at normal concert or performance distances, the piano tone is much louder than the mechanics of the piano. So don't worry if you can't hear it, it's not supposed to be heard.
🤗THANKS THOMAS…I DIDN’T EXPECT TO GET AN OPPORTUNITY LIKE THIS SO SOON 🤗😉 🤗THRILLED TO GET TO GO ALONG 👀👏👏👏…THANK YOUR FRIEND FOR SHARING HIS HOME AND SYSTEM WITH US 😎🥶SUPER COOL 😍😍😍
Beyond the systems, cable , speakers, amps, preamps, DACs, streamers etc.. You and the other you-tubers showed me, What I appreciate much is your attitude Thomas. Thanks you for your kind attitude against ordinary people like me, who may be never ever realize an audiophile dream such as your friend did. Awesome system. Enjoy it.
I work fixing Audio Research gear in my Country. Reference 10 is amazing piece of equipment I have heard everything of Audio Research, all units are fantastic. 6h30n is an amazing tube used in all these preamps except for the Referece one. Best Regards.
Thanks, for inviting us in! I guess I never get enough of this stuff! Should use the stuffed animals for your demo again ie the 3 or 4 players playing the same instrument.
Great video Thomas! I’m seriously considering an Audio Research tube preamp to complement my solid state class AB mono blocks, and this video isn’t helping me resist that urge. 😁
Oddly… my CD9 Ref ARC player is a tube stage source that plays into a SS ARC preamp LS10SE and SS poweramp M900u. And all the characteristics of tube into solid state that you are experiencing here are evident. That said, I’m fascinated to hear the Jeff Roland amps here to RE calibrate my impressions of class d amps too. Esp with his new preamp in the system.
Thanks for taking us along with you on this trip, Thomas!! That is an awesome system. I have never heard about K2HD CD's - although I have quite a few SHM-CD's bought from CD Japan.
The large gold capacitors are TRT Stealth metalized polypropylene capacitors, they are used as coupling capacitors in the Ref 10. The Anniversary Ref 40 used Teflon caps. Actually, the circuit boards between the Ref 10 and Anniversary Ref 40 preamps are identical. So the only difference are the coupling caps and the user interface between the two preamps. The Stealth caps will sound more dynamic and a bit more forward than the Teflon caps which will sound a bit softer and laid back in comparison.
Raidho D3 my freind had thy were amazing. We used Mola Mola monoblocks and he also used a Lampizator Pacific as the preamp and dac. This is a nice set up. I like more boogie woogie and would switch to a shunyata loom.
My wife spends thousands of dollars on shoes and jewellery, so no matter how expensive a hi-fi gear, I will not get offended, great video, thank you Thomas.
Nice system! I love AR and Rowland gear. I've never heard that amp but in the past I preferred his class AB amps like the 735 over the class D ones. I'd like to hear those in person. I've chatted with Jeff Rowland a few times at shows and he is a great guy.
Great video. I think I heard the noise you were referring to, it comes from the right side on the Yiruma track. There is definitely an editing issue at 2:49, the recording quality changes just briefly on the Tidal Masters stream.
Thank Thomas. Great set-up there...was surprised by the size of those Class D monos. I have tried the Ref 6 SE in my set up and thought it was a great pre amp...I am sure the Ref 10 is a level up. Keen to try them...may be one day!
Thanks for sharing the beautiful audiophile eye candy Mr Raidho! Question- On the Rowland amp class D supposed to not get warm. Why the big heat sinks? Why did you not play the system for even 10 seconds?
If I played something, it would demonetize the video unless I play non copyright songs which I did not have access, I did included a sound demo in the first link. Yeah, I don't know why it is so big.
That was a great trip Thomas. Thanks for posting the vid., and I've just stopped by a gas station on my way to work to get a lottery ticket 😆 I will let you know if I hit it, have a good day!
@@ThomasAndStereo a powerball jackpot prize! Yes Thomas, I promise to get you a system at least that good with real natural 💎 on it 😆, have a great day Sir!
This video is the antidote to all those who spew venom at those who are willing and able to spend $$$$$ chasing perfection. Prentending those who can afford it are audiophools is a complete waste of time, and this video is evidence of that, well done Thomas!
i had a ARC SP 11, and a LS-18, my neighbor had a SP-10 it was the best Pre i have ever heard. both had a oUTBOARD PSU, had a bunch of Jeff Rowland stuff too. flew into Colorado springs and go to hang out with him. cool dude and what a listening room!! now i have a 3k system and it is pretty close. you don't have to spend a ton of money today to get the goose bumps. get a Rega Brio. your not paying for audio jewelry
I would love to know someone with such a highend system. Listening to that must me one hell of an eye opener...and best reason to never ever feel good about your own system :D Anyways: This was enjoyable. Much kudos for sharing your experiences :)
As always, thanks for sharing your experience with us. Your friend has an amazing system. I've yet to hear anything by Audio Research. I've always loved the look of Transparent Audio, but would not attempt to buy anything from them right now 😂
Wow Thomas!!! An outting to Toronto an afternoon w/ a super reference system & the best Chinese food what a day!!! Good tunes w/ orange chicken pork lo mein pork fried rice & egg rolls. With a starbucks coffee to go with. Perfect!!!!
I could not agree more. We all know how records are hard to maintain, but after you get everything just right, it can be used as reference and comparison. Records are so natural! I remember the day I listened an ordinary record on a TechDas turntable in Singapore, that was an incredible eyes open for me. Besides what else could be a better match than a vacuum tube preamp? By the way, I am in Seattle area. I had Chinese food in Vancouver many times. It’s quite good as well. :-D
Hey Thomas, were you able to hear the sound on your main system? I tried on my system which is very simple, Bluesound Powernode and PSB X2T speakers. Not exactly high end. Anyway, I had to literally put my ear to the tweeter and I also hear a faint chuffing sound. Not sure if this what you heard, it actually sounded more like modulation of the background system hiss. What do you think? I am planning on building a much better system when I retire in a couple of years and have more time on my hands. Keep up the fantastic reviews. I loved the one you did with Harleys Sibelius speakers which I watched last night. I was already subscribed to his channel and really like the way he speaks and presents in a very down-to-earth, professional and trustworthy manner. I would definitely buy a 2nd hand car from him let alone a pair of his Sibelius speakers which I imagine are wonderful 🙂.
I think in one of my emails to you I described that detail of the hammers hitting the piano cords and the movement of the player with the VTL 5.5 on my Sopra No.3's. I'm sure it's not as clear as your friend's, but it's very noticeable. See if you can hear it on Mr. Kanta's Sopra's. I need to look up the details on diamond woofers and how they work. Just a stunning system overall! I love his Granite racks with the industrial screw and bolt adjustment. I'm elated just thinking that he has everything he wants. ❤️🔥👏👏👏
Hi Thomas, you told me that you are going to check out your friends Audio Research 10, many moons ago, and I have been waiting for your comments. Thank You for sharing your comments on the Ref10. Also thank you for bringing us on the ride to your friends place to see a true high end system. Very much appreciated please make more of the high end videos as well, to give us break from reality. By the way I have been telling everyone you cannot beat the sound reproduction of SACD player, go one step further and get a PS Audio SACD Transport so it out puts DSD via i2s to your DAC which can decode the DSD to analog (Denafrips T2) which is better than Esoteric SACD player or any other CD player. No other CD player cannot out put raw DSD via i2s, then match it to your DAC of choice. The possibly is endless or as per another reviewer’s comments “this combination will take you very very close to the master tape”. So Thomas, when I mentioned Audio Research Ref preamp as a reference product do agree now?
Depeche Mode put out a maxi-single for Enjoy the Silence that has a version called "Harmonium" which they used a pump organ for. You can hear it groaning and creaking, it's kind of wild.
I spend too much time looking at hi-end audio porn. This video is right up my alley! I have what I have but I can dream! FYI sometimes it's better to not know what you don't know lol helps you save money!
Why would they make a woofer with diamonds? I think it is great when you able to hear details and separation that could only be heard in the studio or live but anything other then that would distraction from the music. There was this one piece of music of a singer that was tapping his feet to keep the tempo without any other instrument but the stage was acting like a drum amplify his tapping the mic picked the stage. It makes me wonder what it would it sound like if the stage was better built. There are many live albums that I can't hear the music over all the ambient noise.
