A nice overview of the Audio Note factory by a local dealer in the U.K. [thanks, Florian!]
DecoAudio: Audio Note Factory Visit December 2010
We have also had occasion to see inside the Fifth Element [we (me) somehow put it upside down in the car on the way back from CES and wanted to make sure the tubes had not jiggled loose. The tubes were just as solid as if I had put the DAC in the car right-side up]. Very impressive. Yes, I took photos and we’ll post them sometime in the near future.
Our setup this year. More photos forthcoming.
The Audio Note CDT-Five transport, Fifth Element DAC and Fifth Force power supply were running into the Audio Note Ongaku integrated amplifier. Much more about this digital in previous posts and expect a whole lot more in future posts.
It is hard for me to talk about these in the context of this room because of all the previous systems I have now heard this digital in. For example, we had a shootout between this and the (older version of the approximately $22K) Audio Note DAC 4 Balanced and CDT-3 transport. This pair of ours has over the last several years has beat all tubed digital solutions we have heard and is especially talented in the area of Harmonically Rich Musicality with Resolution category. But the CDT-5 and Fifth Element made it sound like it was producing clumsy, tonally naive square waves [seriously, it was embarrassing]. The amount of resolution this level 5 digital puts out is so phenomenal that it doesn’t sound like resolution at all anymore. What this means in terms of harmonic wealth and first-love-like involvement all follows from this resolution [I think. At least right now I think this.].
Was all this evident in the room at the Flamingo? Kind of. But it didn’t whack you upside the head [although some of the visitors to our room would disagree :-)]. Maybe it shouldn’t whack a person upside the head. Maybe it should just grow on you over the hours and days of listening until you are spoiled for the rest of your natural life [like us. We are SO screwed]. As an exhibitor, however… I *do* indeed want the system to forcibly insert itself into each visitor’s pantheon of best moments in their life. And every person who does not leave shaking their heads and bumping into walls is something we take personally š
The Audio Note TT2 Deluxe turntable with newer, better, good looking plinth. Also a new, very nice sounding and substantial Audio Note tonearm that is a drop in replacement for the standard Rega RB250 and RB300 tonearms.
The Martin Grennall from Audio Note is DJ’ing for the room from his eclectic CD collection which Tom is holding on his lap. John Geisen, Audio Note dealer in Florida, is giving us a big smile up front. Dave Cope of Audio Note is referring to his laptop, and Andy Whittle of Audio Note is smiling at us from the corner seat.
Blue sky most of the way here yesterday. Nice.
Just a test photo…. of the Audio Note room during setup. Not sure it will look anything like this by the time the show opens… but I need to put the laptop thru its paces to make sure it all works for the show report.
Mostly having issues with the Flamingo internet connections going up and down and up and down all of the time.
