hifi

first up is this system with Vimberg speakers, Metronome DAC/streamer, Vinnie Rossi hybrid tube/solid-state amps and preamp. $120k+ USD total.

pretty meh, nothing special. had some weird colouration, tonality didn’t sound right to me. honestly if I were an outsider to the industry and walked in, I’d never guess this was worth the same $$ as a really nice car.

some detail shots and additional notes from the show, starting with the Acora room.

didn’t get any photos of the stone speakers (sorry) but you can see the Audio Research gear and VPI turntable a bit easier here. it was dark as hell though.

Audio Research is a U.S. company founded in 1970 in Minnesota known for making high power tube amps and preamps that lean more analytical, less romantic and “tubey.” almost like a mix of solid state and tube attributes.

in general you can think of tube vs. solid state as romantic vs. technical or lush vs. detailed, but of course it’s more complex than these reductive descriptors. many feel that tubes sound more like real music, whereas others prefer the precision of solid state.

some people love Audio Research’s approach (“tube sound with the detail of solid state!”) whereas others find that it sounds bleached (not saturated enough) i.e. without the characteristic warmth of tube gear.

as always, your mileage will vary.

pt. 2 if you want to read more notes and observations:

building farcaster infra @ /neynar 🪐 | casting @ /rish

pt. 2 if you want to read more notes and observations:

https://warpcast.com/matthewb/0x94894aeb