Reply to thread

Message

my stereo, uses an old Analog CD player/transport -California Audio Labs Alpha and Delta - non 24-bits and it supposed to be stunner which it is. Running with stock or generic 12AX7s is clean, normal, nothing wrong with it, but enchance it with a tube-swap (i was running Telefunken EEC83 now wore out , so now a cheaper (but surprisely bloody good) General Electric 5751, military-spec, its' amazing it sounded better more detailed..violins, trumpets, pianos, -female vocals oh so sweet..even though i cant hear whay she's saying -unless I'm reading the lyrics along) As they say this CAL is an underdog, from experience it sure is! It can beat lots of newer, digital 'solutions' as they all sound clinical, hard, and sometime muffled (that was 7-9 years ago now) ... a Waida 861 player at the time, which were like $19,000 price tag instead was reported to be not that much better than the CAL (at this point, it was this particular combination, Alpha (24bits- but some have argued the older straight analog Alpha was it) and Delta - the separate boxes) not the tempest, not the sigma, nothing else but )Separates are not really in the market anymore - not sure why, i suppose consumers got lazy wanting everything 'now & simple'. The rest of the stereo is analog too, all valves...

So yah this proved analog can be better, richer, and detailed and it leaves nothing out, whereas Digital is 'programmable to hide,enchance certain areas - good if your ear is somewhat reliant on selective frequencies but for some people their ear(and brain) does the adjusting .... so yeh each to their own...
Im on Sumo DM too (and still paying the bloody thing off), come to think of it, in hindsight I reckon I would have been better of with a Unitron analog which was like $800 cheaper-too late for me really, but yeah the Sumo is doing me really well as I have lost a lot of residual hearing over the last 3 years and due to its feed-back control mechanism (all electronic) helps to control squeal thus helps to 'look after what I have left"...so it May not be sensible for me go back....considering the balance between tinnitus control and hearing. Put it this way, if i had no tinnitus or it went away completely tomorrow Id book to try out the unitron and keep the Sumo in drawer for later on...as back up...but i cant do what i wish...groans...sigh

<blockquote data-quote="Grummer" data-source="post: 1399026" data-attributes="member: 11059">my stereo, uses an old Analog CD player/transport -California Audio Labs Alpha and Delta - non 24-bits and it supposed to be stunner which it is. Running with stock or generic 12AX7s is clean, normal, nothing wrong with it, but enchance it with a tube-swap (i was running Telefunken EEC83 now wore out <img src="/community/styles/default/xenforo/smilies/frown.png"&nbsp; class="smilie" loading="lazy" alt=":(" title="Frown&nbsp; &nbsp; :(" data-shortname=":(" />, so now a cheaper (but surprisely bloody good)&nbsp; General Electric 5751, military-spec, its' amazing it sounded better more detailed..violins, trumpets, pianos, -female vocals oh so sweet..even though i cant hear whay she's saying -unless I'm reading the lyrics along) As they say this CAL is an underdog, from experience it sure is! It can beat lots of newer, digital 'solutions' as they all sound clinical, hard, and sometime muffled (that was 7-9 years ago now) ... a Waida 861 player at the time, which were like $19,000 price tag instead was reported to be not that much better than the CAL (at this point, it was this particular combination, Alpha (24bits- but some have argued the older straight analog Alpha was it) and Delta - the separate boxes) not the tempest, not the sigma, nothing else but )Separates are not really in the market anymore - not sure why, i suppose consumers got lazy wanting everything 'now &amp; simple'. The rest of the stereo is analog too, all valves...So yah this proved analog can be better, richer, and detailed and it leaves nothing out, whereas Digital is 'programmable to hide,enchance certain areas - good if your ear is somewhat reliant on selective frequencies but for some people their ear(and brain) does the adjusting .... so yeh&nbsp; each to their own...Im on Sumo DM too (and still paying the bloody thing off), come to think of it, in hindsight I reckon I would have been better of with a Unitron analog which was like $800 cheaper-too late for me really, but yeah the Sumo is doing me really well as I have lost a lot of residual hearing over the last 3 years and due to its feed-back control mechanism (all electronic) helps to control squeal thus helps to 'look after what I have left&quot;...so it May not be sensible for me go back....considering the&nbsp; balance between tinnitus control and hearing. Put it this way, if i had no tinnitus or it went away completely tomorrow Id book to try out the unitron and keep the Sumo in drawer for later on...as back up...but i cant do what i wish...groans...sigh</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Grummer, post: 1399026, member: 11059"] my stereo, uses an old Analog CD player/transport -California Audio Labs Alpha and Delta - non 24-bits and it supposed to be stunner which it is. Running with stock or generic 12AX7s is clean, normal, nothing wrong with it, but enchance it with a tube-swap (i was running Telefunken EEC83 now wore out :(, so now a cheaper (but surprisely bloody good) General Electric 5751, military-spec, its' amazing it sounded better more detailed..violins, trumpets, pianos, -female vocals oh so sweet..even though i cant hear whay she's saying -unless I'm reading the lyrics along) As they say this CAL is an underdog, from experience it sure is! It can beat lots of newer, digital 'solutions' as they all sound clinical, hard, and sometime muffled (that was 7-9 years ago now) ... a Waida 861 player at the time, which were like $19,000 price tag instead was reported to be not that much better than the CAL (at this point, it was this particular combination, Alpha (24bits- but some have argued the older straight analog Alpha was it) and Delta - the separate boxes) not the tempest, not the sigma, nothing else but )Separates are not really in the market anymore - not sure why, i suppose consumers got lazy wanting everything 'now & simple'. The rest of the stereo is analog too, all valves... So yah this proved analog can be better, richer, and detailed and it leaves nothing out, whereas Digital is 'programmable to hide,enchance certain areas - good if your ear is somewhat reliant on selective frequencies but for some people their ear(and brain) does the adjusting .... so yeh each to their own... Im on Sumo DM too (and still paying the bloody thing off), come to think of it, in hindsight I reckon I would have been better of with a Unitron analog which was like $800 cheaper-too late for me really, but yeah the Sumo is doing me really well as I have lost a lot of residual hearing over the last 3 years and due to its feed-back control mechanism (all electronic) helps to control squeal thus helps to 'look after what I have left"...so it May not be sensible for me go back....considering the balance between tinnitus control and hearing. Put it this way, if i had no tinnitus or it went away completely tomorrow Id book to try out the unitron and keep the Sumo in drawer for later on...as back up...but i cant do what i wish...groans...sigh [/QUOTE]

Verification