Neil P
pfm Member
Nobody forced you to read or participate on this thread, though
I know, I bring it upon myself .... I psych myself up, have a stiff drink, start a thread then instantly regret it
Nobody forced you to read or participate on this thread, though
Definitely worth bearing in mind. In my case, I hedged my bets by buying a second mechanism which is easy to change. Warranties are good peace of mind, but not the only route.Don't forget the Moon 260dt. Personally I prefer a 10 year warranty (3 on the moving parts) than 1 year on some others.
It also easily answers the question of whether cd transports matter (in SQ sense). Absolutely. That being compared (admittedly to aural memory) to the Cambridge CXC. That was very good indeed (into Denafrips Venus II) but the CD2Tmk3 is quite a bit better.
I used to own an CEC belt drive with Audio Note BOTL DAC and a Theta DAC... Remember it fondly.Audio note are supposed to be releasing a new belt drive transport one day. I have a CEC transport into dac 5, Jimro and avantgarde horns. It is the most dynamic, energised and musically engaging system I’ve ever owned. I also have a maxed lp12 stiletto/ klimax radical etc. at this point it comes down to individual software.
I have a DCS setup in another room With active speakers. Technically better and thoroughly enjoyable in a different way but with the right system the audio note dac is magic and the CEC transport is a really compelling alternative to the AN transports, I have no regrets. The cdt3 transport is a bit of a sweet spot by all accounts.
YesI already know cdt's make a difference just out of curiosity have you bought a spare laser?
Peter was the UK Importer and close friend to Peter Snell - he bought the speaker rights to the original Snell models when Voecks.......
You don't say, hence my post. Don't forget to mention the bits where the UK courts let him steal the designs and naming rights of AN japan through a no show.
It frankly baffles me that anyone with an IQ higher than 60 could come away drawing a conclusion that Kondo is in the right.
The unwanted answers to your rhetorical statement are - not everyone knows of the account you link, those that do are chiefly acquainted with ANUK's take on the subject, and, well... some of us have had dealings with one of the parties to the 'debate' and have formed their own opinions of their integrity and business practices which may predispose us to a certain lack of sympathy, shall we say...?
Some of the equipment is damn good though, for sure.
Well this issue with Kondo and PQ has come up several times over the years. But the fact is that without PQ YOU and I would never have likely heard about Audio Note because the only products that Kondo San actually made were amplifiers that cost $89,000+ back in the 1980s - Their company formed in the mid-70s and until PQ was a partner no one in the western world - no one - had ever heard of the company for the 14 years prior to PQ's involvement.
A company working in a 3-4 man shop in Japan. PQ was the investor who put up all the money and took all the risk - he should get something - and it's not like he was a neophyte he already formed and owned his own tube manufacturing company in Audio Innovations - himself losing control of his company to investors. The people who put up the money own the company. Audio Note UK is the only reason people know about Audio Note.
Peter told his side and why he felt he had to sue Kondo - he says he put up the vast majority of the money and had the majority of the employees' livelihoods on the line to protect as well as his own.
One important note - there was already an Audio Note UK in 1990 which imported Audio Note Japan - The company parted ways in 1997. "Since 1990 there were two Audio Note companies, one of which developed and produced its own products under the name Audio Note in the UK and which also specified and distributed Audio Note Japans products and the original company in Japan." The Audio Note UK gear was the side that was producing and selling most of the products - none of which was designed by Kondo-San. This is the stuff that most people could actually afford and not the $89,000-$250,000 products.
Not unlike a friend's marriage that ends in divorce - you listen to both sides and perhaps you side with one over the other - we'll never know the whole truth.
A wise man once told me when it comes to divorce that there is three sides to every story, his side, her side and the reality of what happened, at least your last sentence is accurate though.
Obviously you're an ANUK fan and there's nothing wrong with that, each to their own as they say but perhaps PQ and ANUK would have been viewed more favourably had he have thought up his own name for his company.
Perhaps if he hadn't of just bought others designs, Snell, Systemdek and Voyd he would have garnered more respect within the audiophile community.
I'd have to disagree with comments on the Voyd Ref, I owned one twenty years ago in around the same time as you auditioned one, it was clearly surpassed by a NA Hyperspace in the context of my system and IMHO, but like most things in audio these were my subjective findings.
I've heard a few of the Audionote designs, Oto se, Meishu, Ongaku and the Zero system, all in around 15-20 years ago, while they all sounded okay I didn't buy any of them or buy into what was being sold, my observations were based on listening alone, I had no knowledge of the debacle between Kondo San and PQ.