[herr_oberst]

It will never be enough if you keep chasing sonic perfection.
Check out this little snippet from an article in Copper magazine:

"After listening to some of Michael’s music choices he asked me if there was anything in particular I wanted to hear. He has thousands of albums and somehow the conversation came around to a very rare pressing of Led Zeppelin II. Mike had an original Bob Ludwig master of the album that was recalled because it was cut “too hot” and the tonearms of the day (1969) couldn’t keep track-pun intended!

Michael assured me that his current go-to arm (the new Swedish Audio Technologies $52,000 pickup arm mentioned above, and no, that’s not a typo) on a Döhmann Audio turntable could easily handle this recording.

It did. Boy did it.

I heard cymbal hits and a spread of the cymbal placements that was beyond anything I had ever heard before, and trust me, I have heard the opening cut “Whole Lotta Love” hundreds of times. Never, and I mean never, did I know that this was buried and what it must have actually sounded like at the mixing desk.

Both Ken and Michael have incredible gear and that is what made me think about writing my thoughts down after I came back from Michael’s house.

I came home and I put on my Mobile Fidelity copy of Zep II.

I currently own a Pass Labs X250.8 amp, PS Audio Signature BHK Preamp, Moon 810LP phono stage, Marantz SA-10 SACD player, VPI HW-40 direct drive turntable w a 12-inch Fatboy arm, Magico A3 speakers, Wireworld Platinum Eclipse 8 interconnects and WW Gold Eclipse 8 speaker cables, PS Audio DirectStream P20 power regenerator and assorted power cords by Echole, PS Audio, Triode Wire Labs and Nordost.

Compared to what I had heard at Michael’s house, however, my Mobile Fidelity Led Zep II sounded like I was listening to a cassette tape. My system, as resolving as it is, just couldn’t retrieve this information.

No, it wasn’t just that pressing. While my system is damn good, it still wasn’t well…that.

Close to what I heard at Ken and Michael’s? That is a relative term.

Close enough for me to understand what limitations I have. But here’s what it comes down to:

I sit and look at my current system, a system with a list price of nearly 100K.

It’s a system that, by all rational measure, anyone could listen to and say, “Wow, I have never heard anything sound so good!’"

But…

It ain’t like what these guys have the unique ability to play with and listen to.

Whether it was Ken’s set up or Michael’s, artists and songs that I have heard hundreds of times have, perhaps because of the care of tonearm cartridge alignment, vibration control, quality of mega-dollar amplification and sophistication of the speaker systems and room damping, exposed much more in those grooves or on those reel-to-reels then I have ever heard.

It’s like listening to different mixes. Vocals that you never knew were there suddenly appear, as well as a horn part or a drum fill or a cymbal crash."





This guy is comparing his 100K system spinning an audiophile quality LP to a cassette tape! Hah! Even the wealthiest, savviest stereo junkies are chasing a dream that they will never catch!

I'm so glad I made my peace with that grail a long, long time ago. Good enough is good enough for me. Depending on the circumstances, a cassette of Led Zep II is probably just right!

Here's the whole article if you have an interest...

https://www.psaudio.com/article/the-high-end-in-the-time-of-coronavirus/