It's always difficult to describe differences in sound; audio reviewers will be criticised whether they try (and use vague, flowery language), or if they stick to %age grades - neither really helps another.
What does help is getting to know a reviewer, his/her preferences and so on. Over the years I've been into this stuff, I've found some reviewers that seem to like the same stuff as me, and that helps. The notion of accepting the word of someone blindly is a bit silly - until you have seen what they have said over the years about equipment that you know, they're pretty useless. Similarly, when a new manufacturer comes on board, I like to remain sceptical until I can spend a fair bit of time myself with the kit (rare now), or it's reviewed by someone I trust. This goes for Slim Devices as much as any - while I love the SB3, it sounds good not great. I think they've done really well with the TP, but they are new and have stuff to learn - they're unlikely to knock the Wadias, Mark Levinsons and dcSs into second place with their first audiophile product. (Given the potentially superior technology in streaming over CD replay, they may do it soon though.) Anyway, when it comes to giving reasonably-priced equipment a fair chance, I'd take HFN over Stereophile any day of the week :) Adam -- adamslim SB3 into Derek Shek d2, Shanling CDT-100, Rotel RT-990BX, Esoteric Audio Research 859, Living Voice Auditorium IIs, Nordost and Anti-cables http://www.last.fm/user/AdamSlim/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ adamslim's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=7355 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=33276 _______________________________________________ audiophiles mailing list [email protected] http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
