Many people rave about Quad gear providing the purest, neutral sound which sounds most like the original source. Others complain that it is not true audiophile equipment. What do you think?
Personally in comparison to Linn, Cyrus and Arcam products I feel that there is less of a silky slick veneer to the sound. I often feel with expensive hifi equipment that the music sounds as if it is being manipulated by the electronics rather than sounding natural. Do you agree?
Quad, like the other brands you mention are highly respected and can perform well, but they can attract a bit of a 'cult,' following, which can elevate them a little above their abilities. As for whether they are the 'purest and most neutral,' well, with so much high-end gear on the market it'd take a life-time to truely assess this!
As for expensive gear manipulating the sound, what expensive gear have you listened to? I've made a number of ugrades over the years, and listened a lot, and 'better,' gear i've heard tends to do less to the alter the sound than lesser equipment!
Manufacturers and dealers i've spoken with always talk about striving for neutrality! Your comments about the products you mention are interesting as i've heard other people state that some of them can be a little coloured and add to the sound.
Examples i could give would be my last (and last ever!) loudspeaker upgrade. I had lived happily for a couple of years with a pair of Living Voice Auditorium's which i thought sounded good. Got the chance to get a pair of their big brothers second-hand, the Auditorium OBX's, and oh boy, what a difference! Admittedly the OBX's retailed at about 2.5 times the Auditoriums price. Buti it was the first time i heard what reviewers meant by the term 'coloured.' I played a track on each by the band 'Yellow.' Sounded good on the Auditoriums, but when compared to the OBX's it sounded as if the singer had a cold, or was singing through a hankerchief as the cheaper speaker was definately adding to the music!
I also recently bought a 2nd hand Boulder Power Amp. As it had been out of production for 10 or so years i e-mailed the company to ask about parts and if it would mate with a Valve Pre-amp. The answer they gave was that in its design they had striven for neutrailty and that it would work with any component for this reason. They were right!
