most people have no reason to set the output up at 4 vrms, and this is largely agreed upon by everybody in the AVS thread. Most amps users are operating are in the 1.6-2.6 vrms range.
Agreed 100%, but if you going to spend $4,000 on an AVP, wouldn't you want your AV processor capable of performing better than a $,1119 AVR that comes soak and wet with 9 channels of internal amps. Fair?
For a $4,000 product, the user deserves to know how they perform at their rated output, and that's why I actually appreciate the fact that he select 2 V RCA and 4 V XLR as his test standard, same as Audioholic's. As mentioned before, Gene also stressed the importance of preamp output performance at the 2 V level, he has commented more than once (may be not exactly the same wording every time) on the need for 2 V (RCA) including comments such as:
"A preamp output of less than 2Vrms is unacceptable in my book".
Again, that would mean 4 Vrms for XLR as I, and others explained in previous posts.
the HTP-1 performs well beyond what a headless panther indicates. Many of us know to not take any single review at face value, and this is no different. My comments about Amir's review and headless rating, though, stand
Of course your comments stand, it's your opinion that I fully respect whether I agree with it or not. I just felt it seemed biased and perhaps partially due to misunderstanding on the reviewers comments. My educated guess is that, for a $4,000 AVP Amir expected SOTA or closed to SOTA performance, at least in terms of SINAD at the typical 2 V/4 V standard for testing.
I must admit coming from you I was very surprise, as you always impressed me as someone who always remained fair and objective.. In this case, it would be weird if Amir tested such an AVP at lower voltages than he did on the preamp outputs of the much cheaper AVRs. He at least measured it at reduced voltage and rank the product
top on the chart at the time based on the reduced voltage. So in my opinion the users have little to complain!! They should in fact be happy for the service, that allows them to pair with amplifiers for their need without sacrificing performance (on paper, not necessarily audibility).
That's no difference than testing a 200 W power amp at its rated output level and expect its performance to remain good all the way to the rated output level, even though for real world use most people probably only use 1-2W average per channel most of the time!
I am only pointing out is that the negative criticism on ASR regarding testing at 2V/4V is
not fair because
- the 2V/4V is sort of a defacto standard adopted by other reputable review sites too, including Audioholics.com.
- there are good reasons to test at those levels, as clearly explained by Gene if not Amir (he did too actually)
- Amir gave his reasons for the headless panther, and he never tell anyone not to go with the product.
In the conclusion Amir did say:
"
Buy this product because you want its features, not because you think the
$4,000 is bringing you
superlative objective audio performance." That seems like a very reasonable comment to me.
After all, he's the reviewer so he get to choose the benchmark for getting a panther with the head lol, but hey I do get your point and I have read multiple times viewers complaints about the panther head missing.
and I think actual HTP-1 owners would resoundingly agree that this review from Amir is not representative of what this unit brings to the table.
I can understand some of the users sentiment, assuming they paid close to the list price of $4,000 for that unit. My comments were made as a neutral bystander who don't have a horse in the race, so it is easy for me to be relatively unbiased. Based on the measured performance, the Monolith preamp processor deserved the ASR rating given, and again in his conclusion he said "by......because of.....its features, not because.....bringing you superlative objective......performance..
By the way, any update on your DIY amps coming along? I am still interested in one but would wait for your feedback/opinions.
