The year is quickly coming to a close, and holidays are upon us again.
For Dagogo’s December Top-Of-The-Month Issue, rather than following its routine of concentrating in publishing reviews on top product models, the Staff of Dagogo have compiled reviews on four economically-priced products to compliment your celebration of this gift-giving season. Hence, the Part II to Dagogo’s November ONGAKU Part I Technical Background article will be published on December 16th, and the Review to Bösendorfer VC 7: An Illustration will be published in Dagogo’s January 2007 Top-of-the-month Issue.
This month, Dagogoan Ed Momkus, who is renowned for using his Electronic Visionary Systems’ Ultimate Nude Attenuators-coupled Electrocompanient Nemo monoblock power amplifiers as driven directly by his Esoteric P70/D70 digital front-end, will share his experience on the least expensive pre-amplifier he’s ever reviewed with the readers. Like many of us, Ed adopts the minimalist approach to system-building and has forsaken the pre-amplifier by way of his EVS UNA’s; and although Dagogo’s editor has already coerced a review on the $8,800 Sphinx Project Eighteen preamplifier from Ed earlier this year, he has again managed to get Ed review another preamplifier, this time the $5,000 XLH SL-11XS. Think we have gotten Ed near a breaking-point for a total conversion?
If this is not enough, we have also managed to get the $2,499 Rotel RB-1092 class-D stereo power amplifier to Ed to write about – right next to a pair of the $20,000 XLH-M2000 monoblocks and the $18,000 pair of the Electrocompaniet Nemo monoblocks. It has been fun, at least for everybody else, especially when you can get someone who is used to a Mercedes to drive a Yugo.
But Ed is not the only one writing about hugely affordable products; Dagogoan Doug Schroeder, whose reference is the $5,000 pair of bridged Pathos Classic One MkII tube power amplifiers is also sharing his experience on a $1,600 Dussun V8i solid-state integrated amplifier with us. Doug had so much fun with the V8i that he even used it to reproduce the sonics from his video games. As Doug has shown us, sometimes this audio hobby of ours can be a fountain of youth. More importantly, if you think any of us tube users will work our SETs like that, think again.
For readers looking for the lowest-priced audio equipment as holiday gifts, Ed’s Walker Audio Talisman Review will delight and inspire. Coming from the mind that brought us the revered, $30,000 Proscenium turntable system, the $199 Talisman reflects a business model that emphasizes value, as everything else in the Walker Audio product line retails for less than $3,000.
Two affordably-priced products that almost made it into the December TOTM Issue are one tube DAC and one modest-looking solid-state preamplifier that Constantine Soo has been auditioning. Both units’ physical profiles are not of the awe inspiring sort; but Constantine reckons that their respective contribution to music-listening in his system is such that he finds them marvel of their genres. No, we will spare Ed of the amazing little preamplifier this time. Watch for reviews of them in the January Issue. Dagogoan Jack Roberts’ September 2006 exploration of the $7,900 Shindo Monbrison tube preamplifier will also be contrasted in the January Issue by his recent encounter with a $19,000 preamplifier.
While the next Dagogo TOTM is sure to be hot, our December 16th-Of-The-Month Issue will provide interesting reviews for your holiday reading. So, please come back often.
Last not least, “I know it when I see it” is one of the most widely adopted expressions often directed toward the ineffable, and Laurence A. Borden shares this expression’s origin with us in his response to a reader’s inquiry on his Teresonic Ingenium horn speaker Review.
We wish all our readers happy holidays.
-Dagogo
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