Jon L

It's funny you should say that b/c one of the VD cords I know DOES in fact use the exact same Romex power cable from Home Depot with "quality" connectors And I have made DIY power cords using similar Romex wire, and while pretty decent-sounding, esp. compared to the throwaway zip cords, they didn't sound as good as some of the better cords available, not to mention violating all kinds of fire codes

I used to have the Bent Audio TVC. What preamp did your TVC replace? TVC's are great, especially at their prices, and there's certainly a lot less chance of screwing up something important compared to complicated active preamps. Just like headphones, people will have different preferences, some swearing by only active preamps, some preferring the sound of resistor-based passive attentuators (like me)

Huh? VD cord had stranded copper wire I'm surprised b/c their call to fame is the use of ridiculous thick solid core wire and magnets. Maybe in their higher end stuff...

I dunno, man. Alex knows his digital, but there's just so many reports of loooong delays of communication and product delivery for APL. They need to clean up the huge mess before launching anything IMHO.

We were visiting Kevin Deal's home/store, and he popped the hood on his PrimaLuna and ASL amps for comparison. The PrimaLuna amp does have super-neat layout, but what's also impressive is the unusually thick gauge chassis, especially when compared to the tin-can feel of ASL amps. Some amp builders believe "messy" wiring is actually better for sound quality, though, possibly b/c the random electromagnetic fields generated by messy, random wires tend to have less sonic signature.

LOL. You think that's funny, but I am actually caught in an interesting dilemma. I am actually trying to decide between: A) Buying the Zhaolu for ~$300 and call it a day, vs. Buying a brand new Esoteric X-03 at 50% discount (don't ask) MSRP $7200. Option ( seems to be very tempting, but the darn thing does not have digital inputs which I absolutely need for my audio PC.