Any Comparisons between VTL 7.5 & ARC Ref 3

Well, $100 (not $150) certainly may seem as a lot of money for a magazine. At least at the first sight when you compare them to Stereophile and the likes which sell for 12$ a year. BUT, when you think what you get for your $100 ... well, it makes things look different. In this case, you do really get what you paid for.

In this case, the ad-driven Stereophile IS really worth 1$ and ad-less HFC IS rally worth 15$.

You will get your $15 back ($100 a year) when you buy (or do not buy) one of the components Martin describes. Imagine how much money (and time) that $100 may actually save you.

Where you can find a detailed WP 8/ Avalon Diamond comparo ? Or ARC Ref 110 / CJ Premier 350 ? Or ARC Ref 3 / CJ Act 2 ? Whery you can read that the Krell 202 preamp failed ? Or ARC Ref 3 fauiled ?

Quite possibly - nowhere.

Big magazines avaid such a direct comparos like plague. Not because they are not able to do that, or 'cos they are not aware that readers expect that, but 'cos that may upset their advertisers.

IMO, HIFI Critic is THE most professional, troughful and insightful magazine that is currently available. And I'm really VERY happy I can buy this kind of advice/expertise for 100$.

As for the ARC - I can only say, that is set a new reference standard for Martin.

$150? Wow.

Absolute Sound, Stereophile, etc. sell their blather for a much lower price.

I guess if there's a market for $400 Police tickets some moron will pay $150 for some "audio expert's" musings.

Now Mikey and the crew can raise prices to read their drivel.

I read the first edition of this magazine and IMO was no better than any other mag and in some areas a lot worse.
At least with Stereophile you get JA's test reports.
I auditioned a CJ ACT 1 in my system after reading a review by MC, couldn't agree with the rosey review that he gave it and saved myself alot of money and bought an ARC.
You have got to listen to preamps in your system and decide for yourself if the sound is to your tastes and not those of some pundit.

There is just one BIG question for me: Can you(or even M.Colloms-I respect him very much) really compare ARC REF3 and CJ ACT2 Series 2? One(ARC) is fully balanced design which IMHO sound much better when used in balanced(as intended) mode. In SE mode you loose much of its sound qualities IMO. CJ ACT2 Series 2 is on the other hand SE design and sound very best when used with amps that are not balanced. Try to connect ACT2 to ARC REF110 with adaptors and you will get totally crappy sound-I am speaking here from personal experience...

So, I do not agree at all with M.Colloms that you can compare this two preamps, at least not with the same amp...

On the other hand you can compare VTL TL7.5 MkII with REF3 since both are balanced designes and here you can use the same amp as a reference...

Speaking about Hifi Critic I also like the magazine very much but, I also think that $100 is too much for it. M.Colloms is also biased towards few manufactures, everyone who reads his reviews in last 15 years knows that...

I like Roy Gregory from Hifi+ but, I do not like to quote him despite the fact that some of his reviews are truly excellent(and with few I fully agree which is very rare thing, at least for me)...

My point is that all magazines are not that much important for US-the audiophiles. They are important for the industry... Bad review for some product in major mag can be a kiss of death for that product(or even the manufacturer!)...

Long live the difference in our ears and opinions!

Thanks, Elberoth - perhaps you saw subscription prices for the UK. The HiFi Critic Web site says a 1 year (6 issue) subscription sent to the US is 75 GBP. At present exchange rates that works out to ~$149 USD. I agree that head-to-head comparisons seem to be a thing of the past.

Tim