David: "Your over the top endorsement, however does make me curious as to what other SET amps you are comparing the Cortese performance with? Where is your base line? One man's 12 is another man's 5."
Hi David!
My "rating" is purely subjective and not meant to be taken literally or over-analyzed in terms of calibration. As the name "Alberto's Audio Deliciousness Scale" (and the implicit reference to Spinal Tap) should suggest, it was meant to be somewhat humorous and over the top. Just to be clear: I don't actually have a well-defined 1-10 scale, nor have I used the idea of a Deliciousness Scale before with other products.
As a matter of fact, as far as I know, I am the only person I know who has been using deliciousness as an audio adjective with any regularity.
Since I am disclosing stuff, I best admit that I also did not actually measure the twenty steps that I said the Cortese took on the musical side of the analytic vs. musical line before dropping its trouser and mooning everyone and everything on the other side. :-).
My post was motivated by the pure joy and excitement I experienced when I put the Shindo Cortese in my system and room and it not only lived up, but surpassed, many of my expectations in terms of sounding musical and delicious.
I hope, and fully expect, that anyone considering the Cortese will refer to the reviews written by professional reviewers.
I have two pieces of somewhat more objective data to share however:
1) The day after I got the Cortese, I had the longest listening session of my life. Roughly from 10AM to 10PM - with short breaks for lunch and dinner.
2) Before, about 30% of my records did not sound good to me without some form of tone controls to tame harsh highs or thin sound. With the Cortese that number has dropped to - I am guesstimating - less than 1 or 2%. I am rediscovering and playing so many CDs (and a few LPs) I had given up on.
I appreciate you disclosing that you are a dealer and, while I don't know what products you represent, I am fully prepared to believe that they might also rate highly on my subjective delicious scale.
Cheers!
Alberto
Hi David!
My "rating" is purely subjective and not meant to be taken literally or over-analyzed in terms of calibration. As the name "Alberto's Audio Deliciousness Scale" (and the implicit reference to Spinal Tap) should suggest, it was meant to be somewhat humorous and over the top. Just to be clear: I don't actually have a well-defined 1-10 scale, nor have I used the idea of a Deliciousness Scale before with other products.
As a matter of fact, as far as I know, I am the only person I know who has been using deliciousness as an audio adjective with any regularity.
Since I am disclosing stuff, I best admit that I also did not actually measure the twenty steps that I said the Cortese took on the musical side of the analytic vs. musical line before dropping its trouser and mooning everyone and everything on the other side. :-).
My post was motivated by the pure joy and excitement I experienced when I put the Shindo Cortese in my system and room and it not only lived up, but surpassed, many of my expectations in terms of sounding musical and delicious.
I hope, and fully expect, that anyone considering the Cortese will refer to the reviews written by professional reviewers.
I have two pieces of somewhat more objective data to share however:
1) The day after I got the Cortese, I had the longest listening session of my life. Roughly from 10AM to 10PM - with short breaks for lunch and dinner.
2) Before, about 30% of my records did not sound good to me without some form of tone controls to tame harsh highs or thin sound. With the Cortese that number has dropped to - I am guesstimating - less than 1 or 2%. I am rediscovering and playing so many CDs (and a few LPs) I had given up on.
I appreciate you disclosing that you are a dealer and, while I don't know what products you represent, I am fully prepared to believe that they might also rate highly on my subjective delicious scale.
Cheers!
Alberto