[j 2]

Hi Max,

The fact that "no one is doing what the Big Ben does and it'll be another 2 years until someone catches up" kinda makes me go out and want to look for answers by myself. Then when it's PAINFULLY obvious that the Antelope sounds better than the Big Ben -- better meaning more phase accurate, clearer, less 'digital' sounding or harsh, and emotionally evoking -- I contemplate and start to ask more questions. I'm seeking the truth, not propaganda or encouraging pretty ads.

Just yesterday I finally got around to caring about some more cables in my chain, most importantly AES. I bought 5 Wyde-Eye AES cables from Coast over the past month or so and I just bought a Canare yesterday.....need I say it. The Canare isn't "better or worse", but definitely more dynamic, flatter and I'd have to say accurate to the source. Don't get into a discussion about how I went about comparing the cables and double-blind nonsense because it's a waste of your time. If I want to mix with your AES cable (which I've been doing for some time now), I'll have to keep in mind that it's hyping the phase and making everything a little bigger/brighter and neat (like a SONY stereo does, or the common Smiley-Face EQ sound)....but is that accurate? Furthermore, I just compared all 3 Monster lightpipe cables to the GP lightpipe I got from you guys awhile ago......what the hell. Monster's 'Lightspeed 100' outperformed your lightpipe, way clearer and more in phase. I went on to compare it to their LS 200 and THX home theater cable -- unbelievably better.

Our long discussion about the Mini-Dac and Lucas claiming how superior the design is to the DAC-1 -- a more high-end chipset, resulting in 'better' sound, amongst other things -- and the noticeable effects of the Big Ben on anything, makes me tilt my head and wonder what I've been doing all this time; trusting marketing and name dropping. "Sound Amazing" makes perfect sense to me - let our products work for you, so you have 'our sound' covering the sound you're trying to get.

I can either work around what's to be expected in your product line or I can avoid it altogether until the very last stage, since it is "the standard." However, I'm curious as to how this sound is cleaner, more precise, flatter, and more accurate or (enough nerd talk) better in comparison to other manufacturer's converters?

Needless to say, I'm considering all Lavry and Benchmark.