Editorial: Finding Value.

One such product that started the proverbial “ball rolling” on this editorial was this little guy, the THX Onyx Dongle DAC/Amp; a product that was sent to me just over a couple of years ago by the fine folks at THX with the hopes that I’d write a review about it.

THX never got that review. I had started becoming so busy with my growing responsibilities at SECRETS that other things kept pushing it lower and lower on the “to-do” list. To the little Onyx’s credit though, it did not get forgotten. By the sheer intelligence of its design and its idiot-proof ease of use, this 200-dollar dongle quickly turned into an almost indispensable part of my headphone review routine. Its ESS DAC chip and namesake amplification stage made the sound coming out of my iPhone leagues better, and it is capable of driving all but the most sadistically power-hungry headphones with ease.

Yes, it will also decode the audio equivalent of Pig-Latin (MQA) but honestly, that is its least impressive feature as far as I’m concerned. It is robustly built, with a rubberized extension that connects to a magnetized all-metal enclosure. It has survived all manner of drops and spills over the last two years, along with being run over by my car after falling out of my pocket and into a rain-soaked parking lot (please don’t try this at home kids)! The little bugger still works and sounds as good as when I first unboxed it. I would give it some sort of award if I could, but THX will have to settle for the fact that I recommend the Onyx dongle to anyone who ever asks me for my two cents on such a product. I consider it almost essential and a screaming good value to boot.

A different, but no less meaningful audio value was to be found in my old Bryston BP-25 preamplifier. I purchased it in 1995 from a dealer in Pasadena, California (who was not a little old lady), and it was my mainstay preamplifier until I sold it to a very happy audiophile in 2017, still in completely original condition. Through 22 years of service, it never so much as made a “peep” of noise, either through its signal path or from any of its knobs or switches. It was built like a tank, put out enough voltage to drive any amplifier in existence, and the simple billet remote control was heavy enough to cause a concussion if you carelessly (or intentionally) pitched it at someone. I lived through the famous 20-year Bryston warranty period with that BP-25, and it is no joke. It far and away outlasted any other audio component I had or have since owned. In 1995 the BP-25 cost 15 times what the THX Onyx does today. Adjusted for inflation, the BP-25 would cost today the same as what Bryston’s current analog preamp the new BP-19 sells for. In my estimation, the Bryston BP-25 preamplifier was and remains a superb value.

We generally tend to judge the value of a product on the simple “bang-for-the-buck” scale, but on the other side of the coin, is there value to be found in some of the higher-end gear that we may come into contact with? Can, say, a pair of $335,000.00 Wilson Audio Chronosonic XVX loudspeakers, for example, be considered a good value? It depends on the context. Maybe they are when compared to something like the new $750,000.00 Sonus faber Suprema loudspeakers. I’ve not spent enough time with either to have an opinion one way or the other, but even at these lofty levels of Hi-Fi that many of us simultaneously drool over and roll our eyes at, a sense of value can be found when comparisons are made in the proper context. Ever heard of the expression, “Context is Key”?

Exactly!

Let me give you another example. I am a long-suffering owner of an OPPO BDP-105 Universal Disc player. And I am not “long-suffering” because the player has been bug-prone or given me any sort of issue to complain about. Far from it, it has and continues to function beautifully and perfectly since the day I first unboxed it. From an objective standpoint, its audio section also measures better than almost any other player (and many DACs) that I have come across, still, after 10 years of ownership.

It paints a very accurate sonic picture from whatever disc or streaming file I throw at it. I am “long-suffering” in this case because, as an audio player, nothing has come to market in the past 10 years that for practical reasons surpasses it. Think about that for a second. In 10 years, another Universal Disc player has not been developed that significantly betters the audio performance and usability of the OPPO BDP-105. You could argue OPPO’s own 4K Universal Player, the UDP-205 is an improvement but only on the video side. Audio-wise (save for slightly lower distortion numbers on the 205 that were already inaudible) they are, for all intents and purposes, identical. There is a reason that used OPPO 105 players still sell for silly money on auction sites like eBay.

Recently I had a chance to spend some quality time with a Soulnote S-3 Reference SACD Player. It is a beautifully constructed piece of equipment, excessively overbuilt like a bank vault. Everything looked and felt incredibly special. It just played SACDs and CDs, but you could also use it as a DAC with its unusual dual PC-USB inputs, along with coax and AES digital inputs. Subjectively it sounded equally as good as it looked. Musical, warm (but not too much), and just very appealing overall, without getting into descriptors like “choirs of angels singing” and all that. While I couldn’t make a proper instant A-B comparison between the OPPO and the Soulnote, I could tell that there were differences when I switched back and forth with the same music. Where the OPPO was transparent and precise, the Soulnote was still very transparent but with a smoother overall delivery that grabbed my attention and kept it. I tried to take some measurements on the Soulnote S-3 to see if I could quantify the difference I was hearing, but in the end, I couldn’t get any useful measurements from it. I’ve never had a piece of equipment that behaved like it was trying to thwart my measuring it, but that very much seemed like what was going on with the S-3 in this case. In any event, when I’ve spoken with the principals at Soulnote they do not hide the fact that they tune their products more by ear than by test instrument and they don’t encourage judgment by measurements. It’s clear enough that the Soulnote S-3 Reference’s distortion profile has been tuned to deliver what many would consider to be a more appealing, musical sound. And it does take some experience and craft to get that balance tuned just right. By all rights, it’s a beautiful-sounding player and DAC.

At just shy of $28K retail, the Soulnote S-3 Reference costs about 20 times the price of what the OPPO did when new. From a value standpoint, is it therefore 20 times the player than the OPPO is? That, my friends, is completely the wrong context. I could stand here and wag my finger at the S-3 telling myself that the OPPO measures and sounds flawless, is far more affordable and practical, and yadda, yadda, yadda. But deep down, I still want the S-3 because of its beautiful sound, its gorgeous looks, and the way it made me feel having it in my system. The OPPO in contrast is lab equipment, the perfect appliance, the Soulnote is an object of desire. It is something that appeals to the more irrational elements of our nature. That’s why I desperately want an S-3. The only things that stop me from pulling the trigger are a child in college and swiftly executed divorce proceedings from a sensible spouse.

Now, if you were to compare the Soulnote S-3 Reference to perhaps the Wadax Atlantis Reference Transport ($115K) with a Wadax Atlantis Reference DAC ($160K) or something more down-to-earth like the Esoteric Grandioso K1X-SE CD/SACD Player ($38K) then the value of the Soulnote player comes more into focus.

The bottom line is when it comes to Hi-Fi, or frankly any other discretionary product purchase, the value of something should be assessed in the proper context, both against suitable competition and with the consideration of whether it will ultimately increase our enjoyment in some way. Yes, I may sneer at the thought of someone spending crazy sums of money on esoteric cables when there is no real need to. But, if those cables, even if they don’t make one iota of sonic difference, increase someone’s enjoyment of their audio system (and they can afford them), well who am I to argue? Keep these sorts of value assessments focused on what will make you happy, and maybe balanced with a moderate dose of Caveat Emptor (Buyer Beware). The more we can do that, the less angst and the better the time we can have with this hobby, for everyone.

And Speaking of Value…

In case you haven’t already noticed from the updated logo and trade dress on the website, 2024 marks Secrets of Home Theater and High Fidelity’s 30^th Anniversary. We are, legit, the oldest audio video enthusiast website on the Internet. That’s right, we’ve been around since the days of dial-up modems and Netscape Navigator!

Our founder John E. Johnson Jr, who was already well into Hi-Fi Nerdom and was getting interested in the already established and growing home theater trend, started this site in 1994. JJ desired to have the site become a way for enthusiasts to share technical information about products and their experiences quickly and directly. Jumping forward thirty years, Secrets has continued to grow and expand, but we very much continue on that same mission. We would not still be able to be here if it weren’t for the support of our loyal readers and industry sponsors. Thank you for your continued trust and support throughout the years. Secrets endeavors to remain a trusted source of information, opinion, and value to all our readers and the industry going forward.

To celebrate this auspicious occasion, we will be featuring a series of anniversary-themed articles and events that will remind everyone of our unique history along with adding new special content to the site. And, with the generosity of several of our industry friends, we will be hosting an anniversary product giveaway in the latter part of the year. We’ve never been ones to randomly toot our own horn, but if there was ever a time to do it, this would be it!

So, keep a lookout, because come July 1^st things are going to get really interesting around here!

Carlo Lo Raso
Editor-In-Chief