The French hifi scene

There is a made-in-France brand called Atoll - amplifiers, CD players and also a DAC.

There are lots of Niche french manufacturers.
While the YBA/Cabasse/audio Aero/Triangle/JM Labs/advance acoustics etc etc are very popular and very often very un French in sound. there exist niche manufacturers.
Eg Davies, Mudine,apertura, Atohm, BC acoustique,Audiomat etc

a great french site is http://www.thf.fr he might get good deals there

square_wave schrieb:

I have a cousin currently posted in France. He was asking me about the French hifi scene. Raised my curiosity too. - What is the French hifi scene like ?

quite good actually!

square_wave schrieb:

- Who are the good manufacturers for Amplifiers, Dacs and loudspeakers.

amps:
Jadis, Kora, YBA, Audio Refinement (don't know if this brand exists but it used to be a down-market YBA), Devialet, Atoll, BC Acoustique, Audiomat, Audio Aero
DACs: many the above.
CDP/transport: Metronome,
Speakers: JM Lab, Triangle, JM Reynaud,

square_wave schrieb:

Are there some Gems from this country ?

this can become a bit personal as everyone's choice is different as to what qualifies a "gem" but IMHO: Jadis for preamps & amps and Metronome for CDP/Transport.

Kora is said to have a very French sound (which traditionally light in the bass region).

Rumors are making rounds in audiophile circles that these are supposed to be the best and most musical (analogue?) sounding DACs ever made: LaRosita http://www.larosita.fr/rosita/?lang=en&id=accueil
For a good friend of mine and owner of a top rated audio company these DACs are presently the benchmark in musicality.

Some more information is available on the Taiwanese website: http://www.la-rosita.com/home

Hi all,
Thanks for all the help. I am quite new to some of these brands. Some of them look very intriguing.
Cheers,
Square.

@ Jochen,

Which model in the Rosita range can be considered as a good one ? They seem to have quite a few.

square_wave schrieb:

@ Jochen, Which model in the Rosita range can be considered as a good one ? They seem to have quite a few.

I presume that it is like with all other brands and models also. The higher the price...the better. If the improvement is worth the money everybody has to decide themself.
The range starts at approx. 850 Euro (I read somewhere). All other prices are given on the French websitehttp://www.larosita.fr/rosita/?lang=en&id=accueil. Price for The Black Hole I don't know. Must be expensive.

But keep in mind that they are all WiFi DACs working with Apple and iTunes only. They have "only" the normal Red Book resolution. But perhaps that's the secret for the fantastic sound. I find CDs mastered with 16Bit resolution usually also sound better than 24Bit resolution. Simply more natural. Best example are all the Blue Note RVG reissues.

Ach, Jochen, du hast deine Benutzername verandert! Fuer ein moment hatte Ich gedacht 'wer ist The German HiFi Connection?'
So, jetzt alles klar - du moechtet deutlich machen dass du ein 'commercial member' bist (und jetzt 'goolimangala' ist tot!) Aber, Ich mochte 'goolimangala' viel Ein wirklich einzigartiger Benutzername!

The-German-HiFi-Connection schrieb:

But keep in mind that they are all WiFi DACs working with Apple and iTunes only. They have "only" the normal Red Book resolution. ...

This is not good itunes/Apple does not even support FLAC..only apple lossless.

Arj schrieb:

The-German-HiFi-Connection schrieb: But keep in mind that they are all WiFi DACs working with Apple and iTunes only. They have "only" the normal Red Book resolution. ... This is not good itunes/Apple does not even support FLAC..only apple lossless.

Best sound vs. best features. Again one has to decide what is more important

Since square wave has asked for some hints to french products, La Rosita is just one hint for his cousin.

[quote="The-German-HiFi-Connection"]

Best sound vs. best features. Again one has to decide what is more important

[/quote]
right..that is the end state
the site is typical francais-Anglais conversion language, so bit difficult to comprehend but i believe the Alpha version might be the best VFM ?
the good part is it does not need USB/Firewire and if it works on iTunes then the Amarra plugin should also work which would do wonders to the SQ