Estelon, dCS and Oephi justify their pricing with their unique take on design and engineering BUT say the goal is the music and the “toys” should disappear. It’s a deep dive into how industrial design, materials science, and complex engineering serve the music – but at what cost? Would you want something as sculptural as an Estelon or outrageous as a $500,000 DAC music system to disappear?
First, Ilias from Estelon explains to Andrew Hutchison the distinctive cabinet shapes, floor-coupled bass philosophy and how the motorised flagship speakers came to life.
Next, Danish designer of OePhi, Joakim interviewed by Brad Serhan, challenges conventionality around loudspeaker and cable design, measurements and technical performance.
Finally, Alasdair from dCS justifies $500,000 worth of dCS HiFi happiness in an in depth explanation of advanced digital audio design and DAC architecture. Andrew Hutchison and David Corazza ask why is a $24,000 dCS branded DAC using some of the same components and design features, designed by the same team and manufactured using the same techniques any different? (Prices in AUD)
Episode 046 Estelon, dCS and Oephi Episodes Transcripts History & Pics
WORDS OF WISDOM FROM THIS EPISODE
Ilias – Estelon “In the end what matters is that all these toys should disappear. The goal is to evoke emotions and it should be about the music”
Joakim – Oephi “I don’t want to make a product that appeals so widely that my product loses its identity”
Alisdair – dCS “We border on obsessive. When it costs as much as a car it has to be perfect”
People mentioned on this episode –
Ilias Koutromanos CCO Estelon
Alfred Vassilkov Founder & chief designer Estelon
Andrew Hutchison – Host
David Corazza – Guest Host
Alan March March Audio
Edgar Kramer Soundstage! Australia
Geoff Haynes HeyNow HiFi
Alex Stuart The HiFi Shop
Joakim Juhl OePhi
Brad Serhan Guest Host
Alasdair McDonald dCS Audio
Mike Story Founder dCS Audio
Andy Reynolds Manager dCS Audio
David Steven Managing Director dCS Audio
Businesses mentioned on this episode –
Estelon
HiFi and Stereo
Brisbane HiFi
Advance Audio
March Audio
Soundstage! Australia
HeyNow HiFi
The HiFi Shop
StereoNet
OePhi Audio
Serhan Swift
Purifi Drivers
The EAR Magazine
HiFi Choice
SEAS Drivers
dCS Data Conversation Systems Audio
Music courtesy of –
Please Listen Carefully by Jahzzar http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Jahzzar
Creative Commons — Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported— CC BY-SA 3.0
Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/please-listen-carefully
Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/GGVFRIgP7uc
CREDITS –
Host & Audio Production: Andrew Hutchison
Guest Host – Brad Serhan
Guest Host – David Corazza