Rafe Arnott, now editor of InnerFidelity and AudioStream, posted a long series of articles on Part Time Audiophile about Audio Note U.K. and Peter Qvortrup, its founder and chief. The articles have a ton of photos and interesting, if not outright outrageous(!), anecdotes and experiences.
The main thing that you have to remember is that Audio Note unquestionably builds some of the best gear in the world, and they charge for it – and this leads to some very interesting experiencesĀ in dealing with the world’s wealthiest and most powerful people.
It’s kind of awesome because as regular people we can at least own the same brand as those to whom price no object is quite literally true. Like Mercedes and Porsche when they offer more affordable cars for The Rest Of Us, Audio Note also offers very reasonably-priced gear in addition to components priced more than the cost of the average home. Trickle down technology is a real and beautiful thing, unlike trickle down economics, which is just double-speak for trickle up economics.
The article itself, I think, advances the state-of-the-art in interview-style factory tours – and by itself this is a reason to read the articles.
