Wow! Hi End Brand Redefines Affordable Audio in Italy!
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 10 ก.พ. 2025
- This high end brand is redefining what is possible in affordable with with their handmade Italian Hifi products. I had to see it to believe it! This is the Story of Gold Note...
For More info on Gold Note go to fidelityimport...
This press trip was paid for by Fidelity Imports and the associated brands. However, they didn't require nor have any input into the making of this video or my opinions expressed in this video
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a good day is one where you learn something. I live in Italy and today I learned of this company. Thanx!!
Good to see companies like Gold Note. I never knew some products on the more affordable side existed. Hand made by good people is a great thing. Thanks for sharing Randy.
Italy rocks, Randy. Beautiful looking components.
11:54 I love introducing people to better sound and seeing the expression on their faces 😊
I was sold the second he said KISS Dynasty was his big influence. That is a man who speaks truth cuz NOBODY else would admit to that. Awesome video Randy, thanks.
I have heard of them but, great to learn more! What a beautiful trip you had to Italy! Bet you never expected to be doing something like this when you started the channel!
not in a million years
Love it, a proper hifi company sourcing locally,making high quality ,value products in Italy- in style. ❤️
I just really like your new direction. Really interesting and out of the norm for the corporate world. Optimism is the feel that I take away. Keep the good stuff coming.
$1k isn’t affordable for the average listener. But the owner explained it best- affordable in the high end range. I’ll take that. Most products considered high end are far more. So bringing that cost down at the bottom end is a good thing.
Stunning video and scenery. Thank you for taking us along on your journey, both physically and musically. You're really getting out there! Stay well and safe, brother.
So nice to see a company that's sourcing locally and not giving in to the greed of making everything in China.
I have made a commitment to not buy a product domiciled in one country but outsourced to China, as well as elsewhere. I would consider a product made in China if by a Chinese company. Especially at full retail. If heavily discounted, at least 40% or more or used, I might give some consideration. Don't want to add to the success of that government or them building their military.
It's tough in Europe as the cost of doing business is often prohibitive but then, the people should act to change things and keep business within their borders.
Emotiva while successful, I would consider if built in Taiwan, but not the mainland. Same for other companies, such as Dali. I have the Opticon 1 and like it. Would not have bought it if it were made in China.
👏👏👏👏👏👏
This isn’t an option for every company especially when starting out. Plus China has more manufacturing ability today than other nations. Yes I mean high quality manufacturing not just sweat shops.
Well the cool thing is that we can vote
With our wallets and highlighting gold note as well as many American independents makes my heart happy. There are real companies that are choosing to make things where they want and how they want. So cool to have choices
Shame .... Europe is in the state it is not because of the Chinese but because of the idiots in charge of the EU. Making policies that chase companies away and then blame the Chinese.
Thank you, Randy for sharing this tour with us. This was awesome! All I knew about Gold Note was they made rather expensive high end cartridges. It is really great to find out how passionate they are about all the different items they design and make, how many items are made with affordability in mind!!
Thanks again!
I so love this vlog style videos over standard face in camera review. Of course just my personal preference.
Loved this episode... particularly enjoyed the interview with the CEO Maurizio Aterini. He **gets it** with respect to audio, technology, innovation... and frankly the opportunity and scope for the industry. I do wish everyone approached running their company the way he does, and thinking about his business the way he does. Being a technologist I've been endlessly annoyed by so many new products and their approach, especially anything that involves software. Gold Note seem to understand!
glad you had the opportunity to go in such beautiful place,, really surrounded by art, also proud to see how people could do such beautiful things here in Italy. Thanks for the video :)
What a great feature here. Glad you’re putting some attention their way! Love my GoldNote PA-10 amp. Powerful, dynamic, balanced, beautiful midrange, and a beautiful, compact enclosure. This video was a work of art, Randy👌🏼
Italians do a lot of things so well. Art, fashion, cars, cuisine, decor...and audio (why not?). If you're in Tuscany now, that's one of the friggin' best countryside areas ever. May more companies like Gold Note thrive in the difficult audio market.
Cars? No. None of them last even 100k km. Beautiful? Of course.
Very nice!!!! I've had Gold Note IS-1000 deluxe for 5-6 years now! I love this amp, it's roon ready and it has a very good phone stage.
I'm starting to really love Italy. I found Sonus faber after a search for better speakers the past few months. Now Gold Note. I love the shared passion for art and performance. I would love to get an amp from them if they do have something affordable in the future.
While I'll probably never have the kind of money to buy even their cheapest product, I can appreciate what these guys are doing and what they're striving for. Every product looked beautifully made.
I am impressed! The passion is clearly present in what they do...A distinctly Italian attitude!
😮!!! Very nice editing video 👍 and also your tour is amazing. I enjoyed your video
More eye candy👍I believe my eyes are now drooling. All parts made in Italy and sourced within 2 hours is very impressive
I heard a Goldnote IS1000 against a Hegel 390 and was floored how much better it sounded. Never heard of the brand before that, I hope you can review their cheaper integrated amp.
definitely happening
That integrated is on my wish list!
BEAUTIFUL!!! Spaghetti on the ABX-Crew tonight. 😂😂❤❤😊😊
Wow! Thanks, brother!!
Parmesan cheese 🧀 & Garlic bread 🍞
@@cheapaudioman I’m loving this content lately. Keep it up!! 👍🏼👌👌We know you need all the energy you can get over there, so CARB UP on us. 🤣🤣🤣
I own the DS-10 EVO streaming dac and it sounds absolutely phenomenal. All their products I’ve heard from them do far have exceeded expectations
A beautifully shot episode, loving the egg boxes for stopping screws and washers from going on the floor. I might well employ that idea myself. Thats what it is all about lifting the veil.
I wish I could see your wife’s reaction to your videos from Venice, Tuscany, etc. and “…I was working dear!” 😂
really ? does he have a wife ?
yeah. and a bunch of kids too.
I remain impressed with my Unico hybrid amplifier, a long term love affair. Italian HIFi has so much to commend it.
Good to hear! I'm still using my tiny Italian made M2 Tech DAC and it's been about 10 years.
Love the story, almost as much as I love IT. Specifically, Northern Italy. This is my favorite video of yours - thank you for exposing the "guts" of this amazing company!!!
My dealer turned me on to Gold Note during Covid when I got back into playing records. Now I have a Rega P10 table fronted by a Gold Note PH10 + PSU10 power supply. Highly Satisfying. Thanks tp you I now know of their CD-10 and will check it out.
Love your content Randy...😊 keep doing you cause your followers love what you do
Very cool, neat to see their space, products, and hear from their people!
this was fantastic... i have been looking at gold note for years and just have not found the info about them that I wanted... this puts them on the top of my list
That phono stage looks awesome. Dialing in vinyl playback on the fly would be fantabulous!
I’m going to get one in for review
@@cheapaudioman Looking forward to that review.
Their PH-10 and PH-5 have already been rave reviewed by Ken Micallef and others. Ken's PH-10 review answered my question about what the "enhanced" EQ does: it allows treble up to 50 KHz if your cartridge can track such high frequencies (CD-4 quad records came to mind with their 38 KHz rear channel subcarriers).
Man those products are drop dead gorgeous especially the speakers.....wow
BEAUTIFUL looking equipment, and a great place too. thanks for the tour.
Great job!!! I absolutely love the Gold Note products and their approach. Been a fan for years and now happy to say I own a Giglio table with the B7 arm , the PH10 with power supply and have a back up Donatello Gold cart as a back up. When shopping for a table I had gone through a few different brands but they won by a huge margin for me and my ears. They seem to work on making something musical first then fill in the blanks suck as details and all the other audiophile buzz words. A lot of tables and products are hell bent on detail first then hoping it still has a soul left (cough, cough Clearaudio. Haha. ) my journey for an all Gold Note setup continues. Cheers !!
Well done Randy. I am glad that you were able to get outa Dodge and be there in person. Very nice video...one of your best.
I love such videos, I learned something new watching this as I've never heard of these guys before. Their motto at 12:08, and while it means "The Italian Sound" kinda reminds me of Toto Cutugno's "L'italiano" when he says "sono un italiano" and it's quite appropriate in the context of this video when you consider "lasciatemi cantare" as well, especially with Gold Note being an Italian audio company and all. I don't know if any of this makes sense to anyone else :D
Wow, I only knew them as turntable cartridge makers (their Vasari series). Never had a clue they had all this other cool stuff. Neat.
That was way unexpected and totally awsome! CAM upping the game.I do wish it was longer tho.
Nice to see things being done for all the right reasons
bottle of Sassaica just chilling on the CEO's desk, so perfect!
The problem small firms traditionally have is with maintaining high quality while scaling production. This is much harder to do than it sounds, and pressure to hold prices down, to "build to a price point," invariably introduces compromises. Nice vid, and good luck to Gold Note.
You dont have to have the gold leaf turntable, but you want the gold leaf turntable
Dynasty? Back in Black? Its my long lost Italian brother🕺🏻
Right!?
Lovely. Great story. Italian style is something else….
Informative,entertaining, well produced. Thank you
Love to video as it always fun to dream. BTW, who is this Neil that you speak of who can upgrade the Sony SSCS5 crossovers . Thanks again
Very interesting company. I would love to hear some of their gear.
Randy! RANDY! RAN, RAN, RAN-MAN. wow.
The pull out from the window was bordering on serious filmmaker auteur chops my friend. Careful now.
ahhh... thanks. I was pretty proud of that shot. I'm having a lot of fun trying to do new things
@@cheapaudioman Part of the reason it works is that--and bear in mind, this opens up a larger conversation about the fact that Randy learns, as Arnold would say in T2 regarding cyberdine systems, "at a geometric rrrate...."--is the edit. By now you clearly realize that the edit is, in effect, figuratively and literally, everything. So the cut from your colleague taking the exterior building shot on his cell phone to 'entering' the room from the window via the trucking back works on two levels, or perhaps three; the outside-to-inside transition, looking at a building vs. looking FROM a building back, and the diegetic acknowledgement of the camera as apparatus (via the building ext. moment) to the use of your camera to pull backwards. The shot itself is great, but the context makes it that much better.
@@yuckysamson I wish I could say it was on purpose. Maybe subconsciously it was. I do believe the story is in the edit. The only thing that I knew was that it “felt right” I was proud of both of those shots and it made sense to put them where they landed in the final edit. I wasn’t thinking of it that way but man o man if I having fun with making my silly little movies
@@cheapaudioman "felt right" = "on purpose." The only thing I can say is that perhaps, with time, decisions like these will be better informed (i.e. asking yourself, 'why does this work better'? and having an answer as to how and why) but ultimately you've already shown the instinct to edit with intention to storytell. That's great.
I knew you’re going to Gold Note one day. It’s your thing. 👍🤜
Need to keep doing on location videos - if you can even around home. I love the dynamics of these shots. it's great. =)
Nice review on this brand. Been curious but not seen many reviews
The trip of a lifetime
Bravo Randy!!!Since you are in Italy come to Greece too!!!
would love to
Would love to show you around if you come.
Absolutely garbage products! I bought their phono combo ph-10 with the dedicated psu-10 separate power supply for 2900€. Not even after a year ph-10 blew my wilson audio watt puppy 5 tweeter with a micro peak! I tried to return to after sales assistance for a repair. After weeks of trying to reach the company I was directed to one of their authorized repair services who simply denied even to see the product saying that the company is full of these boxes which they don’t even know what to do with… if you want pay a nice logo, a well sculptured box, go ahead and buy their junk. But be aware, they are not well engineered, and when they go bad, just forget about the guarantee, assistance which is inexistent… by the way i I live in Turin , ITALY.
@@ahmeteren4561 i can confirm they are garbage
A free trip to italy! Im not buying a single word of what ur saying but im also not hating.
The GOLD NOTE logo looks very GOLDENEYE 😎
Love the extra effort you put in to provide something unique for your viewers! Not only is this video good for us, hoping it’s good for you too, which is good for us!
Way to separate yourself from the pack.
Interesting video. Thanks for sharing that. Never heard about that brand, probably because of the price 😊. But i liked the idea of affordable equipments, usually share something (design, components) from the high end line on the low cost gear. Love the assembly line, very clean and organized, Very typical of manufacturing in Europe.👍🏻
I love their black boxes.
Did I just watch a long TH-cam ad for Gold Note...
No, a 12:22 ad for Gold Note...
Yes
you could call it an ad. I call it a story about a brand that most people don't know about that is making products thoughtfully and locally and independently. It's a story about an audio company. This might not be the video for you though. Or the channel for you
There's no pleasing some people. Very informative video. My mother was Italian and I have many relatives in Pesaro. I've never heard of Gold Note. I do now.
I'm watching Randy in Italy, and a story about a cool Italian HiFi company. Best ad I've seen in a long time
Will there be a streamer only (without dac)?
My kitchen remodel will include a pair of Cornwall IV's and a hot tub.
Love the vlog. Great editing 👌
Looks awesome.
I have heard of Gold Note - but I thought it was a Japanese company - thank you for the correct info. They certainly do make gorgeous stuff! I'm sure it sounds good, too.
I love Italian shoes and Italian cars working or not. Italian audio needs to be explored
Thank you so much for this
Love my Gold Note Giglio (turntable)...
Once again great video. Try and do a video with John Grado. Stand up guy and Iv,e owned his products for 40 years.
Wow ! ! it amazing....
Italian guy had a Sassicaia Tenuta San Guido sitting on the shelf behind him...speaking of hi-end😅
Grande vino!
Good video Randy
To see more and more devices with EQ, it's a very good news!
For example, I can get that Harman Curve (Target Frequency Response) that produces the “best possible sound” for headphones.!
Thanks...
love your videos Randy; works of art. Are you planning to visit Sonus Faber?
I hope you are back safe and sound.
With all the good said, this place looks more like a showroom than like a factory
You haven’t been to as many audio companies as I have. Most are some offices with jack snd crap being made there
So, besides making products in Italy in a factory with an indoor pool, hiw do their products distinguish from other hifi products? Any new technologies?
That was cool! Is thier stuff even available in the US?
Nice introduction and profile video of a company.
Those half width chassis in the gold finish look phenomenal. If they sound as good as they look….
Non China build quality like this for 2-3k USD pricing is unheard of these days so hats off to them. I want to check out the DS-10 EVO streaming dac/pre
Nice change on different products and presentations
Looks like an awesome place to work at. I do wonder how far the "hand made" part goes. Like does it just mean hand assembled or do they go as far hand soldering all the components on the PCBs and even manually create some of those components?
Wow! Well, that is really different! No other audio company is doing this! I'm completely surprised by Gold Note! I wonder how long this is going last? These units may be $1000 in Italy and the rest of Europe, but I bet the price will be ten times higher in the US. In fact, I would bet the farm on that! Part of the reason are sanctions and tariffs and the rest is pure vanity.
Price 10 times higher in South America as well
it's $1,000 in the US. Don't bet the farm. However, if you do want to bet your farm on it then shoot me an email and I can get the papers drawn up. I wouldn't have made the video if it wasn't $1,000 in the US
@@cheapaudioman *chuckle*. I appreciate your reply actually. I'm crossing fingers and toes hoping to actually see a unit or more in person at some point. Not that I am in market, but I just want to see a piece of new, real high-end HiFi for $1000 or less. If it is something I really need I would be interested even more....right after they revive me with amyl nitrate or something from passing out. The gear I have is double what I paid for it 5 years ago and that happened over a period of only 1.5 years! I had to up my insurance. I could not afford to replace a single part of it. Scares me.
What I saw in your video is almost unbelievable. I know Gold Note is expensive high-end stuff normally (average starts around north of $4k). With the quality of parts and aesthetics, they are blasting Schiit, Cambridge and the like out of the water if that stuff hits market. (Almost anything beats Cambridge). My question to them is "how in the world are you doing it and staying afloat"? They could end up turning the industry on its head if they are not careful and I would love to see that happen.
@@ericelliott227 keep in mind that the “5” series of products is only one product right now but the plan is for an entire line. He touched on it in the video but smart manufacturing and efficiency. Schiit is a perfect example of how a company can absolutely make affordable products in the US. Geshelli is another. Independent companies that are controlling the manufacturing process are the future of our sport in my opinion. And multiple outfits are doing it now. Can’t wait to see what happens next.
@@cheapaudioman Yes, I know it is only one right now. Yes, smart manufacturing and efficiency can be done without cutting corners or outsourcing, As you said, companies like Schiit, Geshelli Labs, Emotiva and Pro-Ject are proving it. Gold Note is a notch above, the first and only "real" high-end make currently that is showing the way.
I'd love to see a few others known for being uber-expensive take a page from that book.
Hope you get to review that phono stage! Looks amazing.
I’m pretty sure it’s going to happen
Great Video Brother!
Where can I look into the HP-10 headphone amplifier?
Nice job!
The answer to the question at 6:00 minutes is Rega.
great catch. I also thing Project is also making stuff out of their European facility.
DSP in headphone amps \o/
I like my Topping EX5, but flat sound _is_ kind of flat sounding. Where the only option to get some oomph is to raise the volume way above what's good for the ears.
I will definitively look into this brand, once I get out of the cheap audio bracket. 😅
That wine farm, is that located around Florence? If so i've benen Therese at at wedding a few years ago.🙂
pretty cool. you'll have to do a review when you can actually buy one. its not on their site yet.
I went to look for Franco Battiato. Elegant and delightful Italian pop. A sort of Italian Thomas Dolby.
Very cool!
If they want a product idea for their "affordable line," how about a component that's similar to an MP3 player (but with lossless formats). Something with multi-terabyte capacity to store the music right on the player, without being limited to a couple TB or a small number of tracks. My computer can handle 10TB of music and an unlimited track count, so there's no reason an average media player shouldn't be able to. Include a nice screen for navigation and album cover display. Make the physical size to where it can actually fit in with other traditional component pieces. Streaming can be an option, but make it's primary purpose to actually store and play the music- like an MP3 player. Oh, and make sure "shuffle" works. Every digital media player I have ever had SUCKS with shuffle- only shuffling 20 or 30 songs out of hundreds stored. Bring THAT to market for about a grand and I'd buy it.
Some twenty years ago there was an Italian brand named Blue Note, did this company came from that? Or did they have to change the name because of the Blue Note record lable?
I remember some Blue Note speakers I have heard several times at Audio Selectief in Sneek in the Netherlands. These were exceptional sounding floorstanders for only €3000,-
Yes. Blue note and then black not and then they got rolled into gold note. All the same place though
Randy, in Italy you have to listen to Lucio Dalla and Fabio Concato, you won't regret it!