Do it with a Manley for much cheaper. Do it with a freeware Modern VST for free though. Mojo is in the fingers. Not the equipment. And not your ears. Gold? It hardly even belongs in Neumann gear.
Sure but doesn’t that fly in the face of what ‘audiophile’ means today?
Today it’s all about talking on the internet about how expensive your toys are, selling acoustic rocks and differences in cable construction/materials so fractionally insignificant as to be meaningless to actual sound reproduction. In other words, it’s a fashion statement.
As impressive as Manley gear is (and it is DEFINITELY impressive), you need a lot of it to take up the physical space, visual impact and rgo stroke of owning a full blown and restored vintage Neve/SSL recording console. Now granted, you could argue how 80 channels of Manley gear is impressive, and it would be BEYOND impressive. But a Vari-mu and a Massive Passive just don’t have the same argumentative impact online as saying “I sum through an SSL desk which is what X was originally built on to begin with.”
Besides, with the SSL, you need to build a machine room for the power/HVAC, which also tells the world how devoted you are to chasing the perfect sound ;)