I wonder how is it possible to hear any other sarod players. Ustadji has deified sarod or perhaps sarod has deified Ustad-ji. Sarod doesn't sound, so pure, so heavenly and blissful from anybody else. It will take centuries to even realize just how unimaginably beautiful Swarasamrat's music is.
I heard him live in 1972 in Berkeley, CA. One friend drove us up from Santa Cruz in his Porsche, and it was a transformational evening in my life! Thank you Sir Ali Akbar Khan Sahib.