AudioAficionado.org - My Silenzio Experience

Let me first start by saying that I have known E for many years, even prior to AA. We have previously met at audio shows, had dinner, drinks and always enjoyed a good time.

When he first introduced Silenzio, I didn't really consider owning one at all, I have well over a dozen different music servers. Then one by one happy customers would chime in with nothing but positive remarks about the quality, E's service etc. I still really didn't see a need to adopt another new machine.

My existing servers range from Olive, McIntosh, Bryston, Sony, and Burmester. Retail pricing ran from a few thousand all the way to Burmester's 111 at over $50k. Fast forward to this year; with multiple systems, and doing demos consistently I rely heavily on my music servers. With three different closed end systems, a new CD would need to be ripped to all three. For Olive, once a month I would do an incremental back up, and use that to restore (update) my other 3 Olives. Then ship the CD's to my other home, only so I can repeat this non-sense.

Enough is enough; I decided that I would join the ranks of happy Silenzio owners and get one. I would place it in my Burmester/Aida/Esoteric system where it could feed both the Grandioso, and K01X for my Bryston/TAD R1 system also.

E arrived at my place here in Cape Cod late Saturday evening; Sunday we installed the Silenzio, and the NAS on my network. Everything went like clock work; after a few lessons I was ripping CD's. However this is not your ordinary music server/ripper; this is an Enterprise level component built with the finest internal components available today, and best of all "open architecture". This simply means that you are not locked in to some companies proprietary ripping format. One that surely guarantees you will be re-ripping your collection again when the next gen/version comes out, or even worse your server dies w/o support.

Once we were up and running, I started to realize just how impressive and powerful this unit really was. Of course I'm no stranger to using JRiver, in fact it's on a dedicated laptop in my Mac/Strads 2-Channel room. JRiver is hands down the best GUI and easiest/fastest way to archive, search, and play your music. So, what's different? well for one I'm no longer tethered to my laptop. I use my iPad and I'm free to move about; ok what else you ask, how about bit perfect rips that sound as good as the shiny silver disc. We fed one of my Grandioso D1's a USB signal via a WW Platinum Starlight cable. Once the D1 input is set to USB it knows exactly what's going on, and sends the other channel to the second D1 via the HDMI that links between them. The displays are intuitive and let you know exactly what is going on, and of course you can dim, and or shut the displays off.

So now we have amazing sound quality, complete mobile access to my rather large CD collection and every feature/function you could possibly desire. But wait, it gets better; we power up the Bryston/TAD R1 system and can sync the same CD to both sources. A simple mute of one, swivel the chair and you're off to the races with another system; talk about speed and convenience. This brings A/B comparisons to a whole new level.

Now, I'm starting to both catch on and realize all I need are a few more Silenzio's for my other systems, and this wonderful new addition will share the joy with all my other rigs.

Want more? how about being able to remotely access your music from your other home; no more shipping CD's 1500 miles back & forth. Once you start thinking you realize that this is really the only way to go. Will I be blowing out all my other servers; not just yet, they still look good on the various shelves. Although as new Silenzio's arrive, it is quite safe to say their days are numbered.

So, to bring this rather lengthy post to an end, I will summarize that I'm super happy/excited to have purchased my first Silenzio. Will it be my last; nope, I already have E building me another. These will be in full use most of the time, as it just allows you to re-experience your entire CD collection all over again with zero compromise on sound quality. They will make doing demos for me an absolute pleasure, and of course will be "on demo" at Septembers Cape Event. :ok:

A hearty thank you to E, who took the time to travel cross country (on his own dime) and give me the "white glove" treatment, and make a True Believer out of me! The Silenzio is a true Game Changer for those who enjoy and love music. :yes:

I give Silenzio 5 Doh's (my highest rating!) ;)

:homer: :homer: :homer: :homer: :homer: