TOGA 2019 update
 

Hello, The last time I posted here in Member System Forum was TOGA 2015 upgrades.

A usual audiophile’s life 4 years later what remained are Magico Q7.
Gone was TW Acustic Black night TT and two pieces SACD player.
Gone also the fantastic Gryphon Mephisto.

Added were Magnepan 3.7i as an alternate taste, MOON’s magical 888 and 850P,
And a surprisingly great Luxman D08u. Tidal by MOON MiND2 was also added as new source.
I tried MOON 780D V2 for MQA Studio musics, but I prefer my own non-MQA Ayon CD35 fed by MOON
MIND2 via AESEBU more. But eventually Luxman replaced the wonderful Ayon.
MOON 888’s magical sounding heard when fed by Transparent OPUS 20A Power cords. Initially used with
Stage2 Minotaur 15A + Voodoo 15>20A adaptor and I think more than 50% of that wonderful sound was lost.
The Minotuar worked flawlessly with previous Gryphon, so I suspect major loss when using adaptor. That necessitates
New 20A cords and OPUS were the right choice.
Toga

Toga - The system looks great.....so I have a question, comparing the expensive Magicos to the more budget minded Magnepans....what do you think when you listen between the two pairs? How close do the Magnepans get to the Magicos? I think a lot of us would be interested in how those two speakers in different price points compare in a controlled setting like your room.

- Buck

Toga,

I’m happy to see your system marches on, so to speak, ha ha ha. And I’m thrilled to see you’re still using Transparent cables. Their Reference MM speaker cables you suggested were so deeply beautiful with my McIntosh and Sonus Faber. I will absolutely consult you when I put together my next system, whenever that may be ha ha ha. You are the one who also turned me into a Shunyata die-hard fan. I would love to hear your thoughts again on these two magical brands. I’ll never forget lying on my couch in depression the night you took your Anaconda PC back home ha ha ha.

Thanks for continuing to share your passion and knowledge of audio. My heart beats excitedly while my wallet cries ha ha ha.

ron

Buck,

I’ve heard Toga’s previous system with Magico although not his present one, but I have a theory. As a commercial pilot, I believe Toga expects and needs jet-engine power and slam in his system. When he played what I believe was a Megadeth concert for me one listening session—and watching on his incredible video system—I was frightened to my core by the awesome sounds and scary music I heard through his Magico speakers. On the other hand, Toga is a sincerely warm and kind man, and I hypothesize that the sound of his new system through Magnepans reflects his character from a sweeter and gentler perspective ha ha ha. Of course, I’m only guessing.

ron

TOGA 2019 update
 

What a fantastic system. Do you still have a turntable, or have you given up on vinyl?

TOGA 2019 update
 

Buck, good questions. Before I can answer this I have to tell you that the 3.7i cannot be placed in the ideal position, they had to be placed like that, too far apart in my opinion.

The 3.7i I think was the best value for money speakers I
have ever purchased. The purity of the sound , the huge soundstage and they go very loud. Bass was fine and solid. They can do action movie pretty surprisingly well too. I didn’t miss the Q7 much at all listening to Maggie.
Until then I switched back to Magico Q7 and that made me realized why I paid that amount for Q7, the Q7 sounded more completed and all around. With bass punch and depth that the Maggie can only dream about.
If I can start from day 1. Of course Maggie 30.7 spring to mind. However what I describe here is the Maggie driven by Moon mighty 888 and Transparent Opus speaker cables. Oh one thing I don’t like about Maggie is the quality of the terminals in the back. It’s cheaply made by
cheap materials. The speaker terminals is a nightmare.
I wanted to throw it all away and make new one using a thicker aluminum plated and better binding posts. What made the Maggie sound so good was the principle of that flat panel. If only they are built to the same standard of Magico, using solid aluminum frame, a better wiring and terminals, that would be great. But the best value for money thing will sure gone. The Maggies need huge space and very sensitive to positioning to sound balanced between imaging and frequency response. And they love watts !
In the future plan to find them the other room to breath and dreaming to see a set of Mcintosh to drive them.

Toga

Also a good question. I am not giving up. But after selling Denon 100th Anniversary. DD TT and lived with TW for a few years, it turned out that I played vinyls much less.
The Denon was much easier and more fun to operate and to live with. I also sold my Accuphase C37 already too as
I dont have TT at the moment. I always like how TW looked and sounded but with MOON 888 and 850P arrival that demanded huge cash. I sold TW that I didnt use much at all and Accuphase 900/901 just to fund the MOON.


Ok so what’s next. I will not purchase TT in that price range once again. I am looking at REGA Plana 8 or
LUXMAN PD171A or PD151A. Also have Clearaudio
Charisma V2 MM in mind. I still keep Ortofon SPU A95
and that will not fit the REGA.

And the next Phono preamp probably be MOON 610LP,
I liked it since long time ago, but the two tonearms TW
Lead me to Acuuphase C37.


TOGA.

Excellent, good luck with your quest for a new vinyl source. I have the Rega RP10 and am a big fan of the Rega simplicity - no fussing around with weights or clamps, and no need to even stop the table to flip a record over. I play more vinyl than I used to with a VPI.

Hey Ron my friend. Really glad to see you here. Hope you are doing fine. Sorry that you may be disappointed by seeing my poor written English here.

I remembered our time in Bangkok when I helping you improve your system.

Of course Transparent Audio cables are still play a major role in my system, Moon 888 won’t do with out the Opus power cords !

The only Shunyata left is the Alpha Digital which feed my Pioneer LX800 UHD Player or OPPO 203. It worked best
This way. I tried many cords with these UHD Player but
Keep coming back to the Alpha Digital due to its unmatched bass punch and weight when playing movies.

My others fav. cables are Purist Audio Cables. I use
There Dominus, Neptune, 25th Anniversary power cords and Dominus XLR from source to preamp.

Oh and I forgot to mention the long time favorite piece of gear that I sold. It was ranked as the longest main component I keep (8 years), the great Audio Research Ref 40. Yes we march on right ?

Also about to go soon is the highly musical and emotional touching sound Ayon CD35 Signature. It is one of the most satisfying sound player I have. But the SACD play back was not perfect , it doesn’t support gapless playback, so it adds a short silence between songs. And unbelievable but true is that the Luxman D08u, it is just as musical as the Ayon, but with different league drive and built quality. Amazing that of all CD Player that I owned, this latest player cost the least but enjoy me the most. May be because it came after I got MOON system too.

Ron hope you will build your new system soon. Hey I am
A Luxman fan now. How about L590AX II for you? Haha
Or L509X.

Toga

Yes RP10 was great, I had it shortly before TW arrived.
I used it with Benz ACE (red ) fed to Accuphase C37.

And yes that is what I need form new TT, the simplicity and fuss free.

Toga

What a fantastic system. I am a big fan of Simaudio Moon gear and Transparent Audio cables. I heard the Moon 888s in a system I was pretty familiar with and they are absolutely stunning in looks and sound. Enjoy! :music:

Hi Toga, have you tried something like a dCS Rossini instead of the Luxman, I have a feeling you should be able to gain SQ there.

My dealer has both brands, listened to the D08 a lot, nice player, but the dCS is bringing so much more.

Hi Olaf,
Long ago I had Puccini+clock in my system and I have heard Vivaldi stack
A few times.
At this time I don’t want to spend that much on digital anymore. I am looking to get 80-90% at 1/4 the price. I got D08u very cheaply as it is already discontinued and new model coming very soon this year. Magico Q7 and Moon are already on a transparent and clean , super high resolution side. I need a source that sound rich and beautiful tone. And I like Luxman for these quality.
While it has high enough resolution even for my system.
Thanks for the idea and nice to hear from you.

Toga

Thanks.. and you have to hear them together with OPUS cord and on
CMS Maxxum 2 stands. Stunning !
Toga

Hi Toga

Don’t you miss the Mephisto?

TOGA 2019 update
 

Yes and No at the same time.
Yes, I liked that danish pure Class A amp a lot. A very musical one, I could live with this as my last amplifier. I wanted to keep it if I could. But who knows, in the future .

No, because MOON 888 can do better in many regards, music sounded more real more pop overall. Once heard in a proper set up, I didn’t want to go back. But that said, I never heard Mephisto Solo yet.

Toga

Toga, absolutely fantastic system. I'm not familiar with any of the equipment other than by reputation but Moon and Magico seem like a very good synergy. If you get a chance go Charles System in this forum. I have a completely updated system myself. Lot of water over the dam since I heard from you. Again beautiful system!

Sexy!!

https://www.audioaficionado.org/atta...8&d=1563647847

:naughty:

TOGA,

Great to see you hear and congratulations on all the new upgrades,...fantastic!

Mark
SCAudiophile
Zephyr24069 'elsewhere'

TOGA 2019 update
 

Thanks every one. One thing to do next is to find a good 75ohm coaxial cable to link from Moon MiND2 to Luxman digital input. Previously use Oyaide FTVS910 AESEBU as Ayon CD35 had that balanced input while the Luxman does not. On try now is Transparent XL Digital Link. It was great, except the price. I am looking for something around 900$.
This Japanese SAEC Stratosphere DIG-1 is interesting. It has special copper surrounded by thick silver pipe as a conductor.Attachment 59604Attachment 59607

I recently picked up the Snake River Audio Boomslang digital cable based on the Audio Bacon Review. It's a bit below $900

It sounds good and had a return policy that I didn't need to take advantage of.

My experience auditioning digital coaxial cables has typically resulted in me finding little in the way of meaningful differences but that wasn't the case in this instance.

Toga, years ago I owned for probably about 2 years Magnepan 3.3 loudspeakers. I was concerned about the bass when I bought the speaker. My previous speakers were Dalquist DQ 10's with dual DQ1W's and Dalquist electronic crossover. I could neve get a good interface between the 10's and the 1W's. The 1W's were sealed and had 12" woofers. I wish I had never sold this system. As I remember the bass turned out to be excellent and the speaker had excellent dynamic capacity. It is little wonder that Magnepan has survived all these years. The sound was very coherent and it did classical music very well. It was a surprisingly rugged speaker playing the 1812 at high level very easily. I'm not surprised you like the 3.7i. Magnepans are superb speakers for the price and very coherent.

TOGA 2019 update
 

And Moon 888 push them hard :)
I like Maggie so much that I purchased the smaller one, 1.7i to use with NAD C338 for bedroom system which I use mostly for Youtube casting, it sounded good most contents I watch contain mostly voice. 50W class D watt from NAD worked quite ok too.

Toga

Toga, try a Gobel cable. They're fantastic.

howie

Thanks Howie,
Now also looking for new interconnects for Moon 850P>Moon 888
I have in mind the followings.
1. Transparent Opus
2. Transparent XL
3. TARA Labs Muse
4. TARA Evolution Zero

2 and 3 are more affordable.
Toga

FWIW, for analog cables I have found nothing better than WW Platinum Eclipse 8. I even used to sell Transparent, not even close according to my ears.

+1 on early impressions of Goebel cables as heard in Munich,...promising

These are a cut above IMHO;

Shunyata SIGMA XLR
Elrod Statement Gold XLR
Elrod Master Series Statement Gold XLR

All available single-ended as well.

I live with these and frankly they have beat everything that ever came thru the door over last 25 years by a wide margin to my listening tasted.

FWIW...

TOGA 2019 update
 

Comparing Luxman D08u to Esoteric K1 GranAttachment 59645Attachment 59646

Esoteric K1 sounds incredible .I love it.
Luxman sounded more relax, sweeter, great detail.
Esoteric is bold, confident, dynamic and hyper detailed.
Actually I like both.

Congratulations on the addition of the K1 to your beautiful system!!!

This is interesting. Ivan thanks.