[DVass13]

I will start off by stating that I am much better at listening to music than writing about it. It's much easier for me to know that I like the way something sounds than to convey that feeling to others. I won't go into the details of his system as I'm sure I would forget/leave pieces out so please take a look at the images he has shared with read his own description. As for my impressions, I guess I'll give it a shot...

I had the pleasure of visiting Mark yesterday morning and thought I'd do a short write-up about the experience. I made the short drive down from Asheville on official audio business - I purchased Mark's Esoteric A-02 amp and was driving down to give it a listen, pack it up, and haul it back up into the mountains to power my new (to me) Wilson Audio Sabrinas.

Mark was kind enough to welcome me into his home and invited me to give his system a listen. He asked me what kind of music I'd like to listen to, picked out a CD, loaded it into his transport, and gave me the remote. He then stepped away and let me become absorbed in the music. The two things that struck me immediately about his system is that it truly is a full-range system and that it images wonderfully. These bass in this system goes down deep... like way down deep... like floor-rumbling, feel it in your stomach deep. I didn't find the bass to be overpowering, but present. Present in a way that made me think about how absent it is in many of the systems I've heard.

After a few tracks I mentioned to Mark that I was impressed with the imaging. The soundstage was much wider than the speakers and I could easily close my eyes and pick out where individual instruments were. He told me that I hadn't heard half of what it was truly capable of. He then picked out a CD - Roger Waters' Amused to Death - a CD that I was somehow unfamiliar with. He told me it might not be my taste in music but that it would have me looking into the next room over for another set of speakers. Sure enough, as soon as he hit play I could hear crickets chirping in the next room over. I wanted to look out the window for the dog barking.

What I found even better than the sound coming from Mark's system was the immense library of CDs/SACDs he has amassed. He was kind enough to walk me through his collection and explain how it is organized. It took me back to my childhood. My dad has a what I always thought as a child was too many CDs. He has shelves of classical CDs and I always found it strange, even wasteful, that he had multiple CDs of the same piece. I'm sure he has at least ten different versions of The Planets and just as many version of Beethoven's Symphonies. I never understood why until I began my own journey into the audio world just a few years ago. Though my dad has a pair of Klipschorns and some JBL 100s and I grew up surrounded by music I never really understood it. I was always hearing music, but I never truly listened to it. I never picked out differences between various recordings of the same piece. At least not until I started my own journey.

It was very refreshing to share these thoughts with Mark and to chat about some of our own journeys in the audio world. Our conversation definitely showed how passionate he is about music. On my short journey so far in the Head-Fi world and now into the 2-channel world I have seen many people who, from an outside perspective, seem to be caught up in the gear. It's very easy to do. It's so easy to always be thinking about the next upgrade and how to squeeze a bit more performance out of the system. I am guilty of this myself as I'm sure most of us are or have been at some point. The passion that Mark has for music really showed during my visit and I left with the impression that he has put together a top-notch system so that he can better enjoy the music that he loves. It seems that through the many changes in his system, through the entire progression he has maintained the music as the most important aspect.

I am glad that I reached out to Mark about his amp, not just because I was able to purchase a great piece of audio equipment, but because I was able to connect with a fellow audiophile and enjoy an hour chatting about a shared passion. Obviously, I cannot invite others to listen to his system, but if anyone is extended an invitation from Mark to listen to his system I highly recommend taking him up on it. I'm sure it would be nothing short of a wonderful experience. I'm looking forward to meeting up with him again and picking his brain (and collection) over for some new music to listen to.