Closing in on done
I decided in Feb 2020 to build the best system I could, and get off the incremental upgrade merry go round. That iterative process was fun and instructive, but every time I’d make an improvement I’d start wondering about what was next. Not the best use of time or money.
I had great support from dCS, D’Agostino, and the Kennedy Brothers at JSA Audio along the way, and I’m done, component-wise.
I have a Shunyata Omega XC on the way for the Denali, and a Sigma V2 NR inbound for one of the digital components. Thru a bunch of horse trading, I wound up with a Stealth Dream V10 (pre) on the upsampler - this’ll be replaced by the Sigma.
The 2000T in the photos will be out of the rack soon (right now it runs the amps), and I’ll run the preamp, Vivaldi stack and amp thru the Denali. That’ll fill all six outlets.
I’ll probably have another dedicated 20 amp circuit run to the stereo and experiment with the amps and the preamp fed directly from the wall, and the digital front end by itself on the Denali. Lots of good listening and critical analysis in the future for me!
It’s has all come together as I’d hoped; with the exception of maybe another power cable upgrade (something better for the amps), I’m done. Time to enjoy...
Here is the full inventory, with a couple photos. I made the rack myself BTW...I’ll post more on that later. It was easy, and cost me around $1,500 vs estimates well over $5,000 plus shipping for something similar.
Slainte,
Mitch
COMPONENTS
D’Agostino Momentum HD preamp
D’Agostino Momentum 300 mono amps (x2)
dCS Vivaldi DAC
dCS Vivaldi Upsampler
dCS Vivaldi clock
Shunyata 6000V2 power conditioner
Wilson Sasha DAW speakers
JL Audio Fathom 113 subwoofers (x2)
QNAP TS-251 NAS (10 TB storage, 8 gb RAM)
Netgear GS308 eight port unmanaged Ethernet switch
MacMini
INTERCONNECTS
Preamp to amps. Stealth Indra V7 XLR
Preamp to subs. Stealth Swift XLR
Preamp to DAC. Stealth Sakra XLR
Upsampler to DAC. Nordost Valhalla 2 AES/EBU
Clock to DAC. Stealth Octava BNC (44.1 hz) and Nordost Valhalla 1 BNC (48 hz)
Clock to Upsampler. Stealth Octava BNC (44.1 hz) and Nordost Valhalla 1 BNC (48 hz)
Macmini to DAC. Stealth USB
Wall to Ethernet switch. Audioquest Diamond
Ethernet switch to DAC. Audioquest Diamond
Ethernet switch to Macmini. Blue Jeans Cable
Modem to Ethernet female connector. Audioquest Diamond
NAS to modem. Audioquest Vodka
POWER
Wall to Shunyata 6000V2. Shunyata Omega XC
Shunyata 6000V2 to preamp. Stealth Dream V18 (preamp)
Shunyata 6000V2 to DAC. Stealth Dream V12 (digital)
Shunyata 6000V2 to Clock. Stealth Dream V18 (digital)
Shunyata 6000V2 to Upsampler. Shunyata Sigma V2 NR
Shunyata 6000V2 to mono amps. Stealth Dream V10 (power) x2
Wall to Macmini. Shunyata Venom 14 (digital)
Wall to Subwoofers. Stealth Cloude 99 (full) (x2)
SPEAKER WIRE
Amps to Sasha DAWs. Stealth Dream Petite V16, biwire
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