[Puma Cat]

Originally Posted by jimtranr

Now that my initial flush of enthusiasm for what the DAC-connected Venom NR v10 brought to the sonic performance of the bedroom system has had three weeks and change to bake in, I thought it might be useful to offer a how-do-you-feel-about-it-now perspective for readers who wonder if the glow has worn off. It sometimes does in audio, after all--you know, when after additional listening exposure a user concludes that "new" actually translates to "different" without achieving "better".

Not to worry in this instance. The magic continues. If anything, it elicits even more "holy [fill in your favorite expletive]" headshaking than it did at first blush. The detail, the transparency, the foundational heft and definition, the dynamic contrasts, the "you are there" delineation of whatever venue the artist[s], recording producer, and engineer elected to portray, the illusion of breathable performing-space "air"--it boggles (or "gobsmacks", if you prefer)...and, with well-recorded material (like the Earl Wild-played Copland and Menotti piano concertos embedded in the rip of a 20-bit SBM'd Vanguard CD auditioned yesterday), makes the listener forget that all of this is conveyed by electronics driving stand-mounted box-enclosed transducers.

This is, of course, the result of system integration, beginning with the Venom NR v10 feeding AC from the Defender'd wall outlet to original Hydra, thence via this thread's subject NR v10 to TEAC DAC--which in turn is signal-fed by a Shunyata Alpha USB cable that eliminated the need for an LPS 1.2-powered ISO REGEN.

It's good to be well-connected.

Your post mirrors my experiences perfectly. I couldn't have put it better other than to add that "gobsmacked" is the operative term here.