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  #41  
Old 09-02-2019, 02:12 PM
Still-One Still-One is offline
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Originally Posted by zettelsm View Post
I’m with you, Jim. Though I only had four or five hours on my HD last night when I sat down to listen, I was immediately struck by how much more tonal density and solidity the HD brings to the music in comparison to running the Vivaldi short-stack straight into the S250 amp. Vivid is a word that comes to mind.

And, the HD sounds very dynamic. In fact Dan makes a comment in the foreward to the new owners manual to exercise some caution with the level control when starting out. Some of this might be higher overall gain than the original Momentum preamp, and indeed I found myself happily listening at lower level settings than typical before the upgrade, but I also found when I tried pushing the envelope a bit that l could listen at very high levels without any hardening or congestion occurring.

So far I’m very pleased with the HD upgrade. If it continues to improve with more hours I’ll be a very happy camper.

Steve Z
Steve
You make a good point about watching the volume with the HD version. After a couple of days I decided to choose the 2V output on the Vivaldi DAC rather than the 6V I used with the original unit and when I was running direct from from the DAC to the amps. I prefer seeing the volume level around 11 o'clock withe 2 volts rather than 8:30 with 6. Much better control.
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  #42  
Old 09-02-2019, 02:18 PM
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I too prefer low sensitivity output options when available.
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  #43  
Old 09-02-2019, 02:30 PM
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I too prefer low sensitivity output options when available.
Ivan
It is nice to have that option so we don't have such a small window on the volume control work with. As you know not all manufacturers offer this feature.
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  #44  
Old 09-03-2019, 01:14 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Still-One View Post
Ivan
It is nice to have that option so we don't have such a small window on the volume control work with. As you know not all manufacturers offer this feature.
D'Agostino caters to those who prefer a lower overall gain by providing low gain and higher gain settings, easily accessed via the front panel buttons. I'm using the lower gain HD setting as well as the 2V setting from my Vivaldi.

They also incorporated a user-selectable option to turn off the front panel lights after fifteen seconds. I like to listen in a darkened room, so this was a nice bonus for me.

The gain contour of the volume control was revamped to allow finer control in the middle of the range and the tone controls were also upgraded allowing more range. I haven't tried them out yet but I know I have some recordings that might benefit from a bit more low end or some additional sparkle up top.

All this before we even start talking about the completely new high-impedance input stage, bigger power supply and higher voltage output stage.

Though the HD upgrade was hardly inexpensive, considering the overall price of a new HD, the significant bump in audio quality and the new features incorporated I think it is fair value for the money spent.

Steve
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D’Agostino Momentum M400 amps, Momentum HD preamp, Momentum phono amp, Wilson Audio Alexx, 2X3 SVS SB16 Ultra subwoofer stacks.

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Last edited by zettelsm; 09-29-2019 at 10:28 PM. Reason: Punctuation and sense
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  #45  
Old 01-02-2020, 10:04 PM
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Default Great service, a gotcha, and another good comparision

Bumping this thread along, I had a small, self-inflicted hiccup with my Momentum HD that I thought I'd pass along.

Two nights ago the HD stopped responding to remote control signals. Since it was getting late I just wrapped up the listening for the evening and went to bed.

The next morning I replaced the batteries in the remote. I remembered that there was a pairing procedure to be followed to get the preamp and remote to talk to each other again after replacing batteries, but I didn't have the owner's manual at hand, and when I briefly powered up the preamp out of standby to see if the preamp was responding to remote signals again, it sure looked like it was -- volume control ran up and down just fine, so I said, "Hmmm" to myself and went on about my business for the day.

But later in the evening when I sat down to do some listening, despite the volume control and input selector functions working just fine, left channel volume was significantly higher than the right, with the entire soundstage pulled to the left speaker. I took a look at the balance setting by pressing the Balance button and the meter needle was straight up (balanced).

So then the troubleshooting began. By swapping right for left interconnects going in, and then going out of the preamp it certainly looked like the preamp was the problem. And disconnecting the preamp and using my Vivaldi DAC directly into the power amp confirmed that the power amp was just fine. Running out of any further ideas other than turning the preamp on and off several times, which didn't cure the problem, I spent the rest of the evening listening via the Vivaldi direct, and sent an e-mail off to Alex at D'Agostino.

Well, this morning I had a reply from Alex waiting in my in-box. His suggestion, press and hold the Balance button on the remote at least ten seconds. After re-pairing the remote to the preamp like I should have done in the first place, I did just that and voila! problem fixed.

So, kudos to Alex for the super-fast response, a face-palm to myself for not pairing the remote properly and assuming it just started working OK after the battery change without that necessary step.

The unintended consequence though besides the exercise of contorting myself behind the equipment rack several times and cleaning of XLR connectors by removing and inserting them in various sockets, was another comparison DAC-direct vs preamp in my system.

The Vivaldi volume control is very transparent and could hardly be considered bad to listen through. Indeed, many people do just that in digital-only systems and have dispensed with the expense of a preamp completely.

BUT, as clean and transparent as the Vivaldi is driving my Momentum amp directly, with the HD back in the system music is just so much more tonally saturated, vivid and dynamic I wouldn't want live without it. So a nice reminder why I spent that money to begin with.

So, when you replace your Momentum HD remote batteries -- always pair the remote to the preamp, and press Balance for a good ten seconds.

Steve Z
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D’Agostino Momentum M400 amps, Momentum HD preamp, Momentum phono amp, Wilson Audio Alexx, 2X3 SVS SB16 Ultra subwoofer stacks.

Shunyata Triton v3 & Typhon QR, Typhon. Shunyata Sigma NR & NR v2 cords and cables, Stillpoints ESS grid system rack, Stillpoint Ultras, ASC Tube Traps . . . and lots of music!
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  #46  
Old 01-02-2020, 11:02 PM
Still-One Still-One is offline
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Steve
Thanks for the heads up. I’m not sure I would guessed that would create/solve the balance issue.

Like you my Vivaldi sounded great direct to my amps and I could live with it that way. The HD upgrade was much better than I anticipated and I would not want to be without it.
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  #47  
Old 01-02-2020, 11:49 PM
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Thanks Steve, good tip. I haven’t had to change remote batteries yet, but up here in the foothills I get enough power outages that I have to re-pair once or twice a month.
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  #48  
Old 01-03-2020, 12:10 AM
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You're welcome Jim and Tony. It really caught me by surprise -- having balance go out of whack because of a remote battery change is not something I would have thought of either. In use, I never adjust the balance.

Alex Wilde at D'Agostino was right on top of it, though.

Steve
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VPI HW-40 Anniversary DD turntable, Grado Aeon3; Taiko Audio Extreme server, dCS Vivaldi APEX DAC and Master Clock, Cybershaft OP-21 reference clock, Playback Designs Pinot ADC.

D’Agostino Momentum M400 amps, Momentum HD preamp, Momentum phono amp, Wilson Audio Alexx, 2X3 SVS SB16 Ultra subwoofer stacks.

Shunyata Triton v3 & Typhon QR, Typhon. Shunyata Sigma NR & NR v2 cords and cables, Stillpoints ESS grid system rack, Stillpoint Ultras, ASC Tube Traps . . . and lots of music!
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  #49  
Old 01-03-2020, 02:31 AM
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Default Momentum HD Pre-Amp

Have any of you heard anything about a free update to the HD? My dealer called a couple of weeks ago and said there’s a free upgrade that he can do in-house if I want to bring it in, or he can come to my place if necessary. He was a bit vague about the benefit but it sounds like a board he’ll be replacing. With the holidays I haven’t had a chance yet to get it done, but I’m curious since no one here has mentioned it. It also struck me as a bit odd that he’d offer to drive two hours to do it at my house for no charge.
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Last edited by Antonmb; 01-03-2020 at 02:36 AM.
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  #50  
Old 01-03-2020, 12:57 PM
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Have any of you heard anything about a free update to the HD? My dealer called a couple of weeks ago and said there’s a free upgrade that he can do in-house if I want to bring it in, or he can come to my place if necessary. He was a bit vague about the benefit but it sounds like a board he’ll be replacing. With the holidays I haven’t had a chance yet to get it done, but I’m curious since no one here has mentioned it. It also struck me as a bit odd that he’d offer to drive two hours to do it at my house for no charge.
I haven't heard anything about a update for the HD. I wonder if it depends on the manufacture date. Mine was not built until late August this year.
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