New K-03 review (sort of)

[hfchoi]

Is the break in disc included with all the esoteric players?

Btw, electrical devices must be switched on/off at the main unit for devices that are properly off ie. no electricity running through it. These normally use mechanical on/off switches and as such can never be fully turned off at the remote (eg tv's).
Any device that is powered on/off at the remote simply toggles the standby/operating state where these devices always consume at least some electricity. These normally use logic on/off switches. It must be like that because there has to be power in at least the infra red circuit to receive the command from the remote.

[Masterlu]

Originally Posted by hfchoi

Is the break in disc included with all the esoteric players?

Btw, electrical devices must be switched on/off at the main unit for devices that are properly off ie. no electricity running through it. These normally use mechanical on/off switches and as such can never be fully turned off at the remote (eg tv's).
Any device that is powered on/off at the remote simply toggles the standby/operating state where these devices always consume at least some electricity. These normally use logic on/off switches. It must be like that because there has to be power in at least the infra red circuit to receive the command from the remote.

Yes

[hfchoi]

Originally Posted by Masterlu

Yes

Nice!

[jeffkrag]

Matt, nice "review." I too just shook my head and said out loud "are you kidding me?" when I realized the remote needed a screwdriver to open. Of course, this was on top of my recently obtained Krell S-1200 also needing a screwdriver to access it's remote's battery compartment. Really? Having just entered the "really high end" (at least for my wallet) this past year, maybe this is just the way it is, lol.

I've been doing exactly what Dan suggested to you. Whenever I can remember, I'm continuously running the conditioning disc (track 1 on repeat) with the rest of the system either off or just changing the input on the Krell prepro so no sound comes through to bother anyone. As it appears we must do that (for 500 hours no less!) for EVERY filter combination, I'm alternating between the two settings that seem to be the most recommended (By TAS, and by various forums/posters): 2x OS and either FIR1 or Sly_1. Let us know which sampling/filter combo you wind up liking, and have fun. Regards...Jeff

[jdandy]

Jeff.......Good to hear your K-03 break-in process is moving right along. Mine, too. I have been logging about 100 hours each on the different filter and upconversion settings. There's no way I'm going to put 500 hours each on the different digital and upconversion settings. Once I pass 500 hours with the break-in disc it will be all music from there.

I have read the TAS review of the K-03 at least three times. Although I appreciate Allen Taffel's opinion of which upconversion and filter settings sound best to him, I feel his choice of words when describing the various other settings were complete exaggerations. He used words like clearly inferior, airless, sickly, midrange bloat, sluggish rhythm, among other poorly chosen descriptors to support his personal preference for 2X upconversion and S_DLY1 apodising filter. His zest to endorse his favorite choice caused him to exaggerate his descriptions of the K-03's other settings in my opinion. I have listened for quite some time to the setting of No upconversion and No digital filter and find the sound to be excellent, dynamic and detailed. I have spent time enjoying various combinations of all the other settings and have not experience any sense of "airless", "sickly", "midrange bloat", or "sluggish rhythm". I honestly don't have a clue what motivated the reviewer to make such inaccurate statements as though they are absolute facts. Perhaps his player was not fully broken in, or any number of other scenarios.

When I read these types of erroneous exaggerations that are so far outside my personal experience with the same component I have a tendency to discount the author's credibility. Although Allen Taffel is a published and paid audio reviewer, his words still remain only his personal opinions, nothing more. I readily acknowledge it is the same for me. In this case, my opinion of his comments in the TAS review of the K-03 only goes to further support my view that audio publications are entertainment, not factual references or the final word as they like to purport. If you are looking for honest facts, the best audio publication resource I have found is the reporting done by John Atkinson in the Specifications section of equipment reviews in Stereophile Magazine. His work is fact based, not floated on opinions.

[jeffkrag]

So, how do you really feel about Mr Taffel? LOL. Agree that he is very opinionated, perhaps more so than most no doubt. However, like you, I do not want to put 500 hrs on all combinations, and was looking for a consistent recommendation among various forums/reviews. His was only one of them. The combos I'm using are what I found to be the consensus, albeit from a small sampling. However, I will agree with Taffel on the default setting (no OS or filter). It sounded pretty flat out of the box compared to the other settings, and frankly, I would have sold the unit had that been the sound I would have had to live with. The two settings I've used above were WAYYYY better than default right out of the box, so default setting is a no go in my book. Seems like others feel the same way, but of course everyone hears/enjoys different things in audio. It's all good.

Dan, btw, what settings have you selected to break in?

[tdelahanty]

I have the K07 and leave the volume attenuator set to "on", this allows access to the filter and sampling menus with the remote. I do not set the gain to +6db, I leave it set to "0", preferring the sound with the Marantz Ref gear. Keep in mind the K03 & 07 are different players and may not work the same, in any case options are good!!!!!

[jdandy]

Originally Posted by jeffkad

Dan, btw, what settings have you selected to break in?

Jeff.......I put 40 hours on ORG/DF>OFF, 40 hours on ORG/FIR1, 125 hours on 4Fs/S_DLY2, 125 hours on 2Fs/S_DLY1, and at noon today I switched to DSD/S_DLY1 and will let it go for 125 hours or so. Right now the K-03 has 342.5 hours of break-in.

I spent quite a bit of time listening to the different upconversion and digital settings when I auditioned the original K-03 that Ivan shipped to me for the review. At that time my preference was for the 4Fs upconversion and the S_DLY2 settings. I have since determined that I prefer the 2Fs upconversion and S_DLY1 digital filter. While I feel this is the very best combination of settings for my personal preference, I still believe all of the other settings have merit and none of those settings sound less than very good.

[jdandy]

Originally Posted by tdelahanty

I have the K07 and leave the volume attenuator set to "on", this allows access to the filter and sampling menus with the remote. I do not set the gain to +6db, I leave it set to "0", preferring the sound with the Marantz Ref gear. Keep in mind the K03 & 07 are different players and may not work the same, in any case options are good!!!!!

Tom.......I tried turning on the attenuation to see if I gained any additional remote control functions. The K-03's Group Title buttons allow selection of the input, but no additional controls were activated on the remote by selection Attenuation-On. What buttons on your remote select filter and sampling menus?

[tdelahanty]

Originally Posted by jdandy

Tom.......I tried turning on the attenuation to see if I gained any additional remote control functions. The K-03's Group Title buttons allow selection of the input, but no additional controls were activated on the remote by selection Attenuation-On. What buttons on your remote select filter and sampling menus?

Dan I was afraid our players would function differently, my remote has a button called "setup" and functions as I stated earlier if the volume function is turned on. Also of note, my remote is different than the K03's. It does not have any additional functions for other devices.