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So, one question (self serving): Was the Mac going through the Bitfrost?
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#12
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Oh, and congratulations on knowing how wonderful your system is and feeling totally satisfied with it! We all know you'll play around more, but it is very good news that you are very comfortable in this particular audio skin.
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#13
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Pider, yes, the Macbook music server and the Squeezebox Touch were both going through the Bifrost. The Oppo was through the Oppo. Tough to beat the Oppo's DACs. Jerome, Rob liked all the turntables, the mono Grado, the Sumiko Pearwood and the Koetsu. I tihnk his favorite was the Koetsu, though. When Rob called yesterday, he inquired as to the rationale behind the two turntables, and I answered that as I listen to vinyl for >95% of my listening, it's just nice to have two different cartridges/tables to listen to to mix things up a bit; my analogy was that it was like single-malt scotches; do you want Talisker or Lagavulin today? I was kind of suprised how much Rob liked the Dynaudios as he's lived with Quads for the better part of three decades. It was like, "whatever you do, do not get rid of these speakers..." When we talked again on the phone yesterday he was most impressed with their coherence, naturalness, speed, neutrality, bass accuracy and definition, and complete lack of listener fatigue. Rob also thought they were the perfect match for my smallish listening space, and a larger or more powerful speaker would not sound as good as it would overwhelm or overpressurize the room. Overall, I think Rob liked how similar the listening experience was to his, even though we have reasonably different implementations, but both powered by C-J tube gear. He already knew the C-J electronics would be great, but Rob also commented on how quiet the system was, and how the low noise floor from the Shunyata power cords and Hydra contributed to the naturalness and ease of listening. And that's what I've found too, the power cords and distributor impart a listening ease that you don't know you can obtain unntil you put them in the system. It's nice when you can accomplish that when your phono stage, preamp, and amp all place several tubes in the amplification chain. I think we ended up with similar sounding systems because our requirements were pretty much exactly the same: a complete lack of listener fatgue, emphasis on naturalness and musicality of voice, timbre, tone color, and neutrality rather than the "hi-fi-y" attributes you might hear at audio shows.
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Lumin P1 streamer/DAC/preamp, Constellation Inspiration integrated TT: Michell Gyro SE MkII, SME V, Koetsu Urushi Vermilion, EAR324. Harbeth 30.2s, REL R-305, Shunyata Alpha V2 ICs, Alpha V2 SPs, Sigma XC, Sigma NRv2, Omega QR-s & Alpha NRv2 PCs, segmented Altaira SG stack w/ Alpha & Omega CGCs, Everest 8000 PD. Remote Server Room: Uptone EtherREGEN, AfterDark Master Clock & LPS, Alita, Battle Angel, (Akasa NUC Roon Core), iFi DC Purifiers (for SMPS used for Alita & router), Shunyata Gemini combo power distributor & Altaira-type CG GP-NR hub, Venom & Alpha CGCs, Shunyata NRv14 power cords for digital components. Last edited by Puma Cat; 02-06-2012 at 05:41 PM. |
#14
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Very cool, thx for posting Stephen! It's always interesting to hear how others describe your system!
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McIntosh MA12000, Hifi Rose RS150B Streamer, Roon Nucleus + Server, JBL Classic L100 Classic 75s, REL S812s (x2), Pioneer PL-630 Vintage TT with Hana SL cart. |
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Stephen ---- congrats! There is nothing like sharing musical enjoyment and our fine hobby with others that appreciate it. I still have yet to hear a DynAudio setup in person. Someday!
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Karl Listening Room (2 Channel): Vandersteen 5A speakers, Simaudio Moon Neo 400M Mono Block Amplifiers, Esoteric D-07X DAC (preamp) via Apple Mac Mini (Roon), Furman IT-Reference 20i Power Cond., Wireworld. Listening Room (HT Portion): Vandersteen VCC-5 Center, Vandersteen VSM Signature Surrounds, JL Audio CR1 Crossover, JL Audio f110 v2 Subwoofer, Marantz SR 5010 Receiver, Wireworld Office: KEF R500 Speakers; Sonos Amp fed by Roon Family Room: Monitor Audio Silver RX6 speakers, McIntosh MA6600 Integrated Amplifier, Pro-Ject RME 9.1 TT w/ Sumiko Blackbird MC Cart. |
#16
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PC -- This is a great write up and I imagine its always nice to hear what others think of your system even though it wouldn't change what you already think.
Of course, when they come back with such glowing opinions, it does feel nice. |
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Thanks, WantmoreHD,
I knew that I really liked what I was gettiing from the system. I was listening to some LPs last night while packing and getting ready to leave for a short business trip today, and was filing the veritable mountain of bills, statements, credit card solicitations, blah blah paperwork that pile up on the desk get every month, and man, it sounded great. But my friend Rob's system was always my reference for musicality, transparency, 'listenability",and just plain naturalness of presentation. As my requirements were the same as his, it was nice to know that he found the same qualities in my system as he acheived in his, albeit by slightly different means.
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Lumin P1 streamer/DAC/preamp, Constellation Inspiration integrated TT: Michell Gyro SE MkII, SME V, Koetsu Urushi Vermilion, EAR324. Harbeth 30.2s, REL R-305, Shunyata Alpha V2 ICs, Alpha V2 SPs, Sigma XC, Sigma NRv2, Omega QR-s & Alpha NRv2 PCs, segmented Altaira SG stack w/ Alpha & Omega CGCs, Everest 8000 PD. Remote Server Room: Uptone EtherREGEN, AfterDark Master Clock & LPS, Alita, Battle Angel, (Akasa NUC Roon Core), iFi DC Purifiers (for SMPS used for Alita & router), Shunyata Gemini combo power distributor & Altaira-type CG GP-NR hub, Venom & Alpha CGCs, Shunyata NRv14 power cords for digital components. |
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Stephen, what is amazing in my opinion it is that your friend did not feel slowness / lack of speed with regard to these ESL 63
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Philippe l LP12SE,urika phonostage,radikal power supply, dynavector XV-1s,conrad-johnson GAT and LP275M, Sonus Faber Elipsa,yter/naim/Linn cables, vibex, finite elemente |
#19
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Stephen, awesome thread. True testament when a quad diehard raves about another speaker. Thats like getting a Greenbay Packer's fan to compliment another team! It is always awesome to have a friend with similar listening preferences on what their ears value. Sounds like your system has reached the summit! Btw what are the two tables you have? Darrin
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#20
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Dynaudio are reknown for being amongst the fastest dynamic driver speakers, and in my own experience, are completely competitive with the best panel speakers for speed. They are so fast, in fact, that like with panel speakers, integrating a sub that can match them for speed can be a bit of an issue, for the same reasons as it can be with panel speakers. The only makes I know that are fast enough to keep up with Dyn drivers are Dyn's own subs, REL, and JL. So, actually I wasn't too surprised that my friend did not feel the slowness / lack of speed with regard to his ESL 63s, 'cause I already had a pretty good idea just how fast the Dyns are. The Contour S3.4 model in particular is exceptional in this regard as they scale (ability to accelerate) from piano (soft) to loud/dynamic (fortissimo) and back again incredibly quickly and with virtually no hint of strain or breakup. The S3.4s are also well-regarded for their top-to-bottom coherence, more so than the bigger, three-way S5.4. He also liked them for their neutrality as well as complete lack of listener fatigue.
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Lumin P1 streamer/DAC/preamp, Constellation Inspiration integrated TT: Michell Gyro SE MkII, SME V, Koetsu Urushi Vermilion, EAR324. Harbeth 30.2s, REL R-305, Shunyata Alpha V2 ICs, Alpha V2 SPs, Sigma XC, Sigma NRv2, Omega QR-s & Alpha NRv2 PCs, segmented Altaira SG stack w/ Alpha & Omega CGCs, Everest 8000 PD. Remote Server Room: Uptone EtherREGEN, AfterDark Master Clock & LPS, Alita, Battle Angel, (Akasa NUC Roon Core), iFi DC Purifiers (for SMPS used for Alita & router), Shunyata Gemini combo power distributor & Altaira-type CG GP-NR hub, Venom & Alpha CGCs, Shunyata NRv14 power cords for digital components. Last edited by Puma Cat; 02-17-2012 at 05:03 PM. |
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