APL NWO2.5 ?


Though I'm not able to hear this player, I'm about to take the plunge......
Is it as good as some audiophiles claim ?
peterb
The NWO is just AMAZING in the quality of musicality, along with more definition, of detail I have ever heard from a digital player. I am smiling, happy, and even content. This has been a LONG journey, searching for the finest in musical reproduction....I have found it.
I started this thread.... so I'm butting in.
I have a question for Alex; I just bought a Denon 3910 from Mike at Hotrod mods. It is a stage II mod w/your output board and super clock. How does this player compare to your full mod 3910? Will I be happy?
I talked with you briefly about the NW0-2.5 conversion of my Esoteric X-01. I made the choice to sell my Esoteric and keep my wife...
1markr, today, could even be the day...Whasup buddy, this year going better? How is YOUR system sounding these days?
No hard feelings, Gandme.
Just counting the days.....till my NWO-2.5 arrives :-)
Fplanner, Guido,AckmanOO,I will be trying many, over the next few months, and will let you know what I like best. Remember, as in most things, the quality is too MY ears, in MY system, and is only MHO. YMMV.
I finally have a little time to enjoy some music today, using the Ridgestreet Alethias PC. I have about 100 hours on NWO now, and all is progressing very nicely. I cannot say how much change there is from burn in, but, I can say that listening to Vaya Con Dios(What's a woman)I am hearing this well recorded disc, like I am in the venue itself. I canot say if this was recorded, in studio, or hall, but, it sure sounds like a hall. I am hearing the CD
with startling dynamic swings. Music is just natural, textured, and holistic, with the most amazing soundstage properties I have EVER had in my system. I love it when I have the hair on my neck stand up, and shivers down my spine. I am just loving the amount information that is REALLY on these little silver/gold disc's. I knew my speakers were fast, but, I have NEVER heard them sound this great.

I have also been amazed at listening lesser quality disc's from the 80's with my personnal choice of classic rock, just sound so much better than I have heard in years. I used to have to go to a buddy's home, to listen to Aerosmith(toys in the attic)Deep Purple(machine head)Black Sabbath(paranoid)The Who(who's next), Allman Brothers(eat a peach), David Bowie(ziggy stardust), Bad Company(bad company), Jethro Tull(aqualung), Eric Clapton(561 ocean blvd), Pink Floyd(the wall), Brecker Brother(brecker), Jimmy Hendrix(electric ladyland)et et et sound like I remember it in college. I have NEVER been able to get this type of sound from digital before, it needed to be analog, and top notch analog at that. Thank god, my wait and patience seems to be paying off handsomely.

WOW, I am smilin today.
I used to have to go to a buddy's home, to listen to...
What is your buddy's system, Steve?
Guido,

Picking up on Alex's post, I've done a lot of experimentation over the past 2 years on the entire power delivery chain from the panel including wiring, outlets, power conditioning equipment and especially power cords. Specifically, I have owned Shunyata power cords including the pre-Helix and Helix versions of the Anaconda Alpha and VX as well as the Hydra 8. I have also owned PS Audio regenerators and Ultimate Outlets.

Before getting the NWO2.5 in December I owned the Linn CD12, Unidisk 1.1 and various versions of Mark Levinson digital gear.

My findings in no particular order are:
- The VX version of the Shunayta Anaconda PC rolled off the highs in my system on all of my digital equipment. I think the VX is best used on digital gear that is very edgy and/or noisy and therefore needs to be "tamed down". I greatly preferred the Alpha cable on all of my analog and digital gear.

- The Anaconda Alpha Helix was decided better than the non-Helix version and I upgraded to all Helix cables when they came out with them.

- However, I have found that a power cord comprised of two (one for hot and one for neutral - I don't use the ground) silver core conductors each with an oversized Telfon insulator yields better results than the Anaconda Helix Alpha on my NWO2.5 and darTZeel amplifier. This configuration is very similar to Alex's silver IC and SpC (which I also use now), but I made these up myself. I would caution a couple of things here. First, my results are IMS and IMO...YMMV. Second, if you live in an area with high EMI/RFI given that these PC's are unshielded they may pick up noise that is unacceptable. Last, they most definitely would not pass UL approval..:-). But, for me, they have significantly elevated the performance of my system, just like Alex's IC and SpC silver cables. BTW, I also replaced the stock copper braided cable in my Dynaudio Temptation speakers with Alex's silver core cable with fantastic results; all 54 feet of it.

Bottom line, my experience has been very favorable using an unshielded silver (ultra high purity I might add) core cable with Teflon insulator for all of my cables - power, interconnect and speaker. However, they might not work well in all systems. Many people regard silver cables as being "too bright"...IMHO this is not the cable. Rather, these silver cables "lay bare" your system showing up any edginess, brightness, noise, etc. you have. Before I got the NWO2.5 using all of this silver core wire would have probably made my ears bleed, but once you have a source of the extreme quality of the NWO2.5 and you deal with other sources of noise (power, vibration, etc.) you want to extract every bit of resolution it has to offer and my experience has been that Alex's unshielded silver core cables do that really well as do power cables with the same configuration.

Good luck with your experimentations!
Steve, congratulations on getting your NWO2.5! I'm very happy for you and know your delight will increase considerably once you get 150 - 200 hours on it. I continue to love my NWO2.5 and will be posting a detailed review on it shortly.
Any of you guys throw away stuff that you've found wanting? If so,I was thinking of doing some serious dumpster diving. BTW, thanks for all the interesting information you guys put out.