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How close are you to being to your endgame? My system outline and I'm almost there.

Hey everyone,

 

I've really been working on upgrading and putting my system together for a few years now and I really think I'm almost at my endgame system. I hope when money allows to add a ds audio w2 or 003 cartridge and energizer but that's truly my last goal. 

Just wanted to share a system update that’s been a long time in the making. Everything is finally coming together, and with the Innuos Zenith Mk3 arriving Tuesday, I’m feeling like this setup is finally reaching the level I’ve been aiming for—natural, musical, powerful, and emotionally engaging.


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🖥️ Digital Front End:
• Innuos Zenith Mk3 (arriving Tuesday)
• NewOnTech DAC07

I stream exclusively from Qobuz, and the DAC07 has been an impressive piece—clean, full, and musical without sounding clinical. I’m expecting the Zenith to be a big jump from the WiiM Pro I’ve been using. Everything I’ve read points to better flow, lower noise floor, and more organic presentation. Can’t wait to hear it in action.

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💿 Disc Player:
• Esoteric DV-50 Universal Player

I still love spinning SACDs and CDs occasionally, and the Esoteric handles those with authority and refinement. It’s built like a tank and sounds fantastic—still one of the better universal players out there, especially when fed into the DAC07.

 

🎛️ Preamp & Amp:
• Jeff Rowland Coherence II
• Jeff Rowland Model 8Ti

This pairing is magical. The Coherence II has a sense of ease and dimensionality that’s just addicting. Dead quiet, transparent, and rich. The 8Ti brings power and control with elegance—tons of grip and headroom, but never aggressive. They complement each other beautifully and really let the source shine.

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🔊 Speakers:
• EgglestonWorks Andra II

The Andras are stunning. Effortless dynamics, huge soundstage, and rich tonality. Vocals hang in space with weight and realism, and the bottom end is deep but never bloated. One of the few speakers I’ve heard that does scale, intimacy, and impact equally well. I've had magico s3's, focal 1038be and sonus faber sonetto v speakers among a lot of others over the years. Those were my last 3.

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💽 Analog Setup:
• VPI Aries Black Night Edition
• JMW-10 tonearm, TNT feet, upgraded bearing, Nordost tonearm wire
• Silver VPI clamp

I’m not playing vinyl as often right now, but this table has always impressed me. Gorgeous looks, black backgrounds, and excellent musical flow. Eventually I want to go for a DS Audio optical cartridge (w2 or 003)to take it even further.

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🔌 Cables:
• XLRs styled after Nordost Odin 2 (Chinese replicas)
• Wireworld Eclipse (early version) speaker cables

These have blended well with the rest of the system—clear and dynamic without sounding thin or over-hyped. They’ve let the character of the Rowland gear and Andras come through cleanly.

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🎧 Final Thoughts
With the Rowland amplification, the Andras, and the Zenith Mk3 landing this week, everything is clicking into place. The system has a rich, holographic sound with excellent weight and detail. Tonally balanced, emotionally involving, and easy to listen to for hours—exactly what I was after.

Would love to hear from anyone else running similar gear, especially Rowland or Eggleston setups. Always curious to hear what others have found with the Zenith Mk3 too.

Thanks for reading—happy listening!
—aj1735

aj1735

Showing 1 response by prof

prof
3,526 posts
 

 

 

Yes, I’m at my end-game system.

And I’m lucky because it essentially coincided with current downgrade in finances meaning I’m not really in this game anymore. 

Like many audiophiles I owned lots of gear over the decades.  And since I like to play with the sound, I often had more than one set of speakers to play with.  At one point I had up to seven pairs of speakers, including Thiel 3.7, Thiel 2.7, Waveform, MBL omnis, Spendor and others.

Also, in 2009 I had my listening room redesigned with the input of an acoustician, so it’s a great sounding room. 

A couple years ago, I went through a big  shedding of gear I didn’t need or was willing to sell, not only to reducing amount of gear, but also to afford my “ end game“ Joseph audio perspective 2 speakers. 

And that’s where I’ve  landed. 

I have enough gear to play with so that I’m not going to get bored.

I have the Joseph speakers , but I also kept my Thiel 2.7 floor standards as well, which I absolutely love.  I also kept my little Spendor s3/5 s - easy to store and easy to throw in the system whenever I want to glory in their beautiful sound.  And I also have kept my very old Thiel model 2 speakers - ancient simple 2-way monitors that have a magic I can’t give up.

Aside from that I can have fun tube rolling on my Conrad Johnson premier 12 mono blocks (I bought a whole bunch of different tubes to play with a couple years ago).

I can also play with preamps since I own both a Conrad Johnson premier 16 LS2 tube preamplifier as well as a benchmark LA4 solid state preamplifier - different flavours.

For sources I have  my beloved Transrotor Fat Bob S turntable, 12 inch acoustic solid arm, and bends micro ebony L cartridge.

JE Audio HP10 phono stage

For digital I stream  my ripped CD library and Tidal via my Bluesound Node to my Benchmark DAC 2L.

So tons to keep me happy for a long time.  

The only two things I can see as future purchases are:

New cartridge when that needs changing.

I’ve considered picking up a really cheap, decent solid state amplifier to occasionally throw into the system.  So I may keep my eye on the used market off and on for that.

I have to say as somebody who’s been such a fervent audiophile stocking and trying so much gear in the past 30 years, the prospect of not doing that anymore feels pretty weird.  But again if I had to stop, I sure ended up in a nice place! 

 

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