This 30 year Anniversary Reference Kalista Dreamplay transport and Dac is not cheap with price tag of 100K$.
But it seems to match the sound of MSB Select II with transport.
I am getting strong temptation to snatch this beauty.
I have to check my bank balance after going back to my home in US.
This is my first encounter with Ypsilon amplifiers and I am also deeply impressed with the quality of its sound and relatively affordable price.
PST100 pre amplifier has both active and passive mode.
Passive give more transparent sound while sacrificing little bit of dynamics.
Yongsan Electronic Land used to house more than 200 high end audio shops about 15 years ago, while it had dwindled to around 100 shops now.
But it is still one of the best place to audition high end audio and vintage audio.
As I go through the top digital systems in Korea, it is getting more difficult to choose one to replace my 10 years old EMMLab Dac2( new price was 9k$).
It is known that tube amplifier tend to show higher distortion No. but with benign second harmonics.
SET tend to have less crossover distortion due to class A operation.
But important thing is how it sounds with your speaker.
I am happy with my current combination.
In Korea, most shops use SS amplifiers for auditioning product.
The reason is to reduce warmup time and heat in small soace.
I like the sound from Lampi Pacific coupled with SS amp.
But I get the feeling that it could be too full with tube amp.
Audio is personal choice.
I prefer transparent soundstage with lot of details but not lean or analytical.
With combination of Lansce 4.1, Line Magnetic 508 SET, Chord Dave and Mscaler, I am happy to get the sound that I want.
Please also note that I am using Spiritual Audio power conditioner and 5 separate isolation transformer for each components and LI battery pack for Mscaler.
With wrong combination, Chord Dave and Mscaler could sound analytical and lean.
My 9 years old EMMLab Dac2 is no slouch in details, dynamics, wide and deep soundstage.
But Chord Dave and Mscaler is better in more details and transparent and deeper soundstage.
Thus I am happy with this combination.
I am playing with several digital cables that I have.
R2R Dac s are very popular with organic sound.
But some of them has shortage of bass slamm (not MSB Select II and Pacific).
Chord Dave and Mscaler, could give excellent result with proper system matching.
If I could stretch my budget to 100k$, then I would have wandered between MSB Select II and Metronome Kalista.
But within budget of 20K, I am happy to get the sound that I want.
I had listened to "The Trinity Session" by Cowboy Junkies for more than 50 times since 1990.
On 1990, my system consisted of Apogee Duetta Signature, Krell KSA 150, Passive Attenuator, California Audio Lab CD player.
This albums sounded spooky with transparent background on 1990.
Today, I played this album again with Lansche4.1, Line Magnetic 508 SET int amp, Chord Dave and M scaler with upsampling to 768 KHz.
It sounds as transparent as back on 1990, but with more details, wider and deeper soundstage.
I am happy with Chord Dave and M scaler after 20 hours of listening.
It may sound hot or analytical in bright system.
But with 4 separate isolation transformers, SET amplifier and plasma tweeter,, Chord Dave and M scaler sounds perfect not being too analytical.
I had auditioned MSB Select II, Premier, Discrete, Total Dac 6, Chord Dave and M scaler, Lampiziator Pacific, Metronome Kalista, Trinity, Aqua Formula XHD during last 6 months in the shops (not my home).
My guess is that In my system, only MSB Select II will sound significantly better than Chord Dave and M scaler in organic details, soundstage width and depth.
Trinity, Lampiziator Pacific, Metronome Kalista could be slightly better than Chord Dave and M scaler in my system but not worth upgrade from Chord Dave and M scaler.
Chord Dave without upsampling sounds just ordinary.
But with upsampler, its soundstage width, depth and transparency, details are extraordinary.
I think I can live happily with Chord Dave and M scaler for next 3 years or more.
If some innovative Dac with reasonable price of under 50K$ come out and crush all existing products in the future, then I will upgrade to it.
I agree if you cannot tell the differences within 30 seconds then don't worry about it. If you can hear a big improvement, then you have a decision to make.
Not all manufactures of CD players are in the DARK concerning
I.e. Scattered light/ flutter/vibration. Look at the number of higher end
Transport Mfg & Players now offering (Top loaders with clamps/ weighted clamps to boot.) Scattered light. Same! with those like Cord Dave the reader is so close to the CD light leakage is almost a non issue.
As far as the Best Dac for playback irritation control.
If a given CD was badly engineered. Try a different artist/different label same songs.
After say $4K for CD player the next 2to 9K+spent you may half to listen to the same song over & over just hear a 2 or 3% improvement.
@shkong78 I did not think that you were saying the Jays was the best one, you mentioned 30% for the Metronome or so. I was just saying that in the comparison to the older Metronome, what the differences were. I have not yet heard a server that competes with a good transport and DAC combination but I would like to. I do not want to sink money into a spinner when I guess less companies are making them especially in the future so I have been buying the older top of the line CD Transport for cheap.
If you find something that you feel is really good, please send me a message. I have a friend that is really into this and I am pushing him to built something for me to hear.
Guys Mojo Audio’s Mystique V2+ R2R Ladder Dac with Jays Transport and Black Cat Silverstar digital cable Extremely analog sounding with great dynamics. Curious to try Denafrips Terminator Dac with Jays Transport and Black Cat Digit 75
@shkong78 - I recently purchased an old Metronome CD1A transport with separate power supply. I is a very nice transport and I recently compared it tot he Jay's Audio Transport. The five people hearing the transports all noted that the Metronome was more musical, relaxed, better separation, dimension and depth to the soundstage. The Jay's offered a wider soundstage. I got the Metronome for a song! Back in the say it was a higher priced transport. What present better, I cannot qualify that but I was happy with what I heard. As good as the Metronome sounded, my Audiomecca Mephisto II is better sounding still. That sounds less mechanical. Go Figure. I used to own a CC Tl-1X which I liked very much but the new CEC's are even better than my old spinner. Unfortunately the spinners I own are getting old and parts are getting hard to come by. Personally, The Jay's transport did not wow me in anyway. I would probably opt for a TL-5 CEC transport if I was going to look for a newer spinner. The terminator DAC did sound pretty good for the price point but again I have heard older DACs that are going for reasonable prices sound equal or better for less that $4500. I build my own components so I don't have a need for anything but the spinner and speakers now.
@shkong78 have you looked at Stromtank? They seem to have a very good solution for power cleaning. It is expensive but your systems sounds like it is top notch and the S2500 may suit it.
Stoplight only affected scattered red light. But most of the scattered light is not red, it’s invisible. That’s why the effects are relatively subtle. Massive construct and huge power supplies have nothing to do with scattered light.
I happen to think scattered light is a positive in my system. With my setup and my scattered light refraction balancer in analog mode I hear things others can’t detect. Sublime!
I tend to doubt it. It’s probably not isolated from seismic vibration and how could it prevent the CD itself from vibrating and fluttering during play, which is the particular issue I’ve been referring to here. The scattered light issue notwithstanding. As I said, manufacturers appear to be completely in the dark on both issues. Besides, how would you know a particular player is immune from vibration? You wouldn’t.
>>>>How could anyone know the difference if no one even knew they were issues and if no one ever heard any CD player or any CD under ideal circumstances? You don’t know what you don’t know. 😳
Geoff wrote: “Unless a CD player has conquered the scattered light problem and the CD vibration problem it is a non starter. It's just more of the same. For that reason I'm out.”
It is too bad no tweak exists to fix these issues.
Unless a CD player has conquered the scattered light problem and the CD vibration problem it is a non starter. It's just more of the same. For that reason I'm out.
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