Stick to the Rossini as a preamp if you own the clock... No, the Rossini isn’t the Vivaldi as a preamp. Not close either. The Vivaldi kills the Rossini as a preamp.
After hearing the Vivaldi as a preamp, I can't live with the Rossini as a preamp so now I need a preamp which is why the momentum HD is here and I am working on bringing the ref6se back in. |
Viber
I'm not about to embark on reviewing amps using the rating system without really sitting down and giving it some serious thought. If I answer you then everyone else will come back and want me to throw numbers off the top of my head for other amps I've owned and that's not going to be too fair.. |
@goodsource...Please refer to my YouTube channel where I have talked about this and I believe I also have given a few pointers about using dacs as Preamps if you scroll back a few pages. |
|
Good morning gentlemen,
I’ve been missing in action due to work but I’ve been playing with equipment a few nights and specifically with the oppo 205 and lampizator. Tons of A/B comparisons between these have led to confusion. On certain nights I feel as if the lampizator distances itself and other nights like last night, it was a race where I couldn’t choose a winner. I also used BOTH components directly as preamps and as sources through the ref10. I cued the same songs through roon on both the oppo and lampizator and connected both of them on 2 different inputs on the ref10 and matching volumes perfectly on both sources so that when I switched inputs on the ref 10, the volume was the same on both. I proceeded to push play on both players and the same song at the very same exact second and went between input 1 and input 2 constantly and I couldn’t really hear a difference. I tried plenty of songs and the results were the same.
when I had the platinum 7 speaker cables, I picked up a difference when doing the experiment above. I heard the lampizator sounding sharper and the oppo just a tad less focused. The Odin speaker cables make both sources sound pretty much the same. Not sure if it is because they haven’t broken in yet. I still have to take these cables to my dealer but it’s hard for me to let go of this experiment and watch the system grow before my eyes as the cables break in.
Again, the experiment is indeed confusing to me. I clearly remember the lampizator sounding better when I was using platinum 7 speaker cables in the system. It was more liquid, more pure, more articulated but this doesn’t mean it doesn’t sound good right now. It was just easier for me to hear it shine better when comparing it to the ref10.
Today I will be introducing Shunyata alpha NR powecords on the amps and the ref10.
I’m somewhat pissed off that I took down the sound I was getting through the Odin 1 and lampizator with platinum 7 speaker cables. It was INCREDIBLE and possibly the best I’ve heard here.
I am getting the feeling that the speaker cables right now are the bottleneck because they are trapping the sound and turning it into whatever they want. I probably should have my dealer break them in but that is a long 10 day affair for me that is painful to endure. I’m the type that just wants to keep sitting and listening and writing down my thoughts. It is part of the journey of watching the system go up another level little by little.
That said, the oppo 205 with the Odin 1 pc and platinum 8 xlr cables is a sleeping giant that can creep up on you and begin to make you question things. It’s best that you all with expensive rigs don’t attempt to do this. I’m telling you it is no slouch and no I’m not saying that right now it is beating any source I own because I need to sort out my speaker cable issue but even when I had the platinum 7 sspeaker cables I heard great things through the oppo. Crazy but yes I won’t bs anyone here. One more thing, please remember that I’m using a 11,000 dollar powercord and 6,000 dollar xlr cables on it. Don’t think a naked oppo 205 with stock chords can come close to the big dacs.
|
Listening to the oppo vs lampizator again right now and again there’s pretty much zero difference when going through the ref10. I still suspect my issue are the speaker cables not pushing the sound completely to the speakers.
Odin cables are headed back to the dealer today to be burnt in. I will be bringing home a pair of Shunyata alpha NR speaker cables. Let’s wait for the shock of a lifetime... wait for it ... wait for it... |
Well,
being angry, disappointed and not happy, I went on a rampage and bought the following:
Shunyata Denali 2000t
2 pairs of shunyata alpha xlr
3 shunyata alpha powercords
Shunyata Denali 6000t
shunyata alpha xlr speaker cables.
I have connected the speaker cables first since the Odin are now being broken by the dealer. I also connected the ref 10 with the new xlr and the oppo to the ref10 with new xlr as well.
Impressions to come later.
|
Denali 6000t: outstanding. Big huge sound out of my block audios. Smooth, clean, and far better bass. Blown away by the Denali 6000t. Far more detail and black backgrounds. It’s a spectacular component.
|
Possible jetter. Right now I am going by what I am hearing. |
Unplugged the aftermarket powercord I had on the ref10 (can’t mention brand) and then I plugged in yet another Shunyata alpha nr pc into the ref10 and it totally woke up the ref10. The highs sound sharper with more bite and less “warmish or laid back”. Outstanding synergy is entering the system as I add cable by cable. The Odin 1 pc has exited the system for the next few days. I still have 3 more alpha PCs in their boxes. Plan is to add one to the oppo tomorrow and listen and then the final 2 will go in the block audios.
Towards the end I will plug the Monos into the wall with the alpha cables and then I’ll go back and plug them into the Denali and compare to see if these monsters prefer the Denali over dedicated 20a outlets.
Then the last thing I will do is bring the Odin pc and speaker cables into the system at once and see what they do to the full Shunyata presentation.
will a full Shunyata alpha set up best the Odin 1 pc and Odin 1 speaker cables when they enter the system ? We shall see. |
3 hours into the listening sesssion and right now I could dump the lampizator and ref10 and leave the oppo 205, Odin 1powercord as my preamp. Yes, it’s incredibly better after plugging it into the Denali.
I seriously hope that the Odin 1 speaker cables perform when I pick them up in 9 days. If they come here and don’t blow away these Shunyata alpha speaker cables then I will be selling them as well.
So for all you know, I could be selling the lampizator, ref10 and Odin speaker cables in 2 weeks. One thing is for sure, the Denali 6000t, oppo 205 and Odin 1 powercord aren’t going anywhere. |
|
Ok I want to clear the dust here. Technically speaking the Lampizator and Oppo 205 should not sound the same. One is tube based while the other is not. There is no reason WHY they should sound alike and to me it also did not make any sense. I remember when I had Wireworld Platinum 7 speaker cables with platinum interconnects. I was able distinguish the oppo 205 from the Lampizator when I connected both to the ref10. I felt like the lampizator had sharper images and a different presentation. however, I proceeded to borrow a Nordost Odin 1 PC which was already broken in since it was a few years old and connected this to the lampizator and it was jaw dropping what It did. As a matter of fact this was THE BEST I have ever heard the lampizator sound. Soon after being shocked, I decided to purchase a brand new odin 1 pc and odin 1 speaker cables. I placed them in the system and I did not feel as wowed which could have been because they are brand new cables with zero break in. I tried to compare the lampizator once again to the oppo now that I had odin 1 cables and I could not detect a difference between both. I mean, if there was a difference, I had to find the right song and work very hard to hear it which SHOULD NOT BE the case. Anyhow, I was confused and I basically blamed the Odin 1 speaker cables because prior to their arrival, my system was sounding amazing with the broken in odin 1 powercord and Platinum 7 speaker cables. This is WHY I sent my Odin1 speaker cables back to my dealer and he is now breaking them in for the next 9-10 days so that I can try again to see if the outcome will be different. In the meantime, while I wait for those cables to be broken in, I bought a bunch of Shunyata alpha cables so I can try and see IF AND MAYBE IF I can hear changes between the Lampizator and Oppo when comparing them. From this, one of the biggest jaw dropping changes was when I connected my monos to the Denali 6000t yesterday. It was just incredible everything it did for the music. It was bigger sound, less noise, etc, etc. With that said, I connected everything as follows: Shunyata Alpha speaker cables Shunyata Alpha xlr from the oppo to the ref10 and from ref10 to the monos Shunyata Alpha PC on the ref10 connected into the wall Shunyata Alpha PC on the Denali 6000t( monos are connected to it) Odin 1 on the Lampizator connected into the Denali Aftermarket Pc on the Oppo 205 connected into the Denali Wireworld platinum 8 RCA from Lampizator into the Ref10 (these cables gave spectacular results to me with this dac) I connected both sources into the ref10 and volume matched them. Oppo was totally wireless and lampizator was connected with a wireworld silver 7 ethernet cable. I began to play music through roon so that both players could play the same song at the exactly the same second and went between input 1 and 2 in the ref10 and I could detect the oppo 205 sounding fuller, bigger and crisper. The oppo had more detail behind the music at times and just sounded more engaging. Did it blow away the lampizator? No it did not. My take on this experiment? SYNERGY. The oppo is using a matching alpha interconnect and the lampizator is not. I also believe that the Platinum 7 speaker cables are OUTSTANDING for the lampizator because that silver in those cables just makes more magic come out of the lampizator. I think that the best this dac has sounded was when I had platinum 7 speaker cables (which are basically of the same family of the RCAs being used on the dac) and Odin 1 pc on the dac. This is going to be EXTREMELY interesting when the odin 1 speaker cables return because at that point they will be cooked and should be ready after I play them in my system for 2-3 days so they can settle in. IF they DO NOT impress me upon their return, then it will be just a matter of me NOT LIKING what they are doing with my set up. If they DO NOT DO what the platinum 7 speaker cables did which was allow me to hear the differences between the lampizator and oppo then this is a testament that the speaker cables are imposing their own sound and not allowing differences to be heard. Of course, some people can say that I need to use a full Odin1 set up, but that is just an insane proposition in terms of $. For me to buy another 3 odin 1 powercords PLUS odin 1 interconnects would mean I have to spend another 25-30k which I am not willing to do. I can already hear an argument coming if the odin 1 speaker cables don’t do it for me upon their return. Wanna know what this argument will be? 1. the Nordost camp will argue that I MUST HAVE all odin for me to capitalize on what they do and that mix and matching cables is taking away from the synergy 2. The Nordost attacker will argue that nordost should be ashamed for charging so much and not easily beating brands costing half as much. Well, that sums it up from me. The next few weeks will certainly make my system once again go through changes based on synergy. Everything at this price point is incredible, but it now becomes an art which is called “system matching”. |
Denon1
i sold the esoteric because I wanted to try lampizator since many have praised it plus it has the ability to be used as a preamp. I also liked the idea of tubes being used. The grandiosos sounded bigger with fuller bass but it was not forgiving. The lampizator is more forgiving and that appealed to me.
|
Good point greyhound. i have gotten in the habit to play things at moderate volumes and then loud volumes and compare accordingly. |
All-
i can’t go around buying everything you all suggest. What would I do with so many cables here? Selling an amplifier is one thing but selling cables is like selling a mini skirt to a nun. |
I will be away this weekend so no updates will come from me. I plan to pick up the Nordost Odin speaker cables on Monday at which point they will have over 200 hours of break in. Next week, the lampizator will travel to Poland so i can have it completely checked by their team because i want to be sure everything is 100% with it. Thanks to lampizator for being a class act with me.
I might bring the momentum out of the box and play with the new cables i have and see what it does. It might be very interesting ! |
@tjassoc
Thank you for your comment above. That's also my wish with this journey.
@thezaks
I haven't really assessed them to be honest. I have many moving pieces right now. I promise I will.
Well, my next video will be with the nordost odin 1 speaker cable for the very last time.
I have parted ways with it and have ordered my new speaker cable WITHOUT EVEN LISTENING TO IT. yes, this is not for the faint of heart. It will take a month before I get it , but I believe it will be something special. Stay tuned ! |
Where are you getting 48k for Odin 1 pc? |
Well, I wanted to keep things real with you all on the accuphase E800 Integrated. The upcoming video was a first for me by trying to be as subtle as possible when it comes to accuphase. I recommend you all to watch it and understand a few things.
I hope you enjoy |
I think jose probably misunderstood my point. I never said anything related to audio shows....i said dealer's time and effort should be compensated...shows are something else. |
while the video uploads, i just checked all my videos on youtube and did you know that NONE OF MY VIDEOS where i have played music can be monetized? yes.... i get zero dollars if i were eligible to get paid today for all videos where i played music which means pretty much all my shootouts... The only videos where i could make a few dollars are those where i just simply talk with no music playing. The copyright owners are the one that get credited for all the views of my videos... so do you all now see WHY most bloggers on youtube don’t play any copyrighted songs?
well...this means i will need to start talking about products more often and do shootouts here and there. Will need to change what i have been doing. |
that is unfortunate as well, but it is what it is. What i will say is that my future videos will now become more of a 2 part series where one will be the actual shootout and the second part will be about my thoughts and impressions.
|
|
As far as the Accuphase E800, i wanted to say that i was VERY VERY reluctant to posting the video, but i wanted to come out and just put it out there. I also wanted to show that i CAN have a product IN MY HANDS and try to be as honest as possible about its performance even though i STILL have to sell it. I did not care to put it out there even if it ends up backfiring on me when i list it. I don't know of MANY reviewers who would talk REAL FACTS about a product even if they are not great facts and knowing that it might impact the resell value down the road. That said, i am ok with it because i hope this can shine "some light" on you all so you can understand I GAIN NOTHING - NADA - ZERO from doing this. It is actually quite the opposite often times.
Who owns a product and tells it like it is even if it means they will have a harder time selling it after ? i don't know many who do... just my .02cts |
All- odin 1 speaker cables will be picked up tomorrow at which point they will have 216 hours total break in time by the nordost machine dealers use. I am also picking up another Odin 1 powercord to use with the ref10. What’s my intent? Simple, to do my first cable shoot out. I will do 2 nordost Odin 1 powercords plus nordost Odin 1 speaker cables Versus Shunyata alpha NR powercords and speaker cables. This will be done probably next weekend once I have allowed all cables to settle. Stay tuned. We will see what kind of improvement the Odin cables will do (if any) that the Shunyata alpha nr can’t do (or may be it will?) |
@kren..
thank you for your comment above. This video should put a different perspective (hopefully positive) in the minds of many of you. I could have gone more in depth, but to be sincere i think this video did 2 things:
1. Gave you my overall feeling about the E800
2. Showed you that i don’t have to be dishonest about something even if it might bite me in the @ss when i have to sell the item
Lastly, my channel will continue to go through an evolution process that will hopefully get better and better with time. I am not a professional reviewer, Rome was not built in a day, but give me enough time, funds, resources and i can see my channel going into a whole new level over time. I am very passionate about this and sharing this with you (with the limited time i have) is all i sincerely care about. If you dig what i do, then great. If you don't then that is ok too (i can't make everyone happy and neither can you).
|
ODÍN speaker cables are back. 216 hours of break in time. I also have 2 more ODÍN power cords. Things are about to get interesting again :) |
3 minutes into the listening session and the sound is somewhat slower with the nordost speaker cables which is the only thing I’ve swapped out. I also find myself having to turn up the volume higher with the nordost speaker cable for some reason as if these cables place a Bigger load on the amps.
I have to let music flow through these cables for about 48 hours so they can settle in my system and then do a real comparison.
I also have decided to use an Odin powercord on the preamp but I’ll do that later during the week. FYI, the only things running from the shunyata are the block audios and oppo. The preamp and speakers are plugged into the wall.
i remember the Odin powercord not sounding good at all when I first plugged it in and then on the 3rd day I was hearing a crazy amount of stuff that blew my mind. Will this be the same for the speaker cables? We shall see... the fate of the Odin speaker cable will be known in the next few days. |
Dave,
If I can monetize, then why not ? At the end of the day I have to take time away from my family, drive long distances, put videos together. Etc. It would be nice to offset some of this. |
Tomorrow's video:
Ansuz Signalz c2
Valhalla 2
Audience Front Row
Dac connected directly into Gryphon Colosseum. Odin 1 Speaker Cables.
Interesting findings to say the least |
Wireworld Platinum 8 xlr vs Shunyata alpha nr xlr:
1. Wireworld platinum 8 has monstrous soundstage making the shynyata sound narrower
2. Shunyata has great overall balance. Nothing really missing but as soon as you change to the platinum 8, the sound just opens up wall to wall.
Looks like I’m back to wireworld 8 interconnects once again. I prefer their big wide sound.
Odin Speaker cables are still not quite there yet for me. That said I need more time here in order to see what happens as I add more Odin pieces in the mix.
Will I return to wireworld speaker cables? My heart says I probably will but I want to convince myself that there’s a reason why nordost Odin speaker cables are so much money. There’s gotta be a reason but so far their speaker cables are nowhere near as impressive as their powercords. Time will tell what happens here. |
I just had it on the nordost machine that burns them in... 216 hours total break in time. We will see what happens as I let them settle in the system for about 3 more days. |
Gentlemen,
i plugged in the second Odin 1 powercord into the system and now the ref10 has its own nordost Odin. This Cable is used so it has miles on it and within the first minutes of playtime, the sound DRASTICALLY improved. I don’t know what they put in these cables but wow. The nordost powercords are just KINGS. Far far exceeding my previous cables. What a spectacular powercord. I’m in shock to say the least. |
Wireworld platinum 8.. if it has the word “platinum” then that’s their top model. Only their top model has the word “platinum”.
|
Odin 1 pc are keepers without a doubt. I’ll give more of my thoughts tomorrow.
Has anyone compared KR 242 tubes to the 300b??? |
I am filming tomorrow’s video as we speak.
Ansuz signalz c2 vs Valhalla 2.
Dac is being connected directly into the gryphon colloseum.
Is anyone nervous ? Is this going to be yet ANOTHER blow for a well known cable manufacturer?
Tomorrow night we will know :). |
Quick Update:
the wife prefers the Shunyata speaker cables with the odin 1 powercords than the odin 1 speaker cables. she said, and i quote: "they sound more real like the singer is in the room with us"
i have a few people coming over this weekend to do a blind fold shootout of the odin 1 speaker cables vs shunyata. |
I've been close to selling my gryphon about 3 times. Each time I think I'm done with it, I push the high bias button, let it cook for 20 min and when I return to it I am like "wdf am I doing?"
It continues to just distance itself over and over and over again from other offerings.
I literally leave it off for 2 - 3 weeks, then turn it on and I'm like "it sounds just ok" and as soon as it hits its stride, it puts all those thoughts to sleep. It's an interesting love affair that I can't seem to win. |
A friend came over last night and we listened to different types of songs. He did not know which speaker cable was playing as music played. He chose the nordost each time without knowing. His words were:
“The shunyata sounded muscular, bold, in your face and the nordost had better highs and detail without so much bottom end fullness, more natural”
We had odin 1 on the ref10 and oppo. That said, when we cranked things up, we felt that the odin combination had a tad too much brightness. You almost couldn’t hear it loud for a long period of time. I proceeded to take off the Odin 1 from the oppo (this is the newest cable and probably still breaking in) and used a shunyata alpha nr on it and it helped tame things down but what I’m now needing to find out is what will give the best results:
1. Using odin pc on the amps and preamp
and not on the dac
2. Using one shunyata interconnect in the mix rather than platinum 8 which is what I’m using to go from the dac to the preamp and from preamp to the amps. Maybe swapping on of them out for the shunyata would help?
3. Could it be that the Odin 1 being used one the oppo is still too new and still breaking in which is why I can hear some slight brightness at loud volumes and the system is letting me hear this?
4. Last but not least, I may need to reposition my speakers and try to toe them out in order to decrease some of the brightness I detect at loud volumes. As you know, electrostatics allow you to do this by playing with the toe in.
Many different scenarios. However, the system is coming into its own specially at moderate to low volumes.
|
I brought out the momentum integrated back from the dead and used Odin pc, Odin speaker cables and oppo as a source which is also using Odín pc.
Man this sounds far better than I remember hearing it before. Gorgeous mids and smoothness. I don’t get any ear fatigue but the highs might be a tad “ disorganized” when cranked up to high levels. Could be either that the momentum Is clipping or that the oppo 205 continues to feed me highs that are a tad bright when pushed.
greyhound, you could be right about the brightness :)
|
There's mixed opinions on the Taiko. I heard from credible sources that the Aurender n30 kills it. |
I am going to revisit every single Type of song. This new front end has me wanting to listen to everything and that’s a great feeling. The amps sounded good 2 days ago but I don’t know what happened because today the sound has me hypnotized to say the least. It’s a drastic difference.
|
All,
i have ordered a brand new, fully balanced lampizator pacific in gold color. The unit will come with the new KR 242 tubes (Rk edition). I was told by Fred from lampizator that these aren’t your typical 242 tubes. These are tubes that the Richard Kron just manufactured for lampizator and they just started to ship these tubes as of a month ago. According to Fred, they are dynamic, more detailed and have more gain Than the 300b I had. I was told I need to wait about 3 weeks for it to be built.
I believe this will probably be my new preamp. I would be shocked if I stay with the ref10 as my preamp after this new dac arrives.
|
It is all relative. I think i have lived with Odin 1 speaker cables, xlr and pcs long enough to understand what this cable does:
1. Tons of detail and resolution
2. Leaner than valhalla 2
3. can be bright IF you choose to mix and match cables from other manufacturers. (big no no)
4. sounds stage on the odin 1 xlr is not as wide as valhalla 2
I want you to all to understand something, Nordost odin is all about resolution and clarity. That said, IF YOU USE OTHER BRANDS of xlr's, PC's, etc then you might be facing some brightness issues. For instance, if you use an Odin 1 speaker cable with a high capacitance xlr, that is a recipe for disaster. Nordost odin 1 cables don't play nice with many other brands of cables (xlr, pcs,etc). I realize this now that i have valhalla 2 and odin 1 xlr.
Also, they are not sweet- sounding cables like Audiomica, wireworld platinum. They are about detail retrieval, liveliness, speed, dynamics. They are not trying to add creamer to your coffee. This is WHY i tell many people that having 2 separate types of cables is just as important as having 2 different types of amplifiers.
For example: my Gryphon sounds NOTHING like the Momentum S250. They couldn't be more different, but this does not mean the momentum loses. It means it goes about its business differently and it is not about speed, but rather engaging you with sweetness and beauty even if it does not have the speed and impact of the Gryphon. |
My preference , for what i do, for what i like, no it is not. |
We shall see how good this dac will be. I was told that it won’t be here until April so I guess ill just play with cables in the meantime and see what seems to sound best to my ears.
The powercords Have like 150 -200 hours playtime. |
More thoughts on mephisto Tonight:
1. If I plug the dac and the clock into the Niagara 5000 using nordost Odin 1 powercords, more detail shows up but also things get bright. If I just plug the dac and clock into the outlet using nordost Odin 1, there’s a little less air but brightness decreases significantly.
2. Mephisto makes the Merrill audio 118s sound less muscular and leaner on the bass which is a shock because I NEVER thought that until the mephisto arrived.
3. Audioquest hurricane Powercords work better on the amp than on dac
4. Odin 1 powercords continue to kill ANY POWERCORD I’ve ever owned when plugged into the dac. Odin 2 was awesome but I feel Odin 1 powercord is far better value.
5. Subpar cables sound like they are a 720p signal instead of 4k.
6. Buying mephisto only gets you the best ingredient but now it will be your turn to cook. No matter how good the ingredients are, if the cook sucks, so will the food..
|
@grey9hound
You are taking things word by word and that’s fine. I meant that this is my body work here and YES I AM TAKING IT PERSONAL when anyone comes to attack me by fabricating stories. Talking garbage without knowing anything is imbecile and imature.
I won’t tolerate anymore personal attacks when it comes ME or what I do. Simple, you attack, I’ll report and let the moderators see it until they can spot the pattern of the person doing it. In this case, techno is the only one who does this. Should we let the thread rot because of one bad apple? I DO NOT THINK SO. |
i think i need to begin to separate the different kinds of amplifiers into different groups. I don't believe there is an amplifier that does EVERYTHING right.
Anyhow, video is being uploaded right now. |
