Pro vs. Consumer Equipment

Don, I have avoided contributing to this, but I had a ART Di/O, purchased new and modified by friends of Paul and Brian Weitzel because of threads like this.

I must agree with Sean, the ART is NOTHING great. I preferred my stock Sony 9000, and three of my friends who took it home for trial all thought it was just "OK."

Based on the hype that proceeded this DAC, I worked with it for two months, trying every footer, digital cable and power supply I could get my hands on. The end result was only adequate performance and not even to be discussed with high end players.

I admit I fell for the hype, hoping for something for nothing. I admit I made a mistake and sold it (cheap) to a buyer with full disclosure. It was a learning experience but not one that tempted me to prolong the fable of it's "superior" performance.

Brian, I too would like to hear the Meitner. I have had two or three independent listeners tell me it sounded wonderful. Please keep us posted.

Don I wish my experience had been as yours. You are correct that I am an analog guy, but I have owned and auditioned many of the most respected high end digital players.

The ART in my system had less resolution than the stock Sony 9000 ES. Unfortunately I cannot afford a Audio Aero, Audio Note or DCS, all of which I am sure are much better than my stock Sony.

My point is simply that the money I invested in the ART did not provide anything special. No doubt there are players it would beat, but not the commercially available gear that has been recently produced. At least not in my system.

Just for the record, my ART was purchased from Full Compass and had the following done as mods.

Install two IC sockets
Install LT1365Cn IC in U1 IC socket
Replaced nine rectifiers with 90 volt shottky's
Replaced 100 Ohm at digital with 75 Ohm Vishay
Bridged four electrolytic at analog in-out w / OFC wire
Replaced original phone jacks with Vampire OFC RCA
Replaced power jack with binding post to allow experimentation with outboard supplies.

I also purchased a regulated supply, a Atari (surplus) supply and the commonly suggested model from Radio Shack.

For digital link I experimented with Silver Sonic, Purist Audio, Trico, Belden and some that were brought over by visitors.

After all this work, one of the guys in my group that is all digital took the Di/O home for audition. He could not make up his mind between using the Di/O and listening to his Pioneer DVD player. I listened with him and agreed that neither way was the clear winner.

This friends system was Krell (Integrated), B&W Nautilus , Pioneer DVD and Audioquest cables. While not in the league with some of the better systems here at Audiogon, it is certainly quality enough to serve as a test bed for comparison. Further, it is a more likely combination of equipment to be used with an ART Di/O.