I would agree that you call Jerry Ozment as well and ask about it. The Audio Logic has an excellent re-clocking interface, as I understand it, and likely won't need it, but he'll tell you straight.
On isolation, I use a K-Works IsobaseK under my Audio Logic, it works even better under it than the Seismic Sink (which also made a positive improvement). |
Background to the music got just a little "blacker" (i.e., the noise floor seemed to lower a little) and the images in the soundstage seemed more focused. The Sink does a nice job, as does the IsobaseK, of isolating from vibrations coming from the floor through the rack, but the IsobaseK is better at handling whatever vibrations are caused by the unit sitting on top of it (this makes it exceptionally good with transports and CD players). I imagine it might be even more effective with the 24MXL than my upgraded 34, as you have the power supply in the 24MXL chassis, instead of in a separate box like with my unit. I wound up using both under it for a while before I needed to increase my audio slush fund and sold the Sink; the difference between using both and using the IsobaseK by itself was negligible in my system. |
Hey you saved some money!! Spend it on concert tickets, or give it to a good charity!
On a related note, if it makes you feel better, I (like you) used a dCS Purcell for 4 years with my Audio Logic, against Jerry's advice, because I liked the body and weight it gave on many recordings, although it did add some noise and adversely affected the delicacy the Audio Logic has in the high frequencies. I just sold the dCS to raise money for my audio slush fund, and while I still miss a few of the things it does, I think that Jerry ultimately is right, the unit sounds better by itself. In marked contrast, I might add, to a dCS stack I heard recently, where the Purcell and the Verona master clock units made a significant improvement. In fact, I think that the Verona finally made me feel that the dCS stack was about as good as my Audio Logic; before that it just seemed very good to me but lacked that something special. So maybe Jerry did it right the first time, and for a lot less money! |
As far as digital interconnects go, I have used Siltech Golden Ridge (nice, a little soft sounding), K-Works digital interconnect (excellent, but limited production), Purist Proteus (excellent) and Kimber Selekt 2020 (also very good, probably not yet broken in). Since I sold the Purcell I'll probably sell one of the Purist or the Kimber (I have a Marantz DVD player which I use for the 6 DADs I listen to, think I may add all of that to the audio slush fund too!!) in the near future, so take any of my recommendations with that grain of salt in mind!! Jerry O recommends, and a number of folks here in a recent thread are singing the praises of, the latest Marigo Audio Labs digital cable, so check the archives, that seems to be a winner. Also, as I mentioned in that thread, the Kubala Sosna digital cable, currently out in AES-EBU form, was developed using the Audio Logic DAC and I think Messrs. Kubala and Sosna might have picked Jerry's brain a little in developing it, it sounded very good with that DAC and a CEC TL-1 transport in Mr. Kubala's system.
I'd save money on the isolation bases for the transport till you listen to things for a while. The K-Works IsobaseK works wonders under my Forsell, and is a lot cheaper than what you describe.
And I'd think the Digital Lens should degrade the sound, in theory, if the Big Ben would, but if you have one (as your post implies) you can just insert it into the signal chain and let your own ears be the judge! |
Tabl10s: Jerry has maintained to me that the rca inputs are the best-sounding digital inputs in his stock units, at least in the 34 and 2400 series; as for outputs, I only have single-ended anyway, I guess the new units have balanced, but my bet is he likes the single-ended better. Is the 24MXL a true balanced design? As far as PCs go, the two best I have used with this DAC are the Kubala Sosna Emotion and the K-Works Dynamo power cords, with the TG SLVRs close behind; I have had excellent results in ICs with K-Works Phantoms, NBS Omega and Kubala Sosna Emotions. I don't think Jerry's into designing transports, only the DACs so far (though he did design the original Jadis DACS).
Sutts, I think your Vecteur is an excellent match with the AL, so you may not be losing that much to the Forsells and CECs; I find that the more "analog-sounding" of the transports seem to sound best with it. The Forsell is the most analog-like transport I've ever found, and even though its tendency to go crazy when you have dust on a disc drives me up the wall at times, I still wouldn't want to give it up. If you're ever down this way from Toronto, feel free to drop by, you can hear what it sounds like as a combination. I've had the two (in one iteration or another) for 10 years now, and I'm still amazed at how good they sound together. |
Actually, on the ICs, I forgot to mention that for a while when I was waiting for the Kubala Sosna cables to arrive I used an inexpensive (comparatively, anyway) silver Vampire Wire interconnect from the DAC and, aside from it being perhaps just a little smooth on dynamic attacks compared with others, it was a very nice sounding interconnect. |
I'm sure Sutts is talking tongue-in-cheek about the looks of the unit. |
Tabl10s: Don't think he suggested a version, I'm just going froma prior thread. Sutts just got the 5.7 and his initial posting was to rave about how much better it was than anything else he'd tried. As far as tubes go, take the stock ones for now. Sovteks actually sound decent in the unit (a nice full-bodied sound), as well as Philips, and they'll tide you over till you're ready to do some serious tube-rolling. |
Sutts: I agree it's no contest between either Siemens or Teles vs. Sovteks, particularly in terms of longevity (I've already had two of the Sovteks go bad on me) as well as sonically, as you mentioned. Tabl10s should wait a while before he starts playing with the high priced tubes, if he just wants to get a feel for the unit and his revised system. I always liked the Bugle Boys, they sound great in the phono section of a Jadis preamp, maybe I'll give them a try. I just wish there weren't so many damned screws in the chasis, it makes changing the tubes a royal pain. |
