Audio Research Ref 3 Opinions

to my thought he Ref 3 is quieter, had greater dynamic range, and is more transparent. the noise floor is very low . the sound is extremely focused, clean, and transparent. the soundstage dimensions as with the former Ref 2 wide. tight bass and clean top. very good low level detail information. bass articuliation is in a class for itself. very holographic.

Soundoc:

Those are technical attributes that you have described.
Is it more musical than the Ref 2?

Thanks

Geo

Gmorris: The Ref 3 is a lot more musical than the Ref 2, it draws you in the music

Hi all, I´ve just unpacked my REF 3, finally home!
Right out of the box, dead cold, hand to hand with the LS25MKII, it was a revelation in terms of sheer bass response without loosing the top end.
After 2 hours continuos operation, suddenly it changed and sounded like the scene was grouped in the middle (no, I was not in mono mode ;-) ) and harsher than the 25...one hour later (now we are at the 3rd hour) and it came back stronger than ever.
A friend of mine who knows well my setup drove to my house with his `reference´ recordings and was amazed at the clear sound, but most of all, dynamics and bass response.
Too early to say anything else, need what...100 hours? (no mention about burn in time as with the CD3).

Anyway, it is different and certainly an improvement to the 25 (sure, what else..). One of my worries about the lower gain (down from 9 db to 6 db SE on the phono section) is gone. There is enough there to drive the Krell 700cx with the Colibri at the other end (0.3 mV) at very loud levels. Back to the listening session now...bye
Marcelo
Spain

Soundoc: Which Ref2, MK1 or MK2, have you auditioned against Ref3? I am curious about Ref2 MK1 vs. Ref3 in terms of the warmness and sweetness.
Thanks.