eugene81
Responses from eugene81
| Luxman L-509X as a preamp No, to my ears the 509X is definitely not as good as a ~$6000 used dedicated line stage. I used it from time to time to drive my Luxman M800a power amp. It sounded pretty good and quite neutral, but was outclassed by my PS BHK and Allnic L3000 p... | |
| Tube Integrated With Clarity No experience with Octave, but LTA sounds like a good choice. It is definitely a tube design with clarity. I had the MZ2 and Z10, which is essentially an MZ3 in a traditional package. I would highly recommend the Z10/MZ3 over the MZ2, especiall... | |
| Luxman vs Accuphase for Harbeth 40.3 XD I've had the E650 and 509X. They are pretty different. Luxman has a sharper, crisp, and clean sound without being harsh or in your face. Accuphase is smooth and warmer, but with a vibrant and saturated tone. If Luxman, I would be looking at L-... | |
| Lumin X1 and Upgraded DC umbilical cord for power supply. YMMV and it's been a while but I had this and preferred the stock umbilical cord. | |
| Luxman L-509x --- Universal Remote Code Get a basic learning remote and you can just teach the new remote buttons with the Luxman remote. I use a Sideclick because I also have a TV and Roku. | |
| Luxman 590AX II Break-In Nice to see some love for McIntosh. Congrats! | |
| Any Coda owners out there? New reply 23 years later!!! That's gotta be an internet record, LOL To be honest Coda #8 V2 was one of the least favorite amps I've owned. I mean it was hard to fault on technical merits, but the tone was just off to me. Unnaturally glassy IIR... | |
| McIntosh MC1.25KW vs Luxman M-10X Placette Passive is the most transparent piece of gear I've experienced in my 20 years in this hobby. Sonically it is essentially the same as going DAC directly to power amp. This can be a positive or negative depending on what you like. I pref... | |
| Luxman 509x vs Hegel H390 FWIW I've owned both of these and like them both a lot. I would say Luxman sounds more natural tonally with a clean and clear presentation that is also sweet, liquid, and a touch warm. Hegel also has a sweet, but a touch drier and meatier sound,... | |
| Endgame Vocal+ DAC Help: Terminator Plus 12th vs. Chord DAVE vs. Holo May vs. Weiss502. Based on your preferences I would say dCS Bartok or Mola Mola Tambaqui should fit the bill. | |
| Integrated amp for Sonus Faber olympica nova 1 Luxman L-590AX II or L-595ASE. Recently out of production and limited edition, respectively, but maybe you can find a dealer with stock or just buy used. It’s hard to get the richness and body of Pass Labs, but Luxman Class A comes close and is pr... | |
| How to Add Remote Controlled Volume to Dac + Amp That Doesn't Support It Placette Remote Volume Control (RVC). Essentially a one input passive preamp using high quality Vishay resistors. Very transparent, meaning it doesn't add or subtract from the source sound. They can be found used around $400-500. There's also ... | |
| DAC recommendation in 5 to 10K range MSB Discrete. I did not care too much for the tone of the Lumin X1, though soundstage was humongous. MSB is so fluid and musical but very resolving. Very easy to get lost in the music, as they say. | |
| WiFi streaming — streamer vs. through iPad I use this little wireless bridge to then hardwire to my streamer/DAC: TPLink N300. Aside from being tiny and unobtrusive it has the benefit of being powered by 5V micro USB so I was able to use a spare linear power supply to further enhance it. I... | |
| Comments re: MSB Director upgrade cost, additional hardware and cables Yeah, seems like a way to squeeze out that last little bit of performance. If you have $100k+ invested in a Select DAC you probably want that, but I doubt the improvement would be close to revelatory. Don't know until you try though. |