kernelbob
Responses from kernelbob
| Climbing the Preamp ladder dpm2340 and kalali, I've tried passives before and always found that they tended to "thin" the sound and lacked power and punch/prat. Not anymore! I highly recommend the Tortuga passives. They come in several flavors ranging from the LDR1 (one ... | |
| I used to think passive preamps were superior to active preamps given right the setup, but I had also tried passive preamps, but found actives to have better bass weight and punch. That is until I tried the Tortuga preamp. I was surprised that the bass equaled or bettered the active preamp I owned (an ARC-REF3) with better, tighter ba... | |
| Hot off the press: Yggdrasil review Re the PSA DS, I didn't find fault with the frequency balance (at least in the 20 to 20k range), so no, I don't think that it was specifically designed for bright systems. | |
| Hot off the press: Yggdrasil review Re my audition of the PSA DS. I ran it non-stop for two and a half weeks, feeding it music 24/7. The things about it that I didn't like did not change at all over those two weeks. I understand how DACs are sensitive to break-in, but I frankly foun... | |
| Hot off the press: Yggdrasil review I have a PSA PerfectWave Mk-II and tried the PSA DirectStream. The PerfectWave beat that hands down. Then I tried a Yggy. Even with no break-in time, it was better than the PSA units. I've had it now for a month and, finally, the bass is catching ... | |
| best transparent pre amp I'm using a Tortuga LDR1B-v2 passive pre. I replaced an Audio Research REF-3 preamp and the Tortuga bettered it in every category. It has bass slam that I only expected from an active pre. Very clean, extended treble. Mine is a balanced unit and l... | |
| What's your "diminishing returns" preamp choice? The biggest surprise was when I tried the Tortuga preamp. It has bettered both an Audio Research REF-3 and a Constellation preamp. It uses light dependent resistors for attenuation and has software controlled auto calibration to eliminate impedanc... | |
| Did anyone hear the new Constellation 1.0 pre ? The 1.0 Pre is very good, however I'd suggest you give a Tortuga LDR preamp/attenuator a listen. I'm using their LDR1B balanced unit. It has the deep bass power and definition that I've only previously heard in active preamps. Very wide and deep s... | |
| Do I really need a preamp? Even with a DAC capable of 10V output, in my system a preamp provides more bass power, dynamics, and detail. Up until a month ago, I've found that passives may be cleaner than actives, but to varying degrees lean the sound and lose some of the pow... | |
| Absolute top tier DAC for standard res Redbook CD @Jwm, My PSA PWD-MkII took a month to fully break-in. Now, I wasn't feeding it digital input 24/7, but it was powered on for the duration. After two weeks it was at its nadir. At the end of a month it had blossomed and pretty much reached it's per... | |
| Absolute top tier DAC for standard res Redbook CD Mattnshilp, I was pretty sure that this thread would take off. You could have just as easily done your DAC shootout in private and not had to deal with all the feedback. The degree of interest illustrates how different your "call 'em as you see 'e... | |
| Absolute top tier DAC for standard res Redbook CD Hi Mattnshilp, thanks much for your effort to give an objective evaluation of top tier DACs. I do want to make an observation/suggestion. Regarding the potential impact of tube rolling in the Lampi DAC, you state "Rolling tubes will only change th... | |
| PS Audio Direct Stream PSA DirectStream break-in time.I have a PSA PWD MkII. After two weeks of break-in I was ready to return it. Hard sounding treble, thin bass. My vendor said they took a long time to sound right and that their worst sound during break-in was after t... | |
| Absolute top tier DAC for standard res Redbook CD Getting the most from CDs & break-inI'm very interested in the review of DACs with a focus on Redbook CD. To me, the performance is more important than the medium and for a variety of works, my favorites (classical, opera, jazz) are often reco... | |
| Please help with Spectron Musician Issue. Just a word of warning. Now that you have a Musician III Mk2, if you try a second one and run them in balanced monoblock mode, you would be amazed how much better they sound and won't be able to go back to one amp in Stereo mode.When you run them ... |