mcondon
Responses from mcondon
| 6SN7 Tube pre amp with great sound staging capabil I second the Mystere, although I own the ca21. I used to own an Aesthetix Calypso, and feel the Mystere has a wider soundstage and better deep bass. I bought the Mystere as a show demo from Upscale Audio, and it was about $2K. | |
| DAC QUESTION FOR DUMMY In general, optical digital interfaces sound worse than other types (S/PDIF, AES/EBU, BNC), so I would not sink money into an outboard DAC to improve the sound of your CD player. Even if you had a S/PDIF digital output, I still doubt you would get... | |
| Power conditioning for digital gear AND tube amp? I use the PW DAC/Transport, and have owned a variety of tube preamps and amps. I have had three power conditioners in my system: a Synergistic Research PowerCell, a RSA Haley, and a Balanced Power Tech CPC. The SR PowerCell hyped up the bass and t... | |
| Pass xa600.5, Marantz 9S2 or Mcintosh MC501/MC601? I owned the Marantz and found it to be too polite. I own Pass now and have no desire to upgrade my amp anymore, having been through 5 amps, some a lot more expensive than the Pass. One was a McIntosh, which has a warm mid-range but somewhat flabby... | |
| Pass vs McCormack? I have heard McCormack at a dealer. Liked it, but it had a somewhat forward sound and a little bit of glare in the treble, although I notice this sort of thing more than most, as I am very sensitive to anything that sounds remotely bright. And, ad... | |
| PS Audio PerfectWave DAC Upgrade Tonyptony, according to PS Audio, version 2.0.2 only has a problem with de-emphasis flag decoding for the S/PDIF input, not for any other digital input. So, yeah, you would have a problem if your transport is a CD player connected by coaxial cable... | |
| PS Audio PerfectWave DAC Upgrade Edorr, no reason to be skeptical or to blindly believe my assertions. You can buy an SD card reader at Radio Shack or Best Buy for under $10 and then try each firmware version yourself. But I am not the only one who notices substantial differences... | |
| Best DAC under 2k US ? Tonyptony, the Shunyata Python Zitron XLR cable between the PW DAC and Transport lacked resolution and image placement and instrument separation was poor. I felt like I was hearing a blob of sound coming from the speakers that lacked coherence. Th... | |
| PS Audio PerfectWave DAC Upgrade What has been really striking to me is how the sound quality of the MK2 Perfect Wave DAC depends so substantially on the firmware used. With an SD card reader, it is quite easy to demo the three versions of the DAC firmware that PS Audio has made ... | |
| Best DAC under 2k US ? My comments about the Perfect Wave DAC were too negative. If you have the funds to buy the Perfect Wave Transport (now called the Memory Player) as well, and connect the two via the HDMI interface, sound quality is really excellent, even more so a... | |
| What Power Cord can improve clarity and bass slam? You should just borrow cords and see which has the best synergy with your system. The best cord I used on my VAC Phi 200 tube amp was a Fusion Audio Enchanter. Great bass weight, slightly warm sounding. WyWyres also delivers awesome bass. Both com... | |
| EMC 1up vs. Ayon cd2 vs. Lector 6t cdp I briefly owned the Ayon CD2. I really did not like it and could not sell it fast enough. I found it to have a very forward sound signature that was fatiguing to me. Others love Ayon digital. To each his own. I would try to demo or buy used. If yo... | |
| Best DAC under 2k US ? What about a used PS Audio Perfect Wave DAC? There are a boatload of them for sale on Audiogon right now. Apparently, owners have a hard time giving them away, which might be all you need to know.(I actually own the Perfect Wave DAC. It sounds ver... | |
| The Problem with Synergistic Research Ted Denney did not get his PhD in audio cable physics to fix his masterworks for free. Time is money, and when not in the "lab", Ted needs spare time to dig up old posts written by naysayers like Sabai. If you don't like him or SR or snake oil, yo... | |
| The Problem with Synergistic Research Sabai is entitled to change his opinion. I have bought audio products that I thought were good, said nice things about them here or in other audio forums, and then realized later, after some experimentation, that I could get better sound for less ... |