soix

Responses from soix

Digital Front End.. help please
SF is out of the tube business, at least for now, so that might be a consideration.I don't necessarily agree with your separate transport/DAC option in that with any new format you may have to update one or both, and there's no guarantee they'll b... 
Upsampling the way to go? ?
The only comparison I've seen between an upsampling CD player and the CD3 is the one below from audioreview.com comparing it to the Electrocompaniet EMC1(24/192 version)--for what it's worth. I know the Electrocompaniet EMC1 is highly thought of a... 
Upsampling the way to go? ?
Anyone interested in reading a little more about the process of upsampling, oversampling, interpolation, dither, etc. and how it can benefit(or hurt) the musical signal may find this interesting from the Perpetual Technology folks(see link below--... 
Any one help with AAD speakers
I agree with Albert that the performance/price ratio is high with these speakers and are certainly worthy of consideration. If I were in the market for speakers in this realm I'd also give the new Energy speakers a listen, and I'd also look into A... 
Acoustic Zen speaker Cables ..In general
I'm using the Satori shotgun bi-wire and would classify them as decidedly neutral, but they seem to pass more of the musical signal than other cables I've heard--that's the best way I can describe it. If you're looking to use speaker cables to tun... 
looking for a better DVD player
If you're running the DVD player from its progressive scan output, which I assume you are into the Mits, you might get off cheap with the Denon DVD player as it is one of the only less-expensive players(around $500) that uses the Faroudja/Sage DCD... 
Tubes plus SS
Tubes can be noisy buggers, and for this reason some people prefer keeping tubes away from the low-level signals originating from source components. This would favor those who support using a ss preamp and tube amp. I'm not saying this is right or... 
2 channel Preamp or Pass on the PRE???
Another big consideration is the quality of the volume control on the CD player. If this is not of high quality it will degrade the sound and will largely if not more than offset the benefits of skipping the preamp. I'm not familiar with your Mara... 
B&W 603, 602, etc.
Probably the biggest concern with these speakers is with regard to their metal tweeter, which is not as refined as the units in B&W's upscale speakers and can sound bright if not matched with suitable electronics. If you're running a mass-mark... 
What would you upgrade next?
Damn--forgot with the Pioneer you're likely running a 6-channel output. The McCormack preamp will likely work, but whether it'll be a significant improvement would be the big question. I had the McCormack RLD-1 stereo preamp in my system for a whi... 
attenuators
I might consider selling the B&K in favor of a Placette or an FTAudio(no remote) passive preamp if your setup will work with a passive pre. I know you can try the Placette for 30 days risk-free(and maybe the FTAudio too), so it might be worth ... 
What would you upgrade next?
I'm with Bob--the preamp is likely a big, if not the biggest, weak link in your system. The good news is you can buy a high-end stereo preamp and just plug the front L/R outs from the B&K into any line-level input on the stereo preamp(the Pion... 
Is there a preamp w/ a built in 24/192 upsampling?
I believe the new TacT preamps(one preamp and one pre/pro) may also offer a 24/192 upsampling option, but I'm not 100% sure--just throwing out another potential option. Personally I think I'd look at some of the dCS gear first if I had the scratch... 
3-way under 1000 new.
You can bi-wire or shotgun bi-wire with 2-way speakers as well, as long as they offer two sets of binding posts, which many manufacturers do. If you want to tri-wire, that's a different story--then you'll obviously need a 3-way speaker. I'd still ... 
Sepakers -vr5's or something along the 4-7k range
If you really dig what the VR-4s do then the upgrade might be the best thing. Got to speak with some VonSchweikert folks at HE2002 and they said the VR-5 is more quick and agile while the VR-4 III has more bottom end--for whatever that's worth.But...