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Author Topic: Boulder area CCCP (Chang) Aug 2015 Meet Impressions  (Read 5755 times)

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Ringingears

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Re: Boulder area CCCP (Chang) Aug 2015 Meet Impressions
« Reply #30 on: August 03, 2015, 01:10:51 AM »

Looks like a police line up. Or some kind of weird porn ring.  :)p13
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bixby

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Re: Boulder area CCCP (Chang) Aug 2015 Meet Impressions
« Reply #31 on: August 03, 2015, 03:10:29 AM »

I resemble that remark  :)p7
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bixby

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Re: Boulder area CCCP (Chang) Aug 2015 Meet Impressions
« Reply #32 on: August 03, 2015, 03:59:06 AM »

ok more impressions

Hans modded Senn 650.  Listening to tylers modded 650 through my sytem (which is on the warmer side of neutral, contrary to belief that all sabre chips will burn your ear off) was a revelation.  Not only was it nicely balanced, it had no veil that one commonly associates with the 650.  Even when listening to Effussions nicely open sounding modded and recabled 650 on his elekit which is pretty transparent was no match for the tyler modded 650 to my ears.  Even James concluded that the mod was going to be happenin to his 650s soon.

On the subject of prototype SS tubes vs good hand picked tubes in the Lyr 2.   My preference went to the tubes, yes the glass ones.  They seemed more open and transparent, yet if you never heard the glass bottles next to the ss tube prototypes, you would not be unhappy with the ss types.  To my ears the ss protos were a bit more warm, a little less open in the mids.  About what one would expect with tube signatures if you have had the opportunity to roll a few dozen or so. 

Both ss and glass with the Lyr had me wondering about my Lake People G019s.  Jexby had a good tip, though, with use with my Mad Dogs, set it to normal pre-gain.  I set the pre-gain on the G109S to low to utilize more of the volume control and I think it sounded a bit lighter and airier (needed with the Dogs). But as Jexby pointed out, the system may benefit from a little more headroom, especially when playing properly done (old school non loudness war) tracks.

Moe later
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MisterRogers

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Re: Boulder area CCCP (Chang) Aug 2015 Meet Impressions
« Reply #33 on: August 03, 2015, 02:22:40 PM »

Ok - stream of consciousness impressions:

BW. Yup. Solid. Lively. Dynamic. great tonality. Fun. This amp, with a good DAC (we fed it with Yggy and ReDACted), along with good cans can be 'end game' for many. I A/B's between my U7 & BW; U7 excelled in technicalities, but BW was in no way a letdown. Great amp, and one hell of a bargain for the price.


ReDACted. I ran it for a good 4-5 days before the meet. It was powered down for about 1 1/2 hours in route. Let's see - you can tell it's lineage -  correct time domain / imaging. It has a slightly warmer, 'woolier' presentation, which I definitely find less appealing. I like my DAC's to present the best, most accurate image possible, and like some tube DAC's, ReDACted seemed to impart a bit too much for me. It's a prototype, so it'll definitely be interesting to see how this evolves.


More to follow.


Guys, please share any impressions you have of my dual mono AK4495S DAC.
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Hands

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Re: Boulder area CCCP (Chang) Aug 2015 Meet Impressions
« Reply #34 on: August 03, 2015, 02:54:00 PM »

That's right, wooly was a really good way to put it with the reDACted. I liked the warm tone but could go without the wooliness. But, again, not a production unit, wasn't always playing nicely with the Macs...something could have been not quite right somewhere (hell, maybe it was that mess of wires), but given the track record of its sibling and other products from said company, I have no doubt the production unit will be quite good.

Your AK4495S DAC, I only listened very briefly with bixby's G019S amp and his Mad Dog, and with a track I wasn't familiar with. I didn't hear anything out of the ordinary in terms of tone, detail retrieval, air, soundstage, placement, etc. Sounded pretty balanced overall, had good room cues and space, pulled out tiny little details like chairs moving and people talking. Certainly was a positive, brief look with his setup. And I know I already told you that I love the case! Maybe sometime we could arrange a session with 2-3 people and really dig deep into DAC comparisons. I'd need to spend some lengthier, more dedicated time with it.
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MisterRogers

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Re: Boulder area CCCP (Chang) Aug 2015 Meet Impressions
« Reply #35 on: August 03, 2015, 03:34:25 PM »

Thanks mate. Yea, we really almost had TOO much awesome stuff to check out; it was hard to spend much time with everything. Great problem to have :-)
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bixby

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Re: Boulder area CCCP (Chang) Aug 2015 Meet Impressions
« Reply #36 on: August 03, 2015, 03:39:26 PM »

Ah, the 4495S dual dac of Mr. Rogers.  Excellent sounding dac both through my system and his.  Very good upper end, exposing a weakness in my X-sabre.  No, not that the sabre is too bright but rather too soft.  Two things account for that I think.  One is the usb cable which is powerless and the other a very good power cord.  The MR (Mr. Rogers) dac had very good attack and presentation of the high notes with no overemphasis.  The only place where preference may come in for me with the Matrix is on the increased density of lower mids or upper bass.  The MR dac is a very solid dac that could easily kill oft recommended dacs under $1k like the Benchmark DAC1, Micromega My dac, Parasound Zdac, Musical Fidelity M1, Eastern Electric,  and others.  In my opinion it can compete quite nicely with dacs well over $1k, but I have to hear more before I can say which ones.  Maybe another mini meet!

Redacted- Easy to hear its resemblance and difference as compared to the Yggy.  For me the presentation was a bit more congealed, versus spacious and perhaps a bit more congested or wooly in the bass and lower mids.  In comparison it is a bit heavier sounding compared to the MR dac above.  I would like to compare more with the Matrix but think the highs just outclass the Matrix.  Still a fine sounding dac and even though the audition was brief, I do want to hear more from this dac.

Edited for typos and grammar, need more coffee.
« Last Edit: August 03, 2015, 04:23:45 PM by bixby »
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jexby

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Re: Boulder area CCCP (Chang) Aug 2015 Meet Impressions
« Reply #37 on: August 03, 2015, 04:41:33 PM »

Thanks mate. Yea, we really almost had TOO much awesome stuff to check out; it was hard to spend much time with everything. Great problem to have :-)

^This.

1.  you guys can shoot me now, but I didn't even move the MisterR dual mono AK DAC to a different amp to get a DAC-only comparison.
what I heard with this DAC and the Black Diamond (modded prototype) was real nice into my stock HD800, considering source material wasn't familiar to me.  the detail retrieval and balance across the spectrum seemed solid, nothing out of place or poorly delivered.  would have to re listen for attack on bass which didn't stand out at the time (could be HD800 issue), but it truly DID place sounds (background drum tempos) very nicely (wide) in the soundstage.
again tho, couldn't tell what piece of gear was (most) responsible for the good sound.


2.  nor did I move source input between Yggy and ReDACted more than once.  ug.
did detect some of the warmth as ya'll mentioned, but not at the demise of losing detail or accuracy. sound stage not at wide open as Yggy.
guess I can't detect wooly mammoths in DACs, so will leave that to others.
my hope for ReDACted is affordable on desk at work with Lyr2.
if final product is this warm, pairing with Lyr2 tubes could cloud things, or the price may be higher than I hoped.
no, it's not a Yggy killer.   :)

3.  glad we talked bixby into jacking the gain on his Lake People!  :)p13

small writes ups coming for:
Pulse X Infinity Chassis 2.0
GOV2+Infinity
Uber7
Elekit amp
SS tubes
Audial DAC
HE1K
Ember
photos


Ideas to explore for next meet: 
a) everyone brings their own laptop with their source material, or USB drives for content loading.
without Kevin's macminis + MisterR macbook in the big-room-of-slobber-knocking-rigs listening sessions would have been doomed.
seems we spent too much time Fing around with source issues/material and that took away from deeper DAC+Amp time.

b) smaller collection of stuff, same amount of time.
3or4 DACs + 3or4 Amps  done.
  :)p6




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Marvey

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Re: Boulder area CCCP (Chang) Aug 2015 Meet Impressions
« Reply #38 on: August 03, 2015, 06:34:52 PM »

Another meet around next year same time? I will be there, but I have specific dates. Family reunion on my wife's side.
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MisterRogers

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Re: Boulder area CCCP (Chang) Aug 2015 Meet Impressions
« Reply #39 on: August 03, 2015, 06:39:21 PM »

That's be great Marv!
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