Thanks much to Christine and Carl for hosting our g2g. It's always great to hang out in the ultimate man cave. Welcome to Scott and Ray to our audio club, and welcome back to Roger. It was great to see you guys.
In order of preference inside Carl's system, I liked the Buffalo32 with Sol's output stage mods best, then EE with tube disengaged, then Nixon DAC, then EE with Sylvania 12AU7 tube, then EE with stock tube, then the PS Audio Perfect Wave DAC. PerfectWave had the best soundtaging and resolution but tonally was not a good match.
The EE without the tube engaged was a very nice sounding, satisfying, clear and musical sound. I wish there was more time to just sit back and listen to it for a while, the comparison must go on, and the preference for the tube output among the other listeners was equal to those prefering no tube. I look forward to hearing it in my own system, and trying some of my own fav 12AU7s in it. RCA cleartop especially I think will give minimal coloration and with the opamp providing plenty of bass the cleartop should be a good balance. The stock tube was splashy in the DAC and the Sylvania was better controlled but still too tubey for me. The DAC is definitely not the same circuit as the dual tube minimax preamp which sounded less colored using two of the same stock tube. Some niggles: the tube socket is recessed into the case making it very difficult to pull the tube out. The orange LED on the front signalling tube engaged is too bright.
In my own system I think I would like the PerfectWave DAC and Transport best. It is a detail monster, and felt the most open and free of sonic encumbrances, but was peaky and tilted up in Carl's system which is tuned for his mellower Nixon DAC. Thanks to Shane for bringing it, along with many other goodies. Also, thanks to those who brought equipment that we didn't get to play this time.
I always thought that the JPS wires were graded according to resolution only, and was surprised to hear Shane suggest swapping out the less expensive UltraConductor2 ICs for SuperConductor3 ICs to quench the zinginess of the PerfectWave DAC. I thought with more resolution it will make it even worse. But it did take the edge off and made the DAC very listenable, although the tilt was still there, the peakiness and shouties in the mids and uppermids were mostly tamed. I assume that the abillity of JPS alloy to eliminate any ringing in the signal is stronger in the SC3. Of course the SC3 upped the resolution even more which was intoxicating.
Certainly there is interest in a vinyl meet in the future, and there are some DIY amps, speakers and DACs brewing so this fall should be a fun time for us. I hope to see you guys at the next meet.
Rich