Group Therapy > Audio Syndrome NY
December Meeting
ltr317:
Greetings from the frozen great white north! Couldn't make the meeting yesterday, as I'm visiting my sister and her family in Kingston, Ont. How was the dac shootout? I also wanted to hear Denis' turntable again, enjoyed it alot the last time he hosted a meeting.
StereoNut:
FYI - Cambridge 840C never made into the mix. DAC's were the agenda for the night. Maybe another time. As usual, Dennis was a great host. Extended thanks to his family for putting up with us! I think his closing off the side doorway of his listening room made a difference in overall sound from last time I was there. Smart move and God Bless your wife for being accepting of such!
I have to admit, I envy the dedicated listening room. That's the one thing that I regret about my set-up; I didn't think about how adding a big screen plasma TV in there would prohibit me from getting to listen to my own system!
Dumb move on my part! :duh
SN
rollo:
Yes the system sounded very good. I thought the Cd was a disappointment after listening to LPs from the beginning. Just could not get into it.
Now if Dennis would adjust the speaker outriggers to actually get the speaker off the carpet I believe a large improvement in bass focus will further enhance the VG sound.
BTw closing the doorway and moving the speakers more into the room was a change for the good. I bugged him for awhile about that. The new Grado Sonata Ref. was no slouch either. Last meeting his Clearaudio Virtuoso wood had a bent cant. The addition of the Audio Note kit phonostage was a revelation. As a reminder Paul L. is a AN kit rep. The DAC kit is impressive as well. Paul any specials or deals going on ?
charles
tmazz:
I thought the speakers looked like they were in a different spot than the last time I was there. That is one thing about Thiels, they need room to breath behind then or they are just no happy campers.
RussL:
--- Quote from: richidoo on December 12, 2009, 09:42:10 AM ---Looking fwd to hearing about the DAC/CDP comparos, once you all recover... :D
--- End quote ---
The DAC shootout was a disappointment as none of the three DACs were warmed up before being pressed into service. The TriVista DAC was being used for the first time in almost a year; the PS Audio and Benchmark DACs had (also) not been used for some extended period of time. The same was true for the digital interconnect cable, and worse, it was a BNC - BNC cable with RCA adapters! I’m sure that does not help maintain a 75 ohm impedance. :(
We all need to understand that break-in of equipment is real factor and that connecting up a piece of equipment (from dead cold) does not give a true picture of what that particular piece of equipment is capable of. Break-in boils down to (IMHO) dielectric absorption. Dielectric found capacitors, cables, etc., continually charge and discharge (adding and subtracting from the musical signal) until the dielectric becomes saturated. Only at that point is all good to go. :) That is the idea behind battery biased dielectric cables. Once the dielectric is saturated it stays that way regardless of the attached equipment being on or off.
Be that as it may, the Cullen modded PS Audio DAC edged out the TriVista DAC by a small margin as the group felt it had a smoother overall sound and was a bit more dynamic. All felt that the Benchmark DAC was flat and not natural sounding. Repeating the shootout under appropriate test conditions might change the results dramatically particularly in regard to the CD player used as the reference.
Another club member (Jay) will be using the TriVista for the next month or so to compare to the sound quality of his EAD DAC.
Russ
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