30-Aug-2014, 20:25
(This post was last modified: 30-Aug-2014, 20:42 by Rufus McDufus.)
OK! This is totally subjective. Music was quite varied, mainly Guillaume's (I tend to listen to loads of old rubbish!) - the sound quality of Guillaume's albums is mainly a lot better than mine! I see Guillaume's posted before me to so I might repeat a few things.
His system consists of the following: Devialet 800, Wilson Audio Sasha 2, Transparent XL digital cables, Chord Sarum speaker cable, Entreq Atlantis power cables, Audioquest Diamond Ethernet cables, Entreq Silver Tellus with Apollo ground cables. We also had an Entreq Atlantis Tellus on the second spur - Guillaume has one Devialet per power spur.
Started off with some jazz (Ahmad Jamal featuring Yusef Lateef Live At The Olympia 2012). This is a fabulous sounding jazz album.
I'll be concise here and put down my thoughts on each playback method:
AIR/iTunes in Bit Perfect mode over ethernet - I have to admit I was surprised how good this was in comparison to my tests. Very detailed. Downside was rather 2D presentation and quite harsh.
AIR/Audivarna Plus in BP mode over ethernet. This was better but I didn't find the difference so profound as in my system. Still a bit on the bright side but better depth. AV+ seems to do something a bit odd and I find dominant instruments tend to overwhelm quieter ones a bit. It's very enjoyable though and rather more realistic.
Simaudio Moon MiND 180D into Devialet via Transparent Reference XL AES digital cable. We both own MiNDs and have done for nearly a year. I was expecting to be a tiny bit disappointed as I've moved over to jRiver/AIR personally and am enjoying that, but it was actually a bit of a revelation again! It's very musical and involving. I find it's quite close to my old Linn Klimax DS in that it'd probably pass 'tune-dem' with flying colours. It's lacking in detail a tiny bit compared with the AIR route and is also quiter in the top end. This is a good thing with Devialet and it was nice to lose that AIR harshness. I have to admit the MiND in my system is a bit too lacking in top end but tonally it was well-balanced with Guillaume's system. There's air around the instruments and a lovely depth. Oh, the MiND also benefitted mightily from the Entreq grounding.
Auralic Aries (with the better power supply) and TA Ref XL AES cable again. First impressions - wow! Big soundstage, depth, easiest to place instruments in the stereo image so far. I think I probably said out loud 'this is the best so far'. We listened to a few tracks. And then something started to nag. I found myself losing interest. It's a little bit dull and uninvolving. I can't put my finger on it but it does almost seem as if everything's compressed to the same level dynamically. I did almost start to wonder if it was actually transcoding to a lesser format? Will have to double check. It's a bit 'hi-fi'... Don't forget this unit is not very well run-in and there's plenty of scope for improvement. Also don't forget Auralic are probably going to be pretty pro-active in releasing updates, some of which could improve sound quality. It's a tricky one but on current form, I'm leaning towards the MiND. The Aries also barely had any improvement through the Entreq grounding - no idea why. Could be related to the plastic casing?
totaldac-d1 server - again with TA Ref XL AES into the Devialet. Guillaume also has a totaldac ethernet cable (which is a thing of wonder) and the USB filter. How does it sound? Well, it's on a different level altogether (and it should be for the price!). So musical, tonally wonderful, we'd got a really focused soundstage back which was missing a bit with previous means. I almost can't describe it fully but this was the real deal from an musical enjoyment perspective. It reminded me of the system I heard when I auditioned my speakers last year, the dealer had a full Vivaldi stack and my jaw just dropped to the floor - it was like nothing I'd heard. Well this was like that! Wonderful instrument placement, timbre, ambience - just brilliant. I slightly preferred the totaldac with Entreq grounding but it was very subtle, and probably close to the realms of imagination.
We then skipped back and forwards trying a few different players again, mainly the Aries. I have to admit nothing really changed my mind that much. it's technically impressive but somehow a bit uninvolving to my ears. It deserves time to bed in though and could improve considerably. It's an impressively packaged bit of kit though and the control point is really nice. As is the totaldac's (the opensource mpad). The actual finish on the case isn't super-perfect but that's no biggie.
His system consists of the following: Devialet 800, Wilson Audio Sasha 2, Transparent XL digital cables, Chord Sarum speaker cable, Entreq Atlantis power cables, Audioquest Diamond Ethernet cables, Entreq Silver Tellus with Apollo ground cables. We also had an Entreq Atlantis Tellus on the second spur - Guillaume has one Devialet per power spur.
Started off with some jazz (Ahmad Jamal featuring Yusef Lateef Live At The Olympia 2012). This is a fabulous sounding jazz album.
I'll be concise here and put down my thoughts on each playback method:
AIR/iTunes in Bit Perfect mode over ethernet - I have to admit I was surprised how good this was in comparison to my tests. Very detailed. Downside was rather 2D presentation and quite harsh.
AIR/Audivarna Plus in BP mode over ethernet. This was better but I didn't find the difference so profound as in my system. Still a bit on the bright side but better depth. AV+ seems to do something a bit odd and I find dominant instruments tend to overwhelm quieter ones a bit. It's very enjoyable though and rather more realistic.
Simaudio Moon MiND 180D into Devialet via Transparent Reference XL AES digital cable. We both own MiNDs and have done for nearly a year. I was expecting to be a tiny bit disappointed as I've moved over to jRiver/AIR personally and am enjoying that, but it was actually a bit of a revelation again! It's very musical and involving. I find it's quite close to my old Linn Klimax DS in that it'd probably pass 'tune-dem' with flying colours. It's lacking in detail a tiny bit compared with the AIR route and is also quiter in the top end. This is a good thing with Devialet and it was nice to lose that AIR harshness. I have to admit the MiND in my system is a bit too lacking in top end but tonally it was well-balanced with Guillaume's system. There's air around the instruments and a lovely depth. Oh, the MiND also benefitted mightily from the Entreq grounding.
Auralic Aries (with the better power supply) and TA Ref XL AES cable again. First impressions - wow! Big soundstage, depth, easiest to place instruments in the stereo image so far. I think I probably said out loud 'this is the best so far'. We listened to a few tracks. And then something started to nag. I found myself losing interest. It's a little bit dull and uninvolving. I can't put my finger on it but it does almost seem as if everything's compressed to the same level dynamically. I did almost start to wonder if it was actually transcoding to a lesser format? Will have to double check. It's a bit 'hi-fi'... Don't forget this unit is not very well run-in and there's plenty of scope for improvement. Also don't forget Auralic are probably going to be pretty pro-active in releasing updates, some of which could improve sound quality. It's a tricky one but on current form, I'm leaning towards the MiND. The Aries also barely had any improvement through the Entreq grounding - no idea why. Could be related to the plastic casing?
totaldac-d1 server - again with TA Ref XL AES into the Devialet. Guillaume also has a totaldac ethernet cable (which is a thing of wonder) and the USB filter. How does it sound? Well, it's on a different level altogether (and it should be for the price!). So musical, tonally wonderful, we'd got a really focused soundstage back which was missing a bit with previous means. I almost can't describe it fully but this was the real deal from an musical enjoyment perspective. It reminded me of the system I heard when I auditioned my speakers last year, the dealer had a full Vivaldi stack and my jaw just dropped to the floor - it was like nothing I'd heard. Well this was like that! Wonderful instrument placement, timbre, ambience - just brilliant. I slightly preferred the totaldac with Entreq grounding but it was very subtle, and probably close to the realms of imagination.
We then skipped back and forwards trying a few different players again, mainly the Aries. I have to admit nothing really changed my mind that much. it's technically impressive but somehow a bit uninvolving to my ears. It deserves time to bed in though and could improve considerably. It's an impressively packaged bit of kit though and the control point is really nice. As is the totaldac's (the opensource mpad). The actual finish on the case isn't super-perfect but that's no biggie.
