Some pics of what I'm using and not using right now.

Whereas my NAD amp (a slightly later model that gets equally ecstatic online user reviews) is on its way today to a Wammer who will keep it as a just in case spare.

Amazing how either a} kit behaves differently in different systems or b} we are after different things from our gear.

I would rate the NAD as half decent.

I wish I knew what it was I did.

Don't want to make any changes now in case I undo whatever it was. I think it must be something to do with the cables. Even that doesn't really make much sense.

The only other thing I can think of is that the Topping E30 took a few hours to 'burn in,' however improbable that might be. I could check that by moving back to the Soncoz but I daren't mess about with it now in case it wasn't any of those things.

It's still not quite as good as my old system, but looks like there is not much chance of being able to go back to that. But the difference is very small. Doesn't sound quite as 'tight' at the frequency extremes, which I'm sure is the amplifier. But in other ways it is actually better. A bit more 'explicit'.

Oscar Peterson Trio 'We Get Requests' was just joke good. Old analogue recording from 1964 with tape hiss. But the realism was astonishing - decay on the piano notes, the effect of the soft pedal, resonance of the double bass - all laid bare. Shame I can't have the speakers further apart else it would really have sounded like they were set up at the end of the room.

If it's working for you, then don't change a thing. It's really easy to lost that something special so keep it stable and hopefully you'll be happy for some time!

Yeah, why not!

Further to the filter options on the E30, I just sat here and cycled through all six of them and I really cannot tell any difference whatsoever between any of them despite trying my hardest. 

"I thought it would be bigger?"

True soundstage depth, soundstage in general is not that a big a priority for me. A lot of the time I don't even listen on axis.

I do love holographic imaging and systems I have heard that do that, it blows me away. But with my room there's only so far I can take that, the room is the limiting factor and that's not going to change, so I don't stress on it.

'Sweetness' not so sure about. What I call sweetness you probably call something else. Purity of tone? I don't know. A lack of a 'mechanical' sound or a 'hard' sound? I think that it's a linguistic issue.

Top end resolution - yes it matters to me, yes the NAD is not the best there, that's why I was saying I've got 95 percent. The other 5 percent is that last bit. Right now with work coming to an end next year I can't be punting madly anymore, hi-fi budget has gone from a grand a month to nothing a month. So I have to go careful if I'm going to fix that. Can't afford an expensive mistake.

As it stands it's a sin of omission, not commission. So it doesn't spoil my enjoyment of listening to music even though intellectually I know that there is a level beyond what I have right now.

You're right Raymondo, been meaning to sort that out.

Most of those are going to get sold.

The curtains came with the house, never seen any reason to change them, although I did have all the windows replaced with double glazed units years ago now.

Yeah, good looking unit that Phillips.

Took the DCB1 into the pro shop. See how that goes. He reckons a ground has come loose from one channel of the input, sounds plausible.

Says he's snowed under right now - the place looks like it too! So might be a while.

Yes, it works fine with the two Krells but with every other power amp I own it has hum in left channel.

Although have to say I am liking what the Black Tulip/NAD pre/power combo does. I could happily live with it. Good job really as I might have to!

I'm sure he can. I doubt it is anything serious.

He's still working on that 1950s juke box he was showing me last time I was in. That's now in bits all over the floor.

I liked the Black Tulip preamp I picked up a few years ago. It started a bit of a Black Tulip journeyfor me; a couple of the power amps and a tuner.
Very nice gear.

Had Ollie come over this morning. He brought me a Krell he had secured for me from somewhere in Welsh Wales. He also brought along his Neurochrome 686 power amp, his BT 2 pre-amp and Soekris DAC so we had a bit of a bake-off.

First up we had a listen to the system already set up to get some sort of baseline. This was Audiolab 6000 CD transport, into Topping E30 DAC into a Philips 22AH380 pre, the power section of a NADC320BEE and the JM Lab Electra 926 speakers. We listened to the first couple of tunes from the Isaac Hayes 'Shaft' soundtrack album, for no other reason than it was already in the player.

This set up gives a clean, sweet sound that you could listen to for hours since it doesn't do anything wrong or annoying, and the sound is free of the speakers, but at the same time whilst it sounds good there's not many 'wow' moments to be had. The NAD power amp has very good signal to noise but its little frame transformer means there is a limit to what it can do in terms of dynamics and the grip in the bass. For a hundred quid off of eBay you really can't go wrong if you need a cheap but good power amp, but it's no powerhouse.

So we decided to swap out the amplification first and put in the BT2 and Neurochrome 686 in place of the Philips/NAD combo. I didn't take a pic of the BT2 as it is just a black box with a stepped pot and a heavy duty on-off switch. The Neurochrome is not blinged up either. It's quiet compact and at a guess weighs in about 15 kilos:



We had another listen to Shaft. It was pretty clear there was a lot more power on tap as even at high spl there was no stress on the dynamic peaks and studio ambience around the acoustic instruments was more obvious. The sound was not 'cut' or 'etched' in any way, neither was there any colouration being added, a very neutral presentation, you couldn't really 'hear' the amplifiers at all.

This, then, was an ideal set-up for the DAC bake-off to follow.

Ollie wanted to swap in the Soekris DAC to compare to the Topping E30 but I wanted another reference first so we had a listen to the traditional hi-fi demo track 'Private Investigations' from the Sony SBM CD version. It's become something of a cliché but it is a good test track as you've got big dynamic swings, acoustic instruments and sound effects. This was also well presented, powerful and controlled, but it did show up some very slight glassines on the heavily struck piano chords.

I asked Ollie if he thought that was the DAC or the amp, he says 'It's the DAC mate.'

Okay. So we swap the Topping E30 out for the Soekris DAC. This is not standard as Ollie has taken out the switch mode power supplies and replaced them with linear supplies that sit in a separate case and are connected to the DAC via umbilical. Here's the Soekris ready to go:



We listen to Private Investigations again. I was especially listening out for the glassiness on the piano hits but it just wasn't there now. Although I thought it was pretty subtle the whole sound was just more natural, more real. We listened to a few of the tracks from Shaft again, again I had the same perception. Ollie reckoned it was a big and obvious difference compared to the Topping but I did not agree. It was subtle, but noticeable.

In addition to the piano chords on 'Private Investigations' there was a xylophone on track 3 of Shaft that also seemed to sound more 'real' with the Soekris. More body to the instrument and more realistic decay of the sound of the keys. Again this was slight but noticeable.

Next we swapped DACs again, replacing the Soekris with the Soncoz SGD1. Unlike the Soekris this DAC comes with two linear power supplies built in and is highly reagrded. Like the Soekris, the Soncoz did not impart that slight glassiness to the piano chords, but at the same time it did not sound as 'real' as the Soekris. It was a bit like switching from listening to a good turntable to listening to the same song in FM on a good tuner. The same song, it's all there, yet something almost undefinable has changed.

Still with the Soncoz in play we had a listen to the last couple of tunes from 'We Get Requests' by Oscar Peterson Trio'. This sounded good. We then swapped the Soekris back in and played the same tracks again. Now I could not really hear any change, but Ollie reckoned it was a big difference. We then listened to 'The Last Time I Saw Richard' from Joni Mitchell's 'Blue' album on both DACs. Again I did not think there was any appreciable difference.

Ollie thought it was risible that I could not hear a difference and mentioned a few specific things he had noticed such as the vibrato on Joni's voice being better resolved through the Soekris, and the piano sounding like an upright through the Soncoz but a concert grand through the Soekris.

I find it difficult to hold the memory of the sound in my head during the interval of time while the DACs are switched out. I think if I had some way to compare by fast switching between them I would have more of a chance to pick up on any differences. But I think that does indicate that these were not huge differences but subtle.

Of course subtle matters. But do bear in mind this was all sighted listening and volume was only matched by ear. Which brings me to the conclusion.

If this was a dealer demo and I'd heard all three DACs with a view to taking one home, which one would I go for?

I'd go for the Soekris.

Not that you can get it from a dealer since it is not stock, Ollie advised that the stock version, with its switch mode supplies. was not as good as this modded one. But after several hours listening my gut instinct was that this was the DAC I preferred. Even though it is the most expensive by some margin, even before you swap the power supplies out.

Personally, with retirement coming up, I don't think I will be splashing out on one. But it was very interesting to be able to do the comparison and to be able to have a go on the Neurochrome 686. My sincere thanks to Ollie for making it happen and for finding another Krell for me.