Neverending Story: Hifi Edition

Someone down the road from me is selling 110 mono's. Think they've been modded with avondale parts. On eBay.

S.

That's going to be fun. 


They had a great look then even with the slightly dodgy looking knobs. No idea why they decided to change it. 

I read on one forum Photobucket are free again, whether you can re-cover 'lost' pics I don't know.
Would really like to hear a pair of Spica's like yours.

Bit of a surprise! The Studio 5s have landed. Only had 5 mins listen. They will never beat my Spicas or Planets, but I didn’t expect them to, They aren’t really big enough for that and they also fire directly forward, which is always limited imo. They do appear to be a very detailed (and exceedingly pretty) small speaker. The light isn’t great and I have packaging scattered everywhere but I will take a pic or two tomorrow.

Not here yet, but will happily open them up as they land. The power is only a NAP90, so not exactly great. Wish it had been a 110.

I can’t believe how the Most nitir Audio’s come alive on the end of the Exposure! They are a different speaker. I’d love to know if they are a Robin Marshall design. He did a lot of consultancy work at Epos and he reminded a friend of Mo Iqbal. I love the Studio series and I can’t see any other designer doing so well.

I've got a DV717. Strangely, I use it to play DVD's. People will think I'm weird! 

I had a mate pop round today to borrow the Studio 5s. He has lent me some Audio Note Interconnects to try with an option to buy. They are red and I think they are AN-C. I will report after listening to them. I was out this atternoon and have just woken up after a nap, so it will have to wait until tomorrow. Looking forward to it.

I've got a set of those, very nice cables.

Are they bright sounding, but in a good way?

S.

I REALLY like these cables. They aren’t as detailed or explicit as my best ones, but there’s a glorious evenness about them. If you analyse them sonically, you will be focusing on elements and miss the “whole”.

Now this pair have pretty ordinary connectors. I’m wondering how they would sound with better ones.

The thing I really like most is that they even make musical differences with the Sonneteer. That’s a first.

Pervert........

How are you getting on with the AN-C, Andrew?

S.

I’ve been playing with another DAC this morning: A DPA PDM1 series 2 (7350 version). It’s been a real eye-opener.

This DAC was the very one I paid £633 for at a time when I was a student and skint. I did so because it was just so much better than anything else I’d heard. To hear it left slumped on the starting blocks by the Sonneteer Dryden has surprised even me.

Playing with so many amps recently has shown me that the Campion is so far ahead of what I consider to be really great amps that they can’t even begin to compete. Now I find the same is true of their digital offerings which I hadn’t compared at all and had no idea of their true level. Now I do, and they are again so far ahead of something I had regarded very highly. I lived with this DAC in a sysytem I believed to be one of my best ever.

I have enjoyed my playtime with other kit, but it’s getting so predictably embarrassing when I compare, I’m seeing little point in continuing. Sure, I can still enjoy the stuff I used to revere, but it’s like watching a black and white TV once you’ve had colour. I still have a couple of bits landing in the coming days but it will soon be time to decide whether I want to keep some of these bits as nostalgia collectables or whether I should let them pass on to someone who will appreciate them and use them.

For me, the gap between my Sonneteer stuff and the also-rans just seems to grow. I had little chance to compare until recently, but I’m learning that there is a reason why I’ve stuck with Sonneteer. It’s simply wonderful.