smeyers

Responses from smeyers

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Thanks for the info, Stereo. The funny thing is I'm awaiting delivery of Audio Mirror's SET 45 amps which are supposed to arrive tomorrow. I couldn't replace the Tact with another preamp, as I'm using the Tact for digital room correction and cross... 
Upgrade DAC or Buy New
Glory,Now I'm 95% digital through a Sonos system, 5% through CD. No LP in my future; too fiddly and inconvenient for me. 
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Larryi,Interesting; I just found out that Esoteric also uses them in their $14k X-01 CD Player. As I also mentioned earlier, Empirical uses them in their Spoiler DAC; this is a quote from their site: "PCM1704U-K D/A chips - some of the best-soundi... 
Upgrade DAC or Buy New
Nickt: Thanks; I'll keep that in mind.Stereo: I'm already using a preamp in the form of a Tact 2.2 XP. The Tact has an internal DAC that can be used to feed power amps directly, or I can feed an outboard DAC using its digital outputs. I'm also usi... 
Upgrade DAC or Buy New
"5 Y/O dac technology is ancient"Yeah, but I know of some manufacturers that are still using the 'ancient' Burr Brown 1704 DAC in their new equipment. It is used in the Muse (4 of them in dual differential balanced mode). Steve Nugent at Empirical... 
Best Sonos ZP-80 Mod?
I have both a CD player and unmodified Sonos ZP-80 connected to my preamp via digital outputs. I ripped my CD's to my hard drive in FLAC format. I set up my system where I had a CD in the player, and at the same time the same CD ready to play via ... 
Best Sonos ZP-80 Mod?
Thanks much for the information, Steve. It seems like an interesting product. 
Best Sonos ZP-80 Mod?
Is a basic difference between the Empirical and Cullen mods is that in the Empirical mod the reclocker is an external unit (pace-car), where in the Cullen mod the reclocker is a board which replaces a board inside the ZP-80? 
Any new up & coming high end speaker lines?
The Italian company Opera (a favorite of Sam Telig) makes some very nice (and gorgeous looking) speakers. I own the Quinta, which is not in the range that you are looking at, but is beautiful sounding and very well made. They make a couple of uppe... 
Seeking Warm Towers - under $1500.
I always liked the several years old NHT speakers; am using the ST-4 in one of my systems and like them a lot; they were also generally highly rated and they look great. Since they were popular, it's easy to find a used pair; there are couple of p... 
Good beginner tube amp suggestions
If your system will work Ok with 20WPC, the Antique Sound Labs Wave AV-25 DT (or the older AV-20) is a nice choice. They cost $700 for the pair (monoblocs) new, but could be had for much less used. I've used the AV-20's in an office system for a f... 
Sweetest SET Amp below $5k
Thanks David. I have been hearing more and more how important the output transformer is and how expensive good ones are. Unfortunately with all the information and varying opinions around, it's hard to know what is really a good, well built amp, w... 
Sweetest SET Amp below $5k
Thanks Matrix. I'll take a closer look at their stuff. I did find some discussion on their products here, but could not find that review you mentioned. Had you heard their 45 watt version? I have 6-8 ohm 89 db sensitive speakers (although bass dut... 
Sweetest SET Amp below $5k
Thanks Gary. Seems like a nice unit; certainly beautiful looking! The price is a bit too steep for me though, unless it comes up used for a lot less. I would also prefer a straight power amp over an integrated. 
Sweetest SET Amp below $5k
Thanks Matrix; I'd not heard of this company before. Their prices are actually reasonable. I wish there was more information and a few more pictures of the amps on their web site. What other amps have you compared them too? Which model have you had?