Hi Guido,
I am sorry to hear about your RP condition. I just so happen to be an ophthalmologist in Singapore but I am afraid research has not come up with any viable treatment for the time being but you may have read about a prototype retinal implant with a microprocessor to improve vision. There are very good eye centres in Canada that may make this available in the very near future.
I agree that the K-01 is very flexible in tailoring the sound to suit one's system and also individual recordings, i might add. It is a bit of a digital chameleon, almost as good as having 20 different brand players in one box.
It is very heartening to note that your sense of hearing is as acute as ever. Cheers!
Warmest regards. Jon. |
There is a magical point in the break-in period when the treshold is crossed after which the sonic improvement is most dramatic with further improvement wrought in gradual smaller and smaller increments.
When my unit crossed that treshold, I am happy to update my initial impressions above.
The initially perceived K-01's negatives about dynamics, transients and orchestral crescendoes can now all be swept away. Direct to the power amps, the K-01 cedes NOTHING to the dCS units and in the same breath, takes EVERYTHING away. Cymbal crashes, piano transients, instrument body/airiness, female vocals and orchestral climaxes are as life-like as they sound compared to the dcs combo and a lot more. Now the perspective is still the same but uncannily, there is more detail, more resolution, transparency and more life-like image size.
Denon1, i have not tried it with a preamp and will not be doing so for now as I am extremely satisfied with what i am hearing now. I believe that to hear a significant difference, a very high quality preamp like Guido's Rowland Criterion is in order. That for me at around $40k is way off my budget limit.
Guido, i have set the filter to your preferred one, that is Dsly_2 at 4× upsampling as indeed I trust your ears and may be better for Die Muzik speakers than Alan Taffel's preference for dsly2 with 2x upsampling in his TAS report but i may try that another time. For now, i am simply enjoying every musical moment.
Cheers, everyone! |
Denon1,
I would go with Guido's guidance about keeping it on.
Guido,
I might add the Corus later going by RH's glowing review in TAS. But for now, the performance gain from the dcs combo to the K-01 will keep me very, very happy for some time to come.
To summarise my conclusions about the K-01, it would be :-"Bold and dynamic with a rock-solid foundation, it is at once with much grace and pace, utter refinement and articulation." |
Here's another update of the K-01.
Denon1,
I hope you have received your unit and started breaking it in. As Guido has mentioned, things get better and better with more and more hundreds of hours of break-in. I have also tried out the USB input and it works wonderfully. The uncompressed wav file sounds better than the CD original. I use my Sony VAIO desktop with JRiver Media Centre software and the ASIO driver as recommended by AT at TAS. The HS_2 asynchronous driver downloaded online does a great job of playing Redbook wav files and hi-res up to 192/24. So far, I have only played 96/24 and the difference from Redbook is very significant.
Guido,
With regard to your previous question about the settings, in my system, I find that ORG upsampling + FIR 1 gives me the best balance for resolution, transparency, mudrange silkiness and bloom, speed and timing. Since we have the same source and speakers, the difference in optimal settings would be due to our system synergy - no preamp for me, different power amps and cabling - interconnects and speaker cables. For my system, the 4X + SLDR2 sounds a little bit dry and bright. With the ORG FIR 1 setting, my system is elevated to audio nirvana, or at least to my ears, nearly there.Let me know when you start on USB playback. I can assure it will be as good as it gets. Cheers! |
Denon1,
Once you hv your unit broken in, let me know. I will be more than happy to help. I use a regular Sony VAIO desktop with Windows 7 and JRiver software. You can download this plus the ASIO4all driver online. Do not use Win 8. Once you hv set up the JRiver music software, download as instructed in the manual, the Usb HS_2 driver. After this is insralled, your computer shd detect the K-01 and use this as default for SPDIF out.
Guido,
I am sorry I do not understand. Do you have a medical sight condition or is it sonething else? |
Guido,
Anytime, my friend. Meanwhile, enjoy the music and die Muzik! |
Carcommander,
It is a good thing that you did not upgrade your Puccini with the U-clock. You made the right decision to go straight to the K-01.
About your settings, if your system is on the warm side, the SLDY filter is the way to go. Music sounds faster as it leans out a bit. But if your system is on the lean side, the FIR filter fleshes things out with more body and warmth to instruments.
As I have now burned in most of my filters, I wish to update that I am rather disappointed now with the USB input. As good as the USB input is on its own, it is beaten out in all departments by the sound of the original CD in the transport. I have read elsewhere online that the new VRDS NEO transport is the one that makes all the difference and this would explain the price difference between the K-01 and the K-03 which uses a lesser transport mechanism. So, I now listen only to hi-res files thru the USB input.
If you have tried the USB input, kindly share your personal experience. |
Denon1,
For my system, I am now rather settled with ORG(zero) upsampling + FIR1 filter. This gives me the best balance of tonal richness and speed.
I agree that I would probably need a higher quality music server set-up to get the best out of USB but later.
Right now, I am just too happy listening to Redbook cd spinning in the Neo transport. |
Denon1,
About the Brystons, I bought them way before the K-01 and have not compared them with any other amp after the K-01 arrived. The current 28B SST2 monoblocks replaced my old Mark Levinson monoblocks which put out 400W per channel. The Brystons are in a different league altogether compared to the ML's which could not drive my speakers with the ease, refinement and slam of the 28B's. The 28B's were well received by HP in the pages of TAS and I bought them based on his assessment. I did not compare them to the 7B or 14B models before my purchase. The 28B;s are very neutral and excel in all frequency bands and I did not know how good they can be until I got the K-01. They are also very fast which explains why I prefer the FIR1 filter. The SLDY filter made my system sound even faster but the sound got too lean.
I guess everything depends on system synergy and so, results may vary with your speakers, cables and power cords/conditioner.
Hope this helps. |
Dctom,
I agree with you about the dCS sound but I did not know how much more musical other gear can be, or how much less musical the dCS can be in my system, until I hear the K-01. |
Dctom,
I agree that it would be ideal to have a home audition before a purchase but not all dealers allow it. So, we have to depend on the assessment of audio journalists and online hobbyists who graciously share their experience. For the K-01, I was mostly inspired by Guido's favorable comments since we share the same speakers. There are also other positive reviews in TAS and websites like www.high-endaudio.com which helped too. The worrying thing about any new component purchase is its synergy with the rest of the system and with the K-01, I have indeed been fortunate. |
Indeed, the CD sounds better via the transport than the high res files via the USB input. Referencing Denon1 above, the computer set-up, both hardware and software, would need major upgrading before sounding their best. Even then, I suspect the USB input sonics may never be on par with the that of the transport, high res files not withstanding. |
Denon1,
In my system, I set the volume from -6 to 0 depending on the recording. My speakers need a lot of power/current to sound fleshed out at realistic levels. I will update you on any of the pre-amps mentioned should I get to audition at home. We could go back to your original thread for further discussion on this and the K-01. |
