I had the pleasure of going to the granite room at CES at Alexis Park in January and had the real please of meeting Don and his tube output stage CD player. I spent approx 45 min in the room comparing different CDs. He also had a pair of hand made granite tube amps which were simply beautiful.
The CD was connected to a preamp that had the ability to switch between the tubed and non tubed (digital I think) outputs of the CD player. And it was very clear when the tube output stage was on.. warmth is first and foremost in my discription as well as mid range bloom and detail. Top end was softned off, which is a very very good thing especially in a bright environment.
To my ears, the granite, in a perfect enviroment with a great pre-amp and proper ICs like the granite XLRs(which I own) and Granite Power cords (which I also own BTW)comes close to SACD.
Again, even though my gear is racked and behind a oak door
http://www.angelfire.com/mn2/mzn50/
I would of liked to see a top ctrl panel..my logic is, Im there already, I poped in the disc, why not press play or select a track !
I think that would just add to an already superb product
Matt
The CD was connected to a preamp that had the ability to switch between the tubed and non tubed (digital I think) outputs of the CD player. And it was very clear when the tube output stage was on.. warmth is first and foremost in my discription as well as mid range bloom and detail. Top end was softned off, which is a very very good thing especially in a bright environment.
To my ears, the granite, in a perfect enviroment with a great pre-amp and proper ICs like the granite XLRs(which I own) and Granite Power cords (which I also own BTW)comes close to SACD.
Again, even though my gear is racked and behind a oak door
http://www.angelfire.com/mn2/mzn50/
I would of liked to see a top ctrl panel..my logic is, Im there already, I poped in the disc, why not press play or select a track !
I think that would just add to an already superb product
Matt