Input on Spectral DMC 30SL

Richard,

where do you stand on this at this moment? You've followed my Spectral system, so you can easily guess that I wouldn't part with my 30SL G2, and I could tell you not even for the 30SS, for reasons I can explain if you PM me.

If you ever listen to this preamp, I think you will find that it's simply stunning.

Excellent choice on the DAC - VERY analog-like sound. If you are interested about my ruminations on it vs. analog, take a look at http://www.martinloganowners.com/forum/showthread.php?t=9365

On the following: "i also did end up getting some pretty solid information confirming that the alpha dac is appropriate to drive spectral amps"... Yes indeed, I have the same solid info and will drive the new 360's likewise directly in balanced mode, while the preamp will go in via SE, so I can A/B the DAC doing directly to the amps vs. through the preamp :-)

Oh that's funny... there is a 30SS here on Agon just 6 months old... Gee am I NOT surprised.

On your DMA-180: keep in mind that the Spectral sound has changed significantly in recent years. Whereas your amp has this very wide but diffuse soundstage, the newer models, including the 250, have an extremely well focus but still wide soundstage. This was the sharpest contrast between the Alpha DAC and the old SDR-2000 I had, as well as the DMC-20 preamp's and the new 30SL's. Essentially, the newer designs offer this walk-around soundstage, and the reason you can "walk around" it is that you can actually feel the instruments due to the sharp focus - that's how palpable the presentation is.

I got the Alpha in May of 2009 I believe. It took me about 20 mins of A/B testing with the 2000 to discern that the Alpha completely trounces its competitor. The real test was against the analog rig, where the bottom line in my comments is that with RR/HDCD recordings it clearly surpassed it, but this is partly due to the superior RR recordings against anyone else's, and with all other material it came extremely close.

Moreover, I compared it with the Spectral SDR-4000 Pro CD player, and couldn't tell a difference whatsoever - Harley did. What a bargain.