Thanks for all the feedback . As somewhat of an experiment I seized an opportunity to purchase a McCormack DNA .5 deluxe.
Yesterday, (the morning after almost having to sleep on the sofa! the wife wasn't too happy about the purchase..) I unpacked it , hooked it up and let it warm up prior to a listen. Initial reaction: way more detail and way more dynamic than my GSI modded Dynaco(starving artist quicksilvers w/ EH EL34's and Gold Aero 6DJ8's). Very exciting and involving. However, there's definitely a hardness, perhaps brittleness to the upper mids/high frequency...female vocals, massed strings etc. Also perhaps as the late great Harvey Rosenberg (the Tube God himself..) would have said, there is a certain "organic , juicy wholosity" to the sound stage (3D tubelike palpability?) that seems to be missing.
Note this is a "deluxe" version of the DNA .5, as opposed to a SMC( I met Steve years ago...) modded version which I'm sure would help, albeit at a price. Perhaps my Pioneer PD65, aural symphonics & MIT 330 IC's, or AI modulus 1 Pre w/ Gold Aero tubes are culprits too?! Help!!! Thanks, Jon
Yesterday, (the morning after almost having to sleep on the sofa! the wife wasn't too happy about the purchase..) I unpacked it , hooked it up and let it warm up prior to a listen. Initial reaction: way more detail and way more dynamic than my GSI modded Dynaco(starving artist quicksilvers w/ EH EL34's and Gold Aero 6DJ8's). Very exciting and involving. However, there's definitely a hardness, perhaps brittleness to the upper mids/high frequency...female vocals, massed strings etc. Also perhaps as the late great Harvey Rosenberg (the Tube God himself..) would have said, there is a certain "organic , juicy wholosity" to the sound stage (3D tubelike palpability?) that seems to be missing.
Note this is a "deluxe" version of the DNA .5, as opposed to a SMC( I met Steve years ago...) modded version which I'm sure would help, albeit at a price. Perhaps my Pioneer PD65, aural symphonics & MIT 330 IC's, or AI modulus 1 Pre w/ Gold Aero tubes are culprits too?! Help!!! Thanks, Jon