Henryhk,
I spent last evening listening to my friends system. The DCC2 is fully broken in. Prior to last night we had been in awe at how good the preamp portion is and busy with selecting the best interconnects and speaker cables. Last night we used his Supratek Syrah as the preamp and didn't do any critical listening. In fact the music we listened to ran the gammut from super high resolution SACD's to marginally recorded Redbook CD's from the 60's and 70's. Steve knows that I'm a huge Neil Young fan so he had purchased "On The Beach" for my benefit. We also listened to "Harvest Moom". You might get a kick out of knowing that we also listened to Iron Butterfly's "Innagoddadavida" and Booker T. And The MG's "Green Onions".
This system consists of The Meitner gear, The Supratek, two modified Berning ZH270's, Merlin VSM's with BAM with the latest upgrades. The best interconnects and speaker cables, to our ears were the Ridge Street Midnight SE II's. One thing to note is that optimal use of the Merlin's is placing the BAM between the source and the preamp which cannot be done with using the DCC2 as the preamp. Ridge street jumpers were also used for the first time ever in this system.
I have listened to this system many, many times and I consider myself to be as familiar with it's nuances as the owner. Last night was remarkable. I was totally blown away. The musicality, smoothness, body, texture, layering, detail and toe tappin' attributes were there better than I've ever heard before. Yes, this system is as sharp as a surgeons knife with it's ability to dissect every attribute of a recording and display it as under an audio microscope. On the audiophile SACD's the details were breathtaking. One particular cut featuring Keith Jarrett was particulary breathtaking. Everything was just so right. And, the live CD of Union Station was as emotional as it gets.
Particulary interesting to me was how this system responded to those earlier low res recordings that I love for the music content. Wonderful is about the only adjective I can come up with. Often times a really revealing system makes such music unlistenable. Not with the Meitner gear. This aspect has proven to this "strictly analog based" guy that the digital realm has arrived. I am impressed. Really, it's embarassing to try and come up with words that tell the magnitude of how impressed I am. This is ground breaking performance if you are willing to pay the price.
I anxiously await the turntable portion of this system to be up and running. I've felt strongly that some vinyl source material is so superior to the digital offerings of the same that the sun, moon and stars will align when the needle hits the groove in this system. After last night I now have doubts that this is the case. For my friends sake I hope that his Teres is up to the challenge since so much music is available on vinyl that will never be offered in any digital format. In that regard alone, the world awaits him.
Folks, these opinions are from a guy that never embraced any digital format. Yes, I've owned a couple of CD players and enjoyed the convenience. A few of the CD's I owned sounded pretty good. In the end though, I parted with my last CDP and sold off my modest selection of media. While never being anti-digital, I have always been a firm believer in the superiority of analog reproduction based on my listening experiences. At this time I'm tempted to say that these two very different medias are equal but will save that bold statement for a time it is proven to me. I cannot give a higher compliment to the Meitner gear than that. It is just sooooo good it's spooky.
Last night may have been the most fun I've ever had listening to music. I'm so very glad for you guys that can afford this type of purchase.
Patrick