Wow, so I finally read through all 32 pages. It was quite a read and quite a journey for many of you (this is after reading many more pages on other forums). Wheew!
So, yeah, I’ll get to audition the DIs on Wednesday or Thursday of this week, thanks to @Bullitt5094. If I like them, I can’t see me NOT making the immediate leap to the mini-Ulfs. Any objections?
A couple of things, @lancelock I, too, have the Benchmark AHB2 amp. I’ve long subscribed to the "gain with wire" theory. Did you ever go back to driving the DIs with just the AHB2 to see how it sounds?
Now, I realize that SS gear adds its own harmonics, usually of the less desirable even-order; however, with a THD+N of 0.00013% (verified independent of Benchmarks own numbers), any imparted distortion and undesirable harmonics would be well below human hearing.
It’s just me riffing. Plus, that’s a lot of quality watts coming out of the ABH2.
Speaking of watts, I’m surprised that nobody has spoken of using Decware tube gear with the DIs. I mean, we’re talking about highly lauded tube amps, in configurations to meet most of the tube hungry crowd. Made in the USA, too, baby! I don’t own any Decware amps, but I’ve always been curious.
@grannyring I also wanted to comment on the Lyngdorf stuff. It’s great, isn’t it? I’m glad you’re getting good results with the DIs. With the room correction in the Lyngdorf, do you feel it does everything you need it to do in order to hear the speakers and not the room? Myself, I took a similar path, albeit one that cost me an arm and a leg, with the Linn KDS/3. That’s the latest Linn streamer/DAC/Preamp combo. It’s the same principle, to keep signal digital until the last possible moment. Another real benefit is that you can go straight RJ45 from your router, keeping the packets perfect and uncolored, instead of going USB with something else in the middle. It also has room correction, called "Space Optimization" which is done without a mic.
Anyway, out of trying many DACs: Chord, MSB, Trinity, dCS, Schiitt and Metrum, this was not only the best sounding DAC out of all of them, but also with the added features of all-of-the-above, it really turned my crank.
I’m now using Audio Physic Avanti 30th Anniversary Jubilee speakers.
I think that’s about to change, though. :-)
P.S. - I just wanted to thank everybody in this thread for their 2 cents. Everybody has been real class acts. You've brought a lot to the table and made yourselves available.
