Cessaro Alpha Horns + Taiko + Kronos + DIY DAC and Interview With Vassil -- He Prefers Digital!

[Ron Resnick]

Please enjoy my interview with Vassil, of Northfield, IL, who has modified his Cessaro Alphas and built his own DAC which he prefers to his full Kronos vinyl playback set-up!

 

[matthias]

Great interview @Ron Resnick !
I think it was with @nenon from the community here.
The best was that digital doesn't start with the DAC

 

[morricab]

Please enjoy my interview with Vassil, of Northfield, IL, who has modified his Cessaro Alphas and built his own DAC which he prefers to his full Kronos vinyl playback set-up!

Nice interview, Ron! Maybe a dealer for Cessaro is in your future...to give people options...

 

[nenon]

I think it was with @nenon from the community here.

Yes, that's me in the video. It was fun shooting this with Ron.
The clips sound embarrassing but rest assured that's not how the system sound in person.

Maybe a dealer for Cessaro is in your future...to give people options...

I don't envy anyone who needs to set up big Cessaro horns. It's very difficult to get those right as mentioned in the video.
BTW, @morricab - I have some Aries Cerat gear in the room now (and more coming in a couple months). It works really really good with the Cessaro horn speakers.

One more thing to mention - I impulsively opened a YouTube channel last night after seeing the video as I figured out there is a lot more I can cover and perhaps use it to document my journey going forward. There will be some more Aries Cerat gear coming my way, Taiko Olympus XDMI + Olympus I/O, etc. I am planning to replace the Cessaro rear loaded horns with massive front loaded horns. I am also planning to try a an asymmetric distributed bass array (SWARM). Will have my buddy JR come over and we'll do it together. And then compare the horn subs with the SWARM. Planning to perfectly dial in my analog and compare to the Taiko Olympus XDMI. The list goes on.
It's an empty YouTube channel at the moment (sorry about that) but if you are interested to follow all that, feel free to subscribe - https://www.youtube.com/@ChicagoHiFi

Lastly if you have any questions or comments, I will be checking this thread frequently, so feel free to comment.

Cheers,
Vassil

 

[matthias]

Lastly if you have any questions or comments, I will be checking this thread frequently, so feel free to comment.

Vassil,
interesting will be Olympus XDMI analog output vs XDMI AES/SPDIF into the Audio Mirror DAC prototype.
I don't think Audio Mirror will get XDMI native or am I wrong?

 

[Glide3]

Excellent interview Ron
So inspiring to know there are people like Vassil in our hobby.
As many others I’m sure, I have personally benefited from his openness in sharing his experiences and wisdom.

 

[Ron Resnick]

Thank you, Matthias and Glide3!

 

[Al M.]

Great interview, Ron!

Very interesting and impressive system, Vassil!

I agree that digital starts way before the DAC. In my case I took the easier route, playing physical CDs (see my signature). But even there great care has to be taken with what comes before the DAC.

 

[Al M.]

Yes, that's me in the video. It was fun shooting this with Ron.
The clips sound embarrassing but rest assured that's not how the system sound in person.

Yeah, I think you can safely discard video sound as irrelevant most of the time. I'm sure your system in person sounds incomparably better.

 

[jeremya]

Wow! So cool to "meet" both of you! What a great chat. Such a fun story and so many fascinating toys and tweaks.

 

[MRJAZZ]

Yes, that's me in the video. It was fun shooting this with Ron.
The clips sound embarrassing but rest assured that's not how the system sound in person.


I don't envy anyone who needs to set up big Cessaro horns. It's very difficult to get those right as mentioned in the video.
BTW, @morricab - I have some Aries Cerat gear in the room now (and more coming in a couple months). It works really really good with the Cessaro horn speakers.

One more thing to mention - I impulsively opened a YouTube channel last night after seeing the video as I figured out there is a lot more I can cover and perhaps use it to document my journey going forward. There will be some more Aries Cerat gear coming my way, Taiko Olympus XDMI + Olympus I/O, etc. I am planning to replace the Cessaro rear loaded horns with massive front loaded horns. I am also planning to try a an asymmetric distributed bass array (SWARM). Will have my buddy JR come over and we'll do it together. And then compare the horn subs with the SWARM. Planning to perfectly dial in my analog and compare to the Taiko Olympus XDMI. The list goes on.
It's an empty YouTube channel at the moment (sorry about that) but if you are interested to follow all that, feel free to subscribe - https://www.youtube.com/@ChicagoHiFi

Lastly if you have any questions or comments, I will be checking this thread frequently, so feel free to comment.

Cheers,
Vassil

What's are your thoughts regarding the AUDIO MIRROR SET Monoblock's ?
They appear to be an excellent value based on their MSRP.