Just to clarify I was addressing processing in the recording itself, not ripping. Please note that I do not own the recording - just listened online. But from a sample of the album I have listened, your appreciation and one listener comment " With her electronic mixing that creates multiple cellos in harmony and counterpoint, we hear sonorous sound and strong beats. " I would discard it immediately as a reference - I just can´t imagine how it should sound! It is really electronically processed new age music.
DCS Vivaldi
- Thread starter MylesBAstor
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Just to clarify I was addressing processing in the recording itself, not ripping. Please note that I do not own the recording - just listened online. But from a sample of the album I have listened, your appreciation and one listener comment " With her electronic mixing that creates multiple cellos in harmony and counterpoint, we hear sonorous sound and strong beats. " I would discard it immediately as a reference - I just can´t imagine how it should sound! It is really electronically processed new age music.
Love the challenge and perspective....gets me reflecting...back to the notes:
how about Ottmar Liebert, One Guitar, 24/96 and the track: Along this Road Kono Michi, "struggling to perceive a difference with / without..."
That's about as Harry as I could get from the sessions.
Switch gears to some digital cables on the Vivaldi
Since day one, I have been using the top Transparent digital XLR and clock cable between the DAC and Upsampler. It seemed like it was the defacto setup for Vivaldi. So a few months ago it was suggested to me from a trusted source that Tellurium Q cables were far superior, not only to Transparent but pretty much everything else. So I ordered them (top line) and have been sitting on them for awhile as I really wanted to get to know the Vivaldi/Transparent set-up.
Two days ago I installed them.....the first thing was a totally black background. And I mean BLACK! The Transparent stuff sounded noisy by comparison. Today, just WOW! Air, detail, space, depth, width. All in spades. Talk about rosin coming off the strings! Every disc has much more of its own identity now. Before it was more homogenized, opaque. Dynamics are rendered beautifully. I can just imagine what it'll be like as these settle in. Oh and the bass....just stunning. As ROON keeps serving it up I just keep being amazed...
Since day one, I have been using the top Transparent digital XLR and clock cable between the DAC and Upsampler. It seemed like it was the defacto setup for Vivaldi. So a few months ago it was suggested to me from a trusted source that Tellurium Q cables were far superior, not only to Transparent but pretty much everything else. So I ordered them (top line) and have been sitting on them for awhile as I really wanted to get to know the Vivaldi/Transparent set-up.
Two days ago I installed them.....the first thing was a totally black background. And I mean BLACK! The Transparent stuff sounded noisy by comparison. Today, just WOW! Air, detail, space, depth, width. All in spades. Talk about rosin coming off the strings! Every disc has much more of its own identity now. Before it was more homogenized, opaque. Dynamics are rendered beautifully. I can just imagine what it'll be like as these settle in. Oh and the bass....just stunning. As ROON keeps serving it up I just keep being amazed...
First of all - congrats - that sounds exciting! I had Argento Flow AES cables recommended to me (for when I get the Network Bridge) from the dealer. I've never heard them. I've never heard of Tellurium either - can you tell us the ballpark price for these?
Also curious what power cables you are using. I tried switching my Shunyata Sigma Digital to a few other cables (Audio Arts, etc) but eventually tried Shunyata Sigma HC and was stunned at the difference. Much more bass impact and overall flow to the sound.
King, if I recall you are going out from the DAC to your amps (i.e. No preamp)?
Would love to hear more. Which level of cables did you use and which order did you swap them out in? What made the biggest difference, the clock, digital interconnects, or analog out?
My dCS dealer carries Tellurium, Transparent, Audioquest, Chord Company, Vertere, Crystal Cable and i dare say more than a few others...their recommendation for the Vivaldi stack is ChordMusic..and basis my experience ...concur.
[in the latest HiFi Plus there's a brief interview with David Stevens, dCS MD...the accompanying picture has him sitting to the side of a Vivaldi stack...wired with what I believe is Nordost Odin 2...stillpoints and a stillpoint stand are apparent...curious that the main stand has Cerabase at bottom... power treatment features but i don't recognise the equipment)
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I use MIT Oracle MA clock cables and Audiomica (from Poland) Ormus Consequence AES/EBU cables on my Vivaldi stack.
The Audiomica cables were a recommendation from a UK dCS/MIT dealer who I know well and who preferred the sound of the Audiomica cables in a dCS system, compared with his previous reference MIT Oracle MA cables.
I am certainly very pleased with them and they seem to integrate well with the MIT signal and speaker cables that I have elsewhere in my system loom.
My dCS dealer (Studio AV) is also a stockist of Tellurium Q cables and it will be interesting to borrow a full dCS Tellurium Q loom to audition at home.
BMCG - Just to correct you, the Hi Fi+ photo of David Steven's system shows Stillpoints Ultra SS/Ultra Bases as footers for his Stillpoints rack and not Finite Elements Cerabases! David also has Stillpoints Ultra 5's supporting his Berning Quadrature mono blocs and Ultra SS's supporting every other component, including his Berning preamp. It also looks like he is using Estelon XC stand-mount speakers. KOG Audio's influence was definitely high when it came to addressing David's system needs!
I have followed the same system support philosophy and have Stillpoints ESS racks and Ultra SS's supporting all my system components, with Ultra 5's under my CJ power amp and TAD speaker stands.
The Audiomica cables were a recommendation from a UK dCS/MIT dealer who I know well and who preferred the sound of the Audiomica cables in a dCS system, compared with his previous reference MIT Oracle MA cables.
I am certainly very pleased with them and they seem to integrate well with the MIT signal and speaker cables that I have elsewhere in my system loom.
My dCS dealer (Studio AV) is also a stockist of Tellurium Q cables and it will be interesting to borrow a full dCS Tellurium Q loom to audition at home.
BMCG - Just to correct you, the Hi Fi+ photo of David Steven's system shows Stillpoints Ultra SS/Ultra Bases as footers for his Stillpoints rack and not Finite Elements Cerabases! David also has Stillpoints Ultra 5's supporting his Berning Quadrature mono blocs and Ultra SS's supporting every other component, including his Berning preamp. It also looks like he is using Estelon XC stand-mount speakers. KOG Audio's influence was definitely high when it came to addressing David's system needs!
I have followed the same system support philosophy and have Stillpoints ESS racks and Ultra SS's supporting all my system components, with Ultra 5's under my CJ power amp and TAD speaker stands.
no problem being corrected...the stillpoint and FE bases look remarkably similar....and thank you for the speaker ID...could not place the logo.....there's at least one Vitus Audio piece of kit as well....any ideas on the power infrastructure?
(again curious on the KOG influence...especially given that Absolute Sounds has picked up the UK distro for dCS)
Hi BMCG - I don't know why dCS appointed Absolute Sounds as a distributor. It came as a complete shock to dCS dealers as well!
I'm not sure what the Vitus component is on the bottom shelf of the Quadraspire rack, but I would guess that power infrastructure is Nordost, again, based on David's friendship with Roy Gregory and the presence of the Odin 2 cable loom, Stillpoints and David Berning amplification!
KOG Audio, as UK distributors of Stillpoints, Vitus and Estelon (among others) have obviously factored in the equipment choice.
I like Fraser and Mark (both ex-Focal) from KOG and they have been enormously helpful to me when I was looking to move from my Avalon Indra speakers (owned since 2008) late last year. Fraser visited and set up both Avalon Compas and then Estelon XA speakers for month-long extended home demos, before I auditioned and went for my third choice (TAD). I liked the Estelon XA very much, but they didn't pass the WAF test, being described by my other half as "hideous to look at!" Thankfully, Fraser was very understanding and we remain good friends!
I was also very fortunate in hosting a visit from Liam Davidson from dCS, who expressed an interest with my dealer, in visiting me and listening to my system earlier this year. At the time, I owned the Vivaldi Transport, DAC and Clock. Liam brought the Vivaldi Upsampler with him and we listened with it inserted into the system, both agreeing, although not knowing exactly why it enhanced the sound of CD's, making piano even more realistic and having an effect on the depth of image and placement of individual instruments.
That home visit resulted in me buying the new Vivaldi Upsampler Plus to complete my dCS digital front end!
I'm not sure what the Vitus component is on the bottom shelf of the Quadraspire rack, but I would guess that power infrastructure is Nordost, again, based on David's friendship with Roy Gregory and the presence of the Odin 2 cable loom, Stillpoints and David Berning amplification!
KOG Audio, as UK distributors of Stillpoints, Vitus and Estelon (among others) have obviously factored in the equipment choice.
I like Fraser and Mark (both ex-Focal) from KOG and they have been enormously helpful to me when I was looking to move from my Avalon Indra speakers (owned since 2008) late last year. Fraser visited and set up both Avalon Compas and then Estelon XA speakers for month-long extended home demos, before I auditioned and went for my third choice (TAD). I liked the Estelon XA very much, but they didn't pass the WAF test, being described by my other half as "hideous to look at!" Thankfully, Fraser was very understanding and we remain good friends!
I was also very fortunate in hosting a visit from Liam Davidson from dCS, who expressed an interest with my dealer, in visiting me and listening to my system earlier this year. At the time, I owned the Vivaldi Transport, DAC and Clock. Liam brought the Vivaldi Upsampler with him and we listened with it inserted into the system, both agreeing, although not knowing exactly why it enhanced the sound of CD's, making piano even more realistic and having an effect on the depth of image and placement of individual instruments.
That home visit resulted in me buying the new Vivaldi Upsampler Plus to complete my dCS digital front end!
Sounds like we're on akin roads....still love the Indra's....closest temptation to a change out has come from the Alexia's.....suspect will be a serious audition of them next year...
Have admired TAD for a long time....which one's lured you out of the high WAF Indra's
? [Fwiw..the Compas never convinced me....either]
Hmm I never tried the Sigma HC to the sources. Just Analog's or Digitals. This doesn't surprise me however, I remember the King Cobra to the digital sources years ago was quite a bit better than the Anaconda's at the time. I'm guessing you're digging the Vivaldi even more with better power cabling...
Yes, I am enjoying it more now with the change of power cable (thanks to you!) and while I certainly can't say that the Sigma HC is the way to go, it's definitely an improvement over the Sigma Digital or the other cables I had on hand. Whether that is down to synergy with the rest of the system or not, I don't know.
I really look forward to being able to feed the DAC via ethernet (as opposed to USB) which I'll be able to do once the Network Bridge is released (although admittedly I'm wishing I had the Upsampler instead since all the feedback seems to indicate it produces a more airy/3D soundstage).
Will your dealer loan you a up sampler? I have a feeling if you compared the two...I know which would stay...sorry about that 3-4x price diff however. I can't tell you how much fun I've had with my up sampler...and how much music it allows me to discover/enjoy. I think I've bought 50 redbook cd's off Amazon in the past year (and a pile of PCM down loads at various resolutions). Which is 50 more redbook cd's than I've bought over the prior 20 years...
Sounds like we're on akin roads....still love the Indra's....closest temptation to a change out has come from the Alexia's.....suspect will be a serious audition of them next year...
Have admired TAD for a long time....which one's lured you out of the high WAF Indra's
I had my Avalon Indras for nearly eight years and know their virtues very well. What I was looking for was a replacement speaker with more mid-bass punch that would fully exploit the potential of the dCS Vivaldi stack. I thought that the answer might be found further up the Avalon line, but I was shocked when I tried the Compas at home. I don't know what Avalon have done to the voicing of their current range but I found the mids and highs harsh in comparison with the 2008 model Indra. The drive unit array is similar so I can only guess that a change in the crossover has resulted in the change in presentation! The Estelon XA (which also uses Accuton ceramic drivers for midrange and treble) was much better.
I too, love the Alexias, but like the Estelon XA, they are a large and heavy speaker system which tends to dominate a room.
There's also the issue of moving these things around as you get older! To play fair with the lady of the house, I respected her aesthetic opinion and went for the TAD CR-1, whose bass performance belies their physical size and offers every other attribute I was looking for in a speaker system. Apparently, they also match our living room curtains better!
To answer a few questions
I changed all the cables at once.
Yes I use Vivaldi dac pre out
I never trust dealer recommendations unless I know for sure they have tried the specifics range of cable that interests you. Unless a dealer focuses on 2or3 cable lines I'd bet they just have a sampling of all those lines
In my system the tellurium silver diamonds absolutely are killing the transparent reference xl. Actually I can't believe how bad the transparent stuff is. Then again one would never know unless something else is tried
I believe in general dCS uses transparent or nordost in their demos world wide. That could be a function of their distributors relationships
I have many different pc. I like the audio art on the dac.
I changed all the cables at once.
Yes I use Vivaldi dac pre out
I never trust dealer recommendations unless I know for sure they have tried the specifics range of cable that interests you. Unless a dealer focuses on 2or3 cable lines I'd bet they just have a sampling of all those lines
In my system the tellurium silver diamonds absolutely are killing the transparent reference xl. Actually I can't believe how bad the transparent stuff is. Then again one would never know unless something else is tried
I believe in general dCS uses transparent or nordost in their demos world wide. That could be a function of their distributors relationships
I have many different pc. I like the audio art on the dac.
Cables are generally system and equipment dependent. One's experiences with a specific brand may not suit other.
Unless u try, you never know. I find most guys buy into a cable brand a defend it to the death...
Well I will have to find a way to demo it. I've bought a ton of red book CDs (also off of Amazon) during the past 2 years (many classical box sets etc.) and really don't snub my nose at red book in any way. I find recording and mastering is the most important aspect, but having a digital playback system that can make digital sound as musically involving as analog is of course paramount, as analog is expensive (I must have spent the cost of the Upsampler on vinyl over the past 3 years!) and not everything is available.
As you I go on buying CDs and SACDs and I listen mostly to physical media when staying away of the WBF vapors ...
The bad news is that physical media sounds better on the Vivaldi when using its transport than ripping the CD. When I got the Vivaldi's I was considering keeping the Metronome - it looks and sound great - but I had no chance, the Vivaldi transport was really significantly better!
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