Aries Cerat Kassandra II Ref DAC: Wow!

morricab

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Apr 25, 2014
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Words 8, 9 and 10: Downward dynamic range (a term invented by Allen Wright from VacuumState)

The ability to keep soft sounds intact and not smeared over in the presence of louder sounds. Example, decay of a piano note is still clearly audible even as new notes are coming over the top and THEIR decays are also clearly present and kept at the right relative levels as new notes come on top and so on and so on.
 

bonzo75

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  • Haha
Reactions: Skanda

morricab

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Apr 25, 2014
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ha ha

lets not try to pidgeon hole the aries effort

the Dac No usage is interesting cf the audio note

though on an 'industrial' scale' lol

Ken's comments on the advantage of multiple DAC are pertinent

This is offset by the noise introduced by the Tube output stage

If we agree, currently, the output is limited to 21 bits no matter what the implementation of DAC or output

Then sound quality becomes most obvious trait

Being an owner of NOS audio note Meitner implementations

I look forward to an SQ evaluation of the Aries Cerat

I hope for my bank balance it's total rubbish and the growing R2R DAC are better at a 10th the price :)....!


Sadly for you it is not rubbish...it is pretty awe inspiring. My Monarchy does a lot of things very right, especially since it is 1/10 to 1/100 the cost of others here. It has shown the door to numerous DACS in the 5-10K range; however, it is not really a fair fight with Kassandra...
 

bonzo75

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Brad, just to clarify, are you a distributor or dealer Aries Cerat? Asking because you were once for KR
 

morricab

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Brad, just to clarify, are you a distributor or dealer Aries Cerat? Asking because you were once for KR

Its not official yet, but yes I am now an importer/distributor for Aries Cerat in Switzerland. Our website is not yet up so no official announcement yet. I was going to wait for that to announce to the forum but since you asked I will tell. You can take that for what you will with regards to my comments. You are also welcome to come and hear it for yourself in the context of I and my partners systems. We also now have an Incito preamp and will have a Diana Forte soon. We have a Diana Integrated on hand as well. I will not be writing a review on the Diana Integrated due to conflict of interest.

I will be hanging up the reviewer hat as well, unless it is something completely unrelated to AC (cables for example, which AC does not make).
 

bonzo75

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Its not official yet, but yes I am now an importer/distributor for Aries Cerat in Switzerland. Our website is not yet up so no official announcement yet. I was going to wait for that to announce to the forum but since you asked I will tell. You can take that for what you will with regards to my comments. You are also welcome to come and hear it for yourself in the context of I and my partners systems. We also now have an Incito preamp and will have a Diana Forte soon. We have a Diana Integrated on hand as well. I will not be writing a review on the Diana Integrated due to conflict of interest.

I will be hanging up the reviewer hat as well, unless it is something completely unrelated to AC (cables for example, which AC does not make).


Hi no, that’s fine, and congrats. I trust flyer’s views on products he sells, and BHF seems a great guy as well, but just wanted to know if you were distributing.

Yes I will come over once. My next trip is to iron out some Scintilla stuff but the one after that whenever I visit Switzerland will try to drop in. You are close to Zurich?
 

awsmone

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Apr 6, 2014
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Sadly for you it is not rubbish...it is pretty awe inspiring.

oh bugger...wrong answer....i have had a audio note dac for many years, and upgrade the receiver chip last year

it continues to amaze me after all these years....

what are the inputs available ? on Kassandra

any comparison with Lampizator ?
 

morricab

Well-Known Member
Apr 25, 2014
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Hi no, that’s fine, and congrats. I trust flyer’s views on products he sells, and BHF seems a great guy as well, but just wanted to know if you were distributing.

Yes I will come over once. My next trip is to iron out some Scintilla stuff but the one after that whenever I visit Switzerland will try to drop in. You are close to Zurich?

Yes, I am about 10Km from Zürich. So, you are buying some Scintillas afterall? No Tenor OTLs I am afraid to say...
 

morricab

Well-Known Member
Apr 25, 2014
9,391
4,988
978
Switzerland
oh bugger...wrong answer....i have had a audio note dac for many years, and upgrade the receiver chip last year

it continues to amaze me after all these years....

what are the inputs available ? on Kassandra

any comparison with Lampizator ?

Inputs are USB, optical, coax, AES...the usual suspects. No comparison to Lampi...yet.
 

awsmone

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Apr 6, 2014
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thats great news for you about Aries Cerat!

i will be in Switzerland in october....would love to drop in :) and listen
 

morricab

Well-Known Member
Apr 25, 2014
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978
Switzerland
thats great news for you about Aries Cerat!

i will be in Switzerland in october....would love to drop in :) and listen

That would be excellent! Just let me know...
 

awsmone

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Apr 6, 2014
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Canberra Australia
we are working on itinerary now so yes will.....
 

bonzo75

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Yes, I am about 10Km from Zürich. So, you are buying some Scintillas afterall? No Tenor OTLs I am afraid to say...

Hi no, that’s my second choice, there is a horn. I will write on it soon. Will also write on horns universum. But those are sonic decisions, the final decision will be based on my next room. The horns need more space, Scintilla a proper front wall. I am also open to being surprised by a good analog apogee set up
 

spiritofmusic

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Jun 13, 2013
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Ked, Zone One apartments have a pesky tendency to be
1- tiny
2- open up L shape like into the kitchen area
3- both of these
How will all of this affect yr choice?
Maybe go for the Kiii instead?
 

christoph

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Dec 11, 2015
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Principality of Liechtenstein
Hi Brad
Inputs are USB, optical, coax, AES...the usual suspects. No comparison to Lampi...yet.

Congrats on the seemingly awesome DAC :cool:

What where you feeding 'Sandra?
Native USB from René's JRiver Notebook?
 

morricab

Well-Known Member
Apr 25, 2014
9,391
4,988
978
Switzerland
Hi Brad


Congrats on the seemingly awesome DAC :cool:

What where you feeding 'Sandra?
Native USB from René's JRiver Notebook?

Thanks man. You gotta hear it soon.

Yes, I think so and with the Jplay and Aries Cerat drivers.
 

bonzo75

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Feb 26, 2014
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Ked, Zone One apartments have a pesky tendency to be
1- tiny
2- open up L shape like into the kitchen area
3- both of these
How will all of this affect yr choice?
Maybe go for the Kiii instead?

Different thread.
 

spiritofmusic

Well-Known Member
Jun 13, 2013
14,605
5,413
1,278
E. England
That was a little joke
 

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