Zero Distortion: Visit to Rhapsody Dallas

[bonzo75]

Rhapsody Dallas – The Hamleys for Audiophiles – Zero Distortion

zero-distortion.org

Amazing weekend with Chris. Had a good feel of all three set ups over two days to listen to he Magico M9s, Alsyvox, and the Kondo Diesis system with a compare of three Kondo amps.

 

[PeterA]

Rhapsody Dallas – The Hamleys for Audiophiles – Zero Distortion

zero-distortion.org

Amazing weekend with Chris. Had a good feel of all three rooms over two days to listen to he Magico M9s, Alsyvox, and the Kondo Diesis system with a compare of three Kondo amps.

Thank you Ked. I enjoyed reading that, especially the comparative comments between the various systems and the amplifiers.

 

[kodomo]

Thanks, enjoyable read.

 

[Blue58]

Rhapsody Dallas – The Hamleys for Audiophiles – Zero Distortion

zero-distortion.org

Amazing weekend with Chris. Had a good feel of all three rooms over two days to listen to he Magico M9s, Alsyvox, and the Kondo Diesis system with a compare of three Kondo amps.

Great report Ked. Your writing is so easily digestible and your video shoots are improving too. Loved the Gakuoh/Scheherazade.

cheers

 

[Ron Resnick]

Thank you, Kedar, for this very interesting comparative report!

With this trip and your other auditions of systems with Pilium amplifiers do you have any sense or impression of how Pilium sounds versus other well-known solid-state amplifiers?

 

[bonzo75]

your video shoots are improving too. Loved the Gakuoh/Scheherazade.

cheers

it’s not like I am singing it myself. I just point the mobile camera and then upload by app to YouTube

 

[bonzo75]

Thank you, Kedar, for this very interesting comparative report!

With this trip and your other auditions of systems with Pilium amplifiers do you have any sense or impression of how Pilium sounds versus other well-known solid-state amplifiers?

No that is not possible nor fair to do without comparing on different speakers. Chris has been a dealer for Boulder, Soulution, and CH before. Dealer caveats aside, he might be able to arrange one for a serious buyer. It doesn’t have SS harshness and has musical tone. Is clean and transparent, that I can say.

Soulution I only like the preamp with valve power amps and the 720 is a bargain in the used market despite its retail.

CH is excellent if gain, feedback and impedance settings are tuned in properly.

Audionet with Lampi has been my best digital experience due to a match of the electronics.

Luxman is high value due to the lower retail especially in Asia and Europe.

But if I had a lot of money to spend on the amps I would just swap to efficient speakers and get the Kondo chain at what SS amps are priced for these days.

Thrax also makes very good hybrids that have some power for inefficient speakers. So lots of choices.

 

[Audiocrack]

Great report, Ked, thanks for your dedication to inform us all about these very interesting audio experiences! Much appreciated.

Just to be sure: I love my single ended Kondo Kagura’s with good 211 tubes such as the RCA’s you listened to. The single ended topology and the 211 valves have something very attractive cq appealing (at least to my ears). Miguel of Tripoint Audio grounded my Kagura’s and the (sound) differences for the better - more transparency, better dynamics, added serinity to name a few ‘audiophile aspects’ - were quite significant. So what I am actually saying is that the Kagura’s might even be (much) better amps than you have experienced so far. Anyway, I am glad to read that you enjoyed yourself very much with them.

In my set up - dominated by the Tidal Audio La Assoluta loudspeakers - the 30 watts push pull version of the Kondo Gakuoh mk 1 might be a (somewhat) better combination with the LA’s than the Kagura’s (although I am still not 100% sure about that in all honesty). The push pull amps seem to have better control over the big woofers in my LA’s than the Kagura’s. But oh boy, I do (also) love the single ended triode sound of the Kagura’s.

In general I always liked the sound of the Kondo (pre)amps. As I have mentioned earlier to Bob of Rhapsody, I adore in particular their purity because this purity of the Kondo’s reminds me of the beautiful tonality of the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, a concert hall that I visit on a regular basis. I strongly believe that the purity of the Kondo’s partly follows from the fact that they only use copper chassis for all their amps in stead of the usual aluminum.

You listened to the single ended mk ii version of the Gakuohs with WE 300b’s and two gz34 tubes per amp. I play the push pull mk I version of my Gakuoh amps with Takatsuki 300b valves and employ one GZ34 metal base tube per amp. So my Gakuohs are different amps than the ones you listened to and liked so much. I also know that your experiences with the Takatsuki 300b valves so far were not really great. Furthermore I believe you are not a (big) ‘fan’ of large cone loudspeakers but clearly prefer horns (and possibly ribbon loudspeakers as well). And last but not least you clearly prefer analog to digital. In light of all this (I am only using digital sources at the moment) the omens that you will actually like my LA system are not good. But … as far as I know you have never experienced the benefits of top notch grounding with the most recent and best Tripoint Audio ‘grounding’ boxes and ground cables currently available. These Tripoint devices elevate the performance of the LA/Kondo/Wadax set up (and I strongly believe: any audio system) to such a level that I am confident you will actually start to like (or who knows: maybe even start to love) large cone loudspeakers with only digital sources. You are definitely most welcome to come over to Holland and visit me: and of course I will let you be ‘the judge’.

 

[Argonaut]

A shame that the TITAN hadn’t arrived in time for your visit … However I suspect that you may be doing an Arnie

 

[Ron Resnick]

No that is not possible nor fair to do without comparing on different speakers. Chris has been a dealer for Boulder, Soulution, and CH before. Dealer caveats aside, he might be able to arrange one for a serious buyer. It doesn’t have SS harshness and has musical tone. Is clean and transparent, that I can say.

Soulution I only like the preamp with valve power amps and the 720 is a bargain in the used market despite its retail.

CH is excellent if gain, feedback and impedance settings are tuned in properly.

Audionet with Lampi has been my best digital experience due to a match of the electronics.

Luxman is high value due to the lower retail especially in Asia and Europe.

But if I had a lot of money to spend on the amps I would just swap to efficient speakers and get the Kondo chain at what SS amps are priced for these days.

Thrax also makes very good hybrids that have some power for inefficient speakers. So lots of choices.

Thank you!

 

[Republicoftexas69]

Very nice, thanks.

 

[Carlos269]

Thanks for posting this write up. The videos are insightful. I’m sure that all the systems sounded as described in the room. What strikes me about the videos is that they don’t convey any texture or dimensionality and the interaction between the horns, strings and drums is nonexistent. Can you comment on this? I love DHT/SET/HORNS and Open Baffle systems, own a number of them, and to me that musical density and the interaction & interplay between the different musical voices in terms of spatial woven characteristic is very important to me. I’m not speaking of the traditional “soundstage” or sound-staging per se, but rather of the bathymetry and topography of the soundscape specifically when listening to classical music. Can you provide any additional comments on this? Go back and listen to the videos and you will hear what I mean, all instruments are originating from the same plane and homogeneous.

 

[Rhapsody]

A shame that the TITAN hadn’t arrived in time for your visit … However I suspect that you may be back

When I was at the showroom this week, we installed the Titan/new pump. It is now up and running.

 

[matakana]

Rhapsody Dallas – The Hamleys for Audiophiles – Zero Distortion

zero-distortion.org

Amazing weekend with Chris. Had a good feel of all three rooms over two days to listen to he Magico M9s, Alsyvox, and the Kondo Diesis system with a compare of three Kondo amps.

A true professional, and such dedication, once again thank you for all your hard work.

 

[LL21]

Great report, Ked, thanks for your dedication to inform us all about these very interesting audio experiences! Much appreciated...
... Furthermore I believe you are not a (big) ‘fan’ of large cone loudspeakers but clearly prefer horns (and possibly ribbon loudspeakers as well). And last but not least you clearly prefer analog to digital. ... I am only using digital sources at the moment... These Tripoint devices elevate the performance of the LA/Kondo/Wadax set up (and I strongly believe: any audio system) to such a level that I am confident you will actually start to like (or who knows: maybe even start to love) large cone loudspeakers with only digital sources. You are definitely most welcome to come over to Holland and visit me: and of course I will let you be ‘the judge’.

Wow, Audiocrack, I had not appreciated that this is where you now are in your magnificent system. Of course, I knew you had moved beyond the incredible Genesis 1s to the Tidal LA a long time ago, but I had not fully appreciated your current digital-only situation at the moment. I know you have other SOTA sources, so most interesting to read this, particularly as someone who has been cones and digital only for a long, long time...practically since the beginning actually.

 

[morricab]

Diesis + Kondo is a great combination. Everytime I have heard them at Hifi Deluxe in Munich it has been a smash with regard to realistic portrayal of instruments and space.

"Diesis makes you forget you are listening to a hifi system, and you just focus on the music. It is not about the best highs, the deepest lows, or an electrostatic midrange. It is about a flow of music with emotion. "

I would add the Aries Cerat systems and the Living Voice + Kondo top setup to this statement.

Did you audition the Caput Mundi while you were there?

Gakuoh has been my favorite Kondo amp ever since i heard it many years ago at Black Forest Audio with M1000 preamp.

 

[bonzo75]

Did you audition the Caput Mundi while you were there?

no but I have heard the Mundi separately. I think given the price difference it will be good to investigate with that strategy in mind if one wants a similar sound. As it is not about extension, it is a lot about the open baffle, and the teaming up of the electronics.

 

[Audiocrack]

Wow, Audiocrack, I had not appreciated that this is where you now are in your magnificent system. Of course, I knew you had moved beyond the incredible Genesis 1s to the Tidal LA a long time ago, but I had not fully appreciated your current digital-only situation at the moment. I know you have other SOTA sources, so most interesting to read this, particularly as someone who has been cones and digital only for a long, long time...practically since the beginning actually.

Do not want to take too much ‘ space’ in Ked’s thread but in short: I have a Kondo m1000 mk I with built in phonostage available in the Genesis 1.1 system. Still a beautiful sounding piece of equipment. In the LA system I am using a Kondo g-1000 linestage. In order to be able to play vinyl I have to add a top notch phonostage to the LA system and off course I need space for one of my turntables. I play single ended so no possibility to place the turntable far away from the phonostage. That is going to be a challenge. Furthermore the digital (at least the Wadax combo with all the special ‘features’ I have built around it) sounds to my ears really great. So for now I leave my Decca sxl’s and EMI asd’s in storage, but who knows what the future will bring?

 

[Audiohertz2]

Rhapsody Dallas – The Hamleys for Audiophiles – Zero Distortion

zero-distortion.org

Amazing weekend with Chris. Had a good feel of all three rooms over two days to listen to he Magico M9s, Alsyvox, and the Kondo Diesis system with a compare of three Kondo amps.

Bonzo thanks for this report , fantastic really , a quick question , where did you hear the WA XVX system ..?

 

[bonzo75]

Bonzo thanks for this report , fantastic really , a quick question , where did you hear the WA XVX system ..?

there are videos on my channel. It was at a dealer’s.