Tidal La Assoluta system

Audiocrack · Feb 7, 2025

Apart from the new Tripoint Audio signal instrument filter I am lately investigating the impact of different pc’s in my Tidal LA system. As you might remember a while back I had the opportunity to listen to two Siltech triple crown pc’s: they were connected to the two PSU’s of my Wadax reference dac. I was really impressed by the performance of these triple crown pc’s: they clearly bettered my Tidal pc’s in particular smoothness, refinement and an impressive 3d-presentation.

Because of this experience I lately burned in - in two separate shifts of each 2 pc’s - four Kondo Avocado pc’s. The first two of these pc’s I connected to the afore mentioned PSU’s while yesterday I inserted the last two Kondo Avocado pc’s: one was connected to the Wadax reference server and another to my Kondo g-1000i linestage. However, at the moment it is too early to reach any final conclusions regarding the Avocado’s performance in my audio set up: after burning in the last two Kondo Avocado pc’s for (a little over) four days I installed them immediately after their ‘cooking’ and cables / pc’s need some time to stabilize after they have been ‘cooked’. So let’s wait and see how these four Kondo Avocado pc’s will eventually perform in my Tidal LA set up.

Btw, the listening session with the Siltech TC pc’s a while back also involved three pc’s of another high end cable manufacturer. Next week three Siltech TC pc’s as well as three high quality pc’s of this other manufacturer will be shipped to me. Once they arrive I will give them some time on my Audiodharma cable cooker because the latter not only burnes in the hot and the neutral of pc’s but also the ground of pc’s. According to Alan of Audiodharma and the reviewer Marshall Nack the ‘cooking’ of the ground of pc’s makes a significant sonic difference for the better (I will insert a link to the latter’s review later on). And the ground of the Siltech TC pc’s nor the ground of these other pc’s have been burned in before. After all this ‘cooking’ I hope to be able to make an in depth comparison between the Siltech TC pc’s, Kondo Avocado pc’s and the pc’s of this other high end manufacturer.

Audiocrack · Feb 7, 2025

And here is the link to Marshal Nack’s review I referred to in my previous post: https://positive-feedback.com/reviews/hardware-reviews/audiodharma-cable-cooker/

LL21 · Feb 7, 2025

Audiocrack said:
Apart from the new Tripoint Audio signal instrument filter I am lately investigating the impact of different pc’s in my Tidal LA system. As you might remember a while back I had the opportunity to listen to two Siltech triple crown pc’s: they were connected to the two PSU’s of my Wadax reference dac. I was really impressed by the performance of these triple crown pc’s: they clearly bettered my Tidal pc’s in particular smoothness, refinement and an impressive 3d-presentation.

Because of this experience I lately burned in - in two separate shifts of each 2 pc’s - four Kondo Avocado pc’s. The first two of these pc’s I connected to the afore mentioned PSU’s while yesterday I inserted the last two Kondo Avocado pc’s: one was connected to the Wadax reference server and another to my Kondo g-1000i linestage. However, at the moment it is too early to reach any final conclusions regarding the Avocado’s performance in my audio set up: after burning in the last two Kondo Avocado pc’s for (a little over) four days I installed them immediately after their ‘cooking’ and cables / pc’s need some time to stabilize after they have been ‘cooked’. So let’s wait and see how these four Kondo Avocado pc’s will eventually perform in my Tidal LA set up.

Btw, the listening session with the Siltech TC pc’s a while back also involved three pc’s of another high end cable manufacturer. Next week three Siltech TC pc’s as well as three high quality pc’s of this other manufacturer will be shipped to me. Once they arrive I will give them some time on my Audiodharma cable cooker because the latter not only burnes in the hot and the neutral of pc’s but also the ground of pc’s. According to Alan of Audiodharma and the reviewer Marshall Nack the ‘cooking’ of the ground of pc’s makes a significant sonic difference for the better (I will insert a link to the latter’s review later on). And the ground of the Siltech TC pc’s nor the ground of these other pc’s have been burned in before. After all this ‘cooking’ I hope to be able to make an in depth comparison between the Siltech TC pc’s, Kondo Avocado pc’s and the pc’s of this other high end manufacturer.

Great! Look forward to reading.

Audiocrack · Feb 9, 2025

Likely I ‘overcooked’ the last two Kondo Avocado pc’s I recently inserted in my Tidal LA system. I burned them in for almost 100 hours while Alan of Audiodharma advices 4-5 days of ‘cooking’ as regards new pc’s. The Avocado’s are however - relative - thin pc’s while the silver inside these cables had aged for about 4 years before I took them out of their (Kondo Kagura’s) boxes.

The first two days after inserting them were pretty awful while they were not ‘helped’ by the new Tripoint Audio signal instrument filter. The latter needed further stabilizing as well. This weekend I gave the filter an additional 20 hours on the Audiodharma cable cooker (in total 55 hours) while it has been in the LA system for 12 days now. All in all I have today (Sunday) the impression that the Tripoint Audio signal instrument filter is indeed getting more stable.

Last Saturday (evening) I could hear the first glimpses of the Avocado’s ‘recovery’ as well. I like the Kondo Avocado’s tonality but I am so far not - fully -convinced as regards their transparency and dynamic capabilities. Maybe they need (somewhat) more time to fully settle.

If everything goes according to plan I hope to receive at the end of next week 6 other pc’s, including three Siltech triple crowns. Really looking forward to insert those in the LA system and to find how they compare to my own pc’s.

Audiocrack · Feb 12, 2025

As you might remember I will add another 18 pure copper slabs to my LA system. Here are two pictures of these copper pieces before their cnc and sanding process:

Audiocrack · Feb 14, 2025

Last Wednesday I received the first Siltech triple crown pc, while yesterday another two Siltech TC pc’s arrived. All three TC pc’s are not new and have thus been played in. I connected the first TC pc to the Wadax reference server and the other two to the two PSU’s of the Wadax reference dac.

By now the first TC pc has been in the Tidal LA system for about 40 hours and the other two for about 15 hours. So especially the latter two need more time to fully settle.

What are my first impressions of the three TC pc’s on my source components?
- they are very powerful / dynamic with a lot of command. Clearly more powerful / dynamic and with more command than my Tidal and Kondo Avocado pc’s.
- they sound very smooth, even silky. I experience clearly more smoothness and silkiness than with my Tidal and Kondo Avocado pc’s.
- they provide a lot of calmness / serinity. Clearly more calmness / serinity than with my Tidal and Kondo Avocado pc’s.
- they create a large and in particular deep soundstage: a deeper soundstage with a better 3d presentation than with my Tidal and Kondo Avocado pc’s.
- they let me hear more and more clearly (micro) details: so more transparency in comparison to my Tidal and Kondo Avocado pc’s.
- they provide a powerful and deep low end: a more powerful and deeper bass than I experience with my Tidal and Kondo Avocado pc’s.

So in short they are very good pc’s - as they should be with a rrp of EUR 18 k (per pc of 1.5m). But …. there is in my view also ‘a but’. They seem to have quite a strong ‘signature’ of their own, in particular (but not only) as regards tonality. Although I like what the TC pc’s are doing in my Tidal La Assoluta audio system I am not sure if pc’s should have such a strong ‘character’ of their own. Because one of the reasons I love my Tidal LA’s so much is that they are utterly transparent and ‘true’ to what they are being ‘feeded’: does it make sense to combine such a transparant casu quo ‘honest’ transducer with pc’s which seem to have a pretty clear, albeit attractive sound of their own? In all honesty I am not sure about that.

So let’s see how the sound with these three Siltech TC pc’s will develop in the next few days.

Audiocrack · Feb 14, 2025

And while I was writing my previous post three other high quality pc’s of another high end brand arrived at my home. Their rrp is - can you imagine? - even somewhat higher that that of the Siltech TC pc. They were very recently manufactured and were (only) played in for about 100 hours by the distributor. Will connect these three new pc’s first a few days to my Audiodharma cable cooker before installing them in my Tidal LA system. After their ‘cooking’ they will of course be compared to the Siltech TC pc’s.

Audiocrack · Feb 15, 2025

So the three Siltech triple crown pc’s have been in my LA system by now for more than three days (the first TC pc) and more than two days (the last two TC pc’s). Although the TC pc’s have opened up somewhat more and became even somewhat more transparent in the last few days, their main characteristics have in the meanwhile not changed. So my initial sonic findings were right and thus are still applicable: the TC is an impressive sounding pc, albeit one with a clear ‘voicing’ or ‘character’ of its own.

The other three pc’s I received last Friday are currently connected to my Audiodharma cable cooker. For new pc’s Alan of Audiodharma typically advises 4-5 days of ‘cooking’. These new pc’s are quite bulky, that is much, much thicker than the Siltech TC pc’s. Actually they are by far the thickest and heaviest pc’s I have ever had the pleasure of having in my hands. So I suppose it is wise to give them at least 5 days on the cable cooker. Also because I daisy chained the three pc’s and I am thus burning them in simultaneously.

As mentioned before, the rrp of this other pc is even higher than that of the TC pc: actually it is 25% higher, that is eur 22.5k per pc of 1.5m. If that seems a lot of money for (just) one pc - and in my view it is a steep price notwithstanding the fact that the built quality is really impressive -, I suppose everything is relative. In particular if you take the rrp of the Siltech mastercrown into account: eur 25.5k for a 1.5m pc while one must add in the Netherlands in principle 21% VAT to that price: so a rrp of nearly eur 31k for one 1.5m mastercrown pc!! Is that sobering or what?

kach22i · Sunday at 8:45 AM

Audiocrack said:
For those who have never tried or heard it for themselves I suppose it is (quite) hard to imagine the tremendous positive sonic impact of the pure copper slabs which I am employing - be it as platforms for the audio components or as tools for mass loading - in my LA system.............................

Copper is one of the best sounding materials, and what I mean is the chosen material seems to enhance it's basic character on the music.

Copper: solid and yet just warm enough.
Brass/bronze: my favorite for firming up a sound, and maintaining top end sizzle.
Aluminum: strong fast and light but can ring, and not as self dampening as copper.
Steel: the strongest but with some coldness.
Acrylic: transparent, not too hard but can glare.
Glass: super transparent, but can glare and be brittle.
Wood/Maple: Warm, solid and has weight without run-a-way speed.
Corian: solid surface plastic can add a plastic sound, but better than softwoods (and birch plywood sometimes).

My experiments were done with these materials under (incl. over and built into) all equipment with audible results.
Order of sensitivity:
Turntable
Tube Preamp
CD player
Loudspeakers
Amplifiers both tube and solid state

LL21 · Monday at 5:37 PM

Audiocrack said:
So the three Siltech triple crown pc’s have been in my LA system by now for more than three days (the first TC pc) and more than two days (the last two TC pc’s). Although the TC pc’s have opened up somewhat more and became even somewhat more transparent in the last few days, their main characteristics have in the meanwhile not changed. So my initial sonic findings were right and thus are still applicable: the TC is an impressive sounding pc, albeit one with a clear ‘voicing’ or ‘character’ of its own.

The other three pc’s I received last Friday are currently connected to my Audiodharma cable cooker. For new pc’s Alan of Audiodharma typically advises 4-5 days of ‘cooking’. These new pc’s are quite bulky, that is much, much thicker than the Siltech TC pc’s. Actually they are by far the thickest and heaviest pc’s I have ever had the pleasure of having in my hands. So I suppose it is wise to give them at least 5 days on the cable cooker. Also because I daisy chained the three pc’s and I am thus burning them in simultaneously.

As mentioned before, the rrp of this other pc is even higher than that of the TC pc: actually it is 25% higher, that is eur 22.5k per pc of 1.5m. If that seems a lot of money for (just) one pc - and in my view it is a steep price notwithstanding the fact that the built quality is really impressive -, I suppose everything is relative. In particular if you take the rrp of the Siltech mastercrown into account: eur 25.5k for a 1.5m pc while one must add in the Netherlands in principle 21% VAT to that price: so a rrp of nearly eur 31k for one 1.5m mastercrown pc!! Is that sobering or what?

This makes for fascinating reading, Audiocrack. Thanks for taking the time to methodically and meticulously track your experiments.

FWIW, I had Siltech TC in my system where I was able to compare Z:Axis Audio SL777 and Sablon Audio Prince…and in the same system have had Gryphon VIP Ref 5, Dreams Ref (another cable brand owned by owner of Siltech), TA Opus Gen 6 and PAD 25th Anniversary.

Overall, I preferred Z:Axis and Sablon overall all of the above cables on an absolute basis (ie, ignoring monetary considerations)…other than the Siltech TC.

As for character, what I find interesting is that the substitution of the TC into our system va the Z:Axis or Sablon had virtually NO CHANGE in character. The reason I preferred TC was simply because it dug deeper with same qualities of tonal density, calm and effortlessness. When strings had minor ebbs and flows you could really hear the subtle changes in the string tension. Beautiful. Really more like listening live where you find yourself focusing on the playing, not on the reproduction.

That singular quality has been utterly unique of all PCs in my experience. But again, the character of the system did not change at all other than being more nuanced at the micro scale of the playing.

Audiocrack · Monday at 10:03 PM

LL21 said:
This makes for fascinating reading, Audiocrack. Thanks for taking the time to methodically and meticulously track your experiments.

FWIW, I had Siltech TC in my system where I was able to compare Z:Axis Audio SL777 and Sablon Audio Prince…and in the same system have had Gryphon VIP Ref 5, Dreams Ref (another cable brand owned by owner of Siltech), TA Opus Gen 6 and PAD 25th Anniversary.

Overall, I preferred Z:Axis and Sablon overall all of the above cables on an absolute basis (ie, ignoring monetary considerations)…other than the Siltech TC.

As for character, what I find interesting is that the substitution of the TC into our system va the Z:Axis or Sablon had virtually NO CHANGE in character. The reason I preferred TC was simply because it dug deeper with same qualities of tonal density, calm and effortlessness. When strings had minor ebbs and flows you could really hear the subtle changes in the string tension. Beautiful. Really more like listening live where you find yourself focusing on the playing, not on the reproduction.

That singular quality has been utterly unique of all PCs in my experience. But again, the character of the system did not change at all other than being more nuanced at the micro scale of the playing.

Thanks much, Lloyd, for your feedback on inter alia the Siltech TC pc. Very interesting to read that in your experience the TC pc did not change the character of your audio system.

The opinions in ‘my listening panel’ are somewhat divided. I on the one hand like what the TC pc is doing in my Tidal La Assoluta system: its smoothness, command, dynamics, transparency, density, soundstaging, 3d-presentation and bass performance is imho (clearly) superior to that of the pc’s I have been listening to so far.

However, one of the members of ‘my listening panel’ with ‘great ears’ - a person who’s opinion on sound reproduction I greatly value and who btw acknowledges the good or even impressive sonic aspects of the TC pc - thinks that this pc is alltogether too ‘intrusive’. Or to put it even more negatively: in his view the TC pc is too colored which implies some kind of distorsion.

In the end all audio components casu quo the materials / metals used for building them have a certain sonic signature. However, some materials / metals have less of a sonic imprint or are more true to the music than other materials / metals (Jorn of Tidal Audio always uses the expression ‘like a glass of water’ in this regard). I refer for example to my dislike of aluminium and my fondness for (pure) copper.

So let’s find out how the other three high quality pc’s will perform in my LA set up. I hope to be able to insert them somewhere at the end of this week, although this is going to be a real challenge: they are quite bulky and heavy while the space for placing / routing them effectively is limited. And hopefully my Acoustic Revive powerstrips are solid enough to cope with the weight of these three pc’s. As with the three TC pc’s these three other pc’s will be connected to my Wadax reference server (1x) and Wadax reference dac (2x).

LL21 · Tuesday at 5:21 PM

Audiocrack said:
Thanks much, Lloyd, for your feedback on inter alia the Siltech TC pc. Very interesting to read that in your experience the TC pc did not change the character of your audio system.

The opinions in ‘my listening panel’ are somewhat divided. I on the one hand like what the TC pc is doing in my Tidal La Assoluta system: its smoothness, command, dynamics, transparency, density, soundstaging, 3d-presentation and bass performance is imho (clearly) superior to that of the pc’s I have been listening to so far.

However, one of the members of ‘my listening panel’ with ‘great ears’ - a person who’s opinion on sound reproduction I greatly value and who btw acknowledges the good or even impressive sonic aspects of the TC pc - thinks that this pc is alltogether too ‘intrusive’. Or to put it even more negatively: in his view the TC pc is too colored which implies some kind of distorsion.

In the end all audio components casu quo the materials / metals used for building them have a certain sonic signature. However, some materials / metals have less of a sonic imprint or are more true to the music than other materials / metals (Jorn of Tidal Audio always uses the expression ‘like a glass of water’ in this regard). I refer for example to my dislike of aluminium and my fondness for (pure) copper.

So let’s find out how the other three high quality pc’s will perform in my LA set up. I hope to be able to insert them somewhere at the end of this week, although this is going to be a real challenge: they are quite bulky and heavy while the space for placing / routing them effectively is limited. And hopefully my Acoustic Revive powerstrips are solid enough to cope with the weight of these three pc’s. As with the three TC pc’s these three other pc’s will be connected to my Wadax reference server (1x) and Wadax reference dac (2x).

I look forward to hearing how these new PCs go!

Meanwhile, I am curious...while the TCs are clearly doing something...and certainly some good...in the end, are you enjoying listening to your system more with them or with your older cables? In our system, I definitely preferred listening to music with the TCs...they were just too expensive, and I knew it was a dangerous rabbit hole to go down, and so as much as I really wanted to think more seriously about it...I returned them with thanks...and knew that they would remain on my 'shortlist' for another day.

Audiocrack · Tuesday at 8:34 PM

LL21 said:
I look forward to hearing how these new PCs go!

Meanwhile, I am curious...while the TCs are clearly doing something...and certainly some good...in the end, are you enjoying listening to your system more with them or with your older cables? In our system, I definitely preferred listening to music with the TCs...they were just too expensive, and I knew it was a dangerous rabbit hole to go down, and so as much as I really wanted to think more seriously about it...I returned them with thanks...and knew that they would remain on my 'shortlist' for another day.

The answer to your question, Lloyd, is absolutely yes: the Siltech TC pc’s are better pc’s than my Tidal Audio and Kondo pc’s while I really like the good things they are doing in my LA system. And of course in the end I am the one who needs to make the final decision about whether or not to acquire them.

But in that regard I need to take into account the following three aspects:
- how good are the three other high quality pc’s? Hopefully I will find this out very soon.
- might it be that the Siltech Mastercrown pc’s are clearly superior to the Siltech TC pc’s in all sonic parameters? That is, are they (clearly?) less ‘intrusive’ than the TC pc’s and therefore have (much?) less ‘signature’ of their own? I have not yet experienced the MC pc’s myself so I cannot answer this question at the moment.
- Miguel of Tripoint Audio is working on a super pc: right now he is concentrating on the Tampa audio show in the coming weekend and finalizing as many as possible new Tripoint Audio signal instrument filters - btw I have heard over the phone in an a/b comparison the final version of this new filter which is clearly superior to the prototype I am currently using in my Tidal LA system. As you know I am already very impressed with the performance of the prototype Tripoint Audio signal instrument filter I am currently listening to, but the final version of this filter not only looks much more beautiful but sounds very, very impressive and much better indeed - but he will finish and ship his new super pc to me somewhere after the Tampa audio show.

So all in all it is quite a challenge to make ‘the right’ dedicion in this regard.

jfrech · Wednesday at 7:41 AM

LL21 said:
This makes for fascinating reading, Audiocrack. Thanks for taking the time to methodically and meticulously track your experiments.

As for character, what I find interesting is that the substitution of the TC into our system va the Z:Axis or Sablon had virtually NO CHANGE in character. The reason I preferred TC was simply because it dug deeper with same qualities of tonal density, calm and effortlessness. When strings had minor ebbs and flows you could really hear the subtle changes in the string tension. Beautiful. Really more like listening live where you find yourself focusing on the playing, not on the reproduction.

That singular quality has been utterly unique of all PCs in my experience. But again, the character of the system did not change at all other than being more nuanced at the micro scale of the playing.

Hi, catching up on this thread. Read all the TC comments. My experience on the Master Crowns (I have had them about 2 weeks now but maybe only 7 days playing time) is similar to Lloyds. I do not hear an intrusive or character change. No way I could send this two Master Crowns back, I have heard no downside...all my upsides are similar to what you both have said above. To me they are quite amazing, wish I could afford more, but I do have a double crown power cord on order to try on one of my sources or preamp...

Really cool thread btw, enjoyable read!

LL21 · Wednesday at 3:57 PM

Great to hear JFrech! In my experience, TC are unique in my experience for their ability to reveal musical nuance. Out existing power cables are GREAT, and by great I mean GREAT. The company of cables they have shown the door is remarkable, but I cannot forget what happened to music when we put ONE Siltech TC into the system. Just one into the preamp.

Even at the very first play (so when you still should be well in audiophile critique listening mode) you immediately and effortlessly find yourself in a music hall focusing on the strings and nuances.

Going back to the existing system, most of it is there but that very real impact of live nuance (vs exceptional recorded nuance) is absent by that meaningful margin.

Audiocrack · Thursday at 7:24 AM

Here a few pictures of some of the copper slabs after their CNC process. The sanding and polishing process wil start soon.

Amir · 2025-02-21T12:48:09-0600

Audiocrack said:
Here a few pictures of some of the copper slabs after their CNC process. The sanding and polishing process wil start soon.View attachment 146111 View attachment 146112

Where do you put Copper slabs?

I guess the Tidal LA does not use full metal shield (farady cage) around the body of speaker.

Audiocrack · 2025-02-21T20:32:45-0600

Amir said:
Where do you put Copper slabs?

I guess the Tidal LA does not use full metal shield (farady cage) around the body of speaker.

If you read through this thread you can find quite a few pictures with the copper slabs being used as platforms for my various audio components as well as for mass loading them, including the Tidal LA’s. To the 40 slabs I am currently using I will add another 18: a few of these new copper slabs are going to be placed on top of my LA’s and will replace the smaller copper slabs and (as a consequence) lighter ones I use at this moment for ‘mass’ - each of the Tidal LA’s loudspeakers weighs (a hear under) 500kg - loading them.

Audiocrack · 2025-02-22T02:49:27-0600

Here is a link to the Tripoint Audio system at the Tampa Audio show. The final version of Tripoint’s new signal instrument filter can be experienced there:

LL21 · 2025-02-22T05:37:50-0600

Audiocrack said:
Here is a link to the Tripoint Audio system at the Tampa Audio show. The final version of Tripoint’s new signal instrument filter can be experienced there:

As a long-time owner of Tripoint (all the way back to 2010)...I really like this video...it demonstrates how far Tripoint has come and how far their work has taken the industry where it appears there are apparently 26 brands in grounding in comparison to 2008 when there just a few.

Congrats Miguel. Long may it reign!

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