There's was a significant price jump from the 3.2 SE vs 3.2 SE Signature, $2480 more than 3.2 SE in Dec 2021. Here was his explanation:
"Signature features:
1. Hand made EI power transformers that made of siemens core and vintage germany copper wire
2. TDA1541S1 ( crown)
3. Careful selection of all parts, more expensive resistors and capacitors. More expensive valves, a special solder, wiring"
I think most of it has to do with time spent on select parts, listening and tuning it. I also bought a couple power cables, RCA interconnect and digital cable from him. Very interesting design: vintage copper wires in wooden beads, in a clear tubings, then wrapped with a jacket. He does not believe in shielding.
@charles1dad you asked about my source. I only do streaming. I built a custom Windows-based music server using JCAT XE USB and Network cards. The setup is fed using only LPSUs (JCAT and HDPlex). I used Roon because it's user-friendly. The TDA1541 chip only supports NOS. The max it handles is 96 Khz at 16 bit. Anything higher, you won't hear a sound. Downside is that in Roon, if I have any higher resolution files or stream, I'd have to down sample in Roon before it goes to the DAC.
Here's my setup:
Custom Music Server with JCAT XE components
Audio-GD DI20HE DDC
Abbas Audio 3.2 Signature DAC
Audio Note M5 Phono Pre-amp
Carver Cherry 180 monoblocks
Marten Design Bird 2 speakers
"Signature features:
1. Hand made EI power transformers that made of siemens core and vintage germany copper wire
2. TDA1541S1 ( crown)
3. Careful selection of all parts, more expensive resistors and capacitors. More expensive valves, a special solder, wiring"
I think most of it has to do with time spent on select parts, listening and tuning it. I also bought a couple power cables, RCA interconnect and digital cable from him. Very interesting design: vintage copper wires in wooden beads, in a clear tubings, then wrapped with a jacket. He does not believe in shielding.
@charles1dad you asked about my source. I only do streaming. I built a custom Windows-based music server using JCAT XE USB and Network cards. The setup is fed using only LPSUs (JCAT and HDPlex). I used Roon because it's user-friendly. The TDA1541 chip only supports NOS. The max it handles is 96 Khz at 16 bit. Anything higher, you won't hear a sound. Downside is that in Roon, if I have any higher resolution files or stream, I'd have to down sample in Roon before it goes to the DAC.
Here's my setup:
Custom Music Server with JCAT XE components
Audio-GD DI20HE DDC
Abbas Audio 3.2 Signature DAC
Audio Note M5 Phono Pre-amp
Carver Cherry 180 monoblocks
Marten Design Bird 2 speakers