I have been listening to many configurations including sets with Nagra , Soulution, Alieno, Trafomatic, Magico's etc. and also TAD amps. But one way or the other, my already a bit older brain is not wired (yet) to accept class D amps...
I really liked the Constellations, Soulutions and Alieno's, but also the S250 of D'Agostino. Unfortunately, I haven't auditioned the Dartzeel 108's.
There are however so many different factors that makes a set magic or not. I concur with the fact PGA that some additions/changes to the a set can generate the "huh" effect. To you, this was the convolution filter. For me these were the CR-1's in the first place. Entering the room of my HiFi friends in NL where the CR-1 were steeling the show, my reaction was "huh - can I have two of those please". Never heard before (just borrowed that from Dartzeel....). Adding an Audioquest Niagara 5000 with tornado and hurricane power cables was the other one. The silence, definition and depth you get additionally by simply adding these are incredible. And last but not least, some Schnerzinger stuff. If you have quality gear at home, you must try this one day. Cannot be explained.
I am happy with my Soulution 520 pre. Pairing it with the ARC ref 150SE, AQ Redwood speaker cables and my CR-1s does the job. But listening to a lot of gear at auditions and reading here on this forum, I am actually leaning toward moving to solid states that would probably give me more definition, articulation, additional depth and some extra power to let the CR-1's even more shine. Coming back to the fact that one component can make a big difference, it can also destabilise the whole set-up. You might end up with worse if an amp does not match with the rest.
All in all, yes, I need to audition in my listening room, I know. Listening somewhere else gives you an impression, but you cannot decide on that alone. As I cannot ask my friends to come up with so many options, I was consulting here to see what the experiences are, above what has already been written in the forum earlier. It was some time ago already after all.
So thanks for your feedback so far!
René
I really liked the Constellations, Soulutions and Alieno's, but also the S250 of D'Agostino. Unfortunately, I haven't auditioned the Dartzeel 108's. There are however so many different factors that makes a set magic or not. I concur with the fact PGA that some additions/changes to the a set can generate the "huh" effect. To you, this was the convolution filter. For me these were the CR-1's in the first place. Entering the room of my HiFi friends in NL where the CR-1 were steeling the show, my reaction was "huh - can I have two of those please"
. Never heard before (just borrowed that from Dartzeel....). Adding an Audioquest Niagara 5000 with tornado and hurricane power cables was the other one. The silence, definition and depth you get additionally by simply adding these are incredible. And last but not least, some Schnerzinger stuff. If you have quality gear at home, you must try this one day. Cannot be explained.I am happy with my Soulution 520 pre. Pairing it with the ARC ref 150SE, AQ Redwood speaker cables and my CR-1s does the job. But listening to a lot of gear at auditions and reading here on this forum, I am actually leaning toward moving to solid states that would probably give me more definition, articulation, additional depth and some extra power to let the CR-1's even more shine. Coming back to the fact that one component can make a big difference, it can also destabilise the whole set-up. You might end up with worse if an amp does not match with the rest.
All in all, yes, I need to audition in my listening room, I know. Listening somewhere else gives you an impression, but you cannot decide on that alone. As I cannot ask my friends to come up with so many options, I was consulting here to see what the experiences are, above what has already been written in the forum earlier. It was some time ago already after all.
So thanks for your feedback so far!
René
