Aries Cerat Kassandra II Ref DAC: Wow!

Samsoum

Well-Known Member
Sep 9, 2018
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Nice reports Sami. I am also looking at the weakest link - the server. I am looking at the SOtM combo. The addition of the Ultra USB box is supposed to take it higher, and then the external clock even more.

Are you using Room with it? And if you are feeding it with a Laptop, that will hold it back some. I am also looking at the entry points into my house, they have an impact. Routers and switches etc. These can be lowered by an LPS to clean them up.

How are you connecting the SOtm, from your Laptop? Does your Laptop run the Room Core?

Don't forget to not upsample any data with the Kassandra, it likes it as is, but perfect, no resampling.

Also your USB cable, what are you using? I am trying the Final Touch Audio Callisto tn a day or so, against my Curious USB. The Curious is very transparent, and beat many others I tried so far.
Hi astrostar59,

Agree with you on the sotm combo:neo se+sp500+usb hub+clock is the ultimate combo; but then we are talking about 6600€ new and 4 boxes.

The price of a zen mk3 new 2500$ and zenith mk2 4000$ according to what i read is first class and exceeds sotm perf.

Check darko blog, innuos se is in the premier league all the rest comes after.

Pink faun 2.16 ~ 6000€ is in my shortlist as well.( it is paired with kassandra in upcoming munich show).

In my case the zen mk3 or second hand zenith mk3 is more logical.

Yes i m using roon, it is actually a condition of my next streamer.

All my modem,router,switch are treated by the ifi power supply.

I dont upsample, just native format.

Thks
 

Aries Cerat

Industry Expert
May 30, 2015
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I'll be interested in a compare between them if you get around to it some day. In the meantime, enjoy the music!
Hello Bezelio
The Siemens and the Mullards,can vary vastly on their sound and quality,depending on year,factory made and even batch of same year.
For example,we use a specific grading (for company internal use) evaluation,and Siemens can be found from grade 0 to grade 10 (scale 0-10 ,10 best),where as Mullards, from 1-7.
So comparing brands has no significant value,you can for example have a comparison of a grade 1 Siemens compared to grade 7 Mullard,and vice versa,you cannot atribute a specific quality to a specific brand.
My 2c,from my experience measuring,listening ,comparing and grading over 500 pairs during last 10 years :)

Sami's Siemens is a bit lower grade than the Mullard btw:) Although the Siemens might fit better to his system,you never know.

Cheers
Stavros
 

Legolas

VIP/Donor
Dec 27, 2015
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IMG_1039.jpg
I just bagged some nice 813s. Philips made for Mullard. I''ll get them in a couple of weeks to try in the Genus. I wanted to hear if they sound different to the (excellent) RCAs I have. Note the shield is angled whereras the RCA types are fully curved.
 
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Samsoum

Well-Known Member
Sep 9, 2018
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Hi fellas,

Another update of the kassandra wich is now north of 400 hours.

The Mids sounds very very smooth and silky

After playing with power cords, gain., i finally prefered my first choice of pc wich is siltech classic anniversary.



After gain was reduced, i thought bass was more controlled and got more transparency , but the opposite was the case.

In my system reducing gain, it s like asking a soprano singer to sing a baby song, harmonics were killed , bass rolled off, soundstage collapsed.

One big up to the kassandra for handling the harmonics wich seems floating in the air.

Very Low noise floor also.

The Bass is kind of thrilling: you feel it physically.

The sound In the room is floating like a cloud, and you forgot speakers( no room acoustics yet)



You can focus with any freq and get pleased

Nb: All notes above were done with sotm combo in place.



I removed the sotm combo from my system and i m now using my macbook pro.

And honestly i can t listen anymore to my system, i ve just done it for the love of music , but it feels like a veil has covered all the emotion.( the sotm combo were doing something special)



It s flat, and harmonics are distorted .

The word wich comes to mind is “ messy”.



This is telling me one important thing: kassandra is very sensible to the signal received.



The wow factor is now long gone, and i m more critical now, and guys, believe me this is a masterpiece.



I connected 2 days ago my cheap denon dvd all in one player dvd1930(320€ 12 yrs back) to use as transport, thru the coax input double clocked with entry level analysis plus cable.

Here we go, some magic is back, it s dynamic, emotional, organic, .....



What i feel is, if i feed it with a good signal, this beast is capable of giving the magic in the music!

Stay connected, more to come, very interesting move is happening soon
 
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Legolas

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Dec 27, 2015
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Good feedback, thanks. On Laptop v Mac Mini v SOtM 200. That is the path as we get better quality. But remember, the 200 is an endpoint, a Roon Core goes to the next level, a big jump. The 200 is fantastic value and gets the masses an affordable high end source via networking.

Roon Core dedicated and optimised, top clocks and isolation, well designed power supply, and IMO a non closed system, ability to tweak and optimise further in the OS. My shopping list.
 

the sound of Tao

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Jul 18, 2014
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astrostar... when you replaced the Sotm with the Roon core what were the big differences you noticed. How long had you been running with the Sotm and how did you have it setup. Were you using the Sotm switch and which lps.
Cheers
Tao
 

flyer

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Dec 16, 2012
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Hi,
Any information about the new Helene Dac, specs price .
Is it a ladder dac with chip or resistors?
Thanks.

The Helene is the smallest DAC of Aries Cerat. It is effectively a ladder DAC as well with the top grade Analogue Devices AD1865N-K, 8 of them per channel.
The Helene features a E280F triode-mounted tube per channel in the output stage and a tube rectifier.

It can in a short while be heard at certain dealers as the first unit, that was world premiered in Munich, is now with reviewers.

Retail price is 12800 EUR (VAT incl) in Europe + shipping cost.
 
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geodiak

Well-Known Member
Nov 9, 2018
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Thanks !
The Helene is the smallest DAC of Aries Cerat. It is effectively a ladder DAC as well with the top grade Analogue Devices AD1865N-K, 8 of them per channel.
The Helene features a E280F triode-mounted tube per channel in the output stage and a tube rectifier.

It can in a short while be heard at certain dealers as the first unit, that was world premiered in Munich, is now with reviewers.

Retail price is 12800 EUR (VAT incl) in Europe + shipping cost.
 

Decur

Well-Known Member
Mar 24, 2017
2
0
106
I wonder what the usa pricing is the helene dac and the kassandra ref 2?
Online,there is euro list pricing of 20,500 euro for kassandra ref 2
And 12,800 euro
 

Believe High Fidelity

[Industry Expert]
Nov 19, 2015
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ibelieveinhifi.com
I get asked more than anything in my lineup about the differences between the Kassandra MKII and XXX DAC. I often encourage my clients to write up a comparison to help those just like them make sense of the differences and give 3rd party perspective on the performance to make an informed decision. More often than not they are too busy or do not know how to write up something that will quantify the differences.

I was ecstatic to have received such a well written review a few days ago that I think will give a lot of perspective to the characteristics of the DAC with gear that is common to many owners.

Enjoy!
 

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Samsoum

Well-Known Member
Sep 9, 2018
86
90
98
I get asked more than anything in my lineup about the differences between the Kassandra MKII and XXX DAC. I often encourage my clients to write up a comparison to help those just like them make sense of the differences and give 3rd party perspective on the performance to make an informed decision. More often than not they are too busy or do not know how to write up something that will quantify the differences.

I was ecstatic to have received such a well written review a few days ago that I think will give a lot of perspective to the characteristics of the DAC with gear that is common to many owners.

Enjoy!
Top! I feel the sMe after 6 months with kassandra!
Can you please state wich westinghouse tubes he used?
 

Believe High Fidelity

[Industry Expert]
Nov 19, 2015
1,665
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355
Hutto TX
ibelieveinhifi.com
Any Westinghouse E280F. Not many variants of that version I am aware of like there is for Seimens
 

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