Emm labs DA2 v2 upgrade

[Yuen A.]

Hi folks,

Another new discovery due to the addition of the Ansuz Acoustic D-TC PowerBox to my sound system. The album: Bruch: Scottish Fantasy Tchaikovsky: Violin Concerto Ning Feng, violin. Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin Yang Yang, Channel Classics SACD. Ning Feng's dazzling playing and the great support from the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester, Berlin bears fruit in a deeply poetic, sad, but yet beautiful account of the introductory section to the Scottish Fantasy, his heartfelt, delicate, sweet playing contrasting beautifully with the solemn, gloomy orchestral. (I have not noticed as much before the addition of the PowerBox the expressiveness and sweetness of his violin playing)

 

[Yuen A.]

Hi guys,

I want to share with you what I have heard yesterday from my sound system that impresses me very much. The album: Tarik O'Regan, Acallam na Senorach: an Irish Colloquy, National Chamber Choir of Ireland, Stewart French, guitar, Paul Hillier, track 1: Prologue to Part One.

I could clearly hear the sounds of the bass drum vibrating in air that move outward (the pressure wave) and amazingly I could also clearly hear the reflected sound within a few milliseconds (the reverberation) and with maximum clarity. The timbre of the bass drum and guitar was spot on. The "presence" of the two instruments was also excellent.

 

[Audire]

This is great to hear. My new EMM PRE and DA2 v2 are still breaking in. It’s already sublime, but it still has a ways to go. But this is already so good. Your posts continue to show me what to expect in a few hours. Many thanks.

 

[Yuen A.]

Hi guys,

I want to share with you what I have heard yesterday from my sound system that impresses me very much. The album: Tarik O'Regan, Acallam na Senorach: an Irish Colloquy, National Chamber Choir of Ireland, Stewart French, guitar, Paul Hillier, track 1: Prologue to Part One.

I could clearly hear the sounds of the bass drum vibrating in air that move outward (the pressure wave) and amazingly I could also clearly hear the reflected sound within a few milliseconds (the reverberation) and with maximum clarity. The timbre of the bass drum and guitar was spot on. The "presence" of the two instruments was also excellent.

Just a correction. I mentioned "bass drum", sorry, it is not, but rather two bodhráin (Irish frame drum).

 

[Yuen A.]

Hi Audire,

Have you received your Magico M3? Also, are you changing your power amp? Just curious. Thanks!

 

[Yuen A.]

Hi folks,

Just to share how much I enjoyed this SACD a while ago: Rachmaninov Symphony No. 1, Lan Shui, conductor, Singapore Symphony Orchestra, BIS-2012 SACD.

This recording is something special. Lan Shui control of the orchestra is phenomenal. His players gave it their all when Lan Shui decides to wallow in emotional rhetoric. I love it. Instrumental timbre sounded so right. Orchestral strings have a characteristic shimmering textures. All the musical instruments has great presence and clarity. The excellent acoustic of the Esplanade Concert Hall was well captured, that is, airy, spacious, with a gentle glow.

 

[Yuen A.]

Hi folks,

Many thoughts came to me a moment ago as I found myself enjoying listening to Aaron Copland Orchestra Works 1, played by the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by John Wilson (Chandos SACD), and one of them was that lowering my sound system noise floor to an absolute minimum can bring many important benefits such as stunning micro-details, excellent transients, dynamics and transparency, excellent control, clarity and "presence". For best examples, listen to track 1 (Fanfare for the Common Man), track 7 (Billy the Kid), track 18 and track 21 (Four Dance Episodes from Rodeo). (My Ansuz Acoustics D-TC PowerBox is endowed with noise suppressing and noise cancelling technologies)

 

[Audire]

Hi folks,

Many thoughts came to me a moment ago as I found myself enjoying listening to Aaron Copland Orchestra Works 1, played by the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by John Wilson (Chandos SACD), and one of them was that lowering my sound system noise floor to an absolute minimum can bring many important benefits such as stunning micro-details, excellent transients, dynamics and transparency, excellent control, clarity and "presence". For best examples, listen to track 1 (Fanfare for the Common Man), track 7 (Billy the Kid), track 18 and track 21 (Four Dance Episodes from Rodeo). (My Ansuz Acoustics D-TC PowerBox is endowed with noise suppressing and noise cancelling technologies)

Congrats. I’m listening to Patricia Barbra “Caf Blue” streaming thru the N30SA and it sounds superb.

The DAC is broke in, but the N30 has app 150 hours or so to go. But it is already vinyl-like. I’m extremely satisfied with EMM. EMM is shipping out my Transport this week, new faceplate to match the PRE and DAC! And they did it FREE of charge. No charge for shipping either. Amazing!!!

 

[Yuen A.]

Hi guys,

I just wanted to give you all a heads up! Fred Crowder said to me (just) regarding the Aural Symphonics Optimism Lotus ST Optical: "Simply stunning, rave review to follow shortly."

Hi folks,

Fred Crowder's review of the Aural Symphonics Optimism Lotus ST Optical cable is out. (see Dagogo. com)

He concludes: "One of the many lessons I’ve learned during my time in audio is that everything can be improved. The Optimism Lotus was a significant improvement over the stock EMM cable. Most obvious was the gain in low-level detail. Resolution, which was already extremely good, became absolutely stunning, but did not come at the expense of naturalness. Music attained a liquidity and warmth–particularly on vocals–that was not present with the stock cable. Dynamics and bass were also greatly improved, not only more clearly resolved, but they also hit and decayed with startling power and quickness."

 

[jeromelang]

fc most certainly has got the orange rubber band connected in the wrong directionality in the first place and that's why soundstaging, the sense of liquidity, and resolution of low level details can differ so much against the aural symphonics cable.

 

[jeromelang]

Congrats. I’m listening to Patricia Barbra “Caf Blue” streaming thru the N30SA and it sounds superb.

The DAC is broke in, but the N30 has app 150 hours or so to go. But it is already vinyl-like. I’m extremely satisfied with EMM. EMM is shipping out my Transport this week, new faceplate to match the PRE and DAC! And they did it FREE of charge. No charge for shipping either. Amazing!!!

Which tpt are you getting - the tx2 or the tsdx with replacement faceplate?

 

[Audire]

Which tpt are you getting - the tx2 or the tsdx with replacement faceplate?

TX2 with a new Faceplate.

Though it’s probably in the instructions which way does the cable go? After all I’ve read about it, I‘m seriously considering the Aural Symphonics, but if not needed then … more CDs …

 

[jeromelang]

TX2 with a new Faceplate.

Though it’s probably in the instructions which way does the cable go? After all I’ve read about it, I‘m seriously considering the Aural Symphonics, but if not needed then … more CDs …

What are the changes between the old and new faceplate of the tx2?

I don't see where in the instruction manual that meitner advises users to check directionality of the orange rubber band.

 

[jeromelang]

The Aural Symphonics fibre with copious (too much) amount of ioGel applied can actually sound worse than the orange rubber band (both its ferrule tips properly cleaned with alcohol)

No ioGel, too little, and too much of it being applied can yield vastly different levels of sound quality from the AS cable.

The problem is - it is difficult to really see how much ioGel is being applied onto the tips. The gel is nearly invisible, or either that, my eyesight is currently ill suited to viewing small things in close proximity. While I do have those magnifying glasses that I use for checking stylus tips, I need a second of hands for handling all those things at once.

 

[Audire]

What are the changes between the old and new faceplate of the tx2?

I don't see where in the instruction manual that meitner advises users to check directionality of the orange rubber band.

There is a grey FP and a black FP. My DA2v2 and PRE are both black, so EMM said they would match them all up. No charge. I’m thinking of mono amps as well - same color there as well.

I think Meitner says that direction doesn’t matter. So, that’s why I was asking …

PS: Terrific system Set up!

 

[jeromelang]

This is how i would rank sonic performances between the 2 fibre cables.

Potential performance (as far as digital interfaces go) - 100%

AS Optimism with ioGel
(Directionality checked, ferrule tips cleaned with alcohol prior to applying ioGel) - 75-95%
performance levels fluctuates due to vagaries in how gel was applied

AS Optimism without ioGel
(Directionality checked, ferrule tips cleaned with alcohol) - 90%

Emm Labs supplied orange rubber band
(Directionality checked, ferrule tips cleaned with alcohol) - 80%

Emm Labs supplied orange rubber band
(Directionality checked, ferrule tips not cleaned with alcohol) - 75%

Emm Labs supplied orange rubber band
(Directionality not corrected) - 45%

 

[jeromelang]

There is a grey FP and a black FP. My DA2v2 and PRE are both black, so EMM said they would match them all up. No charge. I’m thinking of mono amps as well - same color there as well.

It is always important that the faceplate all match. Really swell for meitner to swap for you at no charges.

The TX2 is so much more stable in operation against the TSDX. While I have not yet compare both of them sonically, I have really enjoyed using the TX2 so much more with redbook CDs.

Earlier on in this thread I may have mentioned that each time I play a disc, I would have both tpt and dac shut down first to erase all residual playback memory. When a freshly powered up tsdx is loaded with a redbook CD and play, it would momentarily lose sync at the dac before catching on again to play. This is enough to create an audible sonic degradation to subsequent playback of this redbook CD.

Out of 10 tries, I would get 7-8 times this issue. When the tpt-dac combi does play without this momentary lose-sync problem, the sound would be wonderfully liquid and opened.

This problem doesn't happen with SACDs, it only happens with redbook CDs.

I have yet to encounter this issue with the TX2.

 

[Cableman]

It is always important that the faceplate all match. Really swell for meitner to swap for you at no charges.

The TX2 is so much more stable in operation against the TSDX. While I have not yet compare both of them sonically, I have really enjoyed using the TX2 so much more with redbook CDs.

Earlier on in this thread I may have mentioned that each time I play a disc, I would have both tpt and dac shut down first to erase all residual playback memory. When a freshly powered up tsdx is loaded with a redbook CD and play, it would momentarily lose sync at the dac before catching on again to play. This is enough to create an audible sonic degradation to subsequent playback of this redbook CD.

Out of 10 tries, I would get 7-8 times this issue. When the tpt-dac combi does play without this momentary lose-sync problem, the sound would be wonderfully liquid and opened.

This problem doesn't happen with SACDs, it only happens with redbook CDs.

I have yet to encounter this issue with the TX2.

Nope it’s not cause you close your eyes when you play music. Tell me you close your eyes?

 

[Audire]

It is always important that the faceplate all match. Really swell for meitner to swap for you at no charges.

The TX2 is so much more stable in operation against the TSDX. While I have not yet compare both of them sonically, I have really enjoyed using the TX2 so much more with redbook CDs.

Earlier on in this thread I may have mentioned that each time I play a disc, I would have both tpt and dac shut down first to erase all residual playback memory. When a freshly powered up tsdx is loaded with a redbook CD and play, it would momentarily lose sync at the dac before catching on again to play. This is enough to create an audible sonic degradation to subsequent playback of this redbook CD.

Out of 10 tries, I would get 7-8 times this issue. When the tpt-dac combi does play without this momentary lose-sync problem, the sound would be wonderfully liquid and opened.

This problem doesn't happen with SACDs, it only happens with redbook CDs.

I have yet to encounter this issue with the TX2.

Awesome. I’m looking forward to it. The Transport and the new speakers are supposed to land on my doorstep this coming week. Hopefully everything goes as planned.

 

[Yuen A.]

fc most certainly has got the orange rubber band connected in the wrong directionality in the first place and that's why soundstaging, the sense of liquidity, and resolution of low level details can differ so much against the aural symphonics cable.

Hi Jeromelang,

I suspect that your sound system (your Straightwire Crescendo cables, your racks, footers, etc.) is not transparent enough to hear the differences (the micro details) between the two optical cables.

I agree with Fred conclusions.