Ideon Absolute E and Time Demo

[divertiti]

The MPD-8 is a good DAC - a friend of mine owns one and he brought it over for a week long listen. I’d say it’s just below the MSB Ref DAC in its sound presentation. It sounded too digital for me personally - too analytical for my taste. But it’s still good.

The Vitus MP DAC is analogue sounding. On most albums it literally sounds like our TT in its presentation.

As for being “far behind” I prefer to say that all these upper end DACs sound good. I was looking for the most analogue sounding one I could locate. With that in mind, if I were doing this on a percentage basis and considered the Vitus a 99, then I’d say the MPD was about an 80 “in our system.”

This said, IMO one really needs to hear a DAC in their own system before they purchase one. We all hear differently and we have different systems. The rest of the system influences what a DAC sounds like.

I need to re-clarify what I meant. Both DACs probably produced the same amount of detail, but the Vitus handled the detail better to my ears and in my particular system. Since IMO the Vitus handled the sound better, I stated the Ideon sounded over detailed. But please don‘t elevate this as it was only “slightly” - and this is in my system and to my ears. Someone else may have different results in their system and actually prefer the Ideon over the Vitus.

But as I already stated both are excellent DACs. And they hands down beat everything else we heard.

Just to put everything you shared in context, do you have financial interest in any of the brands you mentioned?

 

[John T]

Just to put everything you shared in context, do you have financial interest in any of the brands you mentioned?

Hope this finds you well. Joe @Audire is as straight up as you will find. Trustworthy. No motive with him, he's very passionate in this obsession. I have not followed this thread...Hope this helps...John

 

[gleeds]

Joe is a serious and critical listener and a great guy! I know he tried a number of DACs before finalizing on Vitus. Of course Joe likes everything to look super clean and consistent aesthetically (as do I) so it's no surprise he owns all Vitus. Vitus mates beautifully in terms of sound signature with his preferred Magico M series.

I would surmise that a preferred DAC is quite system dependent. I recently heard an MSB Reference sound great on Sonus Faber Aida's and less good on Von Schweikert Ultra 9's. The Lampizator Horizon has sounded great to me with a number of speakers including Tobian horns, Songer field coils, Steve W's Wilson's and Von Schweikert Ultra 7s and VR-55 Mk2. In full disclosure, they rep my WestminsterLab electronics and I often do shows with Fred and Rob. Only problem is when I place a Lampi next to our electronics they could not look more different - a weird cosmetic match that works sonically

 

[Uwiik]

Reviving this thread, I am in the same situation right now. My dealer have the Ideon + Time on stock and I have heard it and it was wonderful, but I have also read too many statements saying that the Horizon is the bees knees…I am also considering Wadax but my dealer said now it’s not possible to buy Wadax DAC without the streamer since he will need to apply for a new dealership application to Wadax if he wants to buy Wadax and buying the whole package is a pre requisites for becoming a dealer.

Speaker is AG G3, Kondo G1000 pre, Kondo Ongaku power and Taiko streamer. Current DAC is Pilium.

 

[audio.bill]

... I am also considering Wadax but my dealer said now it’s not possible to buy Wadax DAC without the streamer since he will need to apply for a new dealership application to Wadax if he wants to buy Wadax and buying the whole package is a pre requisites for becoming a dealer.

While it is commonly a requirement for a dealer to purchase and display specific models in order to properly feature the brand, that multiple product purchase requirement should not be passed on to the consumer. They should be buying both models for display as a dealer, but then should be able to offer clients the option to purchase whichever specific model(s) they want. Sounds like that potential dealer is trying to use your purchase as their initial buy-in, but then would be unable to demo the products for other potential customers.

 

[Uwiik]

While it is commonly a requirement for a dealer to purchase and display specific models in order to properly feature the brand, that multiple product purchase requirement should not be passed on to the consumer. They should be buying both models for display as a dealer, but then should be able to offer clients the option to purchase whichever specific model(s) they want. Sounds like that potential dealer is trying to use your purchase as their initial buy-in, but then would be unable to demo the products for other potential customers.

Been dealing with the same dealer for ages and had spent more than what I want to mention. They have been straight up honest and supported me through my audio journey for a while. I know their whole family and they do too vice versa, so it’s not about that. They are not a dealer for Wadax and they found out about that due to my request for them to try Wadax and possibly sell to me if I like it, I can understand if they find it difficult to drop hundreds of K on potentially difficult sell here and especially as they also have sold and still selling many Taikos.

 

[Tabl10s]

Here's an (unusual / unexpected) anecdotal discovery:

I was listening to music early last night when friends came over. I powered down the system and I forgot to switch off the Epsilon which remained on all night.
I noticed it this morning when I entered the room, breakfast tea in hand. No worries, I switched on the amps and set out to listen to some music (Dvorak string quartet 22)...

...aaand I was listening to a different system!!!
All the hallmarks of my system were there, but there was now more definition up top, more clarity and energy in the bottom -- as if I had added an extra bottom octave to the FR and a few on top! More sense of space, definition ("you are there" effect). I can discern the cellos vs 2xbass playing, and my room hasn't gotten any bigger overnight!

Takeaway: the Epsilon is an excellent device, no doubt, but in order to experience its full potential you have to leave it on for at least 20 hrs!

A great Sunday to all!

Could the improvement be attributed to the time of day?

 

[Gregm]

Could the improvement be attributed to the fine of day?

Hi -- I don't think so, I have observed this on many occasions. Mind you, my system sounds fine a couple of mins after i fire it up. It's just the minor, low-level details that become more apparent.