Incredible L1

gian60

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Apr 17, 2016
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I have L1 and love it a lot,very fast,dynamic,very transparent,good and deep bass and mid like triode.
Yes it lack only a little of body and tonal density,but if you add X1 will have a body and tonal density in a perfect way.

Madfloyd has a P1 with X1 and can buy a second board for X1 to connect L1,so L1 improves a lot.
Next step will be to buy a X1 without board to have P1 and L1 with 2 X1

I have L1,P1 and X1 with 2 board,i not buy a second X1 because i hope i can buy L10 and keep X1 for P1,selling the second board.
My friend living 6 km from my home has L1,P1 and X1 with board same like me.
One sunday i brought my X1 to his home and we connect my X1 to his L1 and the improvement was dramatic.
Body,scene,depth,dynamic,all increased.
Now he bought a second X1 without board,he has 2, and he is very very happy
 

ashandger

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Jun 14, 2013
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Thanks for the reply. I totally agree about the preamp injecting tonal density. I feel it's the heart of the system (apart from speakers).

I've had Soulution gear in my system and I (and a couple other local audiophiles) found it to sound very fake - almost like a plastic timbre 'one-ness' to the sound. I'm guessing this is a result of too much negative feedback and while I totally appreciate a clean signal/black background/instrument separation I'm sensitive to timbre.

Currently I have a Dartzeel preamp that has very good timbre and great tonal density. It's not perfect (nothing is) and I'm hoping to improve on certain aspects by making a switch. I own the CH P1/X1 combo and love it so really want to see if the L1 will work in my system. Lately I have tried a few other preamps (Nagra Classic, Spectral DMC-30sv, Music First Audio Classic V2) and enjoyed them all to varying degrees but feel that the L1 may have the most potential. I'm intrigued because I've read various opinions of it having a tube-like midrange but also it being on the light side when it comes to tonal weight.

I think there are audiophiles who love to listen into the music and appreciate a clean window, and others who want to feel the musicians are in the room. It's very hard to get both.

Hi Ian, in case of interest, there is a very detailed review of the L1 in HiFi Plus which describes how the sound improves as you go from the standard version all the way to full mono with individual power supplies. Roy Gregory (The Audio Beat) has a LOT of experience with CH gear including L1 so may be worthwhile to drop him an email as he is very helpful. He just published a very detailed review of their DAC/CD player all the way up to 9 box configuration and previously did the same with P1 which he subsequently bought for his personal use. A passive pre that has had a lot of very positive/rave press in UK is the Townshend Allegri Reference. but not sure if you can try that in US. Please let us know if you get to try the L1 and how it compares to your Dart pre? Cheers
 

Skanda

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May 2, 2020
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The Soulution pre I had was the 720. I actually owned this for a while but also tried a stereo amp with it (forget which model) and at one point an integrated from the 500 series.

I feel the dart is lacking in a few things. I'm being very critical by mentioning these, it's not like it's a bad preamp; I think it's a very good preamp.

openness: One audiophile friend has always found it sounding constrained in terms of soundstage bloom (not size of instruments), that the soundstage was always between the speakers and having tried it in his system and having the other aforementioned pres in my system, I now see what he means.

resolution: while I'm not necessarily a detail freak I find it glasses over some information. It has great deep bass but not as articulate as I would like and violin resolution could be better.

separation of instruments: sometimes I feel like the dart is amplifying an audio signal vs individual instruments, sort of illuminating the noise floor and sounding like acoustic instruments are being amplified (e.g. mic'd and fed through a PA system). The dart also hisses through my speakers and although not audible at the listening position, other preamps I've tried are dead silent and I wonder how much noise I'm hearing that might contribute to the impression I just described.

upper midrange quality: perhaps somewhat related to the above, I listen to a lot of classical music and woodwinds sound a bit hard (and perhaps not as natural as I'd like).

Again, I do think the dart is a very good preamp and my situation is such that I'm mixing brands (between preamp and amps) so synergy plays a big role. While I love the midrange and soundstage of a good tube preamp I dislike the distortion that comes along for the ride. I mention this in case you're going to suggest a tube preamp.

great write up and thanks for the detail. no way i'm going to rec a tube pre, once you go ss pre it's really hard to go back. leaving it on all the time is just one of the great parts of it :)
 

Tango

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Add the Gobel LaCord too if you have the whole stack of CH.
 

gian60

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Apr 17, 2016
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Yes Tang,you have right,
Gobel Lacord are a perfect match with CH,keep transparency but give organic and dense sound.

Gobel has CH in his company,so tested his cables with CH
 

MadFloyd

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May 30, 2010
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I have L1 and love it a lot,very fast,dynamic,very transparent,good and deep bass and mid like triode.
Yes it lack only a little of body and tonal density,but if you add X1 will have a body and tonal density in a perfect way.

Madfloyd has a P1 with X1 and can buy a second board for X1 to connect L1,so L1 improves a lot.
Next step will be to buy a X1 without board to have P1 and L1 with 2 X1

I have L1,P1 and X1 with 2 board,i not buy a second X1 because i hope i can buy L10 and keep X1 for P1,selling the second board.
My friend living 6 km from my home has L1,P1 and X1 with board same like me.
One sunday i brought my X1 to his home and we connect my X1 to his L1 and the improvement was dramatic.
Body,scene,depth,dynamic,all increased.
Now he bought a second X1 without board,he has 2, and he is very very happy

I have a question about the X1. I understand that having two X1s is better than one X1 (with two outputs) when powering an L1 & P1. If you have one X1 with two outputs and are not using the P1 (i.e. it is powered off) will the L1 sound the same as powered with a dedicated X1?
 

gian60

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Apr 17, 2016
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I tried in my system and in my friend system and if you power off P1 for exemple when you listen cd sound is little better
 
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Brahmsian

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A few observations from me. For historical reasons, I ended up with a CH front end and a Soulution pre and amp (725 and 711). I have also auditioned the M1.1 + L1. The Soulution and CH pre+amps make an interesting contrast. The Soulution possesses a more bottom up sound and could be argue a more masculine sound (using a wine analogy). The CH is a bit more ethereal and a bit more finesse by comparison, perhaps a bit more feminine (another wine anlaogy) or a more delicate sound. Not a million miles apart, choose your cup of tea and you will be happy with either. The Soulution made a great match with the CH front end so there was no need to migrate to M1.1. I am sorry but to say the Soulution sound to be fake is not being accurate. But each to his own and there is no right or wrong answer.

Having individual X1 to power the individual component makes a huge difference. I have two X1s to power C1 and D1 and that is a much better compared to one X1 with dual output. It is worth the investment by buying the extra X1.
 
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MadFloyd

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Pretty much all gear has a house sound. I find some more apparent than others to the point that I could recognize it blind. Perhaps I’m just sensitive to it.
 

Skanda

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May 2, 2020
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A few observations from me. For historical reasons, I ended up with a CH front end and a Soulution pre and amp (725 and 711). I have also auditioned the M1.1 + L1. The Soulution and CH pre+amps make an interesting contrast. The Soulution possesses a more bottom up sound and could be argue a more masculine sound (using a wine analogy). The CH is a bit more ethereal and a bit more finesse by comparison, perhaps a bit more feminine (another wine anlaogy) or a more delicate sound. Not a million miles apart, choose your cup of tea and you will be happy with either. The Soulution made a great match with the CH front end so there was no need to migrate to M1.1. I am sorry but to say the Soulution sound to be fake is not being accurate. But each to his own and there is no right or wrong answer.

Having individual X1 to power the individual component makes a huge difference. I have two X1s to power C1 and D1 and that is a much better compared to one X1 with dual output. It is worth the investment by buying the extra X1.

that's a great analogy. i similarly felt the soulution was "rock n' roll" whereas the ch was "classical". both products are extremely impressive and I can see why one would prefer one to another. as an aside, i think the symphonic line amp mated with the soulution pre is giving me the best of the soulution attributes while imparting a gorgeous tone and bloom
 
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BruceD

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Dec 13, 2013
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Ching Cheng power cables are also perfect for my CH gears.

Yes I agree the Ching Chengs in my system were good, but tad too "smooth' sounding for Moi --so I went back to my Hirakawa's.
of all the PC's personally experienced -including NBS, Nordost, Shunyata NR's,MIT, Transparent ,Cardas, Straightwire, I've found a set that finally
seems to tick al the boxes and deliver as promised to my ears anyway:)--namely the Black Cat Lupos -they beat out all of the above!

Purely personal observation-YVMV

Apologies for the Digression on your Thread Gian--back to CH Precision.

BruceD
 

JackD201

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I have a question about the X1. I understand that having two X1s is better than one X1 (with two outputs) when powering an L1 & P1. If you have one X1 with two outputs and are not using the P1 (i.e. it is powered off) will the L1 sound the same as powered with a dedicated X1?

Hi Ian,

Yes but marginally so. The biggest deal is to go and get an X1. In order of priority, I would get a T1 before I added another X1 for a C1 Mono. I want those channels lock stepped.

Funny story, well, not so funny at the time. While having a new router installed, the X1 powering my preamp's plug came loose. My eyesight no longer being what it was, I failed to notice that the X1 display was off on the L1. My routine is to, as normal, manually power on from front to back. I'm on my way to the M1s in front while the others are initializing so I missed it. Since the X1 Conected and X1 Error messages are shown very, very briefly and can be easily missed . AS 1 series components use two power cords, they will revert to their internal power supplies if there is an X1 error. The sound was still good but just didn't seem right. I am ashamed to say it took me about a month until I coudn't stand it anymore and went for a full blown system check. For a while I thought the router was the cause even if they are on a separate circuit and ethernet connections are galvaniized. Boy I wish I started at the front instead of back end as I sure would have saved a lot of time! Anyway, I end up back at the power strip and lo and behold, WTF! Glasses on and sure enough o X1. Properly seated and all is right again, i this case, with the X1, notes were once again fully formed even when the M meters were displaying 0.0 to 0.2 watts of output whereas I had to play louder, about 8 watts to get stuff fully formed but it still sounded electronic and constrained. At least, should it happen again, I know what tell tale signs to look for. I figured I would share this in the odd chance it might happen to one of you and hopefully it could save you a bit of time and aggravation.
 
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JackD201

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No disgression Bruce,interesting your power cable experience

The downside of big and heavy power cables :( Maybe I should invest in those furutech stands that keep heavy cables from sagging.

By the way after rereading my earlier post I should have written the plug of my X1 that powers my preamp and not my preamp's plug. My apologies.
 

MadFloyd

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Thanks for sharing that story, Jack.

I’m gathering that many people enjoy the CH digital components as well as all the other electronics. For some reason I assumed that the C1/D1 were old enough to be considered obsolete in today’s age of digital advancements and competition.
 

PR13

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Dec 15, 2019
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For some reason I assumed that the C1/D1 were old enough to be considered obsolete in today’s age of digital advancements and competition.

Not the C1. I get the idea of a transport being past it and is not something personally I'd spend any money on
 

PeterA

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I think there are audiophiles who love to listen into the music and appreciate a clean window, and others who want to feel the musicians are in the room. It's very hard to get both.

The CH will be a very interesting preamp to hear in your system, and should match well with your phono stage. I find your comment here intriguing. Would having the sense that "the musicians are in the room" (or you are at the live venue) not imply that you are able to "listen into the music and appreciate a clean window"? I mean, how much more real can it get than being able to sense you are "with" the musicians experiencing the music?
 
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JackD201

WBF Founding Member
Apr 20, 2010
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Thanks for sharing that story, Jack.

I’m gathering that many people enjoy the CH digital components as well as all the other electronics. For some reason I assumed that the C1/D1 were old enough to be considered obsolete in today’s age of digital advancements and competition.

I don't think discreet R2R and Class A analog output stages ever really get old so architecture of the C1 is basically the same but there have been ongoing updates done on the software side both control and filter. Interpolation algorithms are a biggie. Then there are compatibility upgrades like ROON too. Lastly there have been hardware interface upgrades. Great thing is that the firmware and software updates are free :) The C1 can be kept current should it's owner so desire or left to be 10 years old. I'm betting against any new digital formats popping up but even if one appears and gains enough traction, a board would likely be made available. :D
 

abeidrov

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My L1 is finally in my room and it feels like Christmas in August:) It is truly an incredible piece of gear even without X1.
As a new CH owner I have a couple of questions:
1. I have too much gain with my Lampizator dac when I use 242 output tubes, and it creates audible distortion. I was hoping that Input Gain setting would help to solve this issue, but it looks like I still hear some small distortion even at the lowest possible setting which is -6 dB. But according to the manual the gain is adjustable from -24 dB to +24 dB, but it does not go below -6 dB. Is it a mistake in the manual?
2. I assume that both XLR outputs are the same and it does not matter which one to use?
3. Shall I place the supplied plastic support discs under each foot even if I do not plan to use the adjustment spikes?

Thank you in advance.
 

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