JackD201 - Version 2.0

gian60

Well-Known Member
Apr 17, 2016
2,503
1,943
343
Big congrats from italy,Jack,
we are 10.500 KM far and is nice to see you and Sam in the photo.

We are far,but both love CH,after 3 years i own,every day i listen i am surprise for their quality.

Hope to meet you and Sam in Italy in future
Regards
Gianluigi
 

Leif S

Industry Expert
Feb 13, 2015
770
166
180
California
www.vonschweikert.com
the loudspeakers - von schweikert audio ultra 11s in custom brilliant blue pearl



so fancy! Lol!




the bad boys sucker punched me while i was in vr-11 bliss.:d

lmao
 

Ron Resnick

Site Co-Owner, Administrator
Jan 24, 2015
16,017
13,346
2,665
Beverly Hills, CA
The matching blue lighting, Jack, looks amazing! Congratulations on the ultimate realization of your system!
 

Kingsrule

VIP/Donor
Feb 3, 2011
1,432
681
1,430
Stunning would be an understatement!

Absolutely the perfect color.
 

bonzo75

Member Sponsor
Feb 26, 2014
22,442
13,471
2,710
London
Wow
 

gds7368

VIP/Donor
Jan 9, 2015
214
190
420
Would you please elaborate on the sonic contribution of the Stromtank?
 

JackD201

WBF Founding Member
Apr 20, 2010
12,308
1,425
1,820
Manila, Philippines
So sorry for slacking off gds, I'll get to it. But first, the Sources.
 

JackD201

WBF Founding Member
Apr 20, 2010
12,308
1,425
1,820
Manila, Philippines
CH Precision Basic Digital Stack - D1, C1, X1 Dual Board

What I have presently is part of the original CH runs. The C1 is fully loaded with all of the optional boards of the time and the units likewise have the firmware of their generation. By that I mean they do not have the newer CH-Link boards and until I upload the new firmware which I already have onn a USB stick, they can't be seen by the current CH App. By Basic I mean I have the stereo as opposed to mono layouts and I do not have the T1 clock yet.



Can someone please rotate this for me? I have no idea why it did this!

My preference when it comes to digital playback is a little bit different. While I have been a tube guy for the majority of my immersed audiophile life, I have always gone for SS DACs. This is not to say that there aren't any tube DACs that I could very well live happily with. There have been a few I have been enamored with like those from Zanden and Lampizator.

I suppose this is the case because while I did my share of analog recording, mixing and post, I spent far more time in the digital domain with Protools and Neve. The challenge was always to get the sound glitch free and natural since I was doing sound for TV and film mostly. I guess that imprinted on me a set of standards for digital playback where I really want to hear what the engineers did. That is probably why I used EMMLabs for a very long time. Yet, later still, I figured my preference lay in Ladder architecture by a slim margin over Delta Sigma converters just as I am the oddball that likes DSD for what it is but generally prefer 24/96 for general listening.

I won't go into the features of the stack as the website is pretty thorough as well as the fact that many reviews have been written about this generation of CH products. They lock on easily with any input and are simply hassle free once you get a hang of the concentric ring controls.

Sound wise they are quite transparent/colorless as is my preference. They are brutally honest. The downside to this honesty is that it will spill its gutts not just about the recordings but will do so with regards to how poorly or how well you've address your power. Classic studio equipment behavior. Great recordings sound great and bad ones, well, bad.

The D1 playing discs beats my W20 albeit I use the W20 much more often because of pure convenience with regards to where the heck I put my CDs and SACDs in the first place. Besides I am a vinyl guy first when it comes to hunkering down so my standards adjust accordingly. Suffice it to say that the C1 shares the CH house sound and it is a sound I like. The Da Vinci Dual is more weighty and dense just as the EERAs are but again the CH wins out on spatial projection. That bears repeating here because this spatiality is the offshoot of the unit's very high level of resolution.

While the sound is truly digital, as opposed to some other DACs that are voiced to sound more like good analog, it bares the care taken in every recording or transfer. It is also good enough that I can swap between LP and Digital with only minor mental adjustments just because I think the units play to digital's strengths while mitigating a lot of the weaknesses. The X1 mitigates these further as will the addition of the T1 clock which adds density and weight. The T1 will definitely be in the cards for me when my poor bank account recover.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Al M. and ashandger

Ron Resnick

Site Co-Owner, Administrator
Jan 24, 2015
16,017
13,346
2,665
Beverly Hills, CA
Jack, your conversion to CH after years of Lamm is very interesting. I am trying to understand it by interpolating from my understanding of why MikeL prefers his darTZeel 458s over the VAC 450s (which I totally “get”).

It surely is not a coincidence that a number of WBF members have switched from tubes to CH. Arnie in Texas with Rockport Arrakis switched from VTL Siegfried IIs to CH. That was another knockout data point for me. Someday I will have to learn about CH for myself.
 

bonzo75

Member Sponsor
Feb 26, 2014
22,442
13,471
2,710
London
Jack, your conversion to CH after years of Lamm is very interesting. I am trying to understand it by interpolating from my understanding of why MikeL prefers his darTZeel 458s over the VAC 450s (which I totally “get”).

It surely is not a coincidence that a number of WBF members have switched from tubes to CH. Arnie in Texas with Rockport Arrakis switched from VTL Siegfried IIs to CH. That was another knockout data point for me. Someday I will have to learn about CH for myself.

The biggest of those is Gian. His tubes experience is far more, and he had gone on to extreme high quality tubes before switching. I really don't understand this myself so when I meet him I just stop trying to think and just focus on the food
 

JackD201

WBF Founding Member
Apr 20, 2010
12,308
1,425
1,820
Manila, Philippines
The key is to dial it down a notch and let yourself ease into it. Ch's ultimate strength is in the finest subtleties as opposed to outright character. You'll get it then Ked.

Once one can find that zone, finding that zone in succeeding listens becomes effortless.
 

bonzo75

Member Sponsor
Feb 26, 2014
22,442
13,471
2,710
London
The key is to dial it down a notch and let yourself ease into it. Ch's ultimate strength is in the finest subtleties as opposed to outright character. You'll get it then Ked.

Once one can find that zone, finding that zone in succeeding listens becomes effortless.

Yes Jack, my post was actually meant to give CH a one up. If tube lovers who are skeptics look at Gian's history they will understand his tube experience is far greater... And he converted, and they tell him to go listen to tubes. He has heard more tubes than they know exist
 

gian60

Well-Known Member
Apr 17, 2016
2,503
1,943
343
Hallo to everybody,sorry to repeat,my first tube was in 1979,ARC D 90 B,and the last Kondo Souga in 2015.
I loved all my tube amp i had,ARC D 250,Arc M 300,Jadis 30,80,200,500,Carver Silver 7,for one week,Klimo OTL,M&A TVA1,Hal AMP,Counterpoint,Panthere,Yamamura,all top Audio Tekne,FAL integrated,top Dissanayake,ANJ M10,Kageki,Baransu,Neiro,Neiro Silver,Ongaku Gakuon,Mactone M8V otl mono,Shindo Petrus,300B limited and Shinonia,ANUK Jinro,Leak tl 12,QuadII,Radford sta 15,Mc Intosh MC 240,MC30,MC60,MC75
all very beautiful,but now i love my CH and i don't want change with anything
 

gian60

Well-Known Member
Apr 17, 2016
2,503
1,943
343
Dear Jack,
my son today is in Manila until tuesday evening.
He did a week of Holiday in Palawan,he studies Economy in university in Milan,but this is forth year and study one year in Shanghai,
sorry OT
 

JackD201

WBF Founding Member
Apr 20, 2010
12,308
1,425
1,820
Manila, Philippines
Next time you should come Gian :)
 

analyzer

VIP/Donor
May 20, 2016
315
137
220
Torino - Italy
Many congratulations (again from Italy). I'm sure that yours will be a very superb system.
I love the VR11 when I listened two years ago in Munich; that time Von Schweikert was my favourite room.
And what about to CH? simply superlative; I listened to a full stack of CH amplifiers at gian60's room and it was truly excellent; forget about the debate tube vs solidstate... only accurate reproduction and music...
my best
Marco
 

LL21

Well-Known Member
Dec 26, 2010
14,411
2,509
1,448
The key is to dial it down a notch and let yourself ease into it. Ch's ultimate strength is in the finest subtleties as opposed to outright character. You'll get it then Ked.

Once one can find that zone, finding that zone in succeeding listens becomes effortless.
I have been watching the CH space with great care, paying particular attention to Gian60 and Arnie as well as you, all of whom have tremendous experience, are big fans of tubes...and have moved from some of the world's best tubes (Kondo, VTL and Lamm) over to CH.

As a big fan of Zanden, CJ on the front end...and a big Gryphon in the back end for power...what am I likely to hear if i substituted the Gryphon for a CH M1 stereo?
 

About us

  • What’s Best Forum is THE forum for high end audio, product reviews, advice and sharing experiences on the best of everything else. This is THE place where audiophiles and audio companies discuss vintage, contemporary and new audio products, music servers, music streamers, computer audio, digital-to-analog converters, turntables, phono stages, cartridges, reel-to-reel tape machines, speakers, headphones and tube and solid-state amplification. Founded in 2010 What’s Best Forum invites intelligent and courteous people of all interests and backgrounds to describe and discuss the best of everything. From beginners to life-long hobbyists to industry professionals, we enjoy learning about new things and meeting new people, and participating in spirited debates.

Quick Navigation

User Menu

Steve Williams
Site Founder | Site Owner | Administrator
Ron Resnick
Site Co-Owner | Administrator
Julian (The Fixer)
Website Build | Marketing Managersing