Trinity - hype or is it a real deal ?
- Thread starter audioblazer
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I've also read somwhere that they do not carry BADA anymore. I bought the BADA Alpha USB from them (http://digitalcom.ch). They were easy to work with, and were shipping from Munich, which meant no cutoms duty or extra tax.
Right! I ordered it from them, after a long listening session of The BADA Reference DAC in a special Hi-End Shop in New York which I usually visit when I am in the States.... After my order it took 6 months for arriving to Italy! Because they (Berkeley guys) had had a lot of delay due to a special piece which could be made only custom for them from a special factory....(mistery!). In any case I waited all that time and...Now I am happy of my patience! Because the sound of BADA Reference is really unbeliaveble with AIFF files Red Book format and I listen almost all only Red Book files, because I love Classical Music and Opera, and almost all great performances by great conductors, orchestras and soloists have been, and are still now printed as CDs.
But with BADA an AIFF file sounds close to reality! So I don't feel any desire to move to HiRes files...or DSD, wich usually sounds, at least in classical music, less "natural" than PCM files...
But with BADA an AIFF file sounds close to reality! So I don't feel any desire to move to HiRes files...or DSD, wich usually sounds, at least in classical music, less "natural" than PCM files...
My opinion here is different. DSD blows away PCM on classical for me…if you have DSD done right. I have over 1 TB of classical.
Elberoth I had the occasion to compare The Berkeley Aplha II DAC to Reference DAC because...the Alpha II has been my DAC in the very same system, my system, before changing for the Reference! As I have already written in one of my first posts on this Thread, the "Family sound" can be similar (after all I liked the Alpha II sound...) but there is an "abyssal" difference not only in quality of sound (at last the digital recordings sound "complete and natural" as the analog ones with the Reference) but also in the quantity of space information (each instrument of the orchestra sounds in the position where is usually placed and where you expect to listen in real life!) and in the "contour" of each instruments, I mean now with Reference DAC I feel the "black" of the backstage, the space around each instrument...
So in my opinion (but I underline once again that I am a musician and not a technician or a "Hi-End" expert) there is an enormous advancement from Alpha II to Reference. At least in my own system.
So in my opinion (but I underline once again that I am a musician and not a technician or a "Hi-End" expert) there is an enormous advancement from Alpha II to Reference. At least in my own system.
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In my opinion the opposite is true: PCM blows away the DSD, with the right PCM DAC (BADA Reference, Trinity, TotalDac twelve... I Have more than 8 T of classical music 16/44 PCM, and I am only at the begininng of ripping my CDs....
8T of classical music and only begging to rip your CDs?
Can we have some details about your music server?
I have no Music server till this moment...just because I know I need a lot of space.... Waiting for a "big" server I use portable Disks of 2 T each, and each of them doubled copy to be safe. Each time I want to listen to a Symphony or a Concert, or to an Opera, I have to choice the right Disk and to transfer the file on my Mac Mini (the sound of my system deteriorates if I leave a small disk of 2" connected to my Mac Mini, and it's easy to understand why....). In any case it takes totally only 3-4 minutes.....
8T of classical music and only begging to rip your CDs?
Can we have some details about your music server?
Honestly I used an Hyperbole because with 8 T I'm not at the beginning, but I am almost at 1/3 of the "long and winding road"...
Simone, I am glad to hear that the BADA Reference sounds so good with Redbook CD. Just like you I am foremost a music lover and an audiophile second, and indeed most of the really interesting classical performances are on CD only. Furthermore, I listen to a lot of modern 'classical' avantgarde, and this is virtually all just Redbook. Same holds for the jazz that interests me. Therefore, I have a CD-only system.
I have the BADA Alpha 2 and think about upgrading to a Reference as well. However, in recent days even with just the Alpha 2 the resolution of my system has taken a rather large step forward with the improvement of my acoustics, after installation of ASC window plugs in my windows. ASC claims that window resonances create sonic blur and sound masking, and from what I hear that is correct. There is so much more low-level detail and space information to experience after removal of these artifacts (I have to say though there are a lot of windows in my room). With the BADA Reference of course I would expect yet another substantial step forward. Not right now though, I am rather broke after much needed work on the siding of my house.
I average a classical concert every one - two weeks. It sounds great on PCM and can sound better on DSD. There are loads on SACDs as well, and a MCH SACD played on a good MCH system beats the sh*t out of 2-ch on classical. Follow Kal rubinson on that topic if you are interested
Which format sounds better may crucially depend on the DAC you use for comparison.
I agree that the experience of live concerts of unamplified music is crucial for the ability to evaluate the performance of gear.
True. Like I have said before, without wanting to make this yet another Lampi plug, the PCM on Lampi sounds better than all other PCM to me, and then the DSD sounds better than the PCM. That said, SACD sounds better than CD on any format, and MCH SACD sounds the best - for orchestral. The day they have a lot of Auro 3D classical SACDs, I am going Auro 3D
I'd like to directly compare DSD on the Lampi with PCM on the Berkeley Reference, both properly broken-in, warmed up and power conditioned.
Isn't Illusonic immersive sound comparable to this? Both Illusonic and Auro seem to oeperate with PCM only.
Perhaps this can help.
Mike B. at Audioshark did that comparo, as he had Jerry's loaner BADA ref and Jerry's B7. Mike then bought his own GG and is on record as saying this on May 19:
"I know audio memory is very fickle, but I would venture a guess that with this tube combo and the Aurender N100H providing the sweet music, the Lampi PCM now is on par with the best I've heard....and you already know about the DSD....it sounds like nothing else digital, period."
Yes you should - aren't you the Gear Swapper that PeterA referred to?
Mike, Jerry, and I think Joeinid on Audioshark will able to give provide good feedback on Lampi DSD vs BADA PCM.
Actually, yes, i am mixing comments. I like sound of SACDs > CDs in 2-ch, and the SACD in MCH gets downsampled to PCM but I like that better than DSD/SACD in 2-Ch, because I like MCH better than 2 CH for classical. Unless I am listening to Western Electrics.
Yes you should - aren't you the Gear Swapper that PeterA referred to?
I'm the Vintage Sounds Great guy with the improvements of room acoustics
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