Listening Session - Dacs/CDPs

[tony]

Have the Meitner here at the moment and will give it a comparison with the LZ. Can't see how I can abx it
by myself and also given the fact I seem to have switch default device when I change. Had great fun trying to get it going. I had inadvertently stuck the usb cable in the usb maint slot.

Do make a good effort to level match Tony if you can otherwise expectation bias is nearly impossible to eliminate. Perhaps when I call over we could do some sort of abx test. Or we just talk about hifi. :-)

It is like a toothache. LZ just plays when connected when I switch to Meitner no music. On this test the LZ wins hands down abx or not!

[DaveF]

So this past 2 nights I've been listening to the system with the new orientation. Absolutely no question that it has changed the presentation by quite a bit and all for the better too. Biggest difference would be the soundstage depth as expected but the scale is also now a good bit bigger and this is especially noticable with vocals.

The system sounded fine before but with the new change I've realised that before I probably had the speakers too far apart relative to the distance to the listening position. I believe with these Quad that you need to be a nice bit back in order for the sound to 'knit' together before it reaches you. They are big panels and capable of moving a lot of air. Little details, queues and ambience at the back are now much more noticeable.

The TV is moved so loads of space in behind them now. Still have the odd excited bass node here and there but I've since moved couches, plants and other stuff into the corners to break up that space. A little fine tuning to be done yet but the new speaker positions are here to stay. A pity I didnt have it this way for the listening session as it might have shown up more differences between the DACs.

Likely to add one of those Power Inspired AC Regen units soon so that should tighten up things some more.

[cybot]

So this past 2 nights I've been listening to the system with the new orientation. Absolutely no question that it has changed the presentation by quite a bit and all for the better too. Biggest difference would be the soundstage depth as expected but the scale is also now a good bit bigger and this is especially noticable with vocals.

The system sounded fine before but with the new change I've realised that before I probably had the speakers too far apart relative to the distance to the listening position. I believe with these Quad that you need to be a nice bit back in order for the sound to 'knit' together before it reaches you. They are big panels and capable of moving a lot of air. Little details, queues and ambience at the back are now much more noticeable.

The TV is moved so loads of space in behind them now. Still have the odd excited bass node here and there but I've since moved couches, plants and other stuff into the corners to break up that space. A little fine tuning to be done yet but the new speaker positions are here to stay. A pity I didnt have it this way for the listening session as it might have shown up more differences between the DACs.

Likely to add one of those Power Inspired AC Regen units soon so that should tighten up things some more.

Could never understand why people orientate speakers on the long/side wall (usually where the fireplace is) instead of the short/back wall? I've always advocated that if one side of the room is longer than the other then it's a no brainer to put the speakers there for all the reasons you've discovered. Anyway as expected you've found worthwhile differences :)

[DaveF]

Could never understand why people orientate speakers on the long/side wall (usually where the fireplace is) instead of the short/back wall? I've always advocated that if one side of the room is longer than the other then it's a no brainer to put the speakers there for all the reasons you've discovered. Anyway as expected you've found worthwhile differences :)

Yip would agree with long/side wall thing you mentioned. With previous speakers this wasnt a problem as I was far enough back and for room layout reasons I kinda had to put them either side of the fireplace. The Quads are different though and benefit a lot more firing down the long wall.

[Diapason]

I see Cloney have put a Wadia 921/971 combo on the pre-owned. Stop d**king around, Dave, you know what you need to do.

[DaveF]

I see Cloney have put a Wadia 921/971 combo on the pre-owned. Stop d**king around, Dave, you know what you need to do.

55K new, 16k second hand. Still though, it probably contains the usual Sanyo Laser mechanism that can be had for 9 dollars on Ebay.

[Diapason]

55K new, 16k second hand. Still though, it probably contains the usual Sanyo Laser mechanism that can be had for 9 dollars on Ebay.

I LOL'ed. Then I cried a little.

[Ivor]

Could never understand why people orientate speakers on the long/side wall (usually where the fireplace is) instead of the short/back wall? I've always advocated that if one side of the room is longer than the other then it's a no brainer to put the speakers there for all the reasons you've discovered. Anyway as expected you've found worthwhile differences :)

ah it's horses for courses.... I've tried each orientation in different rooms with different systems and have always found that unscientific "mucking about" gave me the best results! I would of course follow the usual formulae and rules of trigonometry but then I'd tweak to suit my own ears. I tend to like a fairly wide soundstage anyway, I suspect if I turned everything 90 degrees the speakers would still be the same distance apart and I'd also have a spare couch.

[cybot]

Could never understand why people orientate speakers on the long/side wall (usually where the fireplace is) instead of the short/back wall? I've always advocated that if one side of the room is longer than the other then it's a no brainer to put the speakers there for all the reasons you've discovered. Anyway as expected you've found worthwhile differences :)

ah it's horses for courses.... I've tried each orientation in different rooms with different systems and have always found that unscientific "mucking about" gave me the best results! I would of course follow the usual formulae and rules of trigonometry but then I'd tweak to suit my own ears. I tend to like a fairly wide soundstage anyway, I suspect if I turned everything 90 degrees the speakers would still be the same distance apart and I'd also have a spare couch.

Horses for courses exactly Ivor :)

[PeterK]

Hi guys,

I have been following this thread with great interest and up to now I just haven't had the time to post. I would have loved to get along to the shoot out, but was otherwise engaged on the weekend in question.

Dave, as the proud owner of the Airtight ATM 2 which formerly belonged to you, I can confirm it has settled in nicely with the system, and it is silent. There is no noise from the transformers or elsewhere, however the transformers in my Roksan turntables speed control can be quite clearly heard when no music is playing.

I have Quad speakers too and I am quite surprised given your previous search for a system that satisfied you that you settled on them. I see you are exploring getting a new CDP and possibly a DAC. If you really want to upgrade your system, and I mean do it so that it is a really significant upgrade, one in my experience the whole family noticed, and the one piece of equipment my wife said I should buy, and this is a seismic suggestion on her part. For the last 27 years she has been long suffering but this is simply the first time she said I would like you to buy that! The gates are open to everybody to guess what it is, I suspect some of you will get it immediately, but it is the one upgrade you should consider given the lack of a discernible difference you have experienced with the gear you have road tested on the CDP front end.

I tested a Meridan G6 against my Classe CDP 300 4 plus years ago and the Classe won by a narrow margin. However I see Cloney have G08 for sale in the used section. This would be a serious contender I would suggest giving it a try.

I also have an ADL esprit which is wonderful bit of kit which I am using as a pre amp and for headphone listening but it has a DAC and ADC built in so might like to check this out some time.

Good luck with the continuous never ending search for perfection!!!