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Thread: Stan's Fans

  1. #1
    Join Date: May 2008

    Location: Lancaster(-ish), UK

    Posts: 16,937
    I'm ChrisB.

    Default Stan's Fans

    No, this isn't a thread about Stan's new secret Class A Krell stomping power amp that gets so hot that it needs fan cooling.

    And I post this here at the risk of the management deciding that 'The Digital Impression' should be renamed to honour the contribution that people witing about Stan's products have made to the bulk of this area of the forum.

    Still, I have some things that must be said.

    So for you to understand why I bought one of Stan's DAC's I should explain a little of the background.
    My home is in N. Lincolnshire, but I work in Lancashire & during the week I stay in digs in Preston. I have a very nice hi-fi at home that I've spent years getting to the point where I feel it's something to be quite proud of because of the way it plays the music I like. It's cost me a fair bit, but it's evolved over a long period of time & I've bought prudently and usually second hand.

    I also have a lot of periferal gear in other rooms of the house, making up several different ways of listening to music. This is very important, because I have to have music playing pretty much all the time that I'm not at work (& when I used to work at home, I played it then too). So I'm happy enough listening through what many people would consider to be fairly ropey old gear. I have a small collection of old receivers, for example, that I use frequently, which are good enough that I never feel I'm really missing out on anything important to the spirit of the music I'm playing.

    So, for roughly the last year, I've been using a cobbled together system while in Preston, which is made up from various things that have been available to me. Money has been short because of the circumstances that led me to have to take a job away from home, so a new, smaller system, was out of the question.

    I started out using just an old DVD player to play CD's & good quality mp3 player with a reasonable (20 gig) storage capacity. These were played through a Marantz receiver into Tannoy Mercury MkII's on some good pedestal stands. That was OK, but then I managed to snaffle a Yamaha CR 1020 receiver, a beautiful piece of old gear that I truly love & sounds great - cost: 70 odd quid from Ebay.

    Recently, the idea of moving the family over to Lancashire has become more realistic as my daughter finished her A levels and was looking for an Art college to go to. So we started looking for houses to rent - the idea being that we hang on to our old house to finish it's restoration & in the meantime the market will improve. We found a place close to Lancaster which will suit quite nicely for a while - we start moving in a couple of weeks.

    I realised that the layout in this place allows for a whole room for the records, CD's & main hi-fi gear, while the living room only need have the speakers in it. This room will be interesting because it's built of stone & the main walls are not parallel - I'm sure it'll sound great! There's another reception room as well, that will serve as a study & (real) music room - we have guitars, a piano & my daughter is a serious cellist. So this room will also need have a pretty reasonable stereo in it too, because we'll be spending quite a lot of time in it.

    This is where Stan comes in!!!

    Up to now, all my serious digital sources have been routed through the very flexible DAC in my Accuphase CD player & it worked fine. In our new place, though, it won't be practical to route cables from the extra room all the way to the DP67 so I thought that a stand alone DAC would be the thing. Paying two lots of Council Tax & all the other things that we'll have to face mean that cash is still going to be a little tight for a while, so I needed a cheap solution. And of course as I spend a lot of time on AoS, I couldn't help but notice Stan & his products - there he was, sitting in the corner, winking at me!

    So I bought a TC-7520 a couple of weeks ago & have been burning it in for a while. Nowadays, my main weekday source of music is Spotify from my PC (which only streams at approx ~160kbit/s), via a pretty scruffy USB cable to the 7520, down a 15 metre home made interconnect (yes 15, not 1.5!) into the big old, but lovely, Yamaha CR 1020 receiver & Tannoys.

    Things are still a little bright, but no brighter than seems to be the flavour at the moment. The bass has really come together over the last couple of days though. Before, there was lots of it but there was no real definition. The most pleasing thing is the amount of detail & stereo information I seem to be getting - things I look for more than most people I suppose.

    I was PM'ing with Stan a little while ago & told him that for a good while this evening, I've been sitting on the sofa, not able to do all the things I'm supposed to be doing, because this system has really begun to do things I didn't think possible. I've been able to do some really critical listening and felt that this fairly humble system was really punching above it's weight. So I'm chuffed to bits with the DAC & Stan should be proud of his achievement - it's a truly remarkable product.

    When we move to the new house, I'll be trying it out with all sorts of different combinations of gear & I'm actually almost afraid to see how it compares with the built in DAC in my Accuphase CD player!

    Cheers Stan

  2. #2
    Join Date: Oct 2008

    Location: Aughton, Ormskirk

    Posts: 2,848
    I'm Jerry.

    Default

    So I suppose you haven't tried any of the upgrades to the 7520 yet?
    Lots of fun to be had there but you are as well to let the dac burn in for a while.
    Jerry
    Hifi: IPL transmission line floorstanding speakers, Squeezebox Touch, Denafrips Ares 11 DAC, DCB1 Pre-amplifier, Croft Series 7 power amp.
    Custom Hifi cables HA10SE headphone amplifier and Hifiman HE-400 headphones.
    AV system: LG 55B7, Denon AVR -x2300w receiver, Quad 12L (front) 11c Centre and 11L rear . Velodyne DD15 subwoofer.

  3. #3
    Join Date: May 2008

    Location: Lancaster(-ish), UK

    Posts: 16,937
    I'm ChrisB.

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Covenant View Post
    So I suppose you haven't tried any of the upgrades to the 7520 yet?
    Nope
    ............but you are as well to let the dac burn in for a while.
    Yup

  4. #4
    Join Date: Jan 2008

    Location: gone

    Posts: 11,519
    I'm gone.

    Default

    Don't be surprised if the Beresford DAC gives your Accuphase a run for its money.

    I first discovered Stan's DACs back when they were at Mk.2. Even then, it was pretty damn obvious that something special was going on. Then along came the Mk.3, and I was hooked.

    Every now and then I buy a 'proper' DAC - i.e. one that retails at multi-£k rather than a silly little toy at £100 -£200.

    Audio Syntheses DAX Decade (£3.5k), Perpetual Technology 3-boxer (£1.8k), Musical Fidelity TriVista21 and A3.24 DACs (£1500 & £700?), the DAC aboard my old Esoteric AZ-1 digi-amp ... and quite a few more that don't come to mind at the moment ....

    For up to quite a few months I think they are better - well, they must be, they cost more and have thick, sexy faceplates. But I always, always, come back to Stan's finest with a sense of musical relief and homecoming. I think that maybe I have learned my lesson now.

    The better the digital cable, the better the sound, too. Well worth experimenting with that. I use Missing Link for its sense of natural musical flow, but others work well, too.
    Oh, and the PSU as well, Maplins do one that works very well and boosts the sound quality noticably.

    Your Accuphase is probably quaking in its boots!
    Last edited by jandl100; 25-07-2009 at 09:48.
    .

  5. #5
    Join Date: Oct 2008

    Location: Aughton, Ormskirk

    Posts: 2,848
    I'm Jerry.

    Default

    Just out of interest Jerry, which digital cable are you using at the moment? I changed from a Gotham to a Belden and was surprised at the difference. I use Sound Pipe interconnects so was thinking that a digital Sound Pipe would be the nextstep up.
    Jerry
    Hifi: IPL transmission line floorstanding speakers, Squeezebox Touch, Denafrips Ares 11 DAC, DCB1 Pre-amplifier, Croft Series 7 power amp.
    Custom Hifi cables HA10SE headphone amplifier and Hifiman HE-400 headphones.
    AV system: LG 55B7, Denon AVR -x2300w receiver, Quad 12L (front) 11c Centre and 11L rear . Velodyne DD15 subwoofer.

  6. #6
    Join Date: Feb 2008

    Location: North East UK

    Posts: 6,358
    I'm InSpace.

    Default

    Anybody want to try one of my digi cables?
    Shian7
    --------------------------------------------------------

    Kudakutemo
    kudakutemo

    ari mizu-no tsuki

    Though it be be broken -
    broken again - still it's there:
    the moon on the water.

    - Choshu.

  7. #7
    Join Date: Oct 2008

    Location: Aughton, Ormskirk

    Posts: 2,848
    I'm Jerry.

    Default

    Yes please-can you give a few details?
    Jerry
    Hifi: IPL transmission line floorstanding speakers, Squeezebox Touch, Denafrips Ares 11 DAC, DCB1 Pre-amplifier, Croft Series 7 power amp.
    Custom Hifi cables HA10SE headphone amplifier and Hifiman HE-400 headphones.
    AV system: LG 55B7, Denon AVR -x2300w receiver, Quad 12L (front) 11c Centre and 11L rear . Velodyne DD15 subwoofer.

  8. #8
    Join Date: Jan 2008

    Location: gone

    Posts: 11,519
    I'm gone.

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Covenant View Post
    Just out of interest Jerry, which digital cable are you using at the moment? I changed from a Gotham to a Belden and was surprised at the difference. I use Sound Pipe interconnects so was thinking that a digital Sound Pipe would be the nextstep up.
    Missing Link 'Dark Art' things, £75 for 0.5m but worth it. I'd expect you'd get a significant jump in sq going from Gotham or Belden (I have tried both of those and agree the Belden is better).

    But not that far off the Missing Link is "Silver High Breed" i/c at £27 a pair - http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/SILVER-HIGH-BR...lenotsupported on eBay and ask the seller if he'll do a single run. It's a bit more 'obvious' and unsophisticated, but still good. It's also a fine analogue i/c - if a bit bright and forward.

    I like NVA stuff as a rule, but haven't been impressed with the Sound Pipe line. Worth a try though, perhaps, with NVA's return policy.
    .

  9. #9
    Join Date: Jan 2008

    Location: Wrexham, North Wales, UK

    Posts: 110,012
    I'm AudioAl'sArbiterForPISHANTO.

    Default

    Anybody want to try one of my digi cables?
    Are those the ones that you were going to send me to try about three months ago? I'm still waiting!!

    Marco.
    Main System

    Turntable: Heavily-modified Technics SL-1210MK5G [Mike New bearing/ETP platter/Paul Hynes SR7 PSU & reg mods]. Funk Firm APM Achromat/Nagaoka GL-601 Crystal Record Weight/Isonoe feet & boots/Ortofon RS-212D/Denon DL-103GL in Denon PCL-300 headshell with Funk Firm Houdini/Kondo SL-115 pure-silver cartridge leads.

    Paul Hynes MC head amp/SR5 PSU. Also modded Lentek head amp/Denon AU-310 SUT.

    Other Cartridges: Nippon Columbia (NOS 1987) Denon DL-103. USA-made Shure SC35C with NOS stylus. Goldring G820 with NOS stylus. Shure M55E with NOS stylus.

    CD Player: Audiocom-modified Sony X-777ES/DAS-R1 DAC.

    Tape Deck: Tandberg TCD 310, fully restored and recalibrated as new, by RDE, plus upgraded with heads from the TCD-420a. Also with matching TM4 Norway microphones.

    Preamps: Heavily-modified Croft Charisma-X. LDR Stereo Coffee. Power Amps: Tube Distinctions Copper Amp fitted with Tungsol KT-150s. Quad 306.

    Cables & Sundries: Mark Grant HDX1 interconnects and digital coaxial cable, plus Mark Grant 6mm UP-LCOFC Van Damme speaker cable. MCRU 'Ultimate' mains leads. Lehmann clone headphone amp with vintage Koss PRO-4AAA headphones.

    Tube Distinctions digital noise filter. VPI HW16.5 record cleaning machine.

    Speakers: Tannoy 15MGs in Lockwood cabinets with modified crossovers. 1967 Celestion Ditton 15.


    Protect your HUMAN RIGHTS and REFUSE ANY *MANDATORY* VACCINE FOR COVID-19!

    Also **SAY NO** to unjust 'vaccine passports' or certificates, which are totally incompatible with a FREE society!!!


  10. #10
    Join Date: Oct 2008

    Location: Glasgowshire

    Posts: 9,656
    I'm Gary.

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Covenant View Post
    Just out of interest Jerry, which digital cable are you using at the moment? I changed from a Gotham to a Belden and was surprised at the difference. I use Sound Pipe interconnects so was thinking that a digital Sound Pipe would be the nextstep up.
    I upgraded to teh NVA Sound piipe digi cable from the Belden and I found it to be a noticeable step up.

    More of everything and more natural, less "etched" sounding.

    I got mine as a trade, so even better!
    AC POWER
    Hardwired 10kVA balanced mains powering entire system
    AMPS
    Meridian 557 power Amp (Modded) / PS Audio BHK Preamp (Modded)
    SPEAKERS
    Wharfedale Evo 4.4
    DAC
    PS Audio Directstream (Modded)
    TURNTABLE
    Pro-Ject X8 balanced output via XLR / Ortofon Quintet Blue cartridge
    PHONOSTAGE
    Pro-Ject DS3 B balanced Input (TT and Phonostage powered by Pro-Ject Power box RS2 linear psu)
    DIGITAL
    OPPO 203 (Modded: Linear PSU, i2s output to Dac) - Roon Endpoint, HDMI input used for all things Streaming/ PS5 /AppleTV ... also good for movies apparently?
    MUSIC PLAYBACK
    Tweaked AP-Linux based Roon Server into Oppo 203 as Roon endpoint
    Ipad Roon Remote.
    Apple Music/ YouTube via AppleTV, fed to Dac via Oppo HDMI input/i2s output to Dac.
    SPEAKER CABLES
    Biwired: Duelund DCA10GA (Bass) Duelund DCA16GA (mid & treble) Duelund 12DCA used as jumpers (On
    "Blackcat Cable" Chris Sommivigo's advice - yup, even with biwire it sounds better - and it does)
    INTERCONNECTS
    All Balanced: Ghost+ recording studio XLR cables

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