Originally Posted by
jandl100
A bit baffled by this.
Listened a lot more now to the system with the Jez Buffer installed.
It's a bit subtle at first, but after a while the realisation dawns that it has taken the presentation to a whole new level of naturalness. I really enjoyed my system before, but looking back now, in comparison it was kind of electronic and artificial and flat sounding.
Tonality is richer, lusher more natural - my solid state amps are sounding more like a really good valve amp in that regard. Bass goes deeper and tauter. Images are more 3D and naturally present. Transients are faster but without the added edge that can sometimes fool you. The whole thing is more transparent with better separation of instruments from the ambient background.
Jez used the word organic to describe what he was hearing in his system coupled with a passive pre, and that is exactly the word that comes to me now.
This is easily equivalent to a major component upgrade.
I suppose this sort of component is going to be even more system dependent than others (?) but this little gadget is well worth a try, imho.
Make an orderly queue folks, no pushing or shoving... Oh and I've now designed a MkII with no capacitors in the signal path.... but one more SS device is in the signal path to allow it to do this, but should be pretty transparent.
Unfortunately prices start at double what Jerry paid as in my haste to name a competitive price for the job I hadn't thought it through properly and ended up charging only about half my normal hourly labour rate in order to stick to the price I initially quoted
Fancy cases, "boutique" parts and linear regulated supplies (I very much doubt any improvement) available but will greatly increase cost. Just ask.
Arkless Electronics-Engineered to be better. Tel. 01670 530674 (after 1pm)
Modded Thorens TD150, Audio Technica AT-1005 MkII, Technics EPC-300MC, Arkless Hybrid MC phono stage, Arkless passive pre, Arkless 50WPC Class A SS power amp, (or) Arkless modded Leak Stereo 20, Modded Kef Reference 105/3's
ReVox PR99, Studer B62, Ferrograph Series 7, Tandberg TCD440, Hitachi FT-5500MkI, also FT-5500MkII
Digital: Yamaha CDR-HD1500 (Digital Swiss army knife-CD recorder, player, hard drive, DAC and ADC in one), PC files via 24/96 sound card and SPDIF, modded Philips CD850, modded Philips CD104, modded DPA Little Bit DAC. Sennheiser HD580 cans with Arkless Headphone amp.
Cables- free interconnects that come with CD players, mains leads from B&Q, dead kettles etc, extension leads from Tesco