Ali Tait
27-07-2008, 12:51
First of all,I'd like to say a big thanks to Nick for hosting Mo and myself,for what turned out to be a very enjoyable, interesting,informative and educational day.
The Slatedecked SP10 was a revelation.No other word for it.It's easily the best source of any description I've ever heard.I found it connected me to the music in a way I've never experienced before.As Nick commented,it just seems to "plug" the music into your head.The air and space was almost frightening,with this incredible void between the instruments.I also now know what the term panoramic soundstage really means,with some transients etc seeming to come from behind your left or right ear.We heard it initially with the original cartridge,but in the time it took me to drive Mo to the local shop,Nick replaced it with his new 103r.This obviously needed running in,but it was immediately apparent how much the noise floor had dropped,and we could hear the sound improving when we had a final listen before we left.I want one!
Next we tried Nick's dac.This sounded very nice indeed,though nowhere near the SP10.We were chatting about the dac and digital in general,and Nick commented that there is an element of not being able to polish a turd as far as digital music is concerned,and after hearing the SP10,I know what he means.The dac sounded great,but to me you were back to a wall of sound rather than the huge staging of the SP10,and it didn't connect me to the music in the way the vinyl did.We'd had my Audio-note dac warming up for a while,so we tried that next.It sounded very nice to my ears,but with a more midband-oriented sound than Nick's,and not quite the frequency extension top and bottom.Nick's was better in this respect,and allowed a little more detail through.Didn't suffer too badly by comparison though,so I was quite chuffed given what I paid for it.
We then tried changing output transformers on the liang.This was an interesting exercise.Tried James first on 7k.Stonking bass,but nothing above about 10k.Next was some AE amorph at 10k.Not quite the bass extension of the James,but all the air and space was back along with the highs.These are very nice transformers.The most interesting part was putting the amp back to stock form for a listen.It turns out the stock trannies are actually pretty good,and noticeably superior to the James which was quite a suprise given this is a Chinese amp.Sounds like AE is the way to go for me.
The liang sounded very nice in Nick's system,but there was no comparison to his 211.It's one thing being impressed at Owstfest,but given a chance to have an extended listen in his own system,this is one very special amp,better than anything else I've had a chance to have a long listen to,and I think exactly what I need to drive the statics properly!.I want one of these too!
Bored you all long enough,so I'll just say thanks again to Nick,and see some of you at Chester.
Regards,Ali.
The Slatedecked SP10 was a revelation.No other word for it.It's easily the best source of any description I've ever heard.I found it connected me to the music in a way I've never experienced before.As Nick commented,it just seems to "plug" the music into your head.The air and space was almost frightening,with this incredible void between the instruments.I also now know what the term panoramic soundstage really means,with some transients etc seeming to come from behind your left or right ear.We heard it initially with the original cartridge,but in the time it took me to drive Mo to the local shop,Nick replaced it with his new 103r.This obviously needed running in,but it was immediately apparent how much the noise floor had dropped,and we could hear the sound improving when we had a final listen before we left.I want one!
Next we tried Nick's dac.This sounded very nice indeed,though nowhere near the SP10.We were chatting about the dac and digital in general,and Nick commented that there is an element of not being able to polish a turd as far as digital music is concerned,and after hearing the SP10,I know what he means.The dac sounded great,but to me you were back to a wall of sound rather than the huge staging of the SP10,and it didn't connect me to the music in the way the vinyl did.We'd had my Audio-note dac warming up for a while,so we tried that next.It sounded very nice to my ears,but with a more midband-oriented sound than Nick's,and not quite the frequency extension top and bottom.Nick's was better in this respect,and allowed a little more detail through.Didn't suffer too badly by comparison though,so I was quite chuffed given what I paid for it.
We then tried changing output transformers on the liang.This was an interesting exercise.Tried James first on 7k.Stonking bass,but nothing above about 10k.Next was some AE amorph at 10k.Not quite the bass extension of the James,but all the air and space was back along with the highs.These are very nice transformers.The most interesting part was putting the amp back to stock form for a listen.It turns out the stock trannies are actually pretty good,and noticeably superior to the James which was quite a suprise given this is a Chinese amp.Sounds like AE is the way to go for me.
The liang sounded very nice in Nick's system,but there was no comparison to his 211.It's one thing being impressed at Owstfest,but given a chance to have an extended listen in his own system,this is one very special amp,better than anything else I've had a chance to have a long listen to,and I think exactly what I need to drive the statics properly!.I want one of these too!
Bored you all long enough,so I'll just say thanks again to Nick,and see some of you at Chester.
Regards,Ali.