Originally Posted by
Macca
Okay so here we are 3 months on almost. Had the chance over the past few days to do some more 'serious' listening.
I didn't get a flathead screwdriver in an Xmas cracker so the Parasound still has a disc stuck in it so still using the Sony XB790QS SACD player.
Any reservations I had expressed previously about the sound of this pre-amp (slightly dark and less open) have gone. Maybe this is the Spotfire interconnect burn in I have been told about (the cables were brand new when I got the DCB1), maybe this is just acclimatization, I don't know.
In any case sound quality now is practically at the level of 'joke good' - which is my highest rating level. Obviously this is not all attributable to the DCB1 but the combination of DCB1-Spotfire-Krell KSA50S really does hit the spot for me. This is the sort of sound I was looking for when I went out and bought my first separates system back in 1988.
It's a sound I have rarely heard even listening to systems at shows where you are into the plus £100K level. Although some of them do manage it, you never think you are going to be able to get that sound in your own home on a sensible budget. But now you can!
I'll grant you that this is very much a 'studio console' sort of sound. If you like EL84 valve amps or SETs with horns you won't be so keen; although it certainly won't offend your ears it might be a bit full on for you. I don't know. All I can say is if you are looking for an absolutely top quality sound and don't know where to go next, get yourself a Krell, a DCB1 and some of the Spotifre cables (that lot will cost you about £1500 all in), hook it up to your speakers and spend the rest of your life wondering why you didn't do this sooner. :)