15 years down the line

[SLS]

I realised it's about 15 years since I got into getting a decent stereo, now even got a decent room and a decent electricity supply. I started out with a Linn DS system, been through Quad, Harbeth and now have a curious mix of contraptions most of which I'd not heard of 5 or 10 years ago.

Used to spend far more on actually going to music - and lots of dance, ballet and opera - got to 200+ shows per year before Covid-19, but our spurs have since cooled.

[Macca]

What do you reckon to the Sabrinas? You've certainly got the amp to drive them with!

[SLS]

From the top:

First had a Clearaudio turntable, then in about 2014 bought a Claro Dual. Still have it, it's for sale.

A couple of years ago decided to do a 301, since I saw one in the Design Museum on Butler's Wharf many years ago. Was OK with any colour, as long as it was grey Hammertone.

I bought the donor machine from Emporium hifi. Sent it up to Ray Clark at CTC. The plinth was made by Carl Ellis and the veneer was finished by my mate Paul (20 coats of lacquer).

Reed 3P and Groovemaster III from Hugo Cass at Ammonite, currently fitted with an Ikeda 9TS (from Yodobashi Tokyo) and an Origin Live Aladdin from Southhampton.

Mat, stablister and Auva feet from Stack Audio.

[SLS]

What do you reckon to the Sabrinas? You've certainly got the amp to drive them with!

I previously had a Luxman 509X that I bought from Dave. It did seem to struggle a bit with the Sabrina impedance. It was also the wrong colour. The Gryphon 300 is a whole new level of sound, and the first 5-6w are Class A. The 509X is a touch on the warm side. The 300 has a wonderfully transparent sound. I bought the Sabrina in 2020 - the wife chose them. They are extremely coherent. I listen to a very wide range of music and they don't really have any weaknesses. Very natural midrange, great imaging and soundstage, enough bass for a good stand-up bass (listen to a lot of jazz) and piano works well.

The Sabrina like low capacitance cables - using Atlas Equator 3.5 in a 5m pair.

[Barry]

Some interesting kit - much of which is new to me. Nonetheless I'm sure it all sounds excellent.

It might be helpful if you could itemise each item of equipment and say what it does.



Like you, I don't go to anywhere near like the number of live performances that I used to.

[SLS]

was going to in good time, but:

Mofi Master Phono
Innuos Pulsar
Aqua Formula xHD rev. 2 DAC
Puritan PM156 conditioner
LDA Quartz t/t power supply
Gryphon Diablo 300 integrated amplifier
Stack LAN Regenerator
NeoTech and Vinyl Passion silver cables

[Jimbo]

Some nice kit there Steve. I have heard a good deal of the items you have but not altogether! I expect the Gryphon amp is rather good, was looking at their integrated amps myself. I like the Innuos Pulsar but I compared it against the new Zenith NG recently and the NG was a good deal better,

Had a 301 myself many years ago and never really sorted it properly like yours! Then again there were not the same amount of specialist people around to get it to a higher standard back then nearly 35 years ago.


Great system you have there and I bet it sounds excellent through the Sabrina’s

[SLS]

Some nice kit there Steve. I have heard a good deal of the items you have but not altogether! I expect the Gryphon amp is rather good, was looking at their integrated amps myself. I like the Innuos Pulsar but I compared it against the new Zenith NG recently and the NG was a good deal better,

Had a 301 myself many years ago and never really sorted it properly like yours! Then again there were not the same amount of specialist people around to get it to a higher standard back then nearly 35 years ago.


Great system you have there and I bet it sounds excellent through the Sabrina’s

The 301 does sound tremendously good. It was a bit of a leap of faith, with the benefit of the 11kg brass platter and the LDA power supply ensuring speed stability. Plus it looks nice compared to the black thing I had before. The veneer is the same as used through the ground floor of our house and on the rack shelving.

I went through some fairly budget phono stages (Vertere, EAR Phonobox, Whest Two.2 Discrete) and for some years had an RCM Sensor2 Mk2. I then went for the Mofi unit. It's a brilliant concept, isolating the power supply, phono circuits, and cabling (AC, DC and signalling) with an extremely short signal path. It can connect up to three inputs. One is fully balanced with a transimpedance (current) circuit. All the settings can be controlled from the remote, with an automatic temporary mute.

I had a Zen Mk3 and only upgraded to Pulsar 2 years ago. The NG has a new processor, but is three times the price and still no fibre input. The Stream 3 seems a sideways move.

I have a VLAN in use through a Ubiquiti managed switch and controller. Data comes down fibre. File storage is networked and I have the option of networked upsampling using HQ Player. This might benefit 16/44 or 16/48 files (my CD rips) because the DAC is NOS without anti-alias filtering, but I can't say I've had an issue with any of those files. Most of them can now be streamed at 24/96 or 24/192 these days.

[SLS]

Meanwhile the wife is at Covent Garden watching a La Traviata full rehearsal, says it's utterly magical.

She seems to have forgotten I took her to see it for her 25th birthday in December 1994 (with Angela Georghiu and Roberto Alagna under Sir Georg Solti), it was magical then, probably still is.

[Jimbo]

The 301 does sound tremendously good. It was a bit of a leap of faith, with the benefit of the 11kg brass platter and the LDA power supply ensuring speed stability. Plus it looks nice compared to the black thing I had before. The veneer is the same as used through the ground floor of our house and on the rack shelving.

I went through some fairly budget phono stages (Vertere, EAR Phonobox, Whest Two.2 Discrete) and for some years had an RCM Sensor2 Mk2. I then went for the Mofi unit. It's a brilliant concept, isolating the power supply, phono circuits, and cabling (AC, DC and signalling) with an extremely short signal path. It can connect up to three inputs. One is fully balanced with a transimpedance (current) circuit. All the settings can be controlled from the remote, with an automatic temporary mute.

I had a Zen Mk3 and only upgraded to Pulsar 2 years ago. The NG has a new processor, but is three times the price and still no fibre input. The Stream 3 seems a sideways move.

I have a VLAN in use through a Ubiquiti managed switch and controller. Data comes down fibre. File storage is networked and I have the option of networked upsampling using HQ Player. This might benefit 16/44 or 16/48 files (my CD rips) because the DAC is NOS without anti-alias filtering, but I can't say I've had an issue with any of those files. Most of them can now be streamed at 24/96 or 24/192 these days.

The Mofi phono looks a nice piece of kit and I like the technical details and design but certainly not cheap. There again the Innuos Zenith NG is not cheap either unless you compare it to the Nazare which I heard the other week. One outstanding aspect of the Zenith NG is its remarkably ability to remove a fair number of layers from streamed recordings giving you a very transparent sound. I was gobsmacked. You don't know what is obscuring the sound until its taken away!

The 301 is a great mechanical beast and should I come across one oneway at a fair price I may consider one again however sonically I am not sure it would sound much better than my VPI turntable?