[Daygloworange]

I personally learned a tremendous amount this past weekend. I had a lot of burning questions as to synergy between components, imaging, resolution, soundstage, blah, blah, blah.....

I agree with all of the comments made so far in this thread. All of them. I have read a lot of posts where you guys have contributed and held them in the back of my mind during these listening sessions.

All the amps in attendance, have good solid merit. They all make good sounds. I would be more than satisfied with 90% of these amps in my system. ( of course it would be nice to own them all and be able to interchange them to suit.....

I think after all this, I will repeat this for quite a while......use your ears, trust your ears. If it sounds good to you after doing some "market" research and listening evaluations, then buy it and rest easy. Now enjoy the music. Enjoy the music.....Did I mention, enjoy the MUSIC....

I wish all of you AC guys could have come out and hung out at the Comparo, it was real cool.  

Cheers

[DonnieW]

Hey Denny, someone asked about the playlist.  Could you kindly post it?

[Daygloworange]

DonnieW,

I wrote all about the setup and playlist here:

http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=34570.msg324736#new

Cheers

[hertz]

Hi,
Looks like The ATI 1202 costing around 700$ scored pretty well. I have never heard of this amp or the manufacturer. Can somebody throw some light please ?

[TheChairGuy]

Hi,
Looks like The ATI 1202 costing around 700$ scored pretty well. I have never heard of this amp or the manufacturer. Can somebody throw some light please ?

http://www.ati-amp.com/

They have been in business for some time and have and do make OEM for several others in the past and currently. Among those they have or do make for is Outlaw Audio: http://outlawaudio.com/

They are very reasonably priced due to good economies of scale (high volumes).  Notably, their 2 channel amps come with gain controls...which I've found incredibly important to matching outputs of your digital player, preamp and speaker in the sonic chain.  I don't know why more amp manufacturers don't have them 

[phowell1]

I think my ears heard the event on Saturday differently than most.

I really liked the kallista 300b amp.(It was my first exposure to 300b sound, and it was nothing like what I had been told.) I thought that it was the most natural and relaxed sounding amp there, with excellent resolution and balance. I also thought that the OB5s were happier playing at that reduced volume, as I thought the bass was a bit boomy when the volume was higher.

I also liked the Oydessy amps very much, and considered that they had the most pleasing mids.I was surprised to discover it was a solid state amp I had been listening to. SS has really come a long way.

2nd place for me was a wash between the Moscode and the Dynaco, which may not have been fair to the moscode because by the time the dyna came on I had surrendered to the cry from my aching arse (You thought I was joking about the cushioned seating, didn't you Denny?) and stood at the very back. I think this was a better listening position as I had previously been very close- the back of the room got rid of the boom (Ha).

However I noted that several others were impressed by the Dynaco, and this comes at a fortuitous time as my amp ate itself for lunch last week and I need to buy something good that can come cheaply.

I thought it was a shame that Song's integrated wasn't able to play loudly enough, as I spent an evening with Song at his place and was thoroughly impressed with this amp. At song's place,it had possibly the best resolution and most relaxed refinement I had ever heard. When it began to play on Saturday, I was really looking forward to hearing the whole set through that amp, as I thought the first few notes placed it on top, until it started to clip. I felt sad for Song when I found out it was his amp, but was also grateful that I thought so highly of its initial sound, (I would have felt badly panning his amp after he was kind enough to drive me out there.).

I gather from some posts on the Sunday, that the same thing happened to his monoblocks. From these experiences I would say that his amps need to be matched carefully to speakers, but that the effort is worth it. I remain very impressed and intrigued by his amps.

Lastly, I was very impressed by the Squeezebox, and am considering replacing my cdp (Alchemist Nexus) with same. Were we listening to the DAC in the SB, and if so were there any mods done to it?

Denny, what did you pay for the mods to the sb?

As I said in a different post, it was great hanging out.

Thanks Denny and Donny!
ATB

[phowell1]

Oh yeah, thanks for the playlist Denny.

atb

[Zero]

Thanks for hosting this event - and thanks to all the participants that have chimed in!

This thread is a great example of how *personal* this hobby is..  so far I've seen no solid favorite......  just a lot of folks that were satisfied with virtually everything they heard.. 

Cool!

[Daygloworange]

Lastly, I was very impressed by the Squeezebox, and am considering replacing my cdp (Alchemist Nexus) with same. Were we listening to the DAC in the SB, and if so were there any mods done to it?

Here is a full description of what we were listening to:

http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=34570.90

Here is the full description of the mods done to my SB 3:

http://www.boldercables.com/servlet/Detail?no=372

Full description of mods done to my power supply:

http://www.boldercables.com/servlet/Detail?no=375

The power supply we used was the older style power supply from Bolder Cables, called the Rev 1. It is now replaced with this unit here:

http://www.boldercables.com/servlet/Detail?no=377

Thanks for hosting this event - and thanks to all the participants that have chimed in!

This thread is a great example of how *personal* this hobby is..  so far I've seen no solid favorite......  just a lot of folks that were satisfied with virtually everything they heard.. 

Cool!

Yup, hard to pick a favorite . But it still was fun to hear all the different makes and models and styles of amps, along side each other. I went home happy. We will do it again for sure.

Hi,
Looks like The ATI 1202 costing around 700$ scored pretty well. I have never heard of this amp or the manufacturer. Can somebody throw some light please ?

The ATI 1202 belongs to me. It's a 120w/channel solid state amp. I like it a lot. A lot of people who attended and heard the amp (blind) had very good comments about it. I will not be getting rid of it.

Cheers

[Daygloworange]

I think my ears heard the event on Saturday differently than most.

That'll happen. We will do an Ear Comparo, later this year. 

Cheers 

[phowell1]

I'll provide the q-tips.

Thanks for the links. The mods are considerably more expensive than I had hoped.
Denny, would you have been able to live with the sound of the stock SB3? How big a step down is it from a good player?


atb

[Daygloworange]

I've never heard a stock SB 3. I wasn't interested. I wanted the best transport I could reasonably afford. Over time, reading on AC, about various things, you start to get a feel for things, and you start to get a feel for what guys are wanting in a sound and you use that to help guide you into the unknown.

Based on that, I had no reservations about the modded SB 3. So, I started off with the full analog mod, and modded Elpac PS. Very nice. I trust when the guys who have them, say that the Bybees and Ultimate PS make substantial gains, and is money well spent. I will be doing that as well.

Cheers

[phowell1]

Thanks for the reply.

I think I'll try to audition one before I sell my cdp. I don't mind getting something with the goal of eventually upgrading it, but I have to be able to live with it in the interim.

Of course, in order to enjoy either the cdp or the SB I'll need an AMP!

ATB