After being on the fence for so long about having Steve at Empirical do mods to my 7700 transport only to find the improvement exactly what everyone else has claimed it would be, I asked him if he'd ever seen a Tubedac. After a couple months trying to work out when to get it to him I finally sent it off late in Oct. He kept me posted on where he was, as always, and I got it back this last Friday along with the little baggie of replaced parts - a few caps, couple resistors and some internal wiring. Prior to this (back in June) I had sent it back to Scott for a couple Blackgates and Hexfreds bringing it up to current state. I originally bought it WAY back in 3/2003.
One thing I really loved about the tubedac was that it's non-oversampling and just very natural sounding. I didn't want these qualities compromised by any tweaks and Steve assured me that they wouldn't be, in his understated way he did indicate he was sure he could improve it although he'd never seen one. Well, he was right. Hard as it is for me to believe, the Tubedac is now MORE musical.
I've been burning in a VH Audio Pulsar digital cable for about 1.5 weeks 24/7 and used that as the digital cable between my 7700 and the Tubedac. I fired it up and put on some tunes, let it run while my wife and I went out for the evening. When I got home I put on my two Audition and Evaluation CDs, sat down and listened for a couple hours.
The first thing I noticed was the dynamics and placement of things on the soundstage. Dynamics were much better, subtlties in piano from soft to loud during Ray Brown Trio and Nora Jones tracks were much more pronounced, piano is much more focused and the interaction between instruments benefits as a result. Rather than having things a bit more blended each had thier own space and the little interactive details were more apparent. To that point, so were the overall details in the music. Jesse Cook's guitar on Bahgdad appear out of nowhere and the speakers absolutely dissapear. Sunny Sumpter (?) from Mapleshade's sampler disc is standing there in front of you just as real as can be.
Bass is also improved. Not in quantity but I think slightly in quality, it's easier to pick up on differences in bass notes wether they're from a synth or stand up bass. When combined with they dynamics improvement and the larger soundstage Patrick O'hearn's Acadia (I think that's the track) just fills up the entire front of the room outside the speakers by feet, up to the ceiling and puts a rumble in your chest!
What stood out after listening a bit and specifically on tracks like Say Goodbye (flute and cymbals at the beginning) and Nora & Sarah's voices on Cold Cold Heart and Angel, cymbals on Nora and Ray Brown Trio, Piano on both and notably the tea making at the beginning of Tull's Skating Away - all of them were at the same time more impactful, real, yet not the least bit sibilent or hissy like I would expect from oversampled DACs I've heard. They were sharper, clearer, and really helped to balance the sound out.
Overall, it's a more musical presentation and for those hours I listened I just grinned and tapped my toes, which, when it comes down to it, is what it's all about! I can always tell when I'm not very interested in the sound I'm hearing because rather just listen and lose myself I think of what song I'd rather be hearing. For two full CDs worth, I didn't think of anything - just melted into the couch and enjoyed! Excellent work again Steve! You took my favorite DAC I've ever heard and made it even better!
