[jb26]

Hi All,

Thanks for your replies.  You've certainly given me some research to be going on with.

Regards,

JB26

[Jason T]

I had a Monarchy SM-70 pro that I loved at low volume.
it is class A and ran a little warm. it was fairly low powered (40wpc and 100w bridged i think).
I honestly have no problems with our amps at low volumes either.
amplifiers like to be loaded up and typically sound better when they are at 10% volume and higher.
If your speakers and amplifier work well together you'll have a very balanced sound at any volume.

[Mama Virtue]

I've heard from multiple people and lots of people last year at RMAF, women's ears are different so I don't know how much weight my opinion really holds haha. I actually prefer the Sensation and TWO.2 on low volume, unless I'm in a bad mood and then its cranked up with music that most of you would consider audiophile blasphemy

Jason's had a couple NADs, AMCs, Jungson, and I can't remember what else. Often they ended up being used with movies at loud volumes. He can tell you better then I can if they were any good at low level, but I don't remember them hardly ever at low level for his serious listening.

IMO the speakers have a lot to do with bearable listening levels, and of course the caps in the amps.

When Jason and I were still just friends we went to Phoenix (Tucson has no real audio dealers) to a place that carried Classe, B&Ws, Linns and of course Rotel, Marantz etc. Sat down and listened to some Chris Botti on the Classe amp pushing some Yellow B&Ws. He turned it up (had to see what they could do!)...after about a minute I told him his car stereo sounded better, and that he needed to turn it down because it was literally hurting my ears. He of course agreed it was a bit harsh. He turned it down and I told him the speakers sucked (no offense to those who like B&Ws ). We listened to some DynAudios with the same Classe amp and it was a whole different sound, bearable at both levels. I think that was the day Jason decided I was a keeper lol

[jb26]

So that's how one gets a girl that's into hifi - take her to an audio shop and see if she runs screaming.

I agree with Jason that the M901 I have does sound very good at low volumes, I didn't mean to insinuate it didn't.  At the general levels I play (approx 15% of the volume dial) it all seems fine. 

I guess the point of the question was "what else is possible with an added power amp".  To summarise the contributions it seems to be "maybe something", if it's a SET and/or class A amp.  Hope I've got that right.

I was a little worried about pairing the m901 with the sierra-1s as I'd read a few comments about the sierra's being difficult to drive, but haven't experienced a problem - I'm really loving the set up.  Actually, when I first set it up I found it lacked mid-range, and was worried at that point.  However, a few sessions of ear-candelling ($70 total) fixed it.  Who knew - I needed to upgrade my ears, not the kit!

Quiet Earth - your comment about the input is an interesting one, and gave me more to ponder.  I'm running a peachtree idac at the moment (specs: http://tinyurl.com/68ha7sr). 

In the end it was its functionality that swayed me - I run music of the computer & ipod (I can't always plug the computer into the stereo because of the living room set up).  It has the usb input, but also an ipod transport that by-passes the ipod DAC (not many companies pay the license to do this) in the same box.  It was the only choice in the market that met those functionality specs.  As I said earlier, I'm loving the new stereo so the DACs ok.  If I upgrade the computer to one with digital out, then I should get better play back again as they're a higher resolution input than the usb (at least that's my noobie reading of the specs).  Again - happy to have any input.

Cheers all, thanks for your help,

James

[musicophile]

Hi James,

Not to derail this thread, but I noticed an opportunity to provide some hopefully helpful advice based on your last posting.

You're right that the Peachtree DAC can do better if it's getting coaxial or optical (i.e. SPDIF) input rather than USB.  However, you don't need a new computer to make that happen.  All you need is an outboard USB-to-SPDIF converter that's better than the one built into your DAC.  Keep that plugged into the Peachtree, and just plug your USB cord from the computer into it when you bring it in.

An important feature to look for in these converters is the capability for "asynchronous" communication.  The standard USB audio interface allows the computer to regulate output quality according to the demands it faces (e.g. if it's busy rendering a webpage or something, it can drop from 96 to 44 KHz to devote more resources to the rendering).  An asynchronous device, on the other hand, can effectively demand that the computer stick to what it's supposed to be delivering.  This capability is getting more common, but it's not everywhere yet.

One unit that I think's a great deal right now is the Musical Fidelity V-Link.  Since the new version of their V-DAC will include the same (or nearly) circuitry inside, they have reduced the price on these separate units to $119 (from $169).  For asynchronous 24/96 capability, that was darn good at the original price, and awesome now.

Even if you're not actually playing high-resolution files, I'll bet you'd get a noticeable benefit putting something like this between your computer and the DAC due to reduced jitter as compared to the output from the Peachtree's internal USB converter.

Cheers!

[jb26]

Thanks for the 'derailing' - you've given me more to think about & research!  Turns out there's a few reviews saying the idac improves with the v-link and other usb-spdif (one here: http://tiny.cc/hgl6y).  To my reading there seems to be two possible advantages (please correct me if I'm wrong) -

1. Improved data input into the idac - partly coming from the asynchronous draw of the data feed, partly from a bit of re-clocking.

2. Improved access to high-res files - the coax/digital inputs can accept 24/192 over the 24/96 USB.  My collection is mostly 16/44.1 ALAC self-ripped from CD, and I'm not sure how I would access higher res files, so I'm not sure if this helps my particular situation.

In the end, it'll be one of those 'give it a go', and see if it makes a difference.  I think I'm learning that so much of this is 'how do you feel about the sound', rather than a science.  I tried googling 'jitter' - what a pile of opinions that turned out to be.

[Rclark]

 
BATTERIES!

 There's your low volume resolution right there. HOLY JEBUS! You can add gear all day long, but I don't think there's much that can produce that sweet sweet magic like a Virtue amp on batteries. Going from even a nice PS like my big Astron 10amp to batteries was a stunning, stunning upgrade.

[jb26]

Well, I took the advice & added the v-link.  The immediate response has been an improved tightness to the bass, which makes me very happy.  It would be interesting to know if it's as a result of the specs of the v-link, or that the idac's spdif inputs are better than its USB input.  Won't know without buying more gizmos to test, which won't happen, so I'll just have to live with the improved sound 

Next up, batteries! The only real problem being they're not very wife-friendly.

[Rclark]

No they're extremely wife friendly, if you can convince her that with the battery kit, you've gone "Green"  . Tell her it's how Al Gore runs his stereo, all batteries.

I think even your wife will notice the difference. I share a place with an extremely skeptical housemate and with the batteries installed, he said he could just walk by the room and hear things sounded markedly better.

 I had my buddy over (who hates that I have better gear than him), and we listened for several hours, and with the batteries on he kept playing cd's and saying "Man, that sounds sooo good". Then he, the weekend warrior electrician that he is, tried to mess with something and damaged my battery wiring harness. I have a new one on the way, but we had to switch back to the Astron power supply that evening.

 Going back to that ps after running batteries left a sound that in comparison, made me crinkle my lip! Not even close.

 Do it!

[jb26]

Well, I managed to move on & get better sound without adding a power amp:

1. I added a Musical Fidelity V-Link between my computer & idac, and
2 Managed to get rid of the crappy MP3s from my library

The first via a purchase, the latter by either re-ripping the CDs I have into ALAC or via itunes match to get the remaining MP3 to at least 256k AAC.  I also moved on from itunes to JRMC17.

The outcome has been a vast improvement in the sound that I get at low (and all) volumes.  Previously I always felt that I was only getting a portion of the song and missing so much, now at all volumes I think that I hear all instruments (thought loud is better!).

This improvement came from a bit of effort to rerip, $180 for the v-link & a coax cable, and $30 for itunes match.  That seems like a good investment.

The short version - the advice to improve my inputs was the best advice I've received.

And rclark - yes, I know, BATTERIES!!!!