[jMelvin]

Hey guys. I love summer. I'm that odd dude who chooses to open windows and run fans instead of air conditioning (except in the bedroom). Of course, no one visits me during these few months either. Shocking. So, for the first time since purchasing my Decware SE84UFO I decided to swap amps. It pained me but it made sense to do so. Here's where I'm at for the time being:

Sonore microRendu
Chromecast Audio
MHDT Lab Pagoda
Fleawatt Audio TPA3116D2
Omega Super 3i's & DeepHemp 8

It's been quite some time since using the Fleawatt amp and what a sweet sounding amp it is! Beautiful tone, balanced, and stone-cold to the touch. I'd forgotten how nicely it pairs with the Omega's.

Once again, kudos to Derek for creating such excellent and affordable gear in this often over-priced hobby of ours.

BTW, here's a link to my amp: https://fleawatt.blogspot.com/2016/11/mussorgsky-tpa3116d2-sold-to-james-m-of.html

[Canada Rob]

Hello jMelvin,

I also run a TPA3116 that I put together.  Have it hooked up to my CAMs and am amazed at how good it sounds.

[jMelvin]

Hi Canada Rob,

Nice. The Omega's are certainly revealing enough to highlight deficiencies .. amazing indeed.

Summer System update:

I replaced the Pagoda (tube output stage) with my aging Chord Qute EX. I'm now tube-less for the first time in a while. The Qute EX received many accolades when it was released and for good reason. Funny, it sold for nearly 10 times the amount I paid for the Fleawatt and, to my sensibilities, seemed almost ridiculous to mate these components. The pairing not only makes me smile but also question a few choices I've made over the years.

[Doody]

If you want to dig down into that rabbit hole further, a number of us here drive our Omegas directly with Chord product. I feed my bits into a Hugo M Scaler and from there into a Hugo2 DAC that is directly driving my CAMs. The HMS has, effectively, two orders of magnitude more processing power than the Qute EX. The H2 alone has 5X the processing capacity of the Qute EX.

Enjoy!

Doody

[jMelvin]

Doody, I remember reading about this a while back and had a hard time wrapping my head around the speaker connection. I did find some appropriate cables (RCA - speaker) but never pulled the plug. So many ways to skin this cat, no?

Speaking of Chord .. I was very disappointed when they stopped supporting/developing their USB drivers, rendering USB input useless on the EX if you chose to keep the MAC OS current (like myself). Obviously, the DAC still works with Toslink and BNC, but not having USB really limits functionality. However, when deciding on which components I would use for my Summer System I became aware of some GREAT news which had previously escaped my attention. Jesus (Sonore) updated SonicOrbiter for the Rendu series to support many older Chord devices, mine included. USB functionality is fully restored via my microRendu! And it sounds wonderful. I can hardly express my delight with this turn of events.

[jMelvin]

Since changing out my tube gear I've been pretty happy with the sound quality but (always a but) I miss my NOS DAC. So, I replaced the Qute EX with my Tranquility, simplifying the system even more:

Sonore microRendu
dB Audio Labs Tranquility
Fleawatt TPA3116D2
Omega Super 3i's & DeepHemp 8

The Tranquility has only 1 input (USB) so the Chromecast Audio is no longer in the mix. I'm now using the microRendu's Shairport output mode (AirPlay emulator) for internet radio streams/Pandora/Spotify. Shairport is a nice value-added function of the Rendu and it's worked flawlessly so far.

I'm much happier with the sound quality now. The Tranquility is such a fine DAC .. so glad I held onto it.