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I was hoping to head-to-head with the Nuforces someday. It'd be an interesting comparison for sure.
good fellows,Want to share some impressions on the Cherry Jr. My system is as follows: HP TouchSmart laptop – Musiland Monitor 01 USD (USB converter) – EMM Labs DAC 6e – Placette RVC (balanced) – Cherry Jr – SP Tech Timepiece 3.0. My system is fully balanced. You can find many reviews on the EMM Labs, Placette and SP Tech. No doubts that they are completely transparent and extremely accurate. So most of what I write below relates to the ability of Cherry Jr to handle the signal it is fed and how it controls the SP Tech. Note that I also owned the Offramp Turbo 2 USB converter (w/ S4) before and had in my systems for months. I bought the Jr directly from Tommy and had the amp for a while but not seriously listened to the amp until last 2 weeks. I have like 40-50 hours on the amp. Reason for delayed listening was that I used EMM Labs DAC directly connected to the Cherry Jr. and used the digital volume control of my laptop. Well that set up did not work. Everyone knows that if a computer volume setting is not set at 100%, the output signal looses bits (or data) and therefore “corrupted”. The result was hollow and grainy (distorted) sound. Inserting the Placette and setting the computer volume at 100% corrected all issues w/ the sound.So how does the Cherry Jr sound in my system? I can summarize my impressions of Cherry Jr as follows: (1) flat freq response and very accurate, (2) low distortion and hence outstanding details and micro dynamics(!), (3) excellent macro dynamics, and (4) fast and exerted excellent control of SP Tech. The end result is simply musical… Some listening tests:I listened to Beethoven Symphony 9 (Symphonie No.9 - Herbert von Karajan - Berliner Philharmoniker [2003 Hybrid SACD ]) extensively w/ the Cherry Jr. I never heard this symphony this good! Actually I barely listened to the # 9 because my older systems (e.g. Krell SACD, ARC pre and amp, Martin Logan Vantage) could not resolve the complexity and keep up with the dynamics of this piece. Now, I can hear the credible intensity and emotions of #9. I ripped the files from the CD layer of my SACD. This CD is recorded originally in 1963 and brought out in SACD in 2003. Given this early recorded time, the recording is not the best compared to modern standards. However, I can clearly hear the distinct instrument voices. The layering of the soundstage from front to back is phenomenal (i.e. resolution and micro dynamics!). The music flows easily and never sounds compressed. The recording is not the best from the perspective that – even though I can hear the instrument voices distinctively and clearly – there is not much harmonic information/ data about individual voices. The overall effect is like I am sitting in the middle or far end of the concert hall instead of in the front first few rows. For sure, I have not heard the hall in this recording so good before…Fast forward to a more modern recording: Melody Gardot - Worrisome Heart (2007 I think on top of my head). On this recording she sings very close to the mic. I felt like she had something covered up her mouth (I exaggerated a bit here but you get the idea) while she sang when I listened through my older setups. Not so with my current setup. True that her voice is intimate due to close mic set up but for sure, she does not sound like her voice is covered up. I hear tons of harmonic data about each note she sings and the instrument voices. Listening to this recording, I get a feeling that the singer is singing to me and to me alone instead of singing to an audience. Definitely a romantic recording and purposely so.When I listened to the above pieces of music or other through the Cherry Jr, I could easily hear the hall or space in the recordings. Of course, more so in some than other. I like musical truth and accuracy: listening to music the way the recording artists envisioned for their listeners. The emotional interpretation of that music is of course up to each listener but at least, musical content is not (or minimally) lost from artist to listener in “accurate” systems. This amp delivers on all aspects Tommy claims: ultra linear, extremely low distortion and powerful. Well done, Tommy!
Ahh but the Nuforces have improved since then as well (So they would say - Never had a long-term audition myself).Just sayin', to be fair -Mike
But Mike, does Tommy scrap off the chip markings in his amps as I've heard Nuforce routinely does? Kinda hard to know what's been "upgraded" when a company practices chip scraping deception wouldn't you say? Just to be fair,,,, But there's nothing that compares with head to head gear comparisons, a trademark of the NY Audio RAVES. Cheers,Robin
In case you missed it:http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=78803.msg748207#msg748207Looking for other places for such an announcement, so please post suggestions.Thanks.
Stereophile, The Absolute Sound, all publications, have a section for "Press Releases". Send 'em in.
