[Dmason]

Reali-T would be the operative word. ------>

Whatever Vinnie has done, it worked. Right out of the box there is MORE of everything. Although you can hear the ratty behavior in the mid-treble of the totally green Tripath chip, everything is sooooo coherent so In The Room, that I would have to say this is an entirely different animal, the enhancement in overall presentation totally eclipses the inherent nastiness of a green Tripath chip. My decadent self-indulgence in Gold Seal Audiophool Approved doodads throughout this beast has made its mark early on. The Black Gate P/S caps clearly impart more dynamic content even though they are well known to take roughly forever to break in, so despite all this, Houston, we have a winner!

The other prototypes on hand, DarkStar UAV (tm) speakers throw up this enormous all-encompassing soundfield, like twin funnels, like dual vortices of jaw-dropping sonic wonderment holographically projecting all ways, almost forcing themselves on the listener, taking Tangerine Dream to where its authors intended, spinning tales of inner and outer space in an audionic tapestry I, personally have NOT heard before, with all instrumentation existing in its own plane in three dimensions. Intensely delicate arpeggiated flutescapes giving way to brooding, roiling, atonal clouds, the western afterglow of a clear sky, obscuring the arrival of ancient time-ships. Shafts of light rotate, beam, coloring the clouds. Technicolor Three Dimensional Sound. Such is the nature of good synthesizer music with this combination.

 And interestingly, they now dig sooooooooo much deeper that I do NOT need bass enhancement to get the full-ish picture. Not saying they are full-range, but they now have some serious World Class grunt, big-ass capacitors, I guess, and I have removed any and all signal surgery from them, and I should point out that this is also without digital EQ. Go figure. So, now with even Less in the mix, we get even More.

And I haven't gotten to the re-clocked DAC yet...this is the result of using an inexpensive Samsung 841 DVD player as a source.  Gawd only knows what it is going to be like. I just dumped the clutch on my paradigm shift....

More to come...

[gary]

dammit man, now i gotta sell my clari-t & nixon dac and upgrade.

thanks.

gary

p.s. you should send me a pm on the Darkstars, let me know how you think they compare to the Prometheus, what it'll take to build a pair, buy the plans, etc., whaterver. not that i feel the need to get better than my speakers, but i trust your ears.

[tyee]

I want to build a pair of the Darkstars too, if possible, for a non woodworking type I am.

[Dmason]

Reali-T Update

Now with about 12 hours, the amp and DAC components are beginning to really come to life. One thing is becoming clear: the combination of battery amp and battery non oversampled source tied together closely represents an exceptionally musical, coherent, and altogether a really interesting sound. So far, I am inclined to prefer the new DAC in the midband, to the Nixon DAC, which is the old series unit, newer ones may differ. I am getting certain textures and palpability in the lower mid I have not heard in the past. Removing an interconnect and four couplings likely is at least in part responsible for this.

My thinking is that there is MUCH to come from this invention, because the unit is peppered with Black Gate capacitance, which are well known to break in along the lines of geological time, potentially, and this Reali-T prototype is really starting to get it right. I sense that FR extension on both ends is filling in, stereo image is somehow enhanced, the image expands and contracts with volume level. The dynamic content is fully present even at low levels, a rare thing, and the overall sense of musical coherency is outstanding. I am of the impression that a couple months down the road this may very well be the best overall music maker I have heard. I really like what is happening. ---->

[MarcD in NYC]

There is always a lot of talk about break-in with most if not all products.  Drivers make sense that the moving parts need to "loosen-up". But what exactly is happening when a digital amplifier is breaking in?  What causes the changes and why do some parts take longer than others.  I have always been curious about this.  I am about to embark on the process myself... my Clari-T/Longevi-T combo arrived yesterday!

[Dmason]

Marc

Some people say its hogwash. Metallurgists and chemists differ. I think it has alot to do with the crystal structure within the metals and alloys adjusting to current being run through them, conductivity, inductivity, capacitance, and maybe even some overall electromechanical feng-shui. Whatever it is, its real, and it happens with this stuff. With the Tripath little black box, who really knows, cept anyone who has experience with them will tell you it has its own secret life which unfolds in clearly a non-linear fashion, having good days and bad days in the beginning, and will no doubt take little leaps, sometimes from one moment to the next, seemingly. But, that it gets better and better until it fits into its very own musical gesalt.

Congrats on your new babies. Wait til the 166esr horns arrive and this stuff, down the road abit, and you will SURELY see what I mean.

[-Richard-]

Hi Dan,

Thanks for keeping us informed.

It is wonderful to hear your excitement
mixed judiciously with your tempered
(well tempered) and discerning intelligence...

A seductive liqueur...a mystical drought...
a magical elixir...that once imbibed...
excites the senses to want to join you
on your quest for the holy tri-path-full-range-
speaker grail...

Please keep us informed of your impressions
and insights...and for those essentially neolithic
members of our tribe...I am speaking about myself
here...please fill us in on any technical information
that may help us to follow this audio revolution
in a paint-by-the-numbers step-by-step linear
explanation. There are a few fuzzy places in my
understanding of what is exactly going on here.

Thanks again for sharing your thoughts with us.

Warm regards -Richard-