[Danny Richie]

You were a great host and I had a wonderful time.

We had plenty of gear to play with and I personally really liked A/B comparing different gear. There is always something to learn from it.

Thanks also for the food and snacks, or should I be thanking your wife on that one?  

Lots of good people at this get together too. There were many familiar faces but I got to meet some new ones too.

Good fun...

[marvda1]

i had a great time oscar and got to meet a lot of good people.
the food was great and i still did not get a buzz after all the beer i drank just a lot of trips to the bathroom.
again great time. the mahlers were fantastic.

marvin

[brj]

I just got in after a full day of other non-audio activities, so I didn't get a chance to attend.  It sounds like people had fun, so thanks to Oscar for including the local AC community into what started out as a DAC event.

So.... any specific comments on the gear for those of us that didn't get to attend?  How was the Meitner DAC on Redbook/SACD?

[3moons]

Yes, Thanks so much Oscar!!! You gave us quite a party.  With NTAJ/AC and DAC members, I counted 28 people. The food from your mom's recipes to the pizza were all excellent. I thank the ladies who helped in that kitchen too.  It was quite a treat to be able to walk back and forth from home theater to the make shift two channel system in your living room. Us tube nuts were able to enjoy Gary Dodd's most beautiful creations, along with several tube DIY projects from members. For speakers, we experienced two different classic Klipsh speakers, DIY speakers, Danny's latest GR-Research prototype (wow) and more. It's amazing how those components can sound different and still sound so great. Two DAC's from Danny were there, the Meitner and more. Again, thanks for hosting. Let us know when you're brave enough to do it again. Ò¿Ò jim...
 
System: http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?action=systems;system=403

[3moons]

By the way, my photos were all fuzzy. My fault. Had the auto focus turned off. If anyone who took good pics would share with us (me), that would be great. jim...

[gld]

Thanks Oscar, The get totgether was alot of fun. Thanks to  the the ladies that prepaired the spread and to all that attended. You had quite a croud. Fun day in all.
Gary

[arthurs]

Man, sounds like I missed a good one.  Which prototypes did Danny have with him?  How was the Meitner?

[oscar]

It was a lot of fun trying out all that equipment in the living room.  There was so much equipment being swapped back and forth in the makeshift 2-channel room I couldn't keep up with everything. What I remembered most was the sound coming from those speakers labeled "JM Labs" (were these modded ?) and the tube-based system driving them.    That system worked really well in my living room and something like it might eventually make a permanent home there. Also, listening to a 3W amp driving Klischhorns was a treat.

The HT room was used mainly for listening to the Meitner combo through Classe SS.  There was an interlude where we dropped down the screen to watch video and also listened to some high resolution multichannel (e.g. SACD "Dark Side of the Moon") It also kept the ladies entertained who managed to stay still for hours waiting for the guys to finish with their fun.

The highlight for me was bringing Dodd Audio amplification into my main system and initiating some intense "A/B"ing pitting Meitner against tube preamp and DAC60 and Classe vs. the 120W Dodd Amp.

I was highly impressed with the 120W Dodd amp.  It did an excellent job taming the stridency evident on too many of my recordings with Classe.  It had no problem driving my speakers with sufficient "bass slam" on tough recordings (e.g. Bela Fleck "Flight of the Hippo") When I'm in the market for an amp change, this will definitely be on the short list (unfortunately, I'd don't have the funds necessary at the moment for the five (5) monoblocks I want for the HT room).  The rest of the A/B sessions used the Dodd for power amplification.

I thought there was definite disagreement between some of the participants concerning Meitner's performance vs. the tubed stuff. I think a lot of this may have been simply preferences for Tubes vs. SS. The reference material used comprised mainly of hybrid SACD/CDs (e.g. Rebecca Pidgeon's "The Raven" on the Chesky label) My own tin-eared conclusions:
(1) Meitner SACD vs. (modded?) DAC60 CD playback -  Not a fair contest IMHO, the SACD had more "air" and detail resolving.  No surprise to me, but I'm biased with this regard since most of my digital stuff is SACD.

(2) Meitner CD vs. DAC 60 CD -  A lot closer.  Still, I thought the Meitner was a bit clearer/more detailed, the DAC60 a bit smoother.  I think the Meitner gets you "closer to the original recording". It might be just a matter of personal taste in music presentation.  However, I'm far more inclined to scrounge up the $800 for modded DAC60 then $20K for the Meitner.

(3) Meitner preamp vs. Dodd Preamp - Again, I thought the Meitner was bit clearer/more detailed, while the DODD was smoother, perhaps more listenable.  This may be where biggest differences of opinions resided with personal preferences (that tube vs. SS argument.  Again, I'm more likely to opt for the Dodd because of Performance vs. cost if I were building a 2-channel system (Any 6 channel Dodd preamps out there ?)

There was no controversy concerning the Dodd power amp.  Everyone I talked to (SS or tube fans) thought very highly of this tubed amp.

I'll caveat all this by stating that my quick impressions have been known to be reversed based on extended listening.  Too bad I couldn't hold on to all that gear for a week/month or so...:0)

My thanks to everyone who brought gear, this was an extremely enlightening experience for me as I was able to listen to many different configurations the whole day.

Kudos to the ladies who took over the kitchen and bailed me out of a bad mess.  I was in way over my head trying to play host to such a large gathering.

[3moons]

What I remembered most was the sound coming from those speakers labeled "JM Labs" (were these modded ?) and the tube-based system driving them. That system worked really well in my living room and something like it might eventually make a permanent home there.

The JM Labs are stock. The tube amp circuit was designed by Walter Delesandri and built by me. That and a tube linestage are my reference system when reviewing FM tuners here...
http://www.fmtunerinfo.com/shootouts.html

while the DODD was smoother.....

I was highly impressed with the 120W Dodd amp. It did an excellent job taming the stridency evident on too many of my recordings with Classe

Oscar. Be careful! If you're thinking of buying Mr. Dodd's tube gear for a living room system. Your home theater may gather dust as you just sit back and enjoy music in there for hours!
 

 

[Danny Richie]

I thought there was definite disagreement between some of the participants concerning Meitner's performance vs. the tubed stuff.

Yep, different people like different things and what appeals to some does not appeal to others.

My views clearly differed from Oscars on the DAC's.

Neither comparison was really a fair comparison though.

Like Oscar said, we used a SACD hybrid on both units and so the Meitner played the SACD version while the DAC-60 played the standard version.

The Meitner had the edge in resolution in that comparison. To me it sounded a little sharp and analytical and the noise floor was higher than I am used to so it stood out to me. I did not find it musical to listen to.

The DAC-60 gave up resolution in the first comparison but was smoother and more musical to me. The noise floor was lower as well.

Next we compared standard CD's on both units. To me this one wasn't really that close. The Meitner gave up its edge in resolution that it had before and had nothing on the DAC-60. Vocals had a rough edge to them and was harder to listen to. It had a very digital sound.

Immediately I noticed the DAC-60 to be much quieter in this comparison. The noise floor was much lower and low level detail was much better. Vocals were more focused and sounded more lush and more emotional. Music flowed and was enjoyable. It was more like listening to analog.

The guy to my right pointed out that with the DAC-60 he noticed that as the piano moved in scale the microphone caught the movement and you could hear it in the sound stage. With the Meitner you could not.

The guy to my left noticed, in a quiet passage, that he could hear the peddles on the piano moving up and down. I noticed it too as well as a guy in the audience that coughed and some low level crowd voices that on the Meitner was all just back ground noise.  

The unfair part was that the Meitner was plugged into some kind of power conditioner while the DAC-60 was plugged into a Dodd Audio balanced power supply. I am sure that the Dodd unit had something to do with the low noise floor and imaging advantages.

For what the Meitner cost though, it should come with its own balanced power supply.

Anyway, that was the DAC comparison in a nutshell for me.

[arthurs]

what speakers were there Saturday?

[FredT300B]

what speakers were there Saturday?

The speakers in the HT room are Vienna Acoustics Mahlers. We heard several speakers in the other room, including Klipschorns, Klipsch Heresies, Jim's JM Labs speakers (looked like a 5" woofer and a dome tweeter in a small floorstanding enclosure), and the prototype speakers Danny brought over. The GR Research prototypes were in unfinished mdf enclosures. They are standmount speakers using an Eminence Alpha 8 woofer and a GR Research T6 dome tweeter. This combination would normally offer about 95dB sensitivity, but Danny mentioned he used full baffle step compensation and the sensitivity was in the low 90's. He didn't say whether they will become part of the GR Research speaker line.