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By the way, were are you living 6rs ? But no Isabella for me yet.
QuoteBy the way, were are you living 6rs ? But no Isabella for me yet.Fribourg. If you are interested, you are welcome to listen to Vinnie's Isabella at my home once it has arrived.B.
Well, what Vinnie sent is a fully gussied-up Isabella with Isabellina DAC stage and headphone module so the final review will comment on the preamp by itself, the DAC and the headphone function. For the DAC assessment, I'll compare to the Opera Audio Linear Reference CDP I have which also uses an NOS FAC arrangement with valves so it makes for a good comparator. Since the inbuilt Isabellina is the same as the standalone DAC version, I think this makes the answer to your question "yes"?
Most NOS DACs I'm familiar with are in the 2000 - 3000 ohm range, and even the Wavelength products are I think ~1000 ohm output impedance. The Isabellina has an outstanding output impedance of 100 ohms!
Many examples of NOS DACs excel in smoothness and unfatiguing sound. But they're also characteristically lacking in treble extension, dynamics, and detail versus their oversampling cousins. A common criticism of the Brick, for example, is that while it is easy to listen to for hours on end, it also happens to have a homogenizing affect on the music and lacks slam. The Cosecant does better, but not nearly so well that Gordon now offers an oversampling DAC module (the numerator) on the Cosecant and Crimson.
Mariusz,Many examples of NOS DACs excel in smoothness and unfatiguing sound. But they're also characteristically lacking in treble extension, dynamics, and detail versus their oversampling cousins. A common criticism of the Brick, for example, is that while it is easy to listen to for hours on end, it also happens to have a homogenizing affect on the music and lacks slam. The Cosecant does better, but not nearly so well that Gordon now offers an oversampling DAC module (the numerator) on the Cosecant and Crimson.The Droplet CDP has an oversampling DAC.In a previous post, you said that the Isabella DAC was more analog sounding by far than the Droplet. Could you also speak regarding treble extension, dynamics, and detail versus the Droplet? Were you missing anything versus the Droplet, or was the Isabella's DAC across the board better in every way?Wilson
I have found that many of these criticisms of NOS dac are due to the high output impedance, as you mentioned above. The low output impedance of the Isabellina is very important to both very good dynamics and treble extension, AND you still get the smooth and non-fatiguing sound!
Hi Vinny Again was really please to meet you and all others (Chris,Anthony,Buddy) AudioCircle guys. That was something new for me and I have really good time.I did enjoyed everything (music, foods, beer ), but especially two women's:Isabella and Isabellina. Whoa, I was very impressed by sound and synergy between them.I'm absolutely sure, that Mariusz used all possible words to discuss close first impressions. But let me just say this :these two ladies good bottle of red vine and music close to my heart then turned lights off and I'm there. Well done Vinny P.S. I'm sorry again ,but after so many years at Audiogon I did have never join any discussion, so it's first time for me. RITCHIE
