As usual I got home way too late, so I'll try to be succinct. Big Thanks to Mad Dog and MOM for once again inviting us and thanks to everyone in attendance with various goodies. I'll skip the procedural details and put down some impressions of components.
Thiel CS2.2 speakers
I didn't realize Mad Dog got these, and these oldies really sounded surprisingly good. First-order crossover and time-coherent speakers, like Thiels, really can paint a rock solid image without phasiness and sound coherent. The ordinary-looking aluminum tweeter really outdid itself despite the humble origins, at once detailed and sweet. Mids were pretty much the picture of neutrality, no more no less. Bass was shockingly powerful/taut for the size of speakers, but it got a lot of help from Empirical Turbomod P3A, VH Audio power cords, Rowland 10 amp, etc.
Overall, I think these are the best speakers I've heard at Mad Dogs, EVER! Surprise, surprise. Then again, I never got to hear the bi-wired Von Schweikert VR4jrs's at Mad Dogs, which he reports to be better. It just kills me to know how much Mad Dog picked up the Thiels for.
Rowland 10 amps
I was somewhat surprised by the sound signature of these Rowlands. I've heard the previous generation Rowlands several times before, and these Model 10's are far more neutral. Intricately woven inner resolution that UNFOLDS effortlessly from top to bottom without shouting or clouding. Bass, when EA P3A is playing, was astonishingly taut, muscular, powerful, but not too dry. I'd much rather choose these over the newer Rowland 201's, for example. Can't really think of anything to criticize, other than they don't sound like really good push-pull tube amps. But that's like saying a cat and dog are different...
Empirical Audio P3A
Fantastic DAC. Like what I said about Rowland amps, I can't think of an area to point to and criticize. Highs? check. Mids? Check. Bass? You bet'cha it's a check! Compared to other DAC's and players, what separates the EA apart is the total sense of authority and control from low bass to ultra-highs. Usually a component so in control tends to sound sterile or not "musical," but the EA is anything BUT. I know it's also musical as hell b/c every CD I brought sounded more musical and pleasurable than I've heard it before. Veeery nice. Really, throw out an audiophile criteria of your choice, it's got it covered. A P3A Modwright level II , a great DAC in its own right, sounded a bit grainy, diffuse, and with less bass reach and impact. Folks, we are not talking about "OMG, it's 10 times better!" Maybe 15-20% if I had to give a number. Is that big enough difference to YOU?
Denon 3910 CD/SACD/DVD player
Even after the heavyweights above, the Denon sounded fine, which is no small feat. I can see why various modders are jumping on this machine. Bone stock, the CD playback was nice without glaring errors. Compared to EA, less detail, a bit leaner tonality, not as much bass definition, less dynamic, a bit more grain. But not by all that much in each category as price difference may indicate as one can easily pick up 3910 for like $1000 brand new these days.
Well-recorded SACD's sounded very good on this machine. We flipped back and forth between CD and SACD layers of dual-layer discs for fun also. Once again, while admitting that SACD had better openness, clarity, refinement, and ease, I still frequently prefer the CD layer for MY tastes. Well-recorded redbook these days sound very good. Compared to SACD layer, it's more forward, less refined, a bit brasher, but it still engages me more with its bolder, thicker, upfront presentation. So sue me...
Dodson 263 DAC
Dodson 218 was unfortunately unavailable, but we had the much cheaper (relatively speaking) 263 DAC. I would have to place it somewhere above ModWright P3A but somewhat not reaching the heights of EA P3A. 263 sounded great still, and without close A-B comparison, most people probably would be quite happy with 263, which remained musical no matter what small (and I mean small) relative deficiencies there may be. One day we hope to give 218 a spin.
Empirical Audio "Freeway" USB-to-SPDIF converter
I will have to defer to a future "Part II" audition due to the fact something is not right with my laptop and I couldn't get sound out of EAC/FOOBAR. Got the track to play but no sound despite the track playing on screen. No one else present could figure it out, either, despite trying every "Output mode" and combinations. And the damned ASIO plugin kept crashing and forcing my computer to shut down every time I clicked on it. When I can get this to work, I will report back with how things sound with Audioengr's preference: Upsample mode on EAC/Foobar-->Freeway-->DAC.
For today, we stuck with iTunes and Apple Lossless, which has NEVER given me any trouble by the way. We had a short session earlier, but after everyone left, Mad Dog and I compared redbook CD vs. Apple Loss files. CD is via stable-platter Audio Alchemy transport-->Aural Thrills digital cable-->EA P3A. Apple Lossless vis laptop-->EA "freeway" USB to SPDIF converter-->EA P3A.
Prelim impressions are that the hard-drive solution sounds WAY different from any CD playback I've heard. Hard-drive solution sounded WAY smoother, devoid of etch/grit/digititis. Doesn't sound like a CD is playing. However, as Mad Dog pointed out, there also seemed to be less "texture" to the music, especially vocals, which may be a side effect of scrubbing off any etch or digital artifacts. On brightish CD's (most commercial) hard drive really sounded great and natural. On darkish or less-detailed CD's, actual CD may have sounded like it had more "life" and flamboyance.
Stayed Tuned for Part II (I hope).
VH Audio power cords
I've always known this stuff is good. My personal favorite DIY cords still use Belden 83802, which is what Chris bases his designs (1-3) on. I'll just repeat what others say. These are great, great bargains in power cord today. Great detail, neutrality, with bass that won't quit. Everyone should try one or two. When we swapped in a VH cord for an Audience PowerChord on Manley Shrimp tube preamp, the improvement in detail, linearity, and bass tautness was quite obvious.
Anyway, feel free to chime in if you were there
P.S. Shokunin, we missed you, but we are assuming you are using the time off to get your RMX's and Dehavillands ready for us
