March 2005 SCARe session

Mad DOg · « **Reply #20 on:** 10 Feb 2005, 09:54 pm »

Quote from: Adam_Reiter

Hey Cryo Tweaks.

Do you own a truck? I was thinking I might have to take that rack of yours off your hands. Any way you could get it to Mad Dog's house?

take this offline via PM...

Mad DOg · « **Reply #21 on:** 16 Feb 2005, 06:54 am »

The McCormack UDP-1 has arrived!

Adam_Reiter · « **Reply #22 on:** 16 Feb 2005, 06:55 am »

nice. Is it brand new? Or is it broken in a bit?

Have you had a chance to listen yet?

Mad DOg · « **Reply #23 on:** 16 Feb 2005, 07:07 am »

The Aesthetix Callisto line stage may not be available as it's going in for the Signature upgrades and might not be back in time...

Mad DOg · « **Reply #24 on:** 16 Feb 2005, 10:10 pm »

Adam,

even tho it's brand spankin' new, i'm already quite impressed/pleased w/ the sound.

Jon L · « **Reply #25 on:** 17 Feb 2005, 12:13 am »

Quote from: Mad DOg

Adam,

even tho it's brand spankin' new, i'm already quite impressed/pleased w/ the sound.

3/12 is better for me as well. My last impression of UDP-1 was that 2-channel DVD-A was the star of the show. Do you have any good DVD-A discs? Maybe Steve McCormack will let you borrow some of his..

Hajime Sato · « **Reply #26 on:** 17 Feb 2005, 08:09 am »

Hi Mad DOg,

I'm looking forward to the listening session, whichever date it is.

About the McCormack UDP-1, I was surprised by the review (measurements section) of Stereophile January issue that was not very flattering. Since there has been no response from the manufacturer, I wonder what's going on. Do you know anything?

If the unit will be around, I can bring some SACDs and DVD-As I bought in anticipation of Denon 3910 which I ordered but have no idea when I'll get

.

Mad DOg · « **Reply #27 on:** 17 Feb 2005, 09:22 am »

Quote from: Jon L

Do you have any good DVD-A discs?...

yes, i do have a small selection of DVD-A software.

Mad DOg · « **Reply #28 on:** 17 Feb 2005, 09:23 am »

Quote from: Hajime Sato

About the McCormack UDP-1, I was surprised by the review (measurements section) of Stereophile January issue that was not very flattering. Since there has been no response from the manufacturer, I wonder what's going on. Do you know anything?

i was surprised, too...not sure what happened there, but it sounds pretty darn good to me...

Mad DOg · « **Reply #29 on:** 17 Feb 2005, 07:04 pm »

Hey Shokunin,

if you can't make these dates, let me know what dates you are able to make?

shokunin · « **Reply #30 on:** 17 Feb 2005, 08:46 pm »

Hey MD,

I had to ask my wife what our schedule for march is... I've got a couple of concerts, birthdays, and one wedding to attend. The only weekend that looks doable for me would be the 19th.. unless something comes up between now and the 19th.

As usual, I can bring anything from my system over... I for one would like to hear how the placette holds up against the Callisto (if it's back in time..) Will the VSA's be back by then?

Mad DOg · « **Reply #31 on:** 17 Feb 2005, 09:08 pm »

Quote from: shokunin

Hey MD,

I had to ask my wife what our schedule for march is... I've got a couple of concerts, birthdays, and one wedding to attend. The only weekend that looks doable for me would be the 19th.. unless something comes up between now and the 19th.

As usual, I can bring anything from my system over... I for one would like to hear how the placette holds up against the Callisto (if it's back in time..) Will the VSA's be back by then?

Shokunin,

i'd like to sched a day that you can make it, but the 20th is the monthly LAOC Audio Society meeting so the 19th might be tough.

i'd like to hear the Placette and Callisto comparison as well. i know John Casler wanted to hear the Scott Endler Passive Stepped Attenuators compared to the active linestages. maybe we can do this in April if you can't make it. who knows, maybe i'll have a phono stage by then to compare to the awesome Steelhead!

i'll be getting the VSA 4 Jrs back this weekend...

Adam_Reiter · « **Reply #32 on:** 20 Feb 2005, 06:32 am »

Quote from: Mad DOg

The McCormack UDP-1 has arrived!

Anyone care to wager how long the UPD-1 will stay in Mad Dogs house?

I give it 3 months tops

Mad DOg · « **Reply #33 on:** 20 Feb 2005, 07:26 am »

Quote from: Adam_Reiter

Quote from: Mad DOg
The McCormack UDP-1 has arrived!

Anyone care to wager how long the UPD-1 will stay in Mad Dogs house?

I give it 3 months tops

how much u wanna bet?

the McCormack UDP-1 is REALLY impressive for redbook...

Adam_Reiter · « **Reply #34 on:** 20 Feb 2005, 06:07 pm »

It will be nice to see how good it is as a transport for a DAC.

John Casler · « **Reply #35 on:** 20 Feb 2005, 06:31 pm »

Yes, after receiving a "private" e-mail from MD, I would say that the UDP-1 might be in for a longer haul. At this point based on his assessment, I think it is a winner.

I was duly impressed with it when I first heard it at an LAOCAS meeting some time ago.

I have interest in the Onkyo SPV1000 and its comparative performance to the McCormack unit.

There are many great reviews of it by "secondary" review sources even comparing it to the Esoteric on the audio side (

)

At a retail list of $1999, if it is close, (even 90%) it would represent a reasonable unit.

If anyone has access to that unit, it would be fun to compare it to the UDP-1 at the next meet.

darkmoebius · « **Reply #36 on:** 21 Feb 2005, 08:32 am »

Just made it to my first meeting this afternoon, pretty cool. Good to finally find some people to talk audio face-to-face with, my girlfriend gets tired of it.

Since it looks like you guys are going to try out some passive preamps, why don't I bring my S&B TX-102 mkIII transformer volume controls. It will be interesting to see how they stack up against the Placette, there's been many an argument over the subject. So, let's hear for our own ears.

Also, I'm just making the jump back into vinyl (no table yet), but I just picked up a Graham Slee Era Gold mkV phono amp and Elevator "transformer-less" stepup if you guys want to do a phono stage comparison.

http://www.gspaudio.co.uk/preamps/era-gold.htm
http://www.gspaudio.co.uk/preamps/headamp.htm

Mad DOg · « **Reply #37 on:** 22 Feb 2005, 07:26 pm »

Since Mar. 12th appears to be the consensus, let's shoot for this date.

i think what we're gonna have lined up are:
speakers:
VR-4 Jrs and SP Techs

cable comparisons:
AudioQuest Sky DBS IC, Harmonic Tech Cyberlight IC, Silversmith Audio Silver IC and CryoTweaks Silver Reference MkII IC

i have invited Jim Wang of Harmonic Tech, Steve Niemi of AudioQuest and Jeff Smith of Silversmith Audio to join us for this session. at this point, they are all interested in attending and will try to make it.

not sure we'll have time for much else, but i will have Steve Nugent's Empirical Audio modded P-3/A, his modded Sony DVP-S7700 transport as well as his analog and digital cables on hand.

i'll posts updates as they become available. who's in?

Hajime Sato · « **Reply #38 on:** 22 Feb 2005, 08:45 pm »

I'm in! I'm very interested in hearing the VR4jr. I can bring a pair of Soundstring RCA interconnects if you're interested.

Mad DOg · « **Reply #39 on:** 23 Feb 2005, 12:26 am »

Ok, guys...

i think the March session is starting to really take shape...

here's what i'm thinking since all the designers and a manufacturer rep have been invited (with the exception of Onix)...

Opening act: SP Tech and VSA VR-4 JR speaker comparison
we'll open up w/ a comparison between the speakers and vote on which speaker we want to use for the main event.

Main Event: Cable comparison

Interconnect Comparison:
Silversmith Audio, Harmonic Tech Cyberlight, AudioQuest DBS Sky, CryoTweaks Silver Reference MkII, and Venhaus Audio Pulsar.

Speaker Cable Comparison:
Silversmith Audio, Audioquest, and Anti-Cables by Paul Speltz.

We can use the McCormack UDP-1 or if Adam Reiter brings his Dodson DA-218, we can use the Dodson DA-218 matched to either the UDP-1 or the EA modded Sony DVP-7700 for the CD Transport. If not, we can also use the EA modded P-3/A DAC as well.

we'll play maybe 4-5 tracks...a track will be played followed by a cable swap and the same track will be repeated with the new cable and so on. i think this may be all we have time for...

please feel free to chime in w/ suggestions or recommendations.