[Hajime Sato]

We had a wonderful session today . Mad DOg, thank you for your hospitality. Please thank your wife for tolerating us for such a long time. We started around noon, and I was the first one to leave (again) at 6pm, but who knows, the others may still be there listening to stuff...

We had lots of interesting gear. I don't think I can provide an exhaustive list but I'll write my brief impressions. Please correct me if I make any mistakes, guys.

Associated equipment:
McCormack UDP-1 universal player
Aesthetix Callisto Signature preamplifier
Jeff Rowland Model 10 power amplifier
Oracle turntable with Denon DL-103 mc cartridge
Silversmith interconnects & speaker cables
Audioquest Sky interconnect and Mont Blanc speaker cables
Venhaus AirSine power cord, etc.

Hyperion HPS-938 speakers:
Very clean and sweet midrange. Female vocals and violins sounded wonderful. The bass was powerful but a bit flabby in this particular room. I didn't mind the "brightness" others mentioned too much. Actually I thought the high frequency was lacking a bit of sparkle (as in shimmering sizzle of ride symbals). On the other hand, I might be losing my HF hearing... I thought the drivers did not "gel" together that well and imaging was not as sharp as I had hoped. In terms of soundstage, the sweet spot was very narrow: one had to sit right in the middle or the soundstage would collapse. It might have something to do with the directionality of the tweeters.

Omega Mini ME speakers:
Interesting little speakers with 4" single cone used "full range" (meaning no crossovers or cut-offs). They clearly was not seen under the best light in Mad DOg's HUGE listening room, but they excelled in imaging. I thought they could work their magic with certain kind of music, in a smaller room in a near-field listening situation and coupled with a sweet-sounding tube amp.

Von Schweikert VR4 jr speakers:
I thought they sounded a bit more coherent and the bass was tighter and more controlled than the Hyperions. Overall, they were more natural-sounding and easier to listen to. Imaging was a bit sharper and the sweet spot was larger (or the soundstage was more robust) as well.

NuForce Reference 8b:
As I had heard before, they gave clean, clear, distortion-free presentation. Highs extended for miles and bass is powerful. But the mids sounded rather flat and less involving than the Jeff Rowland.

Red Wine Audio Clari-T:
The itty-bitty amp was called to drive the Hyperions with bi-wire configuration. Surprisingly it sounded quite powerful. Very clean.

Eastern Electric MiniMax Phonostage:
It sounded fabulous with Mad DOg's Oracle turntable. Working with much more expensive gear all around, it did not show any weaknesses. Very nice, indeed.

Eastern Electric M520 Integrated Amplifier:
It's a very attractive, well-built amplifier for the money. The sound was typical of tube-based amplifiers: warm, involving, with seductive mids and highs. But it just let go of the bass and was a bit too slack in that department for my taste. (I use KT88-based McIntosh MC275 at home.)

Benchmark DAC-1 (stock model):
Compared to the DAC of the UDP-1, it sounded meaty and ballsy. Bass was definately tighter and more authoritative, and I liked that. It sounded forward and had an excellent resolution. Individual instruments came out in a stronger relief. I wouldn't say "edge enhancement" but the word did pop into my mind. The UDP-1, on the other hand, sounded more relaxed. I'm not sure which is better. I think it's a matter of taste.

Benchmark DAC-1 (modded by Empirical Audio):
By this time I was getting a bit tired, so I can't elaborate but I liked what I heard. The difference was subtle and we didn't directly A/B with the stock model so I can't be certain, but it sounded smoother. Someone said "more analog-like."

OK, that's it.

Thanks again, Mad DOg, for generously hosting a great event, and for all your work swapping electronics, cables and even speakers. Bruce and Brian (sp.?), thanks for bringing your DAC-1s. It was nice meeting you, invicta, and good to see you again, Jon L and Russtafarian!

Hope we can do another one sometime soon. Possibly at Russtafarian's place, if he's willing, because he has a great, kick-ass system and it's worth a visit.  

[Jon L]

Once again, big thanks to Mad Dog and Master of MD for being gracious hosts again.  Nice to see everybody again, and special thanks to Bruce and Brian, a couple of head-fi.org members who aren't afraid to venture into speaker-land.  Thank you Bruce for bringing the stock Benchmark DAC1 and Brian for brining Empirical Audio Turbo-modded DAC1 and Empirical Audio Turbo Offramp USB/spdif converter.  

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I agree with most things Hajime has said.  I'll add a few of my thoughts.  Before everyone got there, I was able to compare VH Audio AirSine power cord to VH Flavor 4, stock 20 Amp cord, and my BMI Whale Supreme Platinum cord (specially tweaked extra for me).  Two AirSines were powering Rowland 10 amp and Aesthetix Callisto Signature preamp.  Long and short of it, AirSine made every other power cord, even VH4, sound dark, closed-in, unrefined, and grainier, with truncated high treble and low bass.  There was simpy much more resolution AND ease  top-to-bottom with AirSine with superior definition of bass, especially mid-bass that got rid of mid-bass bloat of many other power cords.  

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Hyperion 938's were good-looking speakers and very nice for the price range (around $4K).  The semi horn-loaded/waveguided tweeter sounded a bit disjointed from the rest, standing out a bit much for my tastes.  Not in a hard, etchy type of way, but just a bit more 'noticeable' with more light, airy, fairy presence than perhaps present on the record.  Mdirange was nice and smooth and good detail, but not quite the density and weight of say VR4Jr.  The cabinet was nicely finished, but I could hear the cabinets with heavy bass notes, which was more pronounced than with VR4Jr.  Overall, I preferred VR4Jr's more coherent, together sound with better bass definition and extension as well as denser detailing, but I can see some people preferring Hyperion type of sound.

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The Mini-ME speakers did what they could with the large room and large expectations following Hyperion/VR4Jr but it wasn't a fair fight.  There's some serious issues with high frequency anomalies and very audible port chuffing, but they may sound good in a small room with nice little tube amp.

Clari-T sounded nice driving Hyperion 938 at low volumes.  Very neutral flavor with nothing added along with quiet backgrounds.  However, even with pretty sensitive Hyperion, at moderate volume levels, I heard audible clipping with vocal peaks.  With batteries, Clari-T is likely putting out 4-6 watts, and that just requires actual high-sensitivity speakers.

I decided we will not try to compare NuForce 8B to Rowland 10 b/c we could not use the excellent Silversmith silver speaker cables with NuForce due to the binding posts used. So AudioQuest Mont Blanc DBS speaker cables had to be used with NuForce instead.  We also did not have 2 AirSines to power the mono's and had to "settle" for 2 Audience PowerChords.  Rowland 10 benefitted from Airsine very much.  With no Silversmith speaker cables and no AirSine, NuForce just did not have the nuance, life, microdynamics of Rowland 10 outfitted with Silversmith and AirSine.  Mad Dog says he did comparisons using same cables in the past and that NuForce sounded much closer  than today, so I'll take his word for it here.  

My main goal for this meet was to compare McCormack UDP-1 to stock Benchmark 1 and EA Benchmark 1 (UDP-1 as transport) VS. these DAC's driven my audio PC + Empirical Offramp Turbo ($950) and my own Empirical Freeway ($500 without superclock3).  

Long ago, when I tried Empirical Freeway with iTunes vs. Mad Dog's transport (was it Audio Alchemy?), iTunes really got in the way and I preferred the transport to PC/Freeway. iTunes just does not sound as good as Foobar on a PC.

Today, using Foobar, ASIO, Flac on my laptop-->Empirical Offramp Turbo (or Freeway), comparing same songs, I feel PC audio as transport competed full-on successfully with UDP-1 as transport.  This is actually quite an accomplishment b/c IMO UDP-1 makes a better transport than a CDP.  It had outperformed Empirical Modded Sony 7700 as transport previously. There were subtle differences between PC and UDP-1, but I wouldn't call either "better."  With both, there was unhyped, superior detail resolution.  UDP with maybe a hair more nautral treble control but PC with better bass control IMO.

Betwen Offramp Turbo and Freeway (no superclock3), there were differences but not that large.  Offramp Turbo has a bit more focus to images and precision, which made images a bit more compact and denser.  Freeway has a bit larger, less focused images that some actually commented sounded more "natural."  I personally could live with either.  

The big surprise came when I hooked up my DIY 12V SLA battery PS with reservoir caps and nice wire instead of the supplied separate PS to Offramp Turbo and Freeway.  The improvement with battery PS was a lot huger than difference between Offramp Turbo and Freeway and was immediately and unambiguously obvious.  Music just emerged from incredibly serene, calm background sounding both crisper and more natural at the same time, which is usually mutually exclusive.  

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I was somewhat surprised b/c when I used this exact same battery PS with my SuperMacro 3 portable headphone amp or Sonic Impact T-amp, I actually prefer the nice wallwart or the Astron linear PS over the battery.  I guess the very minimal current requirement of USB/spdif converter exploits battery power without much compromise in dynamics or immediacy that often comes with battery power.  

With my bargain-basement Freeway plus battery PS, I simply had no wish to "upgrade" my transport source.  It sounded so good AS IS that it should be able to stand the test of time and other superior products.  There will be "better" PC/transport solutions out there, sure, but this combo has hit a level that makes one not care.  

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Stock Benchmark DAC1 vs. Empirical TurboMod Benchmark DAC1 (without superclock 3) being warmed up before the showdown.  This comparison was extremely interesting and educational for me.  What prompted this comparison was the last SoCal Head-Fi meet, where many people felt they couldn't hear a difference between the stock and EA DAC1.  This was true especially when using the headphone out jack of both, but even with headphones/headamps, when line-out was used, I thought I heard some mild differences then.

This time, the differences were pretty obvious.  Comparing stock DAC1 to UDP1, DAC1 has a bit "more" upper-midrange forwardness, a bit more grooving/involving/intense signature, with tighter/leaner (not by much) bass than UDP-1.  It was a bit brighter and more energetic.  Mad Dog commented DAC1 had a "harder" sound, which I would agree with, but I just didn't find the degree of more hardness anywhere near my tolerance level still.  It was still quite musical sounding, and case could be made that some would prefer this type of sound over UDP-1's more fluid, natural, organic, yet still detailed sound.  The differences were subtle and nothing to obsess over given many comments by many people in the past that DAC-1 is "bright" "lean" "bass-shy," etc, etc.  Not today.  

Empirical modded DAC1 (again, without superclock3) actually went the opposite way.  Compared to UDP-1, EA DAC1 was actually smoother, more "analogue" if you will, and more refined.  There was an obvious elimination of any noise floor or grit/grim in the soundstage.  This was the proverbial jet-black, inky background.  Bass was also even more defined and solid than stock DAC1 or UDP1, and from top-to-bottom all ranges were controlled with iron-fist resolve.  

When fed by UDP-1 as transport, some commented that EA DAC1 sounded <paraphrase> a bit too reserved or refined losing a bit of the excitement/involvement factor. Not as lively as stock DAC1 even though it sounded clearly superior technically.  

When EA DAC1 was fed by Offramp Turbo or Freeway with battery PS, however, I felt we had the best sound of the day.  Music was simply delineated, resolved, with extreme refinement and power at the same time.  Especially with the battery, I had the "after-the-rain fresh-air" feel.  

Unfortunately, we didn't get to try the stock DAC1 with Offramp/freeway, but I have a feeling this combo would be VERY good, and I might be looking around to buy a stock DAC1 in the near future.  

Hopefully, somebody around will have Red Wine Audio battery-modded Squeezebox 2/3 for us to compare to Offramp/Freeway w/ battery.  I would love to know.  

Oh, BTW, I (and most people who said something) preferred the PC audio sound with no upsampling to 96kHz.  With upsampling using Secret Rabbit Code, sound became warmer, smoother but became too smooth and lost some fine details IMO.  

Thanks everyone for coming such a long way and see you all next time  

[Mad DOg]

it was good seeing everyone again...

i want to thank Bill O'Connell of Morningstar Audio for sending the Eastern Electric MiniMax and M520 integrated, Chris Venhaus for the AirSine power cords, Vinne Rossi for the Clari-T, Louis for the Omega Mini ME, Albert Wu for the Hyperion HPS-938s, Jon L for bringing over the EA Offramp, Bruce for bringing the stock Benchmark DAC-1 and Brian for bringing the EA modded DAC-1...

as always, the usual disclaimers apply...these listening sessions are to give folks a flavor of the auditioned gear, not to be considered conclusive in any way...there are too many variables in play at any given moment. the Mini MEs and Clari-T are not ideal for a room as large as the one my 2 channel system is in...they work much better in a smaller room. i'm sure the Hyperions could benefit from a bit of experimentation w/ room placement, toe-in and misc tweaks to get even better sound.

the biggest surprise for me was how good the stock Benchmark DAC sounded. i had heard the stock Benchmark in my system in the past when I was using an Audio Alchemy DDS-Pro tranport and it didn't sound anything like it did yesterday. apparently the Benchmark's full potential was being limited by the old Audio Alchemy transport. of course all the cabling, linestage, amplifier and speakers were different from the first time I had the Benchmark in my system as well so as i mentioned earlier, there are simply too many variables at play here...  

anyhow, i had a great time and learned a bunch more...hopefully everyone else did as well!  

[lonewolfny42]

Thanks for the comments and photo's.....