Jason Wong, Mike Galusha, and I trecked on up to the northern suburb of Broomfield on Saturday night to participate in a listening session at Teres World Headquarters.
We arrived around 5:30 pm and as we wandered up to the door, we spied a note affixed to it stating " Come on in. Go downstairs and follow the music".
We follow the directions, wending our way through the shipping and receiving department and the R&D labs to arrive at the custom built listening chamber. Chris was already there with a one of his friends, evaluating the new prototype 300 series Teres platter and base.
Greetings were exchanged and we then procceded to bring in some of our gear we wanted to listen to, in the Teres Reference System.
Jason brought his Sony XA-777ES, I brought my modded NS-500V and the Mensa Plus DI/O and Mike brought his Stan Warren modded Philips SA-1000. I also brought some cables, Bybee in-line Purifiers, and the Hagerman Bugle Phono preamp I had built about a week and a half ago.
The early listening sessions were of the 300 series turntable and a 200 series with the different platters. The Cocobolo platter sounded better on the 200 series and the 300 was simply all the 265 is and so much more!
For fun, I gave Chris a pair of the in-line Bybee Purifiers and asked him to put them in line with the phono cables. He is using a Benz Ruby 2 with a .3mv output.
We were playing a 45 prm Louis Armstrog cut and the difference was readily apparent. The cymbals took on a more natural shimmer, Louis' voice was even more articulate. It was the same sotr of effect that the Bybees have in almost all instances. They removed/ lowered a noise floor that you weren't even aware was there. All vinyl listening for the rest of the evening was done with the Bybees in place.
We then got down to the digital comparison. We listened to a SACD track on the XA-777ES, then on the NS-500V and finally on the SA-1000.
I may be a bit biased
but I felt the NS-500 that I modded was damn close to the 777 overall. The NS-500 had a bit tighter bass, the 777 had a slightly more natural mid, but I did like the highs of the NS-500V. They weren't too far apart. Considering the price difference, $3000.00 retail for the 777 vs $130.00 for the NS-500, I felt the mods were well worth it.
The Philips didn't fare too well, in my opinion, It did not have the dynamics of the 777 or the image and high end defintion of the NS-500. All the players were plugged in for at least 45 minutes to an hour before we listened.
We then listened to redbook and the Mensa Plus DI/O was far and away better sounding than all of the one box players.
It was time to get back to analog and Chris let me hook up the Hagerman Bugle in his system. I used a K&K Audio step-up transformer before the Hagerman to give us the 60 db of gain needed to use the Benz.
I was very pleased to hear just how good the Bugle performed. It did not have the midrange warmth of Chris' tube phono section. The top end had a bit too much tip up, but it is less than two weeks old. It does need at least another two weeks of beak-in. For its young age and low cost, I was very pleased with its sound. I do feel that this preamp section is a great value!
We played around with power cables, Chris preferred the sound of the NITRO power cable on his preamp over the very large, expensive Virtual Dynamics power cable he was using. Interconnects, Silver Bullet Bybee Nitro preferred
and then we were back listening to the DI/O and I inserted another Bybee inline purifier. This time in the Digital input line. The difference we heard was the same as when we used it in the phono cable! .
There was a bit more listening and comparisons, but I will let Pez and Mike add their comments, hopefully.
I had a most enjoyable time up north, I do want to thank Chris for opening his doors to us southern folk. I came away with even more appreciation for Chris and his works and undeniable lust for his turntables.
