MF A324 to Mensa DI/O or Moddified P-3 an Upgrade?

JDUBS · « **on:** 4 Jun 2003, 02:13 am »

Hey Everyone

My current system consists of a Stan Warren modified Aiwa XC-37M -> Musical Fidelity A324 DAC -> Bent Audio Passive -> Art Audio Diavolo -> The Horneshoppe Horn speakers.

I'm always looking for changes I can make to my system. Would a move to the Mensa or a modified Perpetual Tech. P-3 be a good one in my case? I would be using the Mensa with a Monarchy DIP as the Aiwa transport only outputs optical.

Thanks for any opinions.

-Jim

Hantra · « **Reply #1 on:** 4 Jun 2003, 02:51 am »

Yikes!

4 out of 4 non-DAM members agree that the A324 KILLS the MENSA. . .

Not sure about the P3A. . .

Rob Babcock · « **Reply #2 on:** 4 Jun 2003, 09:47 am »

Careful, Hantra... the Audio Circle/MAF cognicenti won't tolerate that kind of talk!

Rob Babcock · « **Reply #3 on:** 4 Jun 2003, 09:49 am »

Okay, jokes aside, I think the popular concenus is that the Perp Tech is pretty much untouchable at any sane price. This excepts "RibbonDudedotwhatever" of course.

Jay S · « **Reply #4 on:** 4 Jun 2003, 11:22 am »

Well, if this counts for anything I owned the P3a and happily replaced it with my Cary cdp. My Mensa sounds better than my Cary. So much for the P3a being untouchable. If anyone would like to bring a stock P3a over to my place for a listen, they're welcome to.

Do a search of the archives on various sites. The flaws of the stock P3a are well documented.

Rob Babcock · « **Reply #5 on:** 4 Jun 2003, 11:34 am »

Sorry, Jay. I wasn't paying attention; I didn't notice the discussion concerned the stock PT.

Of course, the problem with advice is that for every person who replaced A with B, there's one guy who replaced B with A.

I suggest you check with AudioJerry; he's a sharp cookie, plus a few AC'ers have A/B'ed their gear alongside his P/T. Many here have commented about the quality of this unit; I don't want to put words in their mouth, but a few guys well known here have stated that the 'modded' P/T is "the best digital they've ever heard."

Perp Tech doesn't pay me to say it, and I must admit I've been considering a DI/O, too. Just pointing out that opinions are like ***holes: everone has one and they all stink!

Jay S · « **Reply #6 on:** 4 Jun 2003, 12:32 pm »

Very true, Rob. People do have different opinions even about the same gear. The associated equipment and the room do make huge differences, and we don't even have to get into listener preferences.

I was quite interested before about asking Dan W to mod my P3a but ended up going with the DI/O. I would enjoy a shootout at my place so I could see which is best in my room with my system. I am thankful that this past weekend Guan brought his highly upgraded pencil tube dac over. It was a dead heat between his dac and the Mensa Plus. We'll need to have an indepth comparison to really get a handle on the differences between these dacs.

Rob Babcock · « **Reply #7 on:** 4 Jun 2003, 06:56 pm »

It's make my life a lot easier if the Mensa was better than the Perp Tech- I could actually afford the DI/O, but the P1/P3 is a bit out of my price range, at least for awhile.

My location makes it pretty damned hard to find anyplace to demo that stuff.

nature boy · « **Reply #8 on:** 4 Jun 2003, 07:47 pm »

Rob,

Wayne W. has a ART DI/O MENSA audition kit available through his web site. Several of us looking for DAC's have signed up. Last I heard, Wayne was waiting to get some cryo'd cables back before the kit starts to make it's rounds. Thought this might be of interest to you in SD.

NB

Jay S · « **Reply #9 on:** 5 Jun 2003, 12:12 am »

Rob,

Yeah, the P1a is very pricey... you may want to check with Steve @ Empirical Audio. He's got a mod for the P3a that he says eliminates the need for the P1a (he had both and did testing/measurements). He posted on this recently. I don't think he means that the P3a suddenly is as good at upsampling from 16 to 24 bits as the P1a, but rather that he's gotten the P3a to sound as good alone as it did with the P1a.

Wayne's audition pack seems like a great way to get a handle on a wide range of his products. All you need is enough time to do some serious listening comparisons.

Brad V · « **Reply #10 on:** 5 Jun 2003, 03:09 pm »

Hi,

I have the A324 and as Hantra said, it smoked Mensa at a DAC shootout at my house.

How does the P3A stackup. I would have to say that it doesn't. I've heard the regular P3A and a modded P3A. In both cases I preferred the A324, however the modded P3A was very good.

After hearing probably one of the DACs on the planet last night, I can say that there isn't much room for improvement on the DAC side. Both Hantra and I have heard this same DAC. That being the Accuphase 101. In CD mode, I couldn't tell much of a benefit over the A324. In SACD mode, with a good recorded SACD, there was no comparison, albeit my vinyl is more enjoyable to listen to.

To this date, the most enjoyable CD Player I have heard in my system, was the Audio Aero Capitole MKII.

So, the moral of the story is to look elsewhere for improvements.

The room being by far, the place to yield the biggest benefits and free to experiment.

Have a great day,

Brad

JDUBS · « **Reply #11 on:** 5 Jun 2003, 10:31 pm »

Thanks for the opinions everyone! I was kind of sort of hoping that there was an upgrade for me with either the P3 or the Mensa as I'm always looking to do something to my system!

I guess I'll try some different power tweaks.

-Jim

Hantra · « **Reply #12 on:** 5 Jun 2003, 10:37 pm »

Those would not be an upgrade for you.

The Nixon Tube DAC on the other hand would be a substantial one. .