I had a more detailed post, but my battery died and I lost it. So, John, consider this an abbreviated version.
I feel like my silver TVC TAP is 98% burned in now and the system has settled out. I dropped the Bent Unit in as a direct replacement for a Mod Squad Deluxe Line Drive that has been the heart of my system since 1987. A change was necessitated mostly because of two factors: 1) a switch to an Audio Note Kit 1 forced me into no-no land of high impedance on the volume control and 2) SACD and time have uncovered some lack of dynamics and high frequency extension. I have tried to sidestep these issues for several years- until the new TAP came along.
The new TAP has unrivaled features and versatility compared to any other passive or TVC I am aware of. Phase invert? Beatifully executed. The Bent Unit has all the qualities I loved about the Mod Squad, but no loss of dynamics or extension. With Black Diamond IV cones point down under the Bent, I am achieving a high level of not just resolution, but clarity. All the information is there as it was with the Mod Squad, but there is this level of clarity that I am unaccustomed to. The clarity is not forced, but instead natural and effortless. Graceful. The music does indeed "flow." This character is a perfect complement to the magic of the launch of that 1st watt by my Audio Note Kit 1.
When I first put the TAP into my system, I had goosebumps not felt from a preamp since I first heard the Mark Levinson No. 26 back in the day. The soul factor ranks up there with the Vendetta Research phono amp (which I was stupid not to buy).
When I originally purchased the Mod Squad, I was trying to obtain a certain level of sound on the cheap. I got some of it, but not all of it. The TAP gives me all of it. Some system matching is necessary, but those are of the mathematical kind. I can live with that. I'll live with the TAP for a long, long time.
