OK, so to pass the time until Dan gets finished building my new TP, I install Squeezecenter, learn all about lossless ripping and convert my entire music collection to indexed files onto a network storage drive.
Tick, tock, time begins to pass slowly... then it occurs to me -> since I would like to have a Squeezebox Controller-> why not go ahead and buy a Duet? That would let me test out the system in advance of the MW TP and then relegate the black box to a second room upon TP's arrival.
Brilliant!
The Duet shows up yesterday and leaps into action in a remarkably short amount of time. I hook it up leading its digital output to a Cullen Stage 4 modified PS Audio DAC III.
Hmmm, it sounds pretty good. No, it sounds very good. Hell, it sounds excellent. Well, what would you expect with a decent foundation system and the awesome postprocessing capabilities of the Cullen modified DAC?
One niggling issue keeps surfacing from the depths of my consciousness whilst I listened critically to musical pieces that I have heard hundreds of times: there is clearly more "there" there, it just doesn't seem able to produce the holographic soundstage and image that has so addicted me to with my tube CD player. What a conundrum; both are great in their own, but very different ways, but neither does it all.
I could rock on most happily through the balance of my audiophilic life with this system in its present configuration. The couple of pals that I've had over to hear it have left slackjawed, muttering insensibilities. Curious thing is, it REALLY whet my appetite for deploying the forthcoming TP. It is also pretty cool to be able to compare the various configs (following appropriate break-in of the new TP, of course).
So tonight, with a headfull of excellent sounds, I go to my computer to catch up on my emails and...
W O O H O O . . . I receive a tracking number indicating that my TP has shipped.
When, once again, I find myself in the presence of my wife, I wonder, why is she is looking at me funny?
To be continued...
