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Vinnie,Yesterday I received the Isabella !......... Of course I had expected the Isabella to be good, but I was not prepared that it would bethat good (read: beyond imagination).Right out of the box it played equal to a Copland CTA 301 and Audio Note 2.1x Signature – both installedwith the best tubes to find (Siemens Cca from the 60’es), equipment stands from Black Diamond Racing, special mains cables and a PurePower mains re-generator. After only 2 hours it plays significantly better than the Copland/Audio Note combination.Today after approx 24 hours of burn-in it totally blew the Copland/Audio Note combination away !Isabella is my new standard which all other preamps and DAC’s have to be compared with !I for sure must admit that I’m most impressed what you have been capable of in relation to the Isabella – I can tell that you have used an impressive amount of hours and many sleepless hours to get to this almost unbelievable result – and that’s what really differs your work from all the rest – you have my deepest respect !Thank you,Carsten
Hi Vinnie,I love how the Isabella sounds! Had an audition yesterday and we put the Isabella up against the ModWrightLS36.5 and the Isabella came out tops! On first hearing the MW seems to have more upper extension but it soonbecame apparent that the Isabella is not less extended, but more analog sounding, better balanced and definitely more musical. It deals with complex passages much better and we find we can not only listen without ear fatique, we can listen LOUD at live levels without fatique For me that is the real test... Great stuff Vinnie!!Haven't had the chance to really listen to the DAC yet... but first impressions are really good!Cheers,Ray
...the synergy with my 30.2 is perfect and after a week of listening will be trying his cables in that systemtoo.So far the DAC is very well done. My Sooloos music serverreally has a marginal on board DAC, so the Isabellawas good for a HUGE jump in performance right there.A full review will be in our October issue, but I can already tell you this one is another home run for RWA.If you are on the fence and have a 30.2, (or one of Vinniesother amps) this is as easy as it gets!
What can I say - just got settled in and the road calls. Vinnie is right, we're leaving for Serbia on Thursday, come back next Tuesday and leave for Milan two days later for another 4 days. After that's, it's Isabella time. She's already playing on the WLM Grand Viola Signatures and in conjunction with the 30.2 as amp, everything is very promising indeed
Srajan, enjoy your travels. Looks like September is going to be a looooong month (...waiting on the 6 Moons review).
Let’s get the gushing out of the way. The Isabella is the best sounding headphone amp AND the best sounding preamp I have ever had the privilege of having in my home. It was better than any of my Singlepower amps, better than my Krell preamp, and sounded better as a DAC than my Denon DVD-5900, and took my main hi-fi to another level. I desperately wish that I could afford to buy it. It sounds phenomenal.........
While my Krell preamp comes very, very close, the Isabella is at once more colorless and also more musical. Some of what I perceive from the Krell as neutrality is actually some “enhanced” etch and detail that the Isabella doesn’t burden the listener with. The Isabella has all the detail of the Krell, but delivers a more relaxed musical presentation without using sonic colorations to deliver it. It was breathtaking.
I had always considered my Singlepower Extreme to be a highly transparent amp. And in the grand scheme of things, it is. But it is not in the same league as the Isabella in this regard. The Isabella sets a new reference point for me in terms of what transparency means in an audio device. I am quite certain it’s the most transparent sounding audio device I have ever heard."
