"-Have you had the opportunity to compare the Panny to the eARTwo with a top notch pre? I'd be interested in your thoughts.-"
No. Sadly. But then people could argue forever as to 'what' a top notch pre is. Tubed? Solid state? Passive, active. Tons of variables. All things I was kicking around as to what I should do myself.
I had been looking for months into getting a great 2-chan. preamp, and then one of three 'giant killer' small DACs that have all been raved/and argued about here in great length.
And then I'd still need to keep the Outlaw for HT, plus surround amps. Not ideal, but I wanted GREAT 2-chan. sound.
That's a ton of variables and you just can't test all this gear at the same time and find out what you really feel all works together the best in your opinion. It's just SO though.
I was honestly 'happy enough' with the Outlaw/eARTwo combo. I could tell the Outlaw was a little edgy on the top end and didn't quite have the Nth degree of detail or depth, but I've heard a lot of super high end systems that didn't put mine to shame so I was pretty much fine where I was.
It was really just knowing -'But a killer 2-chan. pre and sepp. DAC have GOT to kill this Outlaw!' that kept me from just sticking with what I had.
I also knew I didn't need the 250WPC that that eARTwo puts out having very high effi. speakers so I decided to sell the eARTwo instead and then totally start over looking into Gary Dodd's 120W tube amps, or some of the other new digital amps coming out, or the 100% all digital path Recs. of the Pannie and new Sony's.
Certainly VERY diff. paths. More variables!
BTW- I owned Audiosource's Tripath based digital AMP7 (200WPC) before the eAR and the eAR killed it instantly even w/ the Outlaw being used on both.
I thought the Outlaw would hold back the eAR and I'd just have to return it, but even my wife told me it was not even close and to keep it.
Also... the eARTwo broke a week after the guy I sold it to got it. I felt like crap for that happening, but I never had any probs. and it should be under warr. but maybe something's wrong with it's design? I've heard of several others doing this same thing now.
Anyway... I was impressed in a lot of ways with the Pannie and Sony for their dirt cheap price, but neither seemed to be a keeper at all for 2-chan and the Sony turned out to have a high noise level/low gain problem and something messed up on the very top end (maybe an effect of their DSD-like PLM 'S-Master PRO' amp modulation?) so I returned it.
The Pannie isn't harsh like that but nothing to backflip over in the 'realism' dept. but it had great detail/speed and bass depth/control and overall dynamics which were really shocking from this little critter.
I have the XR25 and the 45 is supose to be a bit better even.
It did enough really well that it gave me a lot of faith in what the future would hold for an all digital Rec.
I've been expecting mass market all digital Recs. for at least 3+ years now but in between time I became somewhat convinced that a 100% digital path wasn't ness. the 'be all end all' as many newer analog in dig. amps were getting rave reviews and being called better than TacT's -who were the first of the dig. amp 'wave' and actually a 100% digital path and now the tech. that Pannie is using here.
So looks like I've come full circle.
I felt that I'd keep the Pannie XR25 as a 'stop-gap' till the 'real' thing I wanted came out, but I really felt if implemented with top quality in mind (which the Pannie isn't) this technology should put out amazing sound.
Then reading about Wayne modding the XR45 (which is exactly that thought in action) and it bettering his modded Lex/Parasound HT, and Tyson finding it able to power his RM-40's and better than his outstanding 2-chan. system that included the MENSA DI/O which-
1) itself costs more than half of what this modded Pannie costs
2) was a Boulder Cable maxed out mod itself
3) was one of the 'giant killer' DACs I was thinking of buying if I got a killer 2-chan. preamp, and new amps in the first place!
...it was pretty clear that Wayne seems to have at the very least greatly eliminated the subtle flaws in the stock 45.
There's no way the 45 will be for everybody, and I still don't know if I'll LOOOOVE the 45 in modded form, but I'm very sure that it'll easily beat the Outlaw/eARTwo combo for both HT and FAAAR more critical 2-chan. use which in itself is enough to justify it's ~$1,000 total cost compared to an $800 pre/pro (which is typically itself called damn close or equal to several $2-3K pre/pros), and a several thousand dollar dig. amp that's been called world class by a lot of people (and better than far more costly amps), and whose core technology (ICEpower) has caused Jeff Rowland Group to make the switch from solid state to digital to rave reviews.
-Eric's comments here on how these type of comments happen quite often here are noted, but I think can be put in perspective when directly compared to other gear.
Plus it'll also be powering the rear speakers (which my XR25 was already doing anyway when I used the eARTwo and Outlaw).
The RM-40's I heard in town here were connected to VERY costly Sonic Front. tubed DAC and Pre amp, transport, and sepp. power supplies, fancy cables/wire, and I think 400W Aragon monoblocks.
My friend and I both prefered my GR Alphas w/ the Outlaw and eARTwo (and no fancy cables/wire at all).
I wasn't bowled over by the RM-30's in VMPS's room in Vegas either but I'd say I thought the 40's and 30's were VERY transparent though like my Alphas.
Outstanding speakers that 'sound' like what you send them FAR more than what they themselves 'sound' like, and it was more the signal they were sent that I think I didn't prefer.
There wasn't any attribute my friend and I (hearing the 40's) or my wife and I (hearing the 30's) felt was better, so however bad the Outlaw is.... I think the eARTwo let it do the very best it could, which is really quite good.
So I'm still considering this modded 45 an experiment, but I'm pretty sure the results will meet or exceed my expectations -which in real world terms will probably hold it's own against a lot/most world class gear IMO.
Feel free to form your own opinions.
In price/performance I think it'll be the current best total package there is, but really... almost impossible to compare to high end gear anyway. What DAC, what preamp, what amp, what cables used? What 'sound' are you looking to create? etc...
Will it beat anything and everything? Doubt it, but it doesn't have to to still sound incredible in it's own right, and 'what's the best' always ends up being a totally pointless debate anyway.
Does it sound great to you and do you pee your pants when listening to your fav. CD are far more meaningful questions. hehe
I had to ask myself... do I REALLY want to spend $4K+ to get a 'diff'. 2-chan. sound than this that I might like better, when I think I could totally live with the modded 45's sound (and lots of functions)?
Can't go wrong I figure.
So long story short... -D'Oh!
