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Post by SteveC on Jun 12, 2015 13:13:20 GMT
It must be a good five years since I was last active on any hi-fi forum. I don't really know what happened. I still enjoyed my system and collecting and listening to music, but I just lost the OCD that came with reading and posting on forums, going to shows and reading about hi-fi online!
I am a veteran of some 12 years standing on forums such as Zerogain, Pink Fish Media, Hifiwigwam and Art of Sound and enjoyed the friendly banter and meeting with fellow enthusiasts.
Living in North East Hampshire at the time, I got friendly with Martin T and having kept in touch, he pointed me in the direction of The Audio Standard last year.
Having fully retired and moved house (hopefully for the last time) 18 months ago, I recently got the urge to do something with my system for the first time in five years. I had said in the past, that computer audio was a 'source too far' and not really understanding it, stuck my head in the sand and continued to enjoy my digital and analogue front ends.
Having done the research and listened to a shortlist of products, I have now added a Melco N1A digital music library and Tellurium Q Black Diamond USB cable to my system (and very pleased with it I am!). My dCS Paganini DAC was swapped for a Vivaldi (with appropriate USB connectivity) and the all important interface, an Apple iPad2 running Linn Kinsky software at the moment.
So it's back to the asylum for me!
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Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Jun 12, 2015 13:15:05 GMT
Hello Steve
Good to see you again, hope all is well with yourself and the good lady
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Post by SteveC on Jun 12, 2015 13:23:17 GMT
Thanks Tony.
We are both well and enjoying our retirement.
Martin and I were only talking about you the other day (all good, I promise!).
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Post by julesd68 on Jun 12, 2015 13:36:10 GMT
Welcome Steve, good to have you here. Get stuck in!
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Post by MartinT on Jun 12, 2015 13:51:20 GMT
Hello Steve (or should I still call you Snoopdog) and welcome back to the land of forums! It's good to see you here. Do tell us all about your system - do you still have the Avalon speakers?
Tony - we were very complimentary, I promise!
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Post by ChrisB on Jun 12, 2015 13:56:09 GMT
Hi Steve and welcome to The Audio Standard. I am surprised Martin hasn't got you building a Raspberry Pi streamer yet. We will have to sort that out!
I hope you
will enjoy the forum.
Cheers
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Post by Sovereign on Jun 12, 2015 13:57:56 GMT
welcome mate
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Post by MikeMusic on Jun 12, 2015 16:28:56 GMT
Hi Steve
Welcome to TAS
Are you still relatively close to NE Hants ?
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Post by Eduardo Wobblechops on Jun 12, 2015 16:29:16 GMT
Ayup Steve, nice to see you here, Ali Tait here.
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Post by SteveC on Jun 12, 2015 18:26:10 GMT
Thanks for the warm greetings fellas!
MikeMusic - I relocated from Fleet to Allresford, Hampshire, 7 miles east of Winchester.
MartinT - Yes. I still have the Avalon Indra speakers. The rest of my system is as follows:-
Sources - dCS Paganini SACD/CD Transport; Melco N1A Digital Music Library; TW Acoustics Raven One turntable/Graham Phantom II tonearm/Transfiguration Orpheus L mc phono cartridge.
DAC - dCS Vivaldi
Preamp - Karan Reference Mk II
Power Amp - Conrad Johnson Premier 350SA
Phono Stage - Whest PS.30 RDT 'Special Edition'
Cables - MIT Oracle MA-X interconnects, MIT Oracle MA Digital Clock cable, MIT Magnum MA speaker cables, Tellurium Q Black Diamond USB cable.
Accessories - Stillpoints ESS 5 level equipment rack; Stillpoints component stands under preamp power supply, power amp and Vertex Elbrus balanced PSU; Stillpoints cones under each box; Finite Elemente Cerabase and Cerapucs; Vertex Hi-Rez Roraima power cable; MusicWorks power cables; Accustica Applicata DAAD 2,3 & 4 room tuning columns:
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Post by John on Jun 12, 2015 18:28:08 GMT
Welcome to TAS Steve
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Post by SteveC on Jun 13, 2015 9:16:43 GMT
Thanks John
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Post by MartinT on Jun 13, 2015 9:27:04 GMT
One thing I find vital, Steve, and which I have with my deck and SACD player, is a similar sound between both sources. That way, I concentrate on the music rather than the sound I prefer. Do you have that with your dCS and Raven One?
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Post by SteveC on Jun 13, 2015 11:00:26 GMT
Pretty much Martin!
With the new dCS Vivaldi DAC, the sound from CD/SACD is sublime (especially with the Master Clock in circuit, but more of that later!).
I was surprised by how much of an "analogue" sound the Melco N1A Digital Music Library produces. So far, I have concentrated on ripping my few DVD-Audio discs, using DVD-Extractor software (free trial) to give me hi-res files on the Melco HD. The REM 192Khz/24-bit recordings are really vibrant and punchy! I also purchased and downloaded some Hi-Rez albums from HD-TRAX (6 album set of The Eagles, Led Zeppelin II & IV Page remasters, The Doors at 96KhZ/24-bit and that old audiophile favourite "Cantata Domino" at 352Khz/24-bit DXD).
The turntable front end can still hold it's own and I enjoy listening to a lot of albums, collected throughout the 70's & 80's, that I have never replicated on silver disc.
Occasionally, I will run through my Mobile Fidelity set of 14 Beatles albums (bought new in 1982 for £300 from Reading Hi-Fi, Harris Arcade) and compare it to the recent remastered CD set, without being aware of a significant difference in presentation between the two formats.
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