I might actually be able to return your Townshend cables at last!

The Gustard X26 Pro Turned up today and I have given it a quick 'spin'. I thought I had a spare pair of Fractal interconnects here, but I don't and so I need to swap the cables over between the Lab12 DAC and the Gustard at the moment which is fine as I need to swap the USB lead over at the same time to provide a fair comparison. It is standing on top of the Lab12 at present and so sort of isolated mechanically via the Townshend Pods under the Lab12.

Anyway, out of the box it is certainly quite an impressive performer. Switching back to the Lab12 shows it has a fair way to go to catch up, but I shall leave it running on internet radio overnight to make the comparison fairer. The staging from the Lab12 is certainly significantly more spacious than the X26 at the moment. Detail is very good though although piano sounds more realistic from the Lab12 at the moment, but it is early days.

I'm using the settings as supplied, so 'gentle filter' and NOS mode off. The Lab12 is a NOS DAC and so I will try a comparison using a HiRes file at some point. I have ripped all of my CDs here and because of the analogue bandwidth limitation of the chip design this probably means that it will need to be on if it replaces the current DAC. Interestingly the Fidata software does not identify the Gustard and seems convinced that the Lab12 is still rendering the stream. Not that this makes any difference.

Hah! Give it a couple of weeks to slowly come on song. It can use a decent fuse in the rear panel, too.

The Gustard fuse in the U18 is doing a great job. There is an SR Purple in my X26 Pro and that is outstanding, if a little pricy.

Just after modifying the rack that holds the turntable etc I managed to trash my cartridge (note to self, don't wear your shredded work jumper while flipping an album over). I have often wondered just how much better the Dynavector DV DRT XV-1t was than the the 1s I was using. Most reviews seemed to suggest significantly so and I always promised myself that when I wore the current one out I would find out. Well, I took this event as a message from on high / penance for being so dumb and decided to find out.

I left the deck with Andy at Winchester HiFi before I headed back to Potsdam in April and picked it up today. And the simple answer is that even straight from the box the 't' is a significant step up from the 's': beautifully natural and hugely engaging. I am not disappointed and it even managed to make the appallingly pressed "Ash & Clay" by The Milk Carton Kids sound good (I have had 4 copies with 3 returned either warped or with surface damage and the only reason I have a 4th is that it came with the box set I bought directly from them last year)!



Playing the bright orange pressing of "Hell on Church Street" by Punch Brothers.

All of the XV series were / are very exposed: hence 2 trashed 1s variants - one by a friend and one by me ! And they are certainly not lacking in bass response any more. Phenomenally detailed and nuanced without being analytical. I started with Dynavector with an XX2 (in fact I might have had 2 in succession thinking about it).  When the suspension on the last one collapsed I traded it in for the XV-1s after auditioning several in a similar price bracket. The Dynavector outshone them all. I think the XX2 is something of a bargain in the MC market at £1K. To better it I had to be looking at cartridges 3 times the price.

Hi Steve, I am.

This week we have visitors, but then it is clear. When would be good?

Pete

Thanks, Martin. That should work.

A small update was made to the UK system on Tuesday. My much-modified LP got a new sub-chassis and arm board. Phil from Phonography came round and fitted the Phoenix unit from Tangerine Audio, completing the process started with the Karmen top-plate and brace some years back. Just before the new cartridge was fitted I had swapped the asymmetric IsoKinetik tonearm weight I was using for an under-slung design that I'd bought way back, but I cannot recall the manufacturer (it may have been IsoKinetik as well). I'm not sure now why I didn't put it on before as it is a super unit, but suspect I was worried about getting the weight level. It is not that difficult, but I will probably machine a new collar and adjuster for it anyway. The cartridge is still bedding in, but it is sounding superb already.

The last couple of days has seen a few fairly significant changes to the UK system.

A few months ago I replaced the Teddy Pardo DAC and the Lector Digicode 704 DAC that was processing output from the CD player with a Lector Digicode S-192 DAC. The Lector produced a significant benefit to the streaming and file playback, but ruined the smooth and effortless playback from CD that the 704 DAC always had. The Lectors with their PSUs are large units and there was no room for two in the racks and so the Teddy Pardo was reinstated and it was off to plan B.

In Germany I use a Lab12 DAC1 Reference and this had replaced the Teddy Pardo there some time back (and is still out-performing the Gustard X26 Pro). So I ordered a second Lab12 DAC for the UK. This is now in the system and, while probably not significantly better than the S-192 for file playback (I did not do a direct comparison as there was no point), it betters the 704 while retaining its 'smoothness' and 'musicality'.

As in Germany, the route from Fidata server to DAC is USB using an AQVox Blaze cable. The CD player now uses its BNC output terminal to the DAC using an AQVox Blaze 75 Ohm coaxial cable rather than the Lector AES as used with the 704. The Naim NDX is also connected to the Lab12 DAC using its digital out BNC and another, but longer, AQVox Blaze 75 Ohm coaxial cable. The Lab12 DAC also has an optical input and I will ask Lector to add their ST-II optical module to the 'spare' CD player of mine they have had for service / repair for the last 5 years - so don't hold your breath for a report on how that went!

Some time back I purchased an EtherREGEN from Uptone with its UltraCap PSU to play with. I also found a Mutec Ref10 SE120 master-clock for sale a while back which was barely used (the seller had changed his digital playback system and it was redundant). The network feed for the NDX2 comes from the 'clean' side of the Fidata server (which receives its network 'input' via an AQVox Switch SE - all network cables are AQVox Blaze Cat. 7). This means that isolation function of the EtherRegen is being performed by the Fidata, but I thought it might still be worthwhile inserting it between the Fidata and the NDX2 for its re-clocking capabilities.

Playing files from the Fidata via the NDX to the Lab12 DAC does produce a difference compared with from the Fidata to the DAC via USB. Adding the reference clock to the mix changed this again (I'm using a cable 'borrowed' from the oscilloscope, but have a Belden 4694R cable with Neutrik BNC connectors coming to replace it and so I anticipate this might be enhanced). The difference between USB and network presents as a more 'analytical' presentation. The soundstage is wider and the elements within it are certainly more separated and 'edge' and attack are enhanced. With some files the difference is relatively small, whereas with other, usually older (and often remastered / remixed) recordings, it is quite pronounced. This presents something of a dilemma and at the moment, my general preference is for the USB route (which is also more familiar) whereas my friend (an ex-broadcast engineer) liked the way the EtherREGEN route revealed 'new' things from the recordings. I am less convinced about the 'benefit' of this and have the impression that one route presents the mix that the recording engineer produced, whereas the other starts to 'unpick' all the hard work that they put in! The USB route 'feels' more natural, but, as I stated, it is also more familiar and is also closer to the other playback routes (CD and vinyl) - we'll see how my view changes as things settle in and I get a chance to listen more.

One thing that is for sure is that the EtherREGEN and its PSU run hot; very hot. I have ordered some heatsinks and will bond them to a machined brass plate (3 mm for the moment) to improve their cooling. The heatsinks and thermal adhesive should arrive today and I will then machine the brass plates to fit them to and interface with the units - I'll take a picture when they are done.

The other major change to the system is to the phono-stage amplifier. I was using a Linn Uphorik. This was set to 47 pF and 42 Ohms for the Dynavector DRT XV-1s cartridge I used to use. Having changed to a DRT XV-1t I needed to increase the impedance, but was putting it off as pulling the unit out of the rack to get to the dip-switches under the rear is a pain! I had been looking around at other phono-stages and was taken by the Lector, but again it is a 2-box design and their UK agent is useless. Then I started to read good things about the Melto2 by Lab12. What is especially appealing is the ability to change settings 'on-the-fly', including the equalisation curve (and so potentially be able to match it to the one used in the cutting process). And so a Melto2 was ordered and is now in the system and, once the correct impedance was 'dialed-in', it quickly revealed itself to be a keeper!

The last change has been to the power conditioning. Some time back I compared the Lab12 Gordian with an IsoteK Sigmas. This resulted with me switching over on one of the racks as it enhanced the digital components on there. As I was moving stuff onto the other rack and changing the signal flow in the system I had decided to change the other Sigmas for a Gordian as well, and that has now been done. The next job is to change all of their outputs to Schuko and get rid of the UK plugs for all items that have a rear panel fuse.

So, it has been a busy few days!