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Post by stellabagpuss on Dec 15, 2021 15:52:16 GMT
just a quick update,due to Covid, we have been unable to meet up for a listening session. Hopefully, we will conclude early 2022
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Post by wannarock2 on Dec 15, 2021 21:52:54 GMT
just a quick update,due to Covid, we have been unable to meet up for a listening session. Hopefully, we will conclude early 2022 This f**king virus is real. Hope you all feel better soon. My brother lost his sense of smell & taste 2 years now.
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Post by stellabagpuss on Jun 20, 2022 8:51:13 GMT
Dosent time fly. All being well, John, Vic and myself are going to finally meet up,with various components, speakers and at last the Nord amps, so finally we can get a subjective view point.Should be interesting,as all of our set ups have changed over the last year. I didn't have the Gustard U18, After Dark Clock, Definitive D7 speakers and different cables. John nearly holds the world record for speaker changes, and Vic must be the current champion, and is on his active studio journey,Focal Shapes l believe, but thats probably changed already lol. We will report back roughly in a weeks time
Damien
Damien
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Post by MartinT on Jun 20, 2022 9:08:18 GMT
Have fun, guys, and do report back!
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Post by John on Jun 20, 2022 9:52:25 GMT
Vic beats me by at least double, but admit I have been through far to many. We are meeting on the 27th and will bring up the Evos. It be good to hear the Nords. I am hoping no feelings of a need of a system change after this as right now I am happy with the sound I get.
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Post by John on Jun 20, 2022 10:02:34 GMT
Vic speaker blogs www.trans-fi.com/diy-speaker-blogThis dose not go into his journey before Open baffles which is also considerable. I think I heard most of his Open baffles and had a few of the designs in my system. Thankfully now taking different paths
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Post by stellabagpuss on Jun 20, 2022 11:52:04 GMT
No what you mean John reference changes. I can see two possible headaches, l love the Evo's and Probably the Shape 50,exciting that we can a play around with bits.
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Post by stellabagpuss on Jun 28, 2022 21:36:32 GMT
So l finally got to meet up with Vic,Sadly John had to cancel, so you'll have to put with my general subjective views. My D7 speakers and Nord amps sounding refined,with slightly softer bass presentation. Vic is into active speakers, we mainly compared then against Focal Shapes 50, these have more bite and attack,brighter treble,and not as refined or airy,simply a different character. Vic then tried a SMSL SA400 Amp on the D7 speakers, in Vic words, the Nord trounced it, the SMSL reminded me of CD replay back in the 90s ,splashy treble, simply lacking the swing and musical sound of the Nords. We tried the Focal Shapes 40, but they where just lacked impact in the lower mid frequencies,almost someone has eq them to a lowe level. Finally Vic produced his Trump card,the Elac Navis. These sound superb, and was very close to the Nord & D7 combo, l preferred these over the Focals. The funny thing is, Vic says they do everything perfectly, but he gets bored of them, and perfers the attack and bite of the Focal Shape 50s. We also discussed a interesting psychological effect, Vic is retired and listens every day. l only listen once a week, and look forward to it,and marvel at the sound, perhaps if we changed listening habits, l would get bored? Food for thought.
Hopefully we can meet up, l was looking forward to hearing those Gold notes paired with the Nords
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Post by MartinT on Jun 29, 2022 4:57:03 GMT
Sounds like you guys had an interesting session.
Shame John couldn't make it.
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Post by julesd68 on Jun 29, 2022 10:23:27 GMT
Is the Navis made by Elac?
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Post by stellabagpuss on Jun 29, 2022 11:22:53 GMT
Yes the Navis is made by Elac. Forgot to mention that. It was a interesting day, and was great to meet up, chat about anything. Vic was like a magician, entering one room and coming out with different speakers, l was waiting for a rabbit 🐇 out of a hat at one point.
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Post by julesd68 on Jun 29, 2022 11:59:00 GMT
Sounds like a great day.
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Post by John on Jun 29, 2022 11:59:31 GMT
I was gutted not to be able to be part of the session I must admit I love to hear the Nords with the Evo's
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Post by John on Jun 29, 2022 12:02:18 GMT
For me the Navis lacks the mids of the Evos but one of the better speakers I heard in my testing
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Post by stellabagpuss on Jun 29, 2022 18:37:41 GMT
ln truth we didn't test the Navis for too long,as l had to get ready to leave,we had been using this track as a comparison.
But l just simply preferred them to the Focal Shape 50.
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Post by John on Jun 29, 2022 18:41:11 GMT
Ahh Birelli Was in the best seat at RFH when I saw him.
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Post by stellabagpuss on Oct 23, 2022 22:24:49 GMT
lt was Jules turn to listen to the Nords, he paid a visit on Sunday, and we had a great time meeting up. Ill hand the comments over to Jules,for his views.
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Post by julesd68 on Oct 24, 2022 0:17:06 GMT
Yes it was great to meet you Damien and have a quick listening session en route home. I would have loved to have spent a bit more time chatting and listening to tunes as our musical tastes cross over quite a lot!
Before talking about the amps I've got to say what a great buy the little Definitive Audio bookshelf speakers are - yes, they need a sub to make meaningful bass but they really are outstanding VFM.
It didn't take long to realise with some familiar music that the Nord monos offer a very clean, powerful and neutral sound, good extension at the top and bottom, plenty of air and space in the soundstage and also strong dynamics. What I wasn't expecting was for the sound to have a touch of warmth, as my previous experience with Class D amps found them a bit on the clinical side. I'm wondering if that's a characteristic of these particular amps or whether it comes from somewhere else in the system, maybe the Gustard R26?
For Damien to push things even further, I wondered if he could squeeze a bit more in terms of detail and texture from bigger and better speakers that could maybe open up the midrange even further, but of course this would probably require quite an investment and finding speakers is never an easy journey. Given the satisfaction the system is giving him at the moment, that may not be a priority. Using the diminutive Definitives with big subs is a novel and cost effective solution to get the depth of sound already achieved.
I'll be interested to see what Damien does next with the system. Thanks again for the invite and a fun session.
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Post by stellabagpuss on Oct 24, 2022 7:21:08 GMT
Thanks again Jules for taking the time. Although brief,it was good fun.
It's a shame my Audio GD wasn't to hand, as that very texture in the low end is really apparent with this in place. So you could robbed of about 15% from the set up.
l lived with the Nords for a month in standard format, and just like yourself and Tony pointed out, a bit dry,still enjoyable,lacking warmth. When l added the Sonic Image modules,it just lost the dryness, and made things sound more analogue,but in a good way.
Yes the Definitive Technology D7 are a bargain at £140ish, however they do have that usual rear port hump,you didn't get to hear that,as l had filtered it out, due to my 60hz issue in the room.
Lastly the Gustard R26 really is great DAC, and indeed has reduced bite, compared to the usual ESS chips,but it's not to the amount to annoy you. It's when you listen to a old red book CD you realise how good the R26 is, and how accustomed l had become to the typical digital sound over the years.
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Post by HD Music & Test on Oct 24, 2022 8:05:08 GMT
As I have mentioned before the R26 is a real gem, its musical and natural reminds very much of the first Wadia's though they have more punch, but for the outlay and SQ you obtain its a really good dac. Much better than the vast majority of the chifi I've listned to. So linear and cohesive plus the startings of real texture. Glad you had a good days chaps.
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