Recent content by RossB

My Nagra had to go back for repair. To be fair, they dealt with it very promptly and provided exemplary service.

I had the Nagra Tube DAC and also spent a bit of time with a Nagra Classic DAC while the Tube DAC was back at the factory being upgraded. I used it with the Classic PSU which adds another 50% to the cost and 5% to the sound quality. The Classic DAC is not a valve DAC, but a solid state (and...

I had an Orbe with a IV. I'd take the Rega any day. The P8 in my second system sounds much better than the Orbe/SME.

Not pointless at all, an Aura sounds superb with any turntable at any level, and competes with phono stages at any price. I have used mine with my P8 as well as my PTP Solid9/Audio Origami PU7 and the Kuzma Stabi Ref/4 Point that preceded it. I preferred the Aura to the Nagra VPS/Classic PSU,the...

The Aura is vastly better than the Aria. I owned the Aria briefly and thought it sounded quite ordinary. The Aura is a true high end phono stage, competitive with anything out there.

Not me. It is exactly what I use - an Aura phono stage with an Aethos amp, and also with Neat speakers coincidentally (Iota Xplorers). Sounds superb.

I spent a week with a Bartok but knew within 3 minutes I would be sending it back. I ended up with a cheaper Chinese option, a Matrix X Sabre 3, which I much prefer.

I am also very much enjoying my Neat Iota Xplorers. I bought the Xplorers after selling my Neat Ekstras and "upgrading" to Dynaudio Heritage Specials, and then Penaudio Cenya Signatures, both twice as expensive as the Neats. The Dynaudios were probably the least musical speakers I have ever...

I've been through a few DACs over the years, some extremely expensive. The one I have ended up with the the Matrix X Sabre 3. To my ears, it just does everything right and gets out of the way.

I've had the TT2 and DAVE, both with M Scaler and without. Actually, I had the DAVE first, but ended up disliking its sound and sold it after a year. I bought a TT2 some time after and actually preferred it. It was fuller, warmer and more musical, without the forensic - and unnatural - detail of...

Mike, we have had exactly this discussion at least twice before. I much prefer the Superline - as well as the Rega Aura and the Tron - to the 912. It shows how much of this is down to personal taste.

I have owned many, many phono stages. A small selection (from memory): Naim Superline/Supercap Rega Aura Tom Evans Groove Anniversary Brinkmann Fein Ayre P5xe Einstein Little Big Aurorasound Vida EAR 834 EAR 912 I have now sold the Tron Convergence Signature, and have gone back to a Rega Aura...

It was a little more complex than that, of course. And it's not true that I didn't like the house sound. The Qutest is a decent DAC at the price, and the TT2 is in my opinion the best sounding of all of them (without the M Scaler, of course). As I said, the DAVE on its own is also quite good...

Yes, I have had two R2R DACs, a Holo Audio and a Metrum Pavane. They had a similar sound quality in important respects - tonally dense and colourful, and yet a bit slow and lacking dynamics. I infer from other comments I have read this seems to be common for R2R DACs. I can certainly understand...

I'm far from being an expert in digital signal technology, but it seems to me that all of these smaller, specialist DAC makers - Chord, DCS, Meitner, Playback Designs etc - seem to use versions of the same box of tricks. Massive upsampling, mix and match interpolation filters and, frequently...