Just received my new integrated amp: the Belles Soloist 1 (right of the Vincent, behind the speaker) and although I am completely into the Vincent SV-237MK / Roksan Darius MkIV magical combination (*), I couldn’t resist to set-up the Thiel CS.5 (with Van Damme LC-OFC 4mm speaker cable) and have a listen…
First impressions? What a incredible pairing this is! Super transparent and smooth… huge soundstage and very robust sense of presence from instruments and voices.
For example: I can hear some meat-on-the-bones in presentation of Lightning Hopkins’s Soul Blues (1964, Prestige, OBC), very spacious, airy and detailed sound combined with a liquid smoothness… this makes an old recording like this truly shine.
When I remove the Roksan’s, I will certainly dedicate my time to the Belles and the Thiel, but also will the the Totem Model 1 because I suspect that that pair will show tremendous synergy.
Then, I will probably add the Naim CD5x / FC2x to the party as I suspect it will work very well also.
(*) I been using this system for a little more than couple of months, and I am having too much fun, especially with the Denafrips Pontus II and Audiolab 9000CDT, and the Rega Saturn CD player.
I will maintain this combination until the mighty Sonic Frontiers SFD-2 MkII comes from the restoration shop.
One last major change in the system: the complete analogue front end is now boxed and for sale! Hurray