Inoculator

@Vansen You think that kind of Radio Shack nostalgia is easy…or cheap??

I found a photo of that firework launcher and the case definitely did not come from RadioShack, lol. It’s still in my dad’s messy garage. https://i.imgur.com/EYeNiLb.jpg

@Inoculator thanks for the feedback. Weiss 204/205 has ESS 9018. Do you have the latest board on 204 ?

Using it with my office turntable which I have to admit I am not familiar enough with to comment on overall sound quality, but seems nice and neutral sounding. Maybe sounds a tad flatter/thinner than the R26 I use on this setup but too many variables to comment yet.

This is the first phono preamp in a while that I’ve wanted to demo next to my Manley Chinook. I’ll even loan you the Manley if you’re curious about it.

Not winning any design awards that's for sure.

loaner tour worthy?

@yotacowboy I would say so, I can't swing a personal loaner on this one though. Maybe one of the friends of SBAF is a dealer for Weiss and could hook it up? They are the hot ticket item right now, I had to wait a month to get mine from my local dealer.

Purty!

that magic eye goes hard

Update now that I am listening to it (after almost a day of burn in) rather than just rearranging my rack and drooling over it...it is good, hype was justified it seems. Lots more listening ahead.

I just use ARC through my modded Oppo BDP-103D blu-ray player and send that to my Yggdrasil. Otherwise I'd just use an optical cable. HDMI sucks and the standards change all the time. Never again will I combine so many functions into one box like a streamer/DAC/pre. Keep the analog stuff separate at least!

Ha, I think we've got our acronyms crossed. I was thinking of Active Room Correction, but I think you mean Audio Return Channel. My bad. I had an interesting system going where I ran the Anthem STR pre/DAC/processor main outs into HT bypass inputs of an ARC (Audio Research Corporation, ha!) tube pre and the STR's sub outs to a pair of 15in subs.

That way I could have an all-analog, all-tube chain for vinyl, and an a digital, DSP-room-correct very full-range chain for streaming. I thought it worked great. (But all of this maybe less relevant to your post. Apologies.)

Curious - what pushed you away from the May?

@Soups $$$. I am no longer working from home so I decided to liquidate a bunch of my home office rig as it felt silly to have that much money tied up in a DAC/headamp for a personal rig I am not getting much use on/I primarily listen to vinyl on. Of course easier said than done, I ended up more side grading as I stumbled into a new level of performance with my LS3/5a paired with a Whammerdyne amp.

I'm somewhat resigned to the idea that a proper liquidation of my gear will only happen through an estate sale (post-me). ;)

@Tchoupitoulas I have my fingers crossed! I have it going with the Enleum and after some quick brain adjustment to planar sound I am digging it so far. Not in a wow way yet, but seems like a very well sorted headphone.

I very much enjoy my LCD-2F (under-rated IMO) with electronic music. Definitely not good for all genres, but real neat with synth bass especially.

Nice, I like my LCD 2 pre fazor, good sound

Right over my head! Lol. Thanks! It has a "if Bottlehead and Chord had a baby" vibes. I dig it.

I get Cylon vibes myself.

@Armaegis All this has happened before, and all of it will happen again.

Nice! Have a whammerdyne 2a3 amp myself and was shocked how much better it sounded vs other tube amps I've tried before. Please share how the hybrid sounds. If they're as good as his other tube amps, you should be pleasantly surprised.

@foo_me I love to hear that there are other Whammerdyne folks around here. They seem to really know how to make the most out of the 2A3, wish I was in a position to run one currently. You have the DGA? Gotta love the PNW hookup, hybrid arriving tomorrow!

Have an older DAA3. Yeah, haven’t encountered many owners myself, which is a shame. More people should try them out. His marketing is over the top and hard to take seriously but when you listen to the amp, it’s pretty special. I also no longer have any desire to try any new tube speaker amps.

Have you heard the Devore O/ speakers? After not connecting with them a couple times, I had a solid audition with them at CommonWave in LA. Didn't love them off a Shindo rig, but they really came alive through a Nagra chain. Well, no surprise, maybe, as Nagra $$$$.

@wbass funny enough I stopped into my local shop to hear the Devore O/baby since they had them on demo and I have always been curious. I was very underwhelmed. But on the setup behind me was the Audio Notes which I had heard at Pacific Audio Fest a couple weeks ago. Was blown away, put the Devores to shame. Granted could have been electronics discrepancy. Dragging my Enleum in next week for an audition.

The demo pair I was getting ready to snag sold :( oh well, gives more time to think it over, audition more, and make sure it is the right fit.

Due to the extra bass/cabinet depth, they liked being pulled out. But when you do you are treated with some amazing performance for the price. They scale like mad also, sounds TOTL quality via the Holo May/Bliss to LM805ia chain. If I did not already have LS3/5a I would probably just buy these and be a happy camper.

Particularly curious about your AMP-23R-Bliss shootout. Even brief impressions.

@wbass I will be sure to prioritize that. I bought the AMP-23R primarily for speaker use, and use the Bliss as a preamp , so need more headphone time. Both pretty spectacular and leave me perfectly content without tubes. Bliss is a bit more straight ahead (imagine the THX sound if it was actually good; organic and natural, dynamic, and great width/depth/layering) The Enleum is a tad more colored, harmonically rich.

I'll let them go into your hands for $3k - $1500 friend discount. :P

klipsch and Mac gear hounds seem to be the worst about this on CL. every decent piece of gear shows up a month later for 50% higher price, plus 4 other SCAMMER!!! warning ads from pissed off retired dudes with nothing better to do than troll craigslist.

@yotacowboy For sure. The bummer is I know the guy through my dad (my dad has bought gear off of him). I reached out and let him know how bummed I was to miss the crazy good deal (it was an estate situation), and told him congrats on the score. He had the audacity to try to sell me some other stuff lol. Feel bad for the family member that has to see him selling them for a $3k markup less than 72 hours later.

@Ksaurav402 for sure. Will be doing a write up in a few weeks with comparison (via memory) to Starlett/Folkvangr/ZDS, and have an enleum amp-23r in the house to do a more direct comparison to as far as TOTL SS amps.

my Oor is sitting here wondering how Bliss compares with Susvara or Meze Elite…

@jexby I have not had the opportunity to try the Susvara yet...but now with the Bliss and Enleum in the house I think I need to prioritize hearing them. Very early impressions, impressed by the Bliss so far and not finding much/anything to fault.

@netforce no streaming company makes money. Not even Spotify. That can’t be sustained forever. Eventually we will only have Apple, Amazon and Google who can use streaming services for their other products.

"... the company has undergone a restructuring initiative."

Which is bullshit for, errm, something. But it seems they are negotiating with a possible buyer. So we have to postpone the grave dancing.

source: https://www.whathifi.com/news/mqa-is-going-into-administration

@rhythmdevils In a way streaming services needed to get a reality check that it was too unsustainable to always be burning money at their rates but I do foresee a mass of services consolidating and shuttering now.

Started by just buying one of his power cords, and then due to his stellar customer service and the performance I have found, have slowly moved both of my systems over to a variety of his offerings. Will work with you on connector directions. Heck he is even prototyping a new cable for me just because I needed a short run with better flexibility in one spot.

I’m a fan of his cables as well. I use his statement silver USB and statement se copper RCA interconnects. Great quality without breaking the bank.

@ckhirnigs yeah I am impressed by his statement copper interconnects, at least as good as the diy furutech/KLE ones I was using before. Which is a good thing, as they all sound great and just a touch warm/full. I want to try his signature silver in my living room rig, and that is where he is working on prototyping some short/flexible ones for max WAF of that stack.