Consonance Droplet

[Guest JohnA]

I have borrowed a volume control Consonance droplet cd player from a fellow member and will be conducting some tests tomorrow.

1: Volume control droplet vs non volume control and pre-amp (elektra pre)

2: Both droplets with the pre, reason for this, one of the droplets has the upgraded gold pin vlaves in it so this is to see if there is any difference between the standard and the upgraded valves

Reason i am doing this is to see if i even need to bother getting a new pre-amp after the elktra is gone.

As i only connect a cd player up to it anyways i do not require 3 or 4 inputs.

I will be doing these tests tomorrow so will report back all my findings for those hat are interested

[ozcal]

I have borrowed a volume control Consonance droplet cd player from a fellow member and will be conducting some tests tomorrow.

1: Volume control droplet vs non volume control and pre-amp (elektra pre)

2: Both droplets with the pre, reason for this, one of the droplets has the upgraded gold pin vlaves in it so this is to see if there is any difference between the standard and the upgraded valves

Reason i am doing this is to see if i even need to bother getting a new pre-amp after the elktra is gone.

As i only connect a cd player up to it anyways i do not require 3 or 4 inputs.

I will be doing these tests tomorrow so will report back all my findings for those hat are interested

Hi John , It will be interesting to hear the results of your tests. Not much point of having extra electronics in the signal path if you don't really need them , as the theory goes.

Gordon

[Guest JohnA]

this is what i hope for Gordon

[betty boop]

should be pretty interesting what you should find john. both in the value of the gold pin valves and pre vs vol control on the cd player.

[norpus]

should be pretty interesting what you should find john. both in the value of the gold pin valves and pre vs vol control on the cd player.

Watch out for those potential missing 1's and 0's John - theory vs practise. Practise should be counted moreso IMO here

[Guest JohnA]

First the warning

If you do intend on purchasing one and not use a pre-amp have it tested at he store via RCA straight into an amp

via balanced it works fine, i tried RCA and heard a fair bit of hissing, thought, hmmm not good, then pressed play and all hell broke lose once the volume was turned up a notch...thought i done some damage to the speakers, but thankfully not.

Personaly if this thing is still under warranty i would take it back and have it checked out

Anyways to my findings.

Hooked via balanced straight into the elktra reference, my first though was, hmmmm sound a little too dull, the top end seemed to roll off too much

so listend to a few tracks, then hooked it up to the elektra pre, the top end came back to life again and midrange (esspecialy vocal) were nicer.

Is this something the elektra adds? or is it the drople ton its own lacking as a pre-amp?

Not sure of that answer

So now to test the valve differences.

Not a huge deal in it realy, the gold pin ones had a slightly warmer sound to the normal ones.

Its not a very expensive upgrade so if you prefer that sound may be worth pursuing.

There are also a few notible differences between the 2 models (again not sure if its an older vs newer model)

first the led isplay is brighter on the non volume control ( i prefered the dimmer version on the volume control)

the puck that holds the cd isn't as heavy nor the same magnetic force as the non volume version

and finaly the buttons on the top are smaller on the volume control compared to the non volume control.

Again this could all be model specific and maybe one is an older version to the other

Anyways, it doesn't seem i can get away without a pre-amp if i was to persue a volume control droplet, i would also be very weary of going straight into an amp via rca from todays hair raising experiance (i was warned also by the owner, but thought to give it a try)

Via rca through the pre-amp and rca into the power amp all is fine, just doesn't like rca straight into the amp

[betty boop]

First the warning

If you do intend on purchasing one and not use a pre-amp have it tested at he store via RCA straight into an amp

via balanced it works fine, i tried RCA and heard a fair bit of hissing, thought, hmmm not good, then pressed play and all hell broke lose once the volume was turned up a notch...thought i done some damage to the speakers, but thankfully not.

Personaly if this thing is still under warranty i would take it back and have it checked out

Anyways to my findings.

Hooked via balanced straight into the elktra reference, my first though was, hmmmm sound a little too dull, the top end seemed to roll off too much

so listend to a few tracks, then hooked it up to the elektra pre, the top end came back to life again and midrange (esspecialy vocal) were nicer.

Is this something the elektra adds? or is it the drople ton its own lacking as a pre-amp?

Not sure of that answer

So now to test the valve differences.

Not a huge deal in it realy, the gold pin ones had a slightly warmer sound to the normal ones.

Its not a very expensive upgrade so if you prefer that sound may be worth pursuing.

There are also a few notible differences between the 2 models (again not sure if its an older vs newer model)

first the led isplay is brighter on the non volume control ( i prefered the dimmer version on the volume control)

the puck that holds the cd isn't as heavy nor the same magnetic force as the non volume version

and finaly the buttons on the top are smaller on the volume control compared to the non volume control.

Again this could all be model specific and maybe one is an older version to the other

Anyways, it doesn't seem i can get away without a pre-amp if i was to persue a volume control droplet, i would also be very weary of going straight into an amp via rca from todays hair raising experiance (i was warned also by the owner, but thought to give it a try)

Via rca through the pre-amp and rca into the power amp all is fine, just doesn't like rca straight into the amp

wow john sounds liek you had a crazy experience goign direct to amp on rcas ! re the vol control vs the pre, good to knwo I guess the pre is doing somethign for what it costs money. my only experiences was with a high end disc player with vol control vs a audio research tube pre a few years back now and no question the pe was all life and fullness ot the soudn vs the vol control sounding drab by comparison. we did vol control on the benchmark dac if you remember vs some 2ch pre's which also gave simialr results I think from memory.

[Guest JohnA]

Just goes to show Al, don't believe everything you read in reviews and try it out yourself.

here is a short part of a review on the volume droplet

Just like expected, listening confirmed that the Droplet's output stage is a de facto single-input preamp such as you'd find on the excellent Audio Aero Prima SE (which is a DAC/pre with two additional analog inputs).

As is true also for the $3,500-direct Resolution Audio Opus 21, the Consonance CD player can be used in variable-out mode without suffering "passive preamp" depression of white-washing tonal colors, flattening out the soundstage or subtracting dynamic drive to become anemic and listless.

Yes, a really good separate preamp will add just a bit more image density and perhaps even macrodynamic scale but in the same gesture, you could also notice a reduction in transparency (as with the PrimaLuna), this contingent on the pre's ultimate quality.

but i do agree with htis part of the same review

In general, preamps fall into three camps: those you can't hear; those that make everything sound better; and those that improve only certain systems. The first camp believes all a preamp should do is switch sources and control volume. Needless to say, if you're running a single source with variable outputs (or an amp with an input level control), a "sonically absentee" preamp is redundancy personified.

The second kind of preamp improves dynamics, image density, soundstage dimensionality and tonal body without reducing resolution. It thus makes a powerful argument in its own favor since source-direct is often accused of being too lean, spatially compressed and a bit sterile by comparison. The third type of preamp shall not concern us. It's a hit'n'miss affair

taken from 6moons

[ozcal]

Just goes to show Al, don't believe everything you read in reviews and try it out yourself.

here is a short part of a review on the volume droplet

Just like expected, listening confirmed that the Droplet's output stage is a de facto single-input preamp such as you'd find on the excellent Audio Aero Prima SE (which is a DAC/pre with two additional analog inputs).

As is true also for the $3,500-direct Resolution Audio Opus 21, the Consonance CD player can be used in variable-out mode without suffering "passive preamp" depression of white-washing tonal colors, flattening out the soundstage or subtracting dynamic drive to become anemic and listless.

Yes, a really good separate preamp will add just a bit more image density and perhaps even macrodynamic scale but in the same gesture, you could also notice a reduction in transparency (as with the PrimaLuna), this contingent on the pre's ultimate quality.

but i do agree with htis part of the same review

In general, preamps fall into three camps: those you can't hear; those that make everything sound better; and those that improve only certain systems. The first camp believes all a preamp should do is switch sources and control volume. Needless to say, if you're running a single source with variable outputs (or an amp with an input level control), a "sonically absentee" preamp is redundancy personified.

The second kind of preamp improves dynamics, image density, soundstage dimensionality and tonal body without reducing resolution. It thus makes a powerful argument in its own favor since source-direct is often accused of being too lean, spatially compressed and a bit sterile by comparison. The third type of preamp shall not concern us. It's a hit'n'miss affair

taken from 6moons

Interesting stuff John and thank G you didn't damage any of your other equipment with the faulty RCA connection.

I wonder if the poorer sound quality from the variable volume model is due to the output impedance of the Droplet being too high into the Elektra and whether this could be changed for better all round performance with a VC droplet.

Anyway ,nice way to spend a Saturday afternoon.

Gordon

[Guest JohnA]

hey Gordon, yes, luckily no damage

I'm not sure why the problem was there, but considering it worked perfectly with the xlr outputs of the droplet it should have worked with the rca also

Not sure what you mean by better performance using a VC droplet, is there another version i am not aware of?

[ozcal]

hey Gordon, yes, luckily no damage

I'm not sure why the problem was there, but considering it worked perfectly with the xlr outputs of the droplet it should have worked with the rca also

Not sure what you mean by better performance using a VC droplet, is there another version i am not aware of?

Sorry John ,just meant volume control Droplet (vc) and the output stage on it having to high an impedance.Seem to remeber reading somwhere that an output impedance that is to high relative to the input impedance of the amp can cause the sort of things you were experiencing.

Gordon

[Guest JohnA]

you could be right gordon

may have to e-mail greg and see what he has to say.

I think the same was found with the shanling also straight into an amp, was better when partnered with a pre.