I really dig the styling of the 160 and these look much the same which is a good thing. Such a great looking fascia design.

Still coming down after the mid-week GTG.

Of course, it's a nice thing if one leaves a music session and then come home to realise that one's own system doesn't sound too bad... unfortunately that ISN'T what happens after a visit to @Ittakus!!!

Everything sounds closed-in after spending a day with his system.

 

Anyway, I forgot to mention that at one stage I pressed Con on his speaker/sub integration, in the context of full FIR. I learned his new technique* of adjusting sub Xover so that the sub is exactly out of phase (ie, basically reflecting the sub's own Xover point) compared to the speaker at the point where the speaker first starts to roll off (which is to say, begins it's own shift phase).  The sub's contribution is rapidly disappearing above this frequency.  Subsequent FIR then allows one to bring the sub at all lower frequencies into phase with the speaker. Since Con runs subs at full volume, final EQing will essentially make the speaker's contribution disappear below it's roll-off point.  I will try this when I find motivation, but it does make good sense to me.

*[Con, if I have garbled your explanation then I will blame too much red wine consumed on the day]

 

Garnering such generous and detailed insights, which cost nothing to implement, while luxuriating in a truly intoxicating music experience, to say nothing of the alcohol, is just the  @Ittaku bucket-list experience :-)

 

Just noticed Topping have brought out another DAC in their never-ending cycle of new DACs, the D90LE. It has optional "valve or FET" distortion which is a cute feature, but its best attribute is it's the performance of the D90SE but comes without MQA so you don't have to pay licensing fees for that garbage.

1 hour ago, Ittaku said:

Just noticed Topping have brought out another DAC in their never-ending cycle of new DACs, the D90LE. It has optional "valve or FET" distortion which is a cute feature, but its best attribute is it's the performance of the D90SE but comes without MQA so you don't have to pay licensing fees for that garbage.

 

They are probably injecting a little 2nd harmonic,  as I do in my digital phono preamp.  It's a bit of a gimmick,  but it actually does sound nice.

 

It's interesting to watch a company like Topping on the rise.  Good on them.

6 minutes ago, aussievintage said:

 

They are probably injecting a little 2nd harmonic,  as I do in my digital phono preamp.  It's a bit of a gimmick,  but it actually does sound nice.

 

It's interesting to watch a company like Topping on the rise.  Good on them.

Yeah that's exactly what they're doing; 2nd and 3rd in different balance for the two sound signatures.

Went to the hifi show today. Mostly forgettable, and some of the old guard are sounding worse even. Estelons very disappointing for having the best room and most likely most expensive system there. Best sound was from Nirvana Sound this year and the Wilson Benesch speakers with an insane turntable of Mark's and Ypsilon amplification despite being confined to a small room. Most impressive demo was from Cabasse with their active speakers as a (relative) bargain. Those rooms are absolute murder for demonstrating and those least affected by room acoustics because of their radiation patterns were universally the least worst; DSP with room correction were winners of the day. Funnily enough the PS Audio FR30s sounded better in the small room despite being exactly the same system I listened to because it boosted their bass making up for their biggest deficiency. Way too much talking and not enough music is the most common problem - they should just have music playing constantly in the room and be standing outside for discussion instead. Home theatre demos were very impressive but extraordinarily expensive and as I asked the demonstrator "WTF were we just watching!?" I always need to go home and listen to my own system immediately after a show because you end up listening to so many things you start losing perspective about your own system. Not disappointed. It's still fun to go and spend hours geeking it up and running into other members of the community.

I have to agree on the bass heavy rooms. The smaller rooms were pretty small, so you were close to near field listening and the concrete walls made them far fatter sounding down low. Not the way I usually listen to my main system. 
 

I had a similar “must get home and compare” experience. It must be brutal trying to get a good sound in those rooms, but it wouldn’t cost a bomb to do some dsp before doors opened to bring out the best under the circumstances.

Couldn't resist taking a peek inside the crossover enclosure of my speakers, so here they are.

 

Tweaked my DSP even further. This time I just did some paragraphic phase eq convolution on top of the existing filters to get phase alignment better between left and right subwoofers. Subsequently this got me more bass so I had to turn it down yet again. Low bass definition and localisation improved as a result. I don't think I can extract an awful lot more out of this as I've pretty much run out of tricks, but I did revise the convolution incrementally 18 times today.

32 minutes ago, Ittaku said:

Tweaked my DSP even further. This time I just did some paragraphic phase eq convolution on top of the existing filters to get phase alignment better between left and right subwoofers. Subsequently this got me more bass so I had to turn it down yet again. Low bass definition and localisation improved as a result. I don't think I can extract an awful lot more out of this as I've pretty much run out of tricks, but I did revise the convolution incrementally 18 times today.

 

Nah, mate - you just need to redo those awfully convoluted XOs!  

 

Simplerer ... is betterer, right?

 

Andy

 

What a lovely listening environment. 

Among all DACs I have enjoyed listening to, MSB Select 2 with dual PSU and Femto clock; this combo sounded terrific. A bit beyond my league in terms of capital investment. 

It would be an incredible experience to listen to your setup. So fortunate for those who visited! 

Cheers,

Chanh. 

On 05/06/2022 at 4:16 PM, Ittaku said:

 Best sound was from Nirvana Sound this year and the Wilson Benesch speakers with an insane turntable of Mark's and Ypsilon amplification despite being confined to a small room. Most impressive demo was from Cabasse with their active speakers as a (relative) bargain. Those rooms are absolute murder for demonstrating and those least affected by room acoustics because of their radiation patterns were universally the least worst; DSP with room correction were winners of the day. 

So glad you are mentioning the Cabasse  - gives me confidence that I am not going mad / have a reasonable ear for music. Reason I am saying this is that not many have commented on them in the separate HiFi show thread and I was wondering if I was the only one that liked them.

 

Love your comment on having to listen to your own system asap after the show!

 

6 hours ago, Jventer said:

So glad you are mentioning the Cabasse  - gives me confidence that I am not going mad / have a reasonable ear for music. Reason I am saying this is that not many have commented on them in the separate HiFi show thread and I was wondering if I was the only one that liked them.

 

Love your comment on having to listen to your own system asap after the show!

 

I thought the larger Cabasse balls sounded nice (caveat it was a fairly undemanding track they were playing) but without any idea of what $ they were selling for I wasn't able to form any view whether they represented a worthwhile proposition.

I can't even find that product on any websites so maybe it is quite a new product.

Just now, tripitaka said:

I thought the larger Cabasse balls sounded nice (caveat it was a fairly undemanding track they were playing) but without any idea of what $ they were selling for I wasn't able to form any view whether they represented a worthwhile proposition.

I can't even find that product on any websites so maybe it is quite a new product.

The largest ones in that room were $11K per pair.

12 hours ago, tripitaka said:

I thought the larger Cabasse balls sounded nice (caveat it was a fairly undemanding track they were playing) but without any idea of what $ they were selling for I wasn't able to form any view whether they represented a worthwhile proposition.

I can't even find that product on any websites so maybe it is quite a new product.

Those black one for $11K being active with all the connectivity options and DSP IMO is a bargain.

More info here: https://www.cabasse.com/en/the-pearl/

Had another great get together today. The banter, cheese, and wine side was so prominent that we spent 95% of the time at the wine tasting table and no one sat in the sweet spot for more than about 5 minutes over a 4 hour get together. Another great afternoon with excellent company and discussion. Not sure we were very critical or appreciative of the audio today, and that's perfectly fine

Edited June 8, 20223 yr by Ittaku

Yes, a great arvo, Con.  

 

Not sure about the 'banter' - it was all serious discussion as far as I was concerned!  

 

And with your spkrs ... there is no need to sit in "the sweet spot" - it sounds great at the wine-tasting table.

 

Andy

 

Great afternoon thanks Con, l tried to keep my mouth shut but it didn't seem to make much difference!,😉

I concur with Andy, enough was happening from the tasting table - to elicit a lasting impression. 

 

Few gems at the end in relative silence, from the sweet spot(s) - closest to a "live performance " I've heard in a domestic setting!,

Edited June 8, 20223 yr by evil c

3 hours ago, Ittaku said:

Had another great get together today. The banter, cheese, and wine side was so prominent that we spent 95% of the time at the wine tasting table and no one sat in the sweet spot for more than about 5 minutes over a 4 hour get together. Another great afternoon with excellent company and discussion. Not sure we were very critical or appreciative of the audio today, and that's perfectly fine

I had the pleasure of visiting Con  along with three other invitees today to listen his system.  To hear his wonderful system was a total pleasure.  Con’s achievements with both the integration of the system components, the convolution control and the room treatment provide a special experience.  Overall, regardless of where you were in the marvelous room, the sound stage remained virtually the same.  Whilst there is a sweet spot it didn’t really matter where you were. 

The listening opportunity has inspired me to try to further refine my own setup.  There never is an end to the refinement and enhancement of one’s system.

The hospitality was great.  Comment has been made above about time spent talking and little serious listening.  One minute after Con started with his play list I went up to him and said  "  I have heard what I needed to hear so I can leave now"  It was said in jest.  First listen and I knew it was fantastic.

Congratulations Con on your achievement with the superb music listening outcome of your system.

John

Wow… you accommodated @Assisi, @evil c and @andyr in your room all together on the same day?  Perhaps we need to get you on the UN Security Council 😆

3 minutes ago, Stereophilus said:

Wow… you accommodated @Assisi, @evil c and @andyr in your room all together on the same day?  Perhaps we need to get you on the UN Security Council 😆

You omitted @djb,  never achieved such a full and diverse complement before, ever!

His power is absolute, undoubtedly !!! 😉

On 31/3/2022 at 4:43 PM, vinilink said:

+ there is one more for him to try to raise another bar for SQ, the audiophile thick power cord. 😜

Don’t you mean “power chord” the spelling seems to change once a cord gets above a few hundred. Those volts need to be caressed carefully for the last metre or so 

AJ

Edited June 8, 20223 yr by A J

I measured the volume level of the Organ Symphony on the calibrated microphone (z weighted since 16Hz is below human hearing) and it is indeed 112dB in the listening position.

On 09/06/2022 at 2:49 PM, Ittaku said:

I measured the volume level of the Organ Symphony on the calibrated microphone (z weighted since 16Hz is below human hearing) and it is indeed 112dB in the listening position.

With regards to this, the volume limiting component of my system is actually the amplification to the main speakers, and I've adjusted my balance and DSP accordingly, and that was effectively full volume. The subwoofers are capable of much more. One of the reasons I'd like to get the 750SE successors down the track.

 

I spent the last day and a half fine tuning the absolute phase for left and right speakers a little bit further as far as the woofers go (105Hz). Awesome what you can do with convolution.

 

The corresponding effect on excess group delay was most noticeable.

 

 

It was almost this close during the get together, but I couldn't help but tweak it further since there were a couple of bumps still in the phase response.

29 minutes ago, Ittaku said:

With regards to this, the volume limiting component of my system is actually the amplification to the main speakers, and I've adjusted my balance and DSP accordingly, and that was effectively full volume. The subwoofers are capable of much more. One of the reasons I'd like to get the 750SE successors down the track.

 

I spent the last day and a half fine tuning the absolute phase for left and right speakers a little bit further as far as the woofers go (105Hz). Awesome what you can do with convolution.

 

The corresponding effect on excess group delay was most noticeable.

 

 

It was almost this close during the get together, but I couldn't help but tweak it further since there were a couple of bumps still in the phase response.

 

Oh my good lord, looks like I need to be invited back again😀😀