Ruminations on new analog & digital sources (VPI, Dynavector, Ayre vs. Berkeley DAC)
Following up on http://www.martinloganowners.com/forum/showthread.php?t=9141, I just wanted to give a brief summary and overview of the final measurements and listening impressions of my new analog and digital sources.
New analog rig: VPI Aries 3, VPI 10.5i arm Valhalla wire, Dynavector XX-2 MkII (1kOhm loading), Ayre P-5xe, Nordost Tyr XLR-to-XLR (to phono) and Kimber Hero XLR-to-XLR (to preamp), SDS; Siltech SPX-20 power cords (shielded) all around except amp, Shuhyata Sidewinder Helix CX for the amp.
The VPI combo astounded me so much from the get-go (still not broken in or tuned), that within four days of its arrival the Spectral SDR-2000 Pro DAC that I was using (and which just could not compete with the VPI, trailing it by a wide margin) underwent a head-to-head test with the Berkeley Alpha DAC, and within 6 hours it was up for sale.
So three weeks later the Berkeley Alpha DAC arrived, and was driven by the Spectral SDR-3000 xport and connected via the AES/EBU interface with a Kimber Orchid and to the preamp with Kimber 1030 silver interconnects. By then, the VPI had broken in, its speed stabilizing to 0.1% accuracy (rendering a 1 kHz tone with +-0.5Hz accuracy) and confirmed with the KAB Strobe, all grounding issues had been resolved and new Siltech shielded power cords replaced my custom Home Depot ones, all along using the Revox to measure and lower hum and noise - as a side benefit, my FM got quieter as well. At the same time, the cartridge had loosened up, tracking force is at 1.876 grams, alignment was performed with a custom MintLP Tractor (same as a Wally Tractor; Baerwald algorithm), azimuth was set using again the Revox and the Analog Productions Test LP, and VTA was adjusted to the best I could. With the subwoofer on and volume at max, there is no wild woofer motion or port chuffing when playing the silent track on the same Test LP - excellent turntable performance. With the volume at 12 o'clock (above normal listening levels) the phono stage emits just a tiny bit of hiss. With the arm floating in the air (i.e 0g VTF) and the volume at max, there is no audible feedback when tapping anywhere on the turntable or rack - a unipivot truly isolates the cartridge from external vibrations. To hear any hint of feedback with this test I had to pass the signal through the Revox at max gain, for a total gain of perhaps ~160dB for the cartridge!
With the understanding that when I talk about the VPI or the Alpha I am really referring to the entire chain that starts with the transfer to each medium, here we go...
Auditions: The differences between the VPI and the 2000 Pro were so pronounced up front, with the latter offering a very diffuse soundstage, less musicality, resolution and overall presence that it had to go - the VPI combo is just a stunner. Very soon, this became a contest between the VPI combo and the Alpha DAC, and for the direct comparison I used the best LP and CD pressings of the same material I could find. The tests were conducted by level-matching the sources and playing the same material at the same time to be able to switch back and forth, followed by listening to the each piece again this time to its entirety with each source before switching to the other.
1) Brubeck Time Out (Columbia 180g reissue vs. HDCD): This is where the 2000 Pro sounded so average that I thought the CD transfer was just horrible. After the Berkeley arrived, the overall performance was classes better, but still drier and more sterile than the LP, with less decay for all instruments, basically just OK to listen to. In sharp contrast, the entire LP is full of color, very realistic sounding, rendering the drums, sax and high hats with incredible body and realism, with an effortless and vivid presentation! Simply spectacular.
Scores: If I were to give 100 to the VPI, the Alpha gets a 92 and the 2000 Pro an 80. (100 is being used herein as a relative measurement point within this system).
For the rest of the tests, the 2000 Pro was simply sold...
2) Holst Planets (Decca, Los Angeles Phil, Mehta, 180g LP reissue vs. XRCD 24): Spectacular sound and colors from both, with a slight edge going to the turntable for a very slight (~ 1dB) rendering of dynamics which gave it a bit more presence; both sources played the 16Hz tone at the end of Uranus equally precisely with all its power and glory. I am very impressed with XRCD24.
Scores: VPI 100, Alpha 99
3) Saint Saens Symphony #3 (Munch/BSO, RCA 200g LP reissue vs XRCD2): Exactly the same rendition of the orchestra (of all things, I particularly enjoyed the long decay and sustain of the triangles, not just a 'ding', something I have not heard before in my system), except for the organ in the opening of the last movement. Here is where the similarities ended: The VPI/Dynavector/Ayre combo rendered the organ with frightening authority, presence and brio, trouncing the Alpha's sound by a wide margin. In contrast, through the Alpha the organ was fairly recessed and compressed. The VPI combo put out the WOW factor like I have never heard before in my system. This recording is branded "Stereo Spectacular" by RCA, and the LP lives up to it.
Scores: VPI 100, Alpha 97
4) Diana Krall Live in Paris (ORG 180g LP, Verve CD): Frankly, I only care about the Fly Me To The Moon track, so I concentrated on that only... Her voice is simply stunning through both sources, and they both give you that you-are-there feeling; I can't claim I can hear much of a difference between the two, except a light more air around the hi-hats through the LP, and only discernible during the A/B test. The sound is crystal clear and very musical - a very impressive recording.
Score: 100 to both
So then came the time to assess the Alpha separately with the best of the CD and HDCD recordings that I have. When playing Reference Recordings HDCD 16-bit material, I can hardly contain my excitement: Stravinsky's Rite of Spring; Rutter's Requiem; Joel Fan's World Keys; Tchaikovsky's Capriccio Italien, and so on. Spectacular sounds from all excluding none. The Alpha even manages to render Orff's Carmina Burana on the original Telarc with aplomb, a recoding that I have always felt CD cannot possibly do it justice, and certainly the Spectral 2000 Pro simply failed. With Harmonia Mundi, the sound is equally spectacular. DItto for Dorians and other XRCDs.
Conclusions: I came to the conclusion that depending on the recording and transfer to each particular medium:
1) the Alpha DAC cannot outperform the LP versions of the same material with plain 16 bit CDs but it can come awfully close;
2) CD transfers are frequently bad
3) The Alpha does outperform the VPI with RR/HDCD simply because these are higher quality recordings than anything I have on vinyl
4) The VPI combo is just spectacular and stunning and so is the Alpha with RR, Dorian and XRCD24 recordings
Finally, I expect the Alpha to be even better with hi-rez 24-bit material, perhaps next year. For now, I am very happy with the new sources, and especially the Alpha DAC and Ayre phono stage.
Peter
Update 9/27/2009 Uploaded pictures below, with additional under my system's link
Following up on http://www.martinloganowners.com/forum/showthread.php?t=9141, I just wanted to give a brief summary and overview of the final measurements and listening impressions of my new analog and digital sources.
New analog rig: VPI Aries 3, VPI 10.5i arm Valhalla wire, Dynavector XX-2 MkII (1kOhm loading), Ayre P-5xe, Nordost Tyr XLR-to-XLR (to phono) and Kimber Hero XLR-to-XLR (to preamp), SDS; Siltech SPX-20 power cords (shielded) all around except amp, Shuhyata Sidewinder Helix CX for the amp.
The VPI combo astounded me so much from the get-go (still not broken in or tuned), that within four days of its arrival the Spectral SDR-2000 Pro DAC that I was using (and which just could not compete with the VPI, trailing it by a wide margin) underwent a head-to-head test with the Berkeley Alpha DAC, and within 6 hours it was up for sale.
So three weeks later the Berkeley Alpha DAC arrived, and was driven by the Spectral SDR-3000 xport and connected via the AES/EBU interface with a Kimber Orchid and to the preamp with Kimber 1030 silver interconnects. By then, the VPI had broken in, its speed stabilizing to 0.1% accuracy (rendering a 1 kHz tone with +-0.5Hz accuracy) and confirmed with the KAB Strobe, all grounding issues had been resolved and new Siltech shielded power cords replaced my custom Home Depot ones, all along using the Revox to measure and lower hum and noise - as a side benefit, my FM got quieter as well. At the same time, the cartridge had loosened up, tracking force is at 1.876 grams, alignment was performed with a custom MintLP Tractor (same as a Wally Tractor; Baerwald algorithm), azimuth was set using again the Revox and the Analog Productions Test LP, and VTA was adjusted to the best I could. With the subwoofer on and volume at max, there is no wild woofer motion or port chuffing when playing the silent track on the same Test LP - excellent turntable performance. With the volume at 12 o'clock (above normal listening levels) the phono stage emits just a tiny bit of hiss. With the arm floating in the air (i.e 0g VTF) and the volume at max, there is no audible feedback when tapping anywhere on the turntable or rack - a unipivot truly isolates the cartridge from external vibrations. To hear any hint of feedback with this test I had to pass the signal through the Revox at max gain, for a total gain of perhaps ~160dB for the cartridge!
With the understanding that when I talk about the VPI or the Alpha I am really referring to the entire chain that starts with the transfer to each medium, here we go...
Auditions: The differences between the VPI and the 2000 Pro were so pronounced up front, with the latter offering a very diffuse soundstage, less musicality, resolution and overall presence that it had to go - the VPI combo is just a stunner. Very soon, this became a contest between the VPI combo and the Alpha DAC, and for the direct comparison I used the best LP and CD pressings of the same material I could find. The tests were conducted by level-matching the sources and playing the same material at the same time to be able to switch back and forth, followed by listening to the each piece again this time to its entirety with each source before switching to the other.
1) Brubeck Time Out (Columbia 180g reissue vs. HDCD): This is where the 2000 Pro sounded so average that I thought the CD transfer was just horrible. After the Berkeley arrived, the overall performance was classes better, but still drier and more sterile than the LP, with less decay for all instruments, basically just OK to listen to. In sharp contrast, the entire LP is full of color, very realistic sounding, rendering the drums, sax and high hats with incredible body and realism, with an effortless and vivid presentation! Simply spectacular.
Scores: If I were to give 100 to the VPI, the Alpha gets a 92 and the 2000 Pro an 80. (100 is being used herein as a relative measurement point within this system).
For the rest of the tests, the 2000 Pro was simply sold...
2) Holst Planets (Decca, Los Angeles Phil, Mehta, 180g LP reissue vs. XRCD 24): Spectacular sound and colors from both, with a slight edge going to the turntable for a very slight (~ 1dB) rendering of dynamics which gave it a bit more presence; both sources played the 16Hz tone at the end of Uranus equally precisely with all its power and glory. I am very impressed with XRCD24.
Scores: VPI 100, Alpha 99
3) Saint Saens Symphony #3 (Munch/BSO, RCA 200g LP reissue vs XRCD2): Exactly the same rendition of the orchestra (of all things, I particularly enjoyed the long decay and sustain of the triangles, not just a 'ding', something I have not heard before in my system), except for the organ in the opening of the last movement. Here is where the similarities ended: The VPI/Dynavector/Ayre combo rendered the organ with frightening authority, presence and brio, trouncing the Alpha's sound by a wide margin. In contrast, through the Alpha the organ was fairly recessed and compressed. The VPI combo put out the WOW factor like I have never heard before in my system. This recording is branded "Stereo Spectacular" by RCA, and the LP lives up to it.
Scores: VPI 100, Alpha 97
4) Diana Krall Live in Paris (ORG 180g LP, Verve CD): Frankly, I only care about the Fly Me To The Moon track, so I concentrated on that only... Her voice is simply stunning through both sources, and they both give you that you-are-there feeling; I can't claim I can hear much of a difference between the two, except a light more air around the hi-hats through the LP, and only discernible during the A/B test. The sound is crystal clear and very musical - a very impressive recording.
Score: 100 to both
So then came the time to assess the Alpha separately with the best of the CD and HDCD recordings that I have. When playing Reference Recordings HDCD 16-bit material, I can hardly contain my excitement: Stravinsky's Rite of Spring; Rutter's Requiem; Joel Fan's World Keys; Tchaikovsky's Capriccio Italien, and so on. Spectacular sounds from all excluding none. The Alpha even manages to render Orff's Carmina Burana on the original Telarc with aplomb, a recoding that I have always felt CD cannot possibly do it justice, and certainly the Spectral 2000 Pro simply failed. With Harmonia Mundi, the sound is equally spectacular. DItto for Dorians and other XRCDs.
Conclusions: I came to the conclusion that depending on the recording and transfer to each particular medium:
1) the Alpha DAC cannot outperform the LP versions of the same material with plain 16 bit CDs but it can come awfully close;
2) CD transfers are frequently bad
3) The Alpha does outperform the VPI with RR/HDCD simply because these are higher quality recordings than anything I have on vinyl
4) The VPI combo is just spectacular and stunning and so is the Alpha with RR, Dorian and XRCD24 recordings
Finally, I expect the Alpha to be even better with hi-rez 24-bit material, perhaps next year. For now, I am very happy with the new sources, and especially the Alpha DAC and Ayre phono stage.
Peter
Update 9/27/2009 Uploaded pictures below, with additional under my system's link
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