Look what Ups brought

gudnoyez

Glad to hear your liking it Tony, and that it didn't get delivered to the wrong Address and get manhandled by UPS. I have heard some Joule preamps and have liked what I heard, good to see the enabler got enabled.

lightman1

I gotta get up there and put a couple of ears on this pile of junk.

erniejade

Awesome! !!! Now we need to work changing out the sonos for Aurender or Auralic.

erniejade

Thinking back and reading your review, I am regretting selling the legacy's. Even though my room is smaller, I wonder if some of my issues was the speaker cable and preamp combo.

tonyb

erniejade wrote: »

Thinking back and reading your review, I am regretting selling the legacy's. Even though my room is smaller, I wonder if some of my issues was the speaker cable and preamp combo.

LOL Brian, no...it's that room of yours. Though I did elude back then to change up the cables and pre amp and see whats what.

Thorton

erniejade wrote: »

Awesome! !!! Now we need to work changing out the sonos for Aurender or Auralic.

Hey Ernie. Why? If he's not playing HiRes files and has the Cary Dac implemented after what's the benefit?

Jetmaker737

The name is really cool. "Joule-Electra". It's just a bonus that it sounds good too.

erniejade

Yep Tony is an enabler. LOL. The much smaller psb is doing well in thia room for now. The pre and cables did make one heck of a difference. Just dreaming of the legacys again. Thanks for bringing me back down to earth! .

@Thorton not to take this thread too far off the path but, on my rig with the help of Holm audio I have tried a sonos, and a Node2. My wife snd I did a comparison on the same songs played via the sonos, node2, cd, and laptop using a Intona usb isolation and a w4s recocery. All were going through a w4s dac2 and the dac2 can switch on the fly. We used wav uncompressed.

In order of sound quality going through the dac2, the sonos and node were close to call. The nod going to the node2. The laptop with the tweeks using usb sounded as good if not better vs the cd version. We also tried the laptop without the recovery and the laptop sounded better still then the node and sonos but the cd sounded better untill we put the recovery back in. I learned quickly even though you would not think the transport or streamer should have an impact on sound quality going to the same dac, it does big time,even without using high rez files.

I will say for setup, the node2 was one of the easiest. I had music up and running within a couple of minutes.

I can also add, doing the same test in the living room rig ( pioneer sc27, rti12, ) we could not distinguish the difference between any of the sources. The den rig is my Sig. You can hear a lot of subtle difference. In my opinion, since Tony stepped up the pre, hes ddefinitely going to hear difference easier vs the pioneer.

tonyb

Thorton wrote: »

erniejade wrote: »

Awesome! !!! Now we need to work changing out the sonos for Aurender or Auralic.

Hey Ernie. Why? If he's not playing HiRes files and has the Cary Dac implemented after what's the benefit?

The benefits are many using a music server dedicated to audio. You don't have to be using hi-rez files to get some of those benefits. One in particular when using a digital piece dedicated to audio is the lower noise floor. You'd be surprised what the lack of noise does for music.

That said, I don't see myself diving into hi-rez in the near future. I do however want to seek out a piece with a less noisy volume control, better power supply.

Part of the conundrum in audio is that your always trying to overcome the weak link in your system. In my case, it was always the AVR being used as the pre. So I compensated as best I could with the amp, cables, dac. You can only squeeze so much out of an AVR though no matter what you do. I knew that, and felt that a tubed pre needed to be added to further the journey....and I was spot on. Part of my problem too was that I've heard some really nice stuff over the years and my idea of good sound was somewhat spoiled.

If your happy with an AVR at the helm of your musical system, rock on....just don't go listening to other stuff is all. You'll go home and start giving your system that stink eye.

erniejade

Tony too funny, we must have been typing at the same time and basically the same page!

Thorton

Thanks guys and sorry to derail the tread Tony. It just peaked my interest. I always like hearing people's opinions and experiments to decide what I want to try in the future. I find your trials with the Sonos, Node, laptop and CD player very interesting. So this is definitely something I'd like to experiment with in the future. And Tony, glad you're enjoying the pre!!!

tonyb

Problem too Brian, is since adding the pre, that crappy noisy volume control on the Sonos is even more noticeable. Like we keep saying, the more revealing your system becomes, the more revealing it's faults also becomes. Still, all said and done, the trade off was well worth it. I gained much on one end, lost a little on the other. As long as the gains keep outweighing the negatives, I'm good.

rpf65

tonyb wrote: »

....and unlike Kevin, in promo condition.

I don't think I've ever heard/read use this phrase. I would think primo or porno condition would have been a better description.

Thorton

Sorry again. Why are you using the volume control on the Sonos?

erniejade

Funny you mention volume control, the node2 sounded bad at first until I disabled that on it. Might be a different story if I was using its internal dac but external, disabled made a big difference. Same with using jriver on my laptop and jremote on my iPad. Oddly enough, the $35 chromecast audio, using the volume control on my cell or having it static did not make a sound quality difference. That one surprised me.

After the holidays are over, I might try an Aries. I haven't found a place local that will do a weekend home trial around here so I might need to use AA since they have the 30 day money back thing.

erniejade

Besides all of what was written already, you have helped a lot of us spend our money, it's about time we help you spend yours lol.

lightman1

Aries, Brian! And don't look back.

Joey_V

Thorton wrote: »

erniejade wrote: »

Awesome! !!! Now we need to work changing out the sonos for Aurender or Auralic.

Hey Ernie. Why? If he's not playing HiRes files and has the Cary Dac implemented after what's the benefit?

What do you mean he's not playing hires?

erniejade

@lightman1 great another enabler lol.

heiney9

With the Squeezebox I leave the digital vol at 100% and never touch it. I'd assume one should do the same with the Sonos. Those digital vol. controls are nasty noise makers in a revealing system.

Not knowing a whole lot about the Joule-Electra line, I am going to assume it's tube rectified? I won't have a tube pre unless it's tube rectified. It adds another layer of "soul" and a touch more organics, especially at the bass level. But that is just another tube to roll, as I have found rectifiers can markedly influence the sound too.

I know you know the extreme limitations of an AVR as a pre Tony, but I can't believe you've been running that Pioneer for so long as a pre.

H9

lightman1

erniejade wrote: »

@lightman1 great another enabler lol.

Looky there, Brian! Have a look down that hole over there. Nawwww...don't worry, buddy.. I won't let you fall in.....




*shoves*

F1nut

A Bent Audio remote controlled volume pot can be installed in the Joule.

Audiocubics makes a stand alone remote control box that can be added to any piece.

lightman1

F1nut wrote: »

A Bent Audio remote controlled volume pot can be added to the Joule.

Why a bent one? Buy one that's not defective.

tonyb

rpf65 wrote: »

tonyb wrote: »

....and unlike Kevin, in promo condition.

I don't think I've ever heard/read use this phrase. I would think primo or porno condition would have been a better description.

Primo....it was the stupid auto correct, or my stupid fat fingers.

tonyb

Thorton wrote: »

Sorry again. Why are you using the volume control on the Sonos?

Because I don't want to wear out the carpet going back and forth. When the wife and I listen, some songs you just blast and others get played at more reasonable levels. Getting the sound of a Joule pre ranked higher than having a remote control.

BlueMDPicker

Congrats, Tony!

WagnerRC

The remote would be a great option to have.

Thorton

Aaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh, got it. Now I can fully understand the noise factor in your application. I'd probably be looking into the options F1 suggests.

heiney9

One of the reasons I switched from the EE Mini Max Pre to the EE Avant Pre was the inclusion of remote control.

H9

tonyb

I hear ya Brock, and maybe an LA-150 or LA-100 MK3 is in my future. I'll tell ya though, you don't realize how crappy these digital volume controls are in these cheaper products until you can actually hear it. Even my Pioneer AVR had a better one which is why I always had the Sonos on fixed, like you did with the SB. Every little bit helps.