Auralic Vega G2 Up and Running....

124

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  • Clipdat
    Clipdat Posts: 12,933
    Thanks guys. I will get it hooked up soon. Hopefully this weekend with any luck.
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  • erniejade
    erniejade Posts: 6,321
    Clipdat wrote: »
    Thanks guys. I will get it hooked up soon. Hopefully this weekend with any luck.

    You also have a Lumin or had a Lumin at one point correct?
    Klipsch The Nines, Audioquest Thunderbird Interconnect, Innuos Zen MK3 W4S recovery, Revolution Audio Labs USB & Ethernet, Border Patrol SE-I, Audioquest Niagara 5000 & Thunder, Cullen Crossover II PC's.
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  • Clipdat
    Clipdat Posts: 12,933
    Yeah I had the Lumin U1 Mini but sold it to @VR3
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  • erniejade
    erniejade Posts: 6,321
    Cool so memory of the U1 vs the G1 :)
    Klipsch The Nines, Audioquest Thunderbird Interconnect, Innuos Zen MK3 W4S recovery, Revolution Audio Labs USB & Ethernet, Border Patrol SE-I, Audioquest Niagara 5000 & Thunder, Cullen Crossover II PC's.
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  • Clipdat
    Clipdat Posts: 12,933
    Yeah. I primarily used the U1 with the Ruby DAC and I enjoyed that combination. What I did not enjoy is the way that the U1 handled internet radio stations.

    I didn't sell the U1 for it's audio performance, but rather because of the software/app limitation.
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  • displayname
    displayname Posts: 1,148
    Clipdat wrote: »
    I didn't sell the U1 for it's audio performance, but rather because of the software/app limitation.
    I think specific features are a key factor in streaming, more so than other areas of audio. Not radio specifically, but the fact that no matter how good a unit sounds, one feature can be a real deal breaker based on people's needs. The internet radio is a non-issue for some (me), but I totally get moving on if that's how you consume a lot of audio. I've heard of some people moving on for similar things. No USB input, no MQA, no I2S outputs, no Deezer/Quobuz, Roon, etc. I personally haven't ever given Auralic a real at streaming because only my work phone is Apple, so I find that element limiting.

    Maybe someday we'll have a reasonably priced streamer that really does it ALL and sounds good, but I'm not holding my breath yet. But I will keep my fingers crossed for Auralic to release an Android OS app at some point.
    Analog: MoFi MasterTracker > MoFi UltraDeck > Sutherland 20/20
    Digital: Cambridge CXC / Streaming > Cambridge CXN v2
    MastersounD Dueventi > Rosso Fiorentino Certaldo or Arcam rHead > Hifiman HE4XX
    Discogs
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  • Clipdat
    Clipdat Posts: 12,933
    @displayname Last August, I purchased an iPad Mini 7.9" for $400 strictly for controlling streaming apps. Worth every penny.
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  • erniejade
    erniejade Posts: 6,321
    I still have a lumin d1 (dac streamer combo) with a sbooster power supply on the kef rig For me, it plays from my nas, tidal, and qobuz plus full mqa and i like the way the app looks. I don't listen to internet radio so that's not a big deal for me.

    The aries mini app on quboz tells me what kind of music and if its high rez or not. This is something i wish the lumin app did. When i am looking at new releases and discovering artists i have never heard of, this display comes in handy.

    Both apps for me have been rock solid and don't crash a lot even on my old ipad mini i picked up back in.... 2012or 2013.
    Klipsch The Nines, Audioquest Thunderbird Interconnect, Innuos Zen MK3 W4S recovery, Revolution Audio Labs USB & Ethernet, Border Patrol SE-I, Audioquest Niagara 5000 & Thunder, Cullen Crossover II PC's.
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  • displayname
    displayname Posts: 1,148
    Clipdat wrote: »
    @displayname Last August, I purchased an iPad Mini 7.9" for $400 strictly for controlling streaming apps. Worth every penny.
    Valid point, but I'm not sure internet radio means $400 to me. Which means the G1 would need to sound $1100 (G1 + ipad mini) better than the U1 mini for me to justify it.

    And it may very well be worth that, but I haven't had the opportunity to find out. But luckily we've got friends like you who get the pleasure of getting hands on with both units and give us some insights to consider :)
    Analog: MoFi MasterTracker > MoFi UltraDeck > Sutherland 20/20
    Digital: Cambridge CXC / Streaming > Cambridge CXN v2
    MastersounD Dueventi > Rosso Fiorentino Certaldo or Arcam rHead > Hifiman HE4XX
    Discogs
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  • Dr_Wu
    Dr_Wu Posts: 335
    Just got the newest iPad for $300. Works a treat, as the say. And, the 10 in. screen is easy on my older eyes. :)
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  • Clipdat
    Clipdat Posts: 12,933
    edited September 2020
    displayname wrote: »
    Valid point, but I'm not sure internet radio means $400 to me. Which means the G1 would need to sound $1100 (G1 + ipad mini) better than the U1 mini for me to justify it.

    And it may very well be worth that, but I haven't had the opportunity to find out. But luckily we've got friends like you who get the pleasure of getting hands on with both units and give us some insights to consider :)

    Just for the sake of clarity, I didn't buy the iPad for anything internet radio related. I just got it because it's the perfect form factor for controlling a streaming app. The screen is also gorgeous and has a super high resolution and crazy tight pixel density.

    The issue with the way that the Lumin handled internet radio is because they use a third party service called TuneIn, versus handling it natively in their app. As a result, it would not pull artist and trackname information from my di.fm stations. Aurender and Auralic pull the track info, so it's just a shortsighted decision on Lumin's part to implement internet radio stations in this way.
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  • tophatjohnny
    tophatjohnny Posts: 4,182
    I think the Vega G2 is more than reasonably priced considering the quality it spits out! I
    Went through the Cambridge line and while CA builds a great streamer, there was always something missing in the quality sound department! That became so obvious when I auditioned the Elac , moon , aurender , lumin and even gave the Naim a try! All great but it wasn’t until the Vega G2 arrived that I was all smiles! So reasonable was the pricing I had to do it!
    That and how important is that next level of quality sound to you?? I knew my ears were missing something big with the old way of listening to my labor of love and now it all makes so much sense!

    I too was an Android “Mandroid” person and recently switched to the new iPhone and it is so much smoother than any android I
    Ever had (and I had a lot of them) I’ll never go back! I still have the iPad too but controlling my G2 with the new phone Is so nice!

    Some sharing for those that may be caring!

    Now to get that Vega quality sound going in my living room 5.2 set up...there lies a challenge I’m not even close to tackling but it is on my mind!!
    "if it's not fun, it's not worth it & remember folks, "It's All About The Music"!!
    *****************************
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  • displayname
    displayname Posts: 1,148
    tophatjohnny wrote: »
    how important is that next level of quality sound to you??
    Unfortunately how important the next level is, and how much cash I have available to get there are somewhat conflicting, lol.
    It'll all get there at some point. Just requires some time and saving.

    Analog: MoFi MasterTracker > MoFi UltraDeck > Sutherland 20/20
    Digital: Cambridge CXC / Streaming > Cambridge CXN v2
    MastersounD Dueventi > Rosso Fiorentino Certaldo or Arcam rHead > Hifiman HE4XX
    Discogs
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  • Clipdat
    Clipdat Posts: 12,933
    indyhawg wrote: »
    Congrats Drew.

    Thank you. I've been wanting to hook it up since it arrived, but it's just bad timing with the fires. You can call me weird, but it feels uncomfortable and awkward for me to sit and indulge in music with my high end system, when 14k+ firefighters are busting their **** trying to put out the 500k+ acres of fires that are burning. It's like I can't truly enjoy it knowing that this is going on. I'm stressed out by the whole situation. I don't want my first experience listening to the G1 to be when I'm stressed and have that influence it's performance/sound.

    The wildfire smoke in the air since the fires started has been horrible. Fortunately, I live very close (2-3 blocks) from the water. In the evenings it usually clears up around 5pm due to the way the winds change. However, it'll tend to creep back in around 2am. It smells like campfire times a thousand. There's just this light white/gray haze in the air that is omnipresent and everywhere. I still feel fortunate to have this relief here and there, versus the people who are located more inland and don't have this coastal weather effect.

    Yesterday the air was better and it was glorious. With every breath of fresh non-smoke filled air I took, I felt my sanity returning. My nose wasn't stuffy anymore and my throat no longer irritated. I literally felt more energized and in a better mood. Today, the smoke is bad again and I feel my sanity slipping away like I'm going crazy. If you think about it, breathing in this stuff affects every single cell in your body. I'm not surprised that it makes me feel like **** after being exposed to it for this many days.

    I'm not trying to be over dramatic and complain, just sharing my experience and how I feel. At the end of the day I'm still incredibly fortunate to not have my residence threatened by the fires. The smoke is a minor inconvenience to my mental and physical health, compared to losing every possession I own and being homeless.
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  • tophatjohnny
    tophatjohnny Posts: 4,182
    Man Auralic keeps it so sweet! Just when I thought the sound was at peak performance, the new version released with the auto update, it just brought the sound to a whole new level. Technology has assured that my ears will never on purpose desire to listen to a record or a cd again!! Glad for the intro to streaming with the Cambridge units I owned for short periods, and now being srapped in with the G2 for almost 2 years, it's nice not to want any other player! Highly recommend to those on a quest to hear their music at it's finest possible form!

    Happy Listening to All!
    "if it's not fun, it's not worth it & remember folks, "It's All About The Music"!!
    *****************************
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  • treitz3
    treitz3 Posts: 19,004
    Well, gentlemen. I haven't read this thread before today. Looks like THJ is a happy camper.....let's see if I am. I just pulled the trigger on the Vega G2. I was able to find one in mint condition at a decent price.

    I was gonna go for the G2.1 but for over 7K? Eh, let me try out a lower model first before I dig in that freakin' deep. Funny, I always despised the "convenience crowd".....but a couple of years ago, I bought a BS Node2 when I was down in Hotlanta after listening to Joe's Vega G1. Then followed up with the purchase of a Musical Fidelity Tri-Vista 21 DAC to go along with it, along with a Transparent digital cable (Already had the Transparent Reference IC's).

    That setup never really got the sound to my liking. Yeah, it sounded decent but there was a mid-bass "suckout" (as I called it) that just killed the emotional part of the music. Yes, you noticed it the listening room, but one had to be intimately familiar with the rig to really notice it. It was when you walked out of the room and listened from the LR or any other room in the house when it got real bad. It's like it just lost much of its "life"......and the mid bass suckout was REALLY noticeable. So noticeable, that I really couldn't stand it and rarely listened to it. So much for convenience!

    Back to despising the "convenience crowd" and my point. During the time I have had this streaming capability, I discovered that there is convenience to it, beyond just not having to get up and physically change out an LP or disc. There is convenience with someone recommending something and at a moment's notice, having it play on your rig. There is also the convenience of listening to an album prior to purchasing it (Saving me money). One more thing I liked convenience wise was that I could use the computer or my phone to mute the music when I was in the office, so I could make or accept a phone call. Then get back to jamming once the phone call was done. I liked those aspects of the Network player.

    So, I guess I now despise myself, as I am “officially” joining in with the convenience crowd. While I have been there for a number of years, the quality just wasn’t up to par with the rest of the system. Close but….no cigar.

    I told myself this. If the Auralic G2 can get me at least on par with the rest of the system, I’ll sell the Vega G2 and get the Vega G2.1. If it does the same thing as what I currently have? I’ll sell it and the streaming setup I currently have and be done with “convenience” for good. I mean, why in the hell would someone spend multiple thousands of dollars on something that is subpar just for the (unneeded for me) luxury of convenience? It will either work or it’s gone and gone for good…..then I’ll spend that money from both streaming setups on building up my vinyl rig better than it already is.

    I just got an email from the seller and he’s already shipped it! I just pulled the trigger about an hour or two ago. That’s quick! So, we are off to a good start. Hopefully this unit will live up to the hype.

    Or at least be on par with the rest of the system with Quobuz (Which sounds better than Tidal IMO/IME). *Crosses fingers*

    Tom
    ~ In search of accurate reproduction of music. Real sound is my reference and while perfection may not be attainable? If I chase it, I might just catch excellence. ~
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  • erniejade
    erniejade Posts: 6,321
    Congrats Tom!!!
    Klipsch The Nines, Audioquest Thunderbird Interconnect, Innuos Zen MK3 W4S recovery, Revolution Audio Labs USB & Ethernet, Border Patrol SE-I, Audioquest Niagara 5000 & Thunder, Cullen Crossover II PC's.
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  • Clipdat
    Clipdat Posts: 12,933
    It'll kill the Bluesound.
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  • treitz3
    treitz3 Posts: 19,004
    Clipdat wrote: »
    It'll kill the Bluesound.

    Well, I would hope so! The BS Node2 by itself sounds like.....well, I will be polite here. It sounds bad. Even with the MQA (which sounded slightly better)? It still sounded bad. Within a couple of listening sessions, I pounced on the Musical Fidelity Tri-Vista 21 DAC.

    That was a huge improvement over the stock BS Node2 but still....it just didn't cut it for me. It did, however, give me a taste of the convenience. Not so much for not having to get up and change the LP or digital media but for the other things aforementioned.

    I'm really not looking for "an improvement". I am looking for something on par to what else I have for sources....or an improvement beyond that. Nothing less. If it's within 2-3% or better? I'll spring for the G2.1. If it's less than that? It's outta here. Just being honest.

    With that said, it's got some rather good (to exceptionally good) competition when it comes to sources. Especially when you add in some of the physical audiophile recordings I have on a plethora of formats.

    I don't mind spending money with this hobby and the one thing I have learned in this hobby is that MSRP does not matter in the slightest. It's the end result as to what hits these ears that matters. This will either cut the cake or be one of the many pieces of gear that simply come and go. It's as simple as that.

    Tom
    ~ In search of accurate reproduction of music. Real sound is my reference and while perfection may not be attainable? If I chase it, I might just catch excellence. ~
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  • tophatjohnny
    tophatjohnny Posts: 4,182
    Congratulations Tom and let me save ya the time and money against the .1 version as the rework goal was isolation for owners in areas with a lot of interference in WiFi signals and I personally had one in my home and it didn’t sound as crisp
    As my G2 but in all fairness I did upgrade the fuse to the Ultimate Beeswax fuse and never looked back! Enjoy that Monster and trust I sure do ! And remember the G2 don’t play ! It’s brutally honest with its delivery and is not going to magically make an old Foghat album sound amazing, it just wont! I only listen to my personal library which smashes the quality of any pay service by ALOT! 😉

    Happy Listening brother and excellent choice !
    "if it's not fun, it's not worth it & remember folks, "It's All About The Music"!!
    *****************************
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  • treitz3
    treitz3 Posts: 19,004
    tophatjohnny wrote: »
    <snip> I personally had one in my home and it didn’t sound as crisp.

    Very interesting and duly noted.

    I do have a question for you though. If all you do is listen to your personal library, are you using it as a pre/DAC only? I am just wondering why you would use this unit to listen to something when you already had physical media...

    I'll be using this with Quobuz and it will be interesting to see which DAC sounds better. The one in the G2 or the one in the Marantz Reference Series SA-7S1. I believe they are both the same age but IIRC, they do not use the same chip or clock.


    Tom

    ~ In search of accurate reproduction of music. Real sound is my reference and while perfection may not be attainable? If I chase it, I might just catch excellence. ~
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  • tophatjohnny
    tophatjohnny Posts: 4,182
    edited September 2021
    Why?? Tom, physical media doesn’t play itself and that’s the beauty of my G2! It sees my NAS and spits it out so beautifully! Hope that helps and no , I mean No pay service sounds as good as the files I have personally ripped to my digital library! Almost 51k albums but who’s counting 😂😂
    "if it's not fun, it's not worth it & remember folks, "It's All About The Music"!!
    *****************************
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  • Clipdat
    Clipdat Posts: 12,933
    Hope it arrived intact w/ no issues.
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  • treitz3
    treitz3 Posts: 19,004
    Hi, Drew. It did and it is pristine. With that said, the rig is back under construction and gear is all over the place. I am adding some outlets to lose the PS for the rig, working on upgrading the Wi-Fi even further than it already has been and for some reason, I can't find the daggum Ethernet cable I ordered and had sitting on the desk for days before the G2 arrived.

    Well, that and work has me pretty busy as of late. Good things come to those who wait. Been saying that for a while now and so far? It hasn't let me down.

    I am even working on the vinyl aspect of the rig as well....(in between the 2,000 other things I have going on at the moment).

    I will say this, it's a lot thinner than I thought it would be sitting next to all of the other "oversized" gear I have in the rack. It is bigger than the Node2 but it's still rather small....even though it is quite heavy.

    It's only been a day or two since I started and I already miss my music something hardcore! On Sunday, I listened to about 12 albums start to finish, back to back. Sounded so, so, soooo good...

    Tom
    ~ In search of accurate reproduction of music. Real sound is my reference and while perfection may not be attainable? If I chase it, I might just catch excellence. ~
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  • treitz3
    treitz3 Posts: 19,004
    So. an update....

    I have hated the Auralic G2 since the day I tried to hook it up. HATED it. Didn't want to post about it because I didn't want to lower the cost of what I could get out of it when I went to dump the damned thing.....and the i-Crap Pad that I had to buy just to get the damned thing to work.

    The unit was/is in mint condition but my problem always was that I would work on it for half a week straight and get (if I was lucky) 1/3rd of a song out of her. Upgraded the Wi-Fi. Bought extenders. Checked and triple checked everything. Bought 2 or 3 100' Ethernet cables from 6.whatever to 8.whatever, so I could hardwire it.

    Man, I tried EVERYTHING I could think of. Had folks come over to diagnose it. Called the professionals, F'd with it some more, retested everything. Stopped for a month or so because I got tired of F'n with it....

    Started again. Did everything once again and the same end result would happen. I would have people come over for a listen and I couldn't even get a GD song to play. As time marched on, the used sale price of the unit kept going down.....I considered it just a bad purchase. It happens from time to time.

    From what I had researched, this unit should have been the creme-de-la-creme of streamers. Zero (or close to zero) jitter, great and latest DAC available, blah, blah, blah. All of it fluff.

    It's a whole lot better that the BlueSound Node2 and Musical Fidelity Tri-Vista DAC combo but nothing like ai was expecting, given the hype surrounding the thing. Now, it sounds "good", mind you but definitely not what I was expecting.

    Getting back to making the damned thing work.....

    So, I basically tried everything under the sun to get music (more than a constant 10 minutes of uninterrupted music) out of her. Sometimes, I would get lucky and would be able to play a song or two. I studied the manual, setup, talked and emailed Auralic and the same thing always happened. No F'n music!

    I knew it wasn't the unit because I first hooked it up at Troy's house for last years Polkfest. After about 30 minutes signing up all of the accounts for the Apple products (PIA) and all of the required passwords, blah, blah, blah, we were up and running within minutes of me completing all of the BS to get Qobuz up and running.

    So, I knew it worked.....but why not at my house?

    Trey (Bless his heart....and not in a Southern way of the term) kept insisting that I get a mesh system for my Wi-Fi. I hestitated because the instructions/manual specifically states to (in Bold and capitol letters) NOT use a mesh network, that it will not operate. I figured, why waste the money on a mesh network if it won't work, right? Sounds reasonable, right? You know, common sense kind of deal.....ya' just don't do it.

    Well, after a year has gone by and with new speakers on the way, I said to myself, "F it". I figured the damned thing was a loss anyways, so I went and bought a new router and modem. Finally got around to hooking them both up last night.

    Instantly had sound. No issues. With either the i-Pad or the Auralic G2. Damned thing worked just as it had at Troy's last year. Been runninng it since the moment I woke up this morning and it's still playing as I type this up. No buffering, no waiting for things to load, no constant errors, no glitches, no "can't be found" crap, no issues whatsoever. Just music. Controlled from anywhere in the house or outside.

    They say that you learn something everyday. Well, this is what I learned last night. Take a manufacturer's recommendation and shove it where the sun don't shine!

    The mesh network has improved not only the streamer but every single aspect ot EVERYTHING in the house. Speeds are now blindingly fast (632DLMBPS, 19.5ULMBPS and a 10ms ping) and I am not kidding when I say that EVERYTHING is blindingly fast. Everything.

    With that said, I am really angry with the engineers at Auralic for insisting that no mesh system is to be used. If I met with one of them today, face to face? I think I'd go to jail.

    Tom

    ~ In search of accurate reproduction of music. Real sound is my reference and while perfection may not be attainable? If I chase it, I might just catch excellence. ~
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  • treitz3
    treitz3 Posts: 19,004
    How's that for a review?

    LOL

    Tom
    ~ In search of accurate reproduction of music. Real sound is my reference and while perfection may not be attainable? If I chase it, I might just catch excellence. ~
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  • audioluvr
    audioluvr Posts: 5,577
    What's a mesh system? Sorry for my ignorance...
    Gustard X26 Pro DAC
    Belles 21A Pre modded with Mundorf Supreme caps
    B&K M200 Sonata monoblocks refreshed and upgraded
    Polk SDA 1C's modded / 1000Va Dreadnaught
    Wireworld Silver Eclipse IC's and speaker cables
    Harman Kardon T65C w/Grado Gold. (Don't laugh. It sounds great!)

    There is about a 5% genetic difference between apes and men …but that difference is the difference between throwing your own poo when you are annoyed …and Einstein, Shakespeare and Miss January. by Dr. Sardonicus
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  • treitz3
    treitz3 Posts: 19,004
    In layman's terms, a router (Wi-Fi). I purchased the modem separately.

    https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08V2ZGBNK?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share&th=1

    Tom
    ~ In search of accurate reproduction of music. Real sound is my reference and while perfection may not be attainable? If I chase it, I might just catch excellence. ~
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  • rooftop59
    rooftop59 Posts: 8,121
    audioluvr wrote: »
    What's a mesh system? Sorry for my ignorance...

    A mesh system has multiple access points. They can hard wired together for best speed/performance, or they can be wireless repeaters. My last two houses have been so spread out that without my google mesh system we wouldn’t get Wi-Fi in half the house…
    Living Room 2.2: Usher BE-718 "tiny dancers"; Dual DIY Dayton audio RSS210HF-4 Subs with Dayton SPA-250 amps; Arcam SA30; Musical Fidelity A308; Sony UBP-x1000es
    Game Room 5.1.4:     Denon AVR-X4200w; Sony UBP-x700; Definitive Technology Power Monitor 900 mains, CLR-3000 center, StudioMonitor 350 surrounds, ProMonitor 800 atmos x4; Sub - Monoprice Monolith 15in THX Ultra
    Bedroom 2.1     Harmon Kardon HK3490; Bluesounds Node N130; Polk RT25i; ACI Titan Subwoofer
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  • rooftop59
    rooftop59 Posts: 8,121
    treitz3 wrote: »
    How's that for a review?

    LOL

    Tom

    Unacceptable! How’s it sound? Does it compare the the disc spiner?
    Living Room 2.2: Usher BE-718 "tiny dancers"; Dual DIY Dayton audio RSS210HF-4 Subs with Dayton SPA-250 amps; Arcam SA30; Musical Fidelity A308; Sony UBP-x1000es
    Game Room 5.1.4:     Denon AVR-X4200w; Sony UBP-x700; Definitive Technology Power Monitor 900 mains, CLR-3000 center, StudioMonitor 350 surrounds, ProMonitor 800 atmos x4; Sub - Monoprice Monolith 15in THX Ultra
    Bedroom 2.1     Harmon Kardon HK3490; Bluesounds Node N130; Polk RT25i; ACI Titan Subwoofer
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