The Postman Was Here

janmike
janmike Posts: 6,146
edited January 2008 in 2 Channel Audio
Well the Postman dropped off a few packages over the past few days. This brings me that much closer to assembling my 2Ch rig.

1) Esoteric X-03 SACD CDP
2) MIT Shotgun S1 Proline Balanced IC's
3) Virtual Dynamics David Series Power Cord


It will take a few days for the MIT's to break in and then I can sit back and enjoy. My wife just shakes her head at me now.
Michael ;)
In the beginning, all knowledge was new!
NORTH of 60°
Post edited by janmike on
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Comments

  • hearingimpared
    hearingimpared Posts: 21,137
    edited November 2007
    Gorgeous Mike . . . that is the next item on my short list. I want a high end CD/SACD player and that one fits the bill.
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  • F1nut
    F1nut Posts: 50,557
    edited November 2007
    Nice!
    Political Correctness'.........defined

    "A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a t-u-r-d by the clean end."

    President of Club Polk

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  • engtaz
    engtaz Posts: 7,663
    edited November 2007
    Congrats. Very sweet.

    engtaz
    engtaz

    I love how music can brighten up a bad day.
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  • reeltrouble1
    reeltrouble1 Posts: 9,312
    edited November 2007
    That one gets my pants jingling. Always had an affinity for Esoteric, that transport is raved about, so enjoy the sounds in the igloo and let us know what you think, nice wire BTW also, cool box with the handles and all that.

    RT1
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  • Roy Munson
    Roy Munson Posts: 886
    edited November 2007
    If it sounds half as good as it looks you'll be in HiFi heaven!
    2 Channel:
    Amp/Parasound Halo A23
    Pre/Carver C-1
    Tuner/Carver TX-11a
    CDP/Jolida JD 100A
    Turntable/AR XB-Shure V15 III
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  • bhd812
    bhd812 Posts: 10
    edited November 2007
    thats a nice looking player for sure!
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  • bhd812
    bhd812 Posts: 10
    edited November 2007
    actually i was thinking about trying this source also
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  • bhd812
    bhd812 Posts: 10
    edited November 2007
    i think i need to head to my dealer soon...
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  • steveinaz
    steveinaz Posts: 19,538
    edited November 2007
    Damn you guys are getting fancy, I'm gonna have to move to the Emerson/GPX forum.
    Source: Bluesound Node 2i - Preamp/DAC: Benchmark DAC2 DX - Amp: Parasound Halo A21 - Speakers: MartinLogan Motion 60XTi - Shop Rig: Yamaha A-S501 Integrated - Shop Spkrs: Elac Debut 2.0 B5.2
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  • reeltrouble1
    reeltrouble1 Posts: 9,312
    edited November 2007
    Na, its just Mike getting his roll on, afterall, he does not have to buy gas, just some blubber to keep the team pulling the sled.

    RT1
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  • janmike
    janmike Posts: 6,146
    edited November 2007
    reeltrouble1 wrote: »
    Na, its just Mike getting his roll on, afterall, he does not have to buy gas, just some blubber to keep the team pulling the sled.

    RT1

    And if I run out of blubber for the team, I can always feed them...
    Forget it!:D

    This baby tips the scale at over 50 lbs.
    Michael ;)
    In the beginning, all knowledge was new!
    NORTH of 60°
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  • beardog03
    beardog03 Posts: 5,550
    edited November 2007
    Congrats !

    Very nice ...

    I love those cables !!
    Cary SLP-98L F1 DC Pre Amp (Jag Blue)
    Parasound HCA-3500
    Cary Audio V12 amp (Jag Red)
    Polk Audio Xm Reciever (Autographed by THE MAN Himself) :cool:
    Magnum Dynalab MD-102 Analog Tuna
    Jolida JD-100 CDP
    Polk Audio LSi9 Speaks (ebony)
    SVS PC-Ultra Sub
    AQ Bedrock Speaker Cables (Bi-Wired)
    MIT Shotgun S1 I/C`s
    AQ Black Thunder Sub Cables
    PS Audio Plus Power Cords
    Magnum Dynalab ST-2 FM Antenna
    Sanus Cherry wood Speak Stands
    Adona AV45CS3 / 3 Tier Rack (Black /Gold)

    :cool:
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  • hearingimpared
    hearingimpared Posts: 21,137
    edited November 2007
    janmike wrote: »
    And if I run out of blubber for the team, I can always feed them...
    Forget it!:D

    This baby tips the scale at over 50 lbs.

    Santa please?;):D


    pssst that's you Mike!!!:eek::o:p
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  • george daniel
    george daniel Posts: 12,096
    edited November 2007
    Congrats Mike,, beautuful pieces,,please post your impressions--congrats,again.:)
    JC approves....he told me so. (F-1 nut)
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  • janmike
    janmike Posts: 6,146
    edited January 2008
    Finally getting around to this. Between work and Christmas it has been busy.

    Here are my thoughts on the Esoteric X-03.
    Connected to a Proceed AVP-S via MIT Shotgun S1 balanced IC’s
    Virtual Dynamics David Series Power Cord.
    Procced AMP5
    Polk Audio LSi9's

    Prior to this CDP coming to our home I had a MF TriVista DAC21 and a Marantz SE67 CPD.

    The big box arrives tipping the scales at 65 lbs. The CDP arrived super packed with 3 boxes, special soft wrapping, reinforced cardboard between the outer box and the first inside box. The player was suspended in a foam cradle. Nothing worse than receiving a great piece of gear with cheap, flimsy packaging. Other companies should have a look at this.

    This unit it heavy – 51 lbs and solid as a rock. Even the remote carries a good amount of weight to it.
    After a reasonable amount of burn-in time for the MIT cables, my first real test to see what the differences sound like between Redbook and SACD. Norah Jones if you please. All I can say is WOW. The additional dimension and detail from SACD is amazing. There are details in the recordings that I have never heard before and it is WIDE - HUGE.

    This player is amazing at Redbook playback. There are a number of CD’s that I know well and again the additional level of detail is overwhelming. One that comes to mind is Hell Freezes Over by the Eagles. I have played this SO MANY TIMES and thought I would give it a whirl. Again, amazing sound from this player.

    At a minimum my soundstage doubled. The speakers were not even moved an inch and the presentation is huge compared to the previous equipment. I played a number of Moody Blues SACD’s for my wife and I could not pry her out of the chair. Over the years she has been to a number of their concerts and she said it was déjà vu for her. She happens to be my best blind tester. Only one thing she asked about this player, “Please don’t tell me the price”.

    I have read that the load time for some SACD players is long. No this one. While it does take a little longer to load than my Marantz player did, nothing to get excited about. Pop in the CD, turn around, walk to my chair 12 feet away, sit down and we are good to go.

    This player is extremely quite. You hear the CD load and then that magical clamp device inside locks the CD for playing. What a great idea these guys came up with. Joe, I hope the royalties keep coming in for giving TEAC this idea. HA HA!

    The setup and any other configuration is very simple and straight forward. The remote is very intuitive and I like some of the more refined capabilities that I can do with the remote. I like that I can dim the display, flip to different play areas (CD, SACD-2Ch, SACD-Multi-Channel), set the player to repeat the whole CD, a particular track or random selections, display how much times is left on a CD or have the counter just count up. After it is all said and done and people are happy with the way a device sounds it’s the small details that end up differentiating one from the other. And to top it off this player looks awesome. That blue lighting does something to me. Everyone who has come over takes one look at this beast and says “What the hell is that?” Why, that’s my new CD player.

    The one thing that I think I miss a little is the warmth of the tube MF TriVista DAC. It’s a trade off and in this case the PROS outweigh the CONS. For me it’s a small sacrifice that hopefully the future (hopefully not too far away) Audio Research REF3 and whatever amp I select will bring back.

    For me this was the level that I wanted to be at; to own a SACD player yet not sacrifice the Redbook playback that many SACD players are guilty of. Jesse, thanks for your guidance on this one. 90% of my CD’s are Redbook and while a lot of the SACD’s that I have recently purchased (probably about 25 and counting) sound great, I did not want to have the Redbook CD’s collecting dust. Thanks for all the help again folks for your guidance on yet another great acquisition.
    Michael ;)
    In the beginning, all knowledge was new!
    NORTH of 60°
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  • reeltrouble1
    reeltrouble1 Posts: 9,312
    edited January 2008
    excellent. Glad to read it is all it is cracked up to be, a mighty fine source, I agree that having a player which can do Redbook well is the highest priority.

    RT1
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  • MillerLiteScott
    MillerLiteScott Posts: 2,561
    edited January 2008
    Very Nice.
    I like speakers that are bigger than a small refrigerator but smaller than a big refrigerator:D
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  • wingnut4772
    wingnut4772 Posts: 7,519
    edited January 2008
    Very nice review. Congrats on your new player. I will be looking at a decent SACD player someday.
    Sharp Elite 70
    Anthem D2V 3D
    Parasound 5250
    Parasound HCA 1000 A
    Parasound HCA 1000
    Oppo BDP 95
    Von Schweikert VR4 Jr R/L Fronts
    Von Schweikert LCR 4 Center
    Totem Mask Surrounds X4
    Hsu ULS-15 Quad Drive Subwoofers
    Sony PS3
    Squeezebox Touch

    Polk Atrium 7s on the patio just to keep my foot in the door.
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  • miner
    miner Posts: 1,305
    edited January 2008
    Thoughts on the VD power cord? I got a 'free' Power 3 from VD as a 6th anniv give-a-way on A'gon. Yet to use - would it be best served with the amp or preamp? I am guessing the pre since it sends all of the signals.
    [
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  • janmike
    janmike Posts: 6,146
    edited January 2008
    I think you need to go up the value chain with VD before you hear differences, by guess would be the PRE. I would try the PC on both. I did and like it on the CDP.
    Michael ;)
    In the beginning, all knowledge was new!
    NORTH of 60°
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  • pearsall001
    pearsall001 Posts: 5,068
    edited January 2008
    Very nice indeed. There's a bunch of guys foaming at the mouth right about now!!! All top notch gear...keep us posted as things break in.
    "2 Channel & 11.2 HT "Two Channel:Magnepan LRSSchiit Audio Freya S - SS preConsonance Ref 50 - Tube preParasound HALO A21+ 2 channel ampBluesound NODE 2i streameriFi NEO iDSD DAC Oppo BDP-93KEF KC62 sub Home Theater:Full blown 11.2 set up.
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  • cfrizz
    cfrizz Posts: 13,415
    edited January 2008
    Beautiful looking player Mike. Congrats.
    Marantz AV-7705 PrePro, Classé 5 channel 200wpc Amp, Oppo 103 BluRay, Rotel RCD-1072 CDP, Sony XBR-49X800E TV, Polk S60 Main Speakers, Polk ES30 Center Channel, Polk S15 Surround Speakers SVS SB12-NSD x2
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  • hearingimpared
    hearingimpared Posts: 21,137
    edited January 2008
    Nice write up Mike. I'm glad you are enjoying it.
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