Absolute top tier DAC for standard res Redbook CD

Lol. Yes. I want to be that guy. But with a good stereo, a more comfortable chair, a margarita in my hand and a beautiful women on my lap.

Go Joisey!

;)

Ha! I knew it.

I share your sonic bias. Live but organic. I have heard a lot of stellar systems and reproduction, but I get bored as the auditory illusion is weak (sounds like a stereo).

One tricky thing is amp/speaker synergy. I have struggled with that part as much as anything. If your speakers are see through transducers, amp changes are glaring.

I have weaknesses for a lot of different types of speakers, and I am single driver fan. The best midrange I have heard out of a speaker in a show setting was from the Voxativ Impeggios (hooked up to a vintage Lector tubed CDP and 2W DHT mono blocks) at the 2011 Axpona in Atlanta. It was beautiful. Of course, when we popped in Jazz Party from Duke Ellington, it fell apart.

Voxativ now has a newer speaker with a dipole sub: http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews2/voxativ/1.html

Steve Hoffman owns the first pair in the US whatever that's worth....

The Trenner still has my personal interest. It may be worth at least hearing the Ra to get a taste of their house sound. "Supposedly" live and dynamic sounding. The Isis is still probably the right model given your Jersey roots. They just need to choose a better name....

Matt, have you auditioned the Aerial Acoustics T20 V2?
I know They have been recently discontinued but a friend of mine just picked up one of the last pairs and they sound much better to me than all his speakers before.
For me, the only speakers I have heard that could be mistaken for live music on some recordings.

The ISIS are big and really load the room.

Fischer und Fischer Granite speakers are another one to consider, but not sure if even LauferTecknic carries them.

Matt,

i find your speaker quest very interesting;

I definitely am drawn to a truly full range speaker with deep extension, accurate reproduction leaning towards the forceful side; with a sense of impact and scale that some speakers sacrifice to reproduce the lower frequencies with more accuracy and a sense of finesse. I almost see it as live vs studio... Live is scale, impact and dynamic while the studio recording is more accurate with finesse and the gentle skilled hand of a studio engineer to properly reproduce every nuance.

I also definitely like my speakers with a sense of midrange texture that some may consider colored. Not overly warm or truly colored, but the harmonics that the low midrange creates that are emotion and soul. The speakers that reproduce the source with accuracy and finesse are, to me, frequently lacking texture, complexity and that sense of engaging emotional involvement that is the reason I love this hobby.

it is interesting because the things you seek are attributes of the speakers you just got rid of, the EA MM3's. it's hard to settle for less than we already had. not to say that there was not legit reasons to switch, no speaker or speaker-room relationship is perfect. but the MM3's are 'big-boy' speakers and a hard act to follow.

i owned Kharma Exquisite Reference 1D's for 3 years, then had other Kharma's. they very much remind me of the Martin Coltrane. i also owned Marten Dukes. then eventually i ended up with the EA MM3's for 5 years. i can see where those speakers do come close to the MM3's in some ways, but are not quite capable of the whole picture. they have that transparent and refined ceramic mid-range, and that 'Kharma' coherence. but they don't quite get the total weight and tone in the mid range of the MM3's since they don't quite have the heft in the bottom end.

it will be fun to see what you end up with. good luck on your quest. i can relate to your reasoning's.