Anyone listen to Zu Audio's Definition Mk3?

A friend had a HP200/Radia combination. I liked the sound of that combination with his Sonus Faber Anniversario speakers. My primary gripe had nothing to do with sound--the steps on the attenuator are too course for finding the "right" volume.

While the performance was very good, there was no mistaking the sound for that of tube gear--there was still a slightly brittle edge to the initial attack of notes, and it was lacking a little bit in low level dynamics (good tube gear is more lively at lower volumes). The "glassiness" will probably be something that cannot be erased completely. I heard that with my friend's system, but, I did not find it to be nearly as bad as with other systems I've heard. While your amplification chain may partially be the source, the biggest culprit tends to be source gear, particularly digital sources like cd players and music servers (actually a lot of CDs themselves a mastered to have that kind of sound). I hear that problem with my all-tube amplification chain when playing digital sources (particularly my music server vs. my cd player).

I have not chosen to try to "cure" that problem because that would probably mean turning the sound to mush (something one can easily do with choice of tube gear).

Charles1dad,

Thanks for the interesting discussion of the Dueland components. I can easily experiment with my own system (crossover for each speaker is in three external boxes). Do you have any experience with their inductors?

Larryi
The Duelund inductors have been on my mind as something to do down the road.Per word of mouth they occupy their own superior level as do their Capacitors. There`re two versions available, CAST and waxed paper in oil(WPIO).Based on my rewarding results with the capacitors I have no reason to doubt what is said about the inductor`s performance.
Regards,

Charles1dad,

Thanks. I know Dueland has been getting a lot of favorable write ups for their capacitors. I would expect that the same ears are used in designing other components, but, the science and art of making capacitors is quite different from that of making magnetic components. I have not really heard about their inductors, so it is good to hear from you that the word of mouth is favorable. It sounds like Dueland is another Audionote--good with multiple kinds of parts.

So you like the Def IVs?  Hurricane Sandy, with all the electric surges, killed one of my Def 1.5 amps-- Perfect rationale to explore updating or fixing the blown amp. I was going to post, but reading your( as usual) eloquent listening experiences with the Def IVs is giving me more than a mere itch. Were (I downloaded the manual) the speakers hard to tune? After living with these babies for a year, do you have any new info about the IVs? You were my inspiration for the 1.5s, so I’m beholding. Having a wonderful SET amp and pre with NOS tubes will bring out the best in the IVs. Now all I have to do is convince my wife. This is going to be a very difficult sell for me waiting on delivery of an (much harder sell) environmentally unfriendly naturally aspirated 8 cylinder….ooh I get the chills, but let’s stay with audio..

Also:
How do (2) 12” down firing woofers compete with (8) 10 inch rear firing woofers? One of the many things I love about my 1.5s is the prodigious, window shattering bass, when summoned, raises the hairs on my neck. The bass, however, was never as taught and punchy as I would have liked. Jazz, however, was always wonderful. I accepted this as a characteristic of tubes. Do the IVs feel like they are moving as much air as the 1.5s?