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MAC Palladium IC's-Follow up, are they really.....

Category: Analog

That good? Yep.

After my initial impressions of the MAC Palladiums on the CDP it was time to see just how good these were. Another quick note to Steve at MAC brought a 1.5M set with Eichmann
Silvers to be used between the preamp and amp. 100 hours of burn in and they went on the system with great trepidation replacing Luminous coppers. Now MAC Palladiums from the CPD
to the preamp to the power amp completed the chain. I had hoped for alittle more of that Palladium flavor, but that was not the case. It was substantial. Greatly increased layers and textures of the music. More sonic impact. Simply a visceral experience from all the bits and pieces that are interwoven to make the music whole. The more you moved to the dead center “sweet spot” the more you became inside the orchestra. Step away and to the side, it became a different seat in the concert hall. The music was alive, it was all there, something I’ve never experienced. Remarkable. But how about living with this, will the music become ordinary.

Over the last few weeks we’ve thrown all manner of CDs at the system. Mostly classical & jazz with a sprinkle of Texas blues/rock. All have been unique experience. Mediocre CDs have vastly improved detail, soundstage, air, etc, etc. Good CDs have earned their Wow factor, always a surprise somewhere, some place. Can we live with the MAC Palladiums, yes they are really that good. Like fine art they are “wearing well”.
ger546
jmcgrogan2's avatar
jmcgrogan2
6,346 posts
 
Well if that's the case Ger546, I apologize, and welcome to Audiogon. I do suggest that you expand your audio interests outside of just one cable though. Talk about cd players, amps, heck even music. That is how we get to know each other and one's word carries more weight. You can understand when a relative new stranger comes in spouting words of praise from some relatively obscure product claiming it's God's gift to audio and it's all he's interested in talking about, smells like an agenda. Business has tried to come in through the forums in disguise before.

We had issues here a year or so ago with newbies pushing the D&K integrated amps acting like regular audiophiles. Build up a history like Norm (Hartwerger), talk about something else besides MAC Palladiums, so it doesn't appear as if you have an agenda. Is your cd player any good? How about your speakers? Do you have a decent amplifier? Or are they all just crap and the MAC Palladiums make them sound wonderful?

Cheers,
John
ger546 OP
2 posts
 
John,

We’ve been playing ping-pong between our Jolida CDP and our vinyl set-up for the last year. The Palladiums finally nailed the digital crap and made it palatable, if not pretty darn good.
Unfortunately they now have shown up short comings with the vinyl. The recent addition of some copper wound Bent Audio SU transformers although superb have distinctly “flavored”
playback, curious only in comparison to the neutrality of the palladium ICs, otherwise imperceptible. Hence all my inane flap over the palladiums.
So now back to the drawing board with the vinyl. Gonna do some Bent silver SU’s and just give a listen…..without palladium.

Check my other posts for my equipment list, it's there.

Respectable and hardly what I’d call “crap”.

The best to ya....

Ger
jmcgrogan2's avatar
jmcgrogan2
6,346 posts
 
I'm not calling your equipment crap, what I was suggesting is that you talk about your equipment on other threads. Diversify yourself, make it appear that you have more to say about audio then one brand of interconnect. When all you talk about on threads is a cable, it makes one wonder if the cable is the best piece of equipment you have.

FWIW, I've yet to hear a cable make any digital outperform my vinyl rig, even multi kilobuck cables. Yes, digital can be made to sound very good, but.........

John :)
gadfly's avatar
gadfly
194 posts
 
and why don't you post cables to cables, etc?
hartwerger
105 posts
 
FYI: Positive Feedback just reviewed the Mac Palladium cables: http://positive-feedback.com/Issue30/mac.htm.
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