I recently spent a couple days critically listening to david_ten’s system with his new Double Impact SEs and thought that some here might find my observations/opinions of the sound I heard of interest. My suspicion is that many of you happily own the base DIs and are perhaps considering moving up to the SEs at some point. Outside of a few SE owners posting here, there are no formal reviews out there that I am aware of, so you might appreciate my evaluation of the SE’s performance as a "Tekton Outsider". I do not own Tektons nor any of the same brands of gear/cabling as David so am I hopeful that that will add some objective credence to my written evaluation here. Although I am no reviewer (that may become painfully obvious shortly!), I have been in the hobby several decades and have heard many fine systems during that time, so please take the below for what you feel it to be worth.
David’s primary system consists of a Pass XP-20/XA-30.8 combo, a Sonore SignatureRendu streamer feeding a Denafrips Terminator DAC via USB, and, of course, the Tekton SEs. Cabling is SOtM ethernet, Stealth USB, Cardas Clear Reflection XLR ICs, and Audience SX speaker cables. Power cords are Triode Wire Labs Obsession. There were two passive power distribution units in place who’s branding escapes me.
All music was streamed from Tidal via Roon during the evaluation. For those of you that may not know, David’s musical tastes are eclectic to the extreme IMO. He appreciates much of the same female-vocal centric acoustic tunes, jazz, small ensemble, and classic rock as I, but adds a heavy does of more modern, progressive music replete with synthesizers and all manner of non-traditional electronic "instruments" that has, thus far, been beyond my musical palette. Yet, I loved the sound I heard no matter the musical pedigree and actually discovered quite a few titles that will be added to my Tidal favorites at home. Point is, David’s widely-varied musical preferences demand A LOT from speakers and gear and nothing I heard while there failed to impress me through the SEs.
David just acquired a Lyric Ti140 MkII integrated tube amplifier and had three single-ended ICs on loan to evaluate their match with the new Lyric: Audience SX, Synergistic Research Level 3, and Shunyata Alpha. The main audio purpose of my visit was to provide David with my opinion of the sound quality of the Pass vs Lyric amplification and with the aforementioned cabling when paired with his SEs.
Since David visited my home and we did some listening to my system a few weeks back, there was also a social aspect to my visit, including meeting his amazing son and his sweet dog Cyrus. What a great gig for me: listening to a friend’s top drawer system while enjoying great hospitality and all that was on me was to give my opinions on what I heard. Who wouldn’t love that!
We started the evaluation with David’s new Lyric integrated and Audience SX single-ended ICs in place vs David’s usual Pass/Cardas combo. Immediately, I was impressed with the vivid mid and upper energy and the presence I was hearing from the SEs. Not at all the buttoned-down, polite, constrained sound I had heard in a dealer demo of the Magico S1 Mk II/Constellation rig just a day earlier. The SEs live and breath! Immediately, I was struck by the ethereal quality of female vocals, strings, and percussion. It was already clear that I was going to enjoy my time with David’s system.
The sound of the SEs with the tube amplifier had the trademark tells of a great tube amp - liquidity and what I call "wetness". A vivid, dynamic sound with nary a hint of edginess, glare, or hardness no matter the music nor the recording. The soundstage was wide, vocals at realistic height, and there was the feeling of instruments/performers existing in a believable soundscape with clear individual identity, yet not spotlighted, instead integrated into a cohesive whole. I hate to use the word "palpability", but that’s what I heard, in spades. Depth and layering were not the best I have heard and I perceived a limitation of harmonic density and command in mid/low frequencies, but it was easy to forget this and focus on the beauty and authenticity of the aural experience with the Lyric driving the SEs.
Feeling that I had captured the sound character of the Lyric/SE pairing, we moved on to David’s Pass separates with the Cardas Clear Reflection XLR ICs. Holy cow, what major change in sound character! Out with the liquid, forgiving nature of the previous setup and in with a bold, forwardly tactile sound. I was shocked! Not that it was unpleasant sounding per se, only vastly different in its sonic presentation. David seemed a little addled as well. After a short time, he abruptly popped up from the listening sofa, realizing that he had forgotten to transfer the Obsession power cord from the Lyric to the Pass XA 30.8, instead mistakenly leaving in place the Audio Arts power cord that he was using to keep the Pass warmed up in during our time with the Lyric. Once the Obsession power cord was seated, the sound character changed to a much more similar sonic palette via the Lyric. Anyone clinging to the belief that power cords do not play a major role in a system’s sound character should have been there. The difference I heard is sure to completely dispel that erroneous misconception. I’m talking MAJOR sonic change. It became obvious that Triode Wire Labs’ statement power cord was leagues better than the lowly Audio Arts model.
Now the Pass separates/Cardas Reflection XLR IC combo immediately impressed me as more like-sounding to the Lyric in many ways, but as if on steroids. The added energy in the presentation and the more authoritative bass control of the former were obvious in comparison, defying the rated specs of 30 w/ch vs 70 w/ch respectively. Current vs voltage could explain this to a significant extent, but what was going on here was beyond that. There was simply more there there with the Pass . Vocals, strings, and percussion took on a more vivid personality, most definitely in a good way, at least to my ears and preferences.
The Pass separates with the Obsession power cords in place delivered a decidedly more rhythmic and involving presentation than the Lyric. The sound was superbly airy and clean and dynamic contrasts were more impactful and convincing. I never really sensed that the Pass gear gave up much of anything to the Lyric, excepting a slight degree of tonal liquidity and wetness. In exchange, the Pass simply grabbed me with its more percussive character. In fact, with both amplification chains, I would characterized what I heard through the SEs during my time with them as focused on the percussive aspect of the music vs the complex harmonics, overtones, and extended decay I have heard on some other excellent speakers.
Piano was clearly portrayed as a felt-wrapped wooden hammer striking strings. Quick and clean and tactile. Forward but never edgy or hard. What I felt was missing compared to my own system was some of the rich harmonic density, particularly in the lower registers. Everything sounded as if the woofers were just a bit too tight and stingy with extension and bloom. Not lean, just incomplete.
Enter the Synergistic Research Galileo UEF USB cable I brought along for the trip. Replacing David’s already excellent Stealth USB cable (itself ranked as a close tie for second place with my previous favorite Purist 30th Anniversary in a head-to-head faceoff during David’s earlier visit to my home), the sound with the Galileo UEF USB cable in place was simply better in every way, particularly in harmonic completeness and, without question, adding the heft and meat to the lower frequencies that I had felt to be absent before the change. It was as if the SEs instantly gained another octave in the low bass, providing a much more robust foundation for the rest of the frequency range.
Secondly, the Galieo USB cable added greater musical tension to the presentation. Ambient information was more audible and the added rhythm and pace showed a new, more harmonically-complete side of the SEs. Strings became more yin vs yang compared to before. Now I felt that the lower half of the SE’s cabinet (the woofer section) was matching the excellent upper half that had consistently impressed me from the get-go. I quickly found myself mesmerized by the SEs to the point of distraction, much like my oldest grandson’s zombie-like state when in his cyber-game world. Completely and entirely captivated.
At this point we both decided the critical listening/comparison portion of the visit had reached its apex, so we spent the rest of the time rifling through our Tidal favorites. No matter what David and I threw at this latest combination of gear and cabling, the SEs passed the gestalt of each track with what I felt to be a superbly engaging connection between the music and the listener.
I still feel that the woofers in David’s SEs are just at the beginning of their conditioning journey, but, with the addition of the Galileo USB cable, they definitely showed their potential to deliver low frequency sound quality at the superior caliber of their mid and upper registers. In total, David’s system was now delivering a sonic experience that belies typical superlatives, adjectives, and such. The best compliment that I can offer is that the SEs delivered the music on a level I have only experienced with a few much more expensive speakers, while soundly thrashing the majority I have heard in the process.
The $6500 asking price of these speakers is simply ridiculous. That is to say a ridiculously fantastic value...
Dave
