Hello all,
I have recently been traveling the world with my current job. As I travel the world I try to stop by as many HiFi stores as I can in search of the worlds best sounding system. I have found it in Santa Clarita ,Ca. just 45 minutes north of the Los Angeles airport at Audio Limits.
They currently have on Display the new Hemisphere Reference 15 speakers by Nearfield Acoustics in the most beautiful finish you have ever seen. The system was drivin by Audio Note M-6 preamp, digital source was an Audio Note CDT 2 transport driving a Bremen DAC from sweden a real beauty. Amplifiers Consisted of Halcro DM-58's and Vac's new Standard 220's. Analog was Nordic Concept with an Airtangent 2002 arm. all racks and amp stands were Tim Holts Fusion Audio Racks. cable's were by Siltech.
When I first sat down to listen to this system I was a bit confused. The sound I was hearing was huge, a stage that was 30 feet deep and 30 feet wide with the best front to back perception ever. The imaging was dead on. if a person was 6'2 inches tall you can see it. if you are listening to a 5 feet tall person you can see it. I couldnt believe how the new pipedreams recreate the right height and size of instuments and singers and put them into there right place. Most speakers that I have heard cannot do this properly, I also noticed that when listenig to the pipedreams you can actually see the whole body shape of the performers when other speakers out there make the performers seem as if they are made of cardboard. you see the front of them and that is it.
I have never heard any speaker system that can actually transport you to the the actual event,wheather it be recorded in a Hall,Church,Night Club,Stadium or Arena etc this system will transport you there.
Most real good speaker systems I have heard which include JM Labs,Kharma,Martin Logan,Avalon,Wisdom,Dali, etc will sound as if the band is in the room with you but that is not reality. you will most likely never have a band playing in your room. This sytem filled me with such emotions that it actually made me break down and cry,the goosebump factor was like nothing I have ever experienced.
Darrin say's that one of the key things in his system that makes it so good is the Bremen Dac from sweden.
He proved it to me by A/B with some of the worlds best known Dacs. Emm Labs and Audio Note. I have to say it is the best sounding DAC I have ever heard and have just ordered one. The Pipedreams are a bit out of my price range for now but I am definetly going to start saving for them. If you want to hear the best sounding system I would strongly incourage you to give Audio Limits a call and ask for Darrin. there website is www.audiolimits.com
