Wavelength Brick

All's well that ends well - forget my recommendation for a few aspirin, yeah, dump the PC and live a little =) Shoot, I could have told you that. As an added benefit you will find that iTunes works a whole lot better too!

As for tubes, I swapped out for a Brimar which mellowed everything right out - I hesitated to recommend it since Gordon has said that because of the circuit design it shouldn't have much effect (placebo or what)...

So new Mac, new Brick, new VTL - whatever is the Easter Bunny going to leave?

CK, good news huh?! I am siked it all worked out, albeit expensive. I don't care though, I have been trying to get this sound for many years since I have been in hi-fi, and for the most part I have it now. With the convenience of a computer as a controller to-boot!

So next I am going to look into a different tube just to experiment a bit. Although Gordon said the exact same thing to me about changing the tube, it won't make much of a difference due the circuitry. The Telefunkens sound interesting, but there is alot of good stuff out there I am sure.

He also said the Opticis cable didn't make very much difference in his experience either and to just go for a Kimber USB with ferrite if looking for better quality. I am still questioning the isolation factor from the MAC/Brick connection with an optical cable. Its undeniable no?

I also want to try to decouple my Pre on some BDR cones. Right now I have it on some Sorbogel, which I learned after I bought, have a tendency to muddy up the sound.

So some minor tweaks, then I will just be at the set-it and forget-it stage for a while.

Thanks Easter Bunny!

jc51373 happy that you are happy now with your BRICK , i have made myself
a tube rolling with no real changes , the better result i had with it was to replace the stock wallwart power supply with a EXTERNAL "laptop" battery pack (you need a 16V model max) ..
with this power supply the sound was equal , if not better than with the excellent altmaan ATTRACTION dac.

Cheers.

thx Jaunitox...Intersting, I will take it under advisement.

I think the next thing I will look into a swapping out a tube or two to see what happens, just for the fun of it I guess. Although, this thing is sounding better and better and better. I am very happy, very satisfied.

Tonight I tried a different decoupling product, the Cardas blocks instead of my Audioquest Q-Feet under my Pre-Amp, and I did not like it at all. Thinned it out too much, felt like I was closer to listening to the PC again. That was under my Preamp, so maybe under another component, but for now I will stick with the q-feet. Everyone told me Sorbo muddied up the sound, but not in my case. In my case it deepens the sound stage, and add just a smidge of darkness, which I like. Not too much darkness, but just a dollop, which can be nice. Kills any fatigue.

Tonight I A/B'd Apple Lossless against Wav and AIFF files. Frontrow makes these really easy. : ) I honestly have to say Apple Lossless might be the best to my ear, and it takes up alot less space as well.

So all is well that ends well...Now on to my next exploration, which is listening to some DynAudio speakers. Considering, (emphasis on Considering) trading my b&w Nautilus for a two-way Focus DynAudio speaker. I remember listening to them a few years back and I just loved them, but gotta give em another shot. The b&w's have been very good to me.

Boy do I love a happy camper!

IMHO the Opticis does provide complete isolation from the Mac, and a USB cable does not - I proved this to my satisfaction pre-Brick and owning the Opticis never considered using anything else. I do have a Sprocket battery pack on it.

All that said, Gordon is a very smart guy and one of the few who will not say you don't need something to make his product seem complete.

FWIW he did tell me that he prefers the RCA Cleartops to the Telefunkens in the Brick - that will save you a buck or two if you are undecided about where to start.

Lossless has some significant advantages from a file management point of view since it provides a robust tagging environment which WAV and AIFF do not. Also a lot more reasonable to load on an iPod should you wish to etc. All but the most golden-eared EAC/FLAC/Foobaristas seem to be happy with the choice - but then they are dealing with PCs...

Steve at Empirical Audio did a comparison of some of the formats you might want to take a look at. Apple Lossless is like 2nd or 3rd.