Well, I've been living with the VAC for a bit. It's more transparent, and more neutral. Bad recordings don't sound as good, excellent ones sound amazing. I think the stock tubes are a little thin sounding, I'm looking for some Mullards 12ax7 for the phono stage, hoping this fills in a bit of body.
The soundstage is more focused than the Syrah, and more 3 dimensional. It is faster than the Syrah, but maybe not quite as dynamic. It is definitely more open and transparent, and I thought the Syrah was already very open. Definitely more immediate sounding.
I'm finding myself wanting to adjust my speaker position a bit, as the soundstage is now more clearly defined and this positioning is now becoming more critical.
All in all, I'm pleased, though I do find myself missing some of the coloration that I now realize I had with the Syrah/Urushi setup. (I am now using a Shelter 501mk2 as I just was too paranoid about having a $4k cart)
The soundstage is more focused than the Syrah, and more 3 dimensional. It is faster than the Syrah, but maybe not quite as dynamic. It is definitely more open and transparent, and I thought the Syrah was already very open. Definitely more immediate sounding.
I'm finding myself wanting to adjust my speaker position a bit, as the soundstage is now more clearly defined and this positioning is now becoming more critical.
All in all, I'm pleased, though I do find myself missing some of the coloration that I now realize I had with the Syrah/Urushi setup. (I am now using a Shelter 501mk2 as I just was too paranoid about having a $4k cart)