Absolute top tier DAC for standard res Redbook CD

The Rowland and I believe it was the PS Audio room. I looked at the pictures I took and I'm sure it was the PS Audio room. Both rooms sound natural/musical to my ears.

Ok. The Jeff Rowland experience:

My good friend, and Jeff Rowland uber fan, Guido Corona helped arrange my involvement in what I believe to be a common occurrence amongst visiting dealers and distributors during these shows. I was invited to join a group of Jeff Rowland dealers and distributors on a 1 hour drive from Denver to Colorado Springs for a yummy Thai dinner and a tour of the company facilities and most importantly, an opportunity to listen to his listening/voicing room.

The peopl were great, the tour was fascinating, the dinner was delicious and the listening room was absolutely staggering. It was a "core memory" for those Inside Out fans.

There were shelves filled with dozens of each model Rowland unit since they do runs of each model, and don't make them as ordered. Jeff Rowland tests each and every unit before it goes out. I think that they prep each unit in big runs but do the final buildout and fine touches as each unit is ordered.

The listening room was large, about 20x30 and modestly treated. Thin wall to wall carpet and an open industrial ceiling with insulation blown into the beams and rafters. To be polite, I didn't ask about gear/cables I didn't recognize and I didn't walk about the system to see more closely. The speakers were somewhat modified B&W Nautalis beauties, a Rowland Aeris DAC and four (yes four) brandly newly designed and well burned in model 625S2 amplifiers. DAC was running straight to the amps with no preamp. There was a turntable in the back corner that I didn't recognize (although I'm not a table guru) and we only listened to red book CD streaming from a PC through a Bryston BDP-2 server. The sound was simply sublime. It was in the top 3 audiophile experiences I have ever had. It was live music. It was engaging and there was no thought of analyzing the music, just lost in the moment.

What I learned about the Aries is that it sounds it's best with Rowland amps. I didn't use it with a Rowland amp. I used it with my Merrill Vertias, Burmester 911 and on loan AudioNet monoblocks. I will admit that Guido strongly urged me to try an 825 but one was not available to try at the time. The Nautalus speakers were sensational (I have never heard them before) and sounded incredible with the 625S2 monoblocks and Aries DAC.

If his goal was to impress us and show that his equipment can deliver the goods, then mission accomplished!!!!

Well, yes... Aeris directly into Rowland amps is divine... I remain ever so happy about my Esoteric X-01 + Rowland Aeris + Rowland M-925 monos + Vienna Die Muzik chain *grins!*

G.

Matt, now that you have done a crash course in speakology...I look fwd to your feedback of the Kii at GTT and the ProLogos at Rhapsody. You are now in a great position to give your qualified opinion on the different design philosophies.

BTW, Jeff Rowland loved the sound of the Vapor/Lampi/Verastarr/Resolution/Rowland room. He lent them his amp and stayed there a very long time listening, I am told. I could see him working with Vapor...

There were five memorable rooms in their overall sound IMHO at the RMAF: PS Audio and YG, German Physics, Voxativ, and Exemplar Audio, and on the last day, On a Higher Note mezzanine room with the Vivid speakers and the Merging Tech digital.

The PS Audio suite was greatest when playing a cd called French Impressions with Lowell Graham conducting and sitting beside me. Cuts he recommended were exceptional.

The German Physics room initially attracted me as there was a quad DSD recording being demonstrated there. But later I heard even cds sounding exceptional.

Every time I passed the Voxativ suite, the sound attracted me in but usually the crowds there caused me to leave. The same was true of the Exemplar suite once the speakers had settled in. Their speakers were quite dynamic thanks to crossovers with no caps.

Finally, I sought out the Merging Tech MC-8 NADAC dac late on Sunday when there were no crowds there. Without them, it was quite good sounding.

I also spent a long time in the Synergistic Research suite listening to their demonstrations, especially their new power cords. I also got High Fidelity Cables seminar on magnetics in audio.

This was as usual a fun show for me but attendance seemed to be down this year.