BTW, I put in 8-hours of listening today, 5 of which were focused and loud as the cuts played would dictate. I have no fatigue at all.
I swapped out the stock power cord for Coincident Speaker Technologies CST-PC. The difference was very small. When I've put the CST on other pieces it yielded a dramatic improvment, so I'm thinking that the Continuum's internal Power Control Factor processing must reduce sensitivity to upstream improvements. The swap took 15-minutes because the amp is high in an equipment armoire, so that may have reduced my ability to hear a change, if any. Perhaps I should have waited a week or two to make the switch so that I settled into the Rowland more.
Oh, one more revelation; this amp is incredibly quiet. After listening at around the 85dB range I turned off the universal player and put my ear to the tweeter. It was absolutely silent. When I turned the attenuator all the way up to 99.5 (that's the step reading, the dBs would actually be higher if I ever listened at that level. Most digital sources are yielding around 85dB with the attenuator set at 70-75) I could hear a slight hiss. This is very, very quiet.
Listening to a few recordings with very quiet passages, like the very dynamic Reference Recordings "Crown Imperial" CD, the quietness give a greater sense of dynamic and clarity to the quiet voices.
Dave
I swapped out the stock power cord for Coincident Speaker Technologies CST-PC. The difference was very small. When I've put the CST on other pieces it yielded a dramatic improvment, so I'm thinking that the Continuum's internal Power Control Factor processing must reduce sensitivity to upstream improvements. The swap took 15-minutes because the amp is high in an equipment armoire, so that may have reduced my ability to hear a change, if any. Perhaps I should have waited a week or two to make the switch so that I settled into the Rowland more.
Oh, one more revelation; this amp is incredibly quiet. After listening at around the 85dB range I turned off the universal player and put my ear to the tweeter. It was absolutely silent. When I turned the attenuator all the way up to 99.5 (that's the step reading, the dBs would actually be higher if I ever listened at that level. Most digital sources are yielding around 85dB with the attenuator set at 70-75) I could hear a slight hiss. This is very, very quiet.
Listening to a few recordings with very quiet passages, like the very dynamic Reference Recordings "Crown Imperial" CD, the quietness give a greater sense of dynamic and clarity to the quiet voices.
Dave