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MAC Palladium IC's-Follow up, are they really.....

Category: Analog

That good? Yep.

After my initial impressions of the MAC Palladiums on the CDP it was time to see just how good these were. Another quick note to Steve at MAC brought a 1.5M set with Eichmann
Silvers to be used between the preamp and amp. 100 hours of burn in and they went on the system with great trepidation replacing Luminous coppers. Now MAC Palladiums from the CPD
to the preamp to the power amp completed the chain. I had hoped for alittle more of that Palladium flavor, but that was not the case. It was substantial. Greatly increased layers and textures of the music. More sonic impact. Simply a visceral experience from all the bits and pieces that are interwoven to make the music whole. The more you moved to the dead center “sweet spot” the more you became inside the orchestra. Step away and to the side, it became a different seat in the concert hall. The music was alive, it was all there, something I’ve never experienced. Remarkable. But how about living with this, will the music become ordinary.

Over the last few weeks we’ve thrown all manner of CDs at the system. Mostly classical & jazz with a sprinkle of Texas blues/rock. All have been unique experience. Mediocre CDs have vastly improved detail, soundstage, air, etc, etc. Good CDs have earned their Wow factor, always a surprise somewhere, some place. Can we live with the MAC Palladiums, yes they are really that good. Like fine art they are “wearing well”.
ger546
ger546 OP
2 posts
 
John,

We’ve been playing ping-pong between our Jolida CDP and our vinyl set-up for the last year. The Palladiums finally nailed the digital crap and made it palatable, if not pretty darn good.
Unfortunately they now have shown up short comings with the vinyl. The recent addition of some copper wound Bent Audio SU transformers although superb have distinctly “flavored”
playback, curious only in comparison to the neutrality of the palladium ICs, otherwise imperceptible. Hence all my inane flap over the palladiums.
So now back to the drawing board with the vinyl. Gonna do some Bent silver SU’s and just give a listen…..without palladium.

Check my other posts for my equipment list, it's there.

Respectable and hardly what I’d call “crap”.

The best to ya....

Ger
jmcgrogan2's avatar
jmcgrogan2
6,346 posts
 
I'm not calling your equipment crap, what I was suggesting is that you talk about your equipment on other threads. Diversify yourself, make it appear that you have more to say about audio then one brand of interconnect. When all you talk about on threads is a cable, it makes one wonder if the cable is the best piece of equipment you have.

FWIW, I've yet to hear a cable make any digital outperform my vinyl rig, even multi kilobuck cables. Yes, digital can be made to sound very good, but.........

John :)
gadfly's avatar
gadfly
194 posts
 
and why don't you post cables to cables, etc?
hartwerger
105 posts
 
FYI: Positive Feedback just reviewed the Mac Palladium cables: http://positive-feedback.com/Issue30/mac.htm.
nurxhunter
11 posts
 
Welllllllll, I confess that I just got the Palladiums a few days ago and they are not burned in yet, and familiarity breeds contempt, so it may be that the 'new' sound of these is impressing me more than they should.

So, I am willing to go on record, with the option of retraction, and say of the dozen so so cables I have tried--from respectable lowish stuff to quite elegant designs from Big Boy makers, the Palladiums are the best ICs I have heard so far, as I have so far heard them.

From the moment I put them between my Cal Alpha 24/96 (and Kora Hermes#1 briefly) and my EMP (all with the finest tubes of all colors and creeds ever made, except those deformed at the head or seductive in their waist), I thought the MAC Palladium: "just sounds right". Transparent, extended, good bass (not profound bass, but rightly tight, subtle but rightous), excellent balance--and most importantly--excellent rendering of mids. great stage, just right air. Worthy of Siemens, Telfunken, Amperex (US) and Philips (Hereleen/Hamburg)finest in the EMP, and Sylvania's, GE and Raytheon's best in the Alpha.

If Steve sent these uncooked, and in fact cables do need to be cooked (up to now, I have bought only used), I may not have to retract.
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