Final post: My desire for better bass has been more than amply satisfied.
The Aqua La Voce, it turns out, has a prodigious bass capacity! In fact, I’m frequently astonished by the bass my monitors are delivering, now.
In my system, there were two factors that, until corrected, significantly inhibited what La Voce was capable of delivering: 1) a poorly matched coax cable and 2) jitter from the Jolida cdp that serves as a transport.
As an experiment, I ordered Steve Nugent’s coax cable and his Synchro-mesh re-clocker, not knowing what to expect, but knowing I could return them. Well, they made a very significant difference.
Everyone wants something different from their system. I wanted more focused reproduction of acoustic and electric bass. Once the above problems were addressed, I got that, in spades. Other improvements: greater resolution across the board that is not at all analytical (!), more convincing and colorful instrumental timbres, greater dimensionality/separation to/between instruments (without losing the sense of overall coherence), a greater sense of ease, blacker back-grounds and a much improved sense that the musicians are "in the room" with me.
Disclosure: with the re-clocker in place, my system is somewhat darker sounding, but I personally don’t mind this. I’ve found that the $150 Schiit Loki Mini is sufficient to address any occasional imbalances in this regard. I cannot say whether this is due to the Synchro-mesh itself or some other issue. Needless to say, YMMV.
Bottom line: this has been quite a powerful upgrade. My suggestion to anyone looking to spend $3000 or more on a "musical" DAC: audition La Voce !
As for an Aqua La Voce dealer, I most heartily recommend Alex Siufy at Alma Music and Audio in San Diego.
Thanks to everyone who contributed to this thread.
The Aqua La Voce, it turns out, has a prodigious bass capacity! In fact, I’m frequently astonished by the bass my monitors are delivering, now.
In my system, there were two factors that, until corrected, significantly inhibited what La Voce was capable of delivering: 1) a poorly matched coax cable and 2) jitter from the Jolida cdp that serves as a transport.
As an experiment, I ordered Steve Nugent’s coax cable and his Synchro-mesh re-clocker, not knowing what to expect, but knowing I could return them. Well, they made a very significant difference.
Everyone wants something different from their system. I wanted more focused reproduction of acoustic and electric bass. Once the above problems were addressed, I got that, in spades. Other improvements: greater resolution across the board that is not at all analytical (!), more convincing and colorful instrumental timbres, greater dimensionality/separation to/between instruments (without losing the sense of overall coherence), a greater sense of ease, blacker back-grounds and a much improved sense that the musicians are "in the room" with me.
Disclosure: with the re-clocker in place, my system is somewhat darker sounding, but I personally don’t mind this. I’ve found that the $150 Schiit Loki Mini is sufficient to address any occasional imbalances in this regard. I cannot say whether this is due to the Synchro-mesh itself or some other issue. Needless to say, YMMV.
Bottom line: this has been quite a powerful upgrade. My suggestion to anyone looking to spend $3000 or more on a "musical" DAC: audition La Voce !
As for an Aqua La Voce dealer, I most heartily recommend Alex Siufy at Alma Music and Audio in San Diego.
Thanks to everyone who contributed to this thread.