Some hot discussion is going on my thread in WBF.
www.whatsbestforum.com/threads/if-you-still-spin-cds-this-may-be-the-best-option.28108/page-6
My final response is as follows.
It is known that tube amplifier tend to show higher distortion No. but with benign second harmonics.
SET tend to have less crossover distortion due to class A operation.
But important thing is how it sounds with your speaker.
I am happy with my current combination.
In Korea, most shops use SS amplifiers for auditioning product.
The reason is to reduce warmup time and heat in small soace.
I like the sound from Lampi Pacific coupled with SS amp.
But I get the feeling that it could be too full with tube amp.
Audio is personal choice.
I prefer transparent soundstage with lot of details but not lean or analytical.
With combination of Lansce 4.1, Line Magnetic 508 SET, Chord Dave and Mscaler, I am happy to get the sound that I want.
Please also note that I am using Spiritual Audio power conditioner and 5 separate isolation transformer for each components and LI battery pack for Mscaler.
With wrong combination, Chord Dave and Mscaler could sound analytical and lean.
My 9 years old EMMLab Dac2 is no slouch in details, dynamics, wide and deep soundstage.
But Chord Dave and Mscaler is better in more details and transparent and deeper soundstage.
Thus I am happy with this combination.
I am playing with several digital cables that I have.
R2R Dac s are very popular with organic sound.
But some of them has shortage of bass slamm (not MSB Select II and Pacific).
Chord Dave and Mscaler, could give excellent result with proper system matching.
If I could stretch my budget to 100k$, then I would have wandered between MSB Select II and Metronome Kalista.
But within budget of 20K, I am happy to get the sound that I want.
www.whatsbestforum.com/threads/if-you-still-spin-cds-this-may-be-the-best-option.28108/page-6
My final response is as follows.
It is known that tube amplifier tend to show higher distortion No. but with benign second harmonics.
SET tend to have less crossover distortion due to class A operation.
But important thing is how it sounds with your speaker.
I am happy with my current combination.
In Korea, most shops use SS amplifiers for auditioning product.
The reason is to reduce warmup time and heat in small soace.
I like the sound from Lampi Pacific coupled with SS amp.
But I get the feeling that it could be too full with tube amp.
Audio is personal choice.
I prefer transparent soundstage with lot of details but not lean or analytical.
With combination of Lansce 4.1, Line Magnetic 508 SET, Chord Dave and Mscaler, I am happy to get the sound that I want.
Please also note that I am using Spiritual Audio power conditioner and 5 separate isolation transformer for each components and LI battery pack for Mscaler.
With wrong combination, Chord Dave and Mscaler could sound analytical and lean.
My 9 years old EMMLab Dac2 is no slouch in details, dynamics, wide and deep soundstage.
But Chord Dave and Mscaler is better in more details and transparent and deeper soundstage.
Thus I am happy with this combination.
I am playing with several digital cables that I have.
R2R Dac s are very popular with organic sound.
But some of them has shortage of bass slamm (not MSB Select II and Pacific).
Chord Dave and Mscaler, could give excellent result with proper system matching.
If I could stretch my budget to 100k$, then I would have wandered between MSB Select II and Metronome Kalista.
But within budget of 20K, I am happy to get the sound that I want.