Museatex Bitstream vs Bidat

I own the older modified Bitstream. John sent this to me regarding the new upgrades he is offering.

The new update is quite a departure sonically from what the previous updates have provided. Where the older update sounded very analogue like with a slightly soft bottom end and more bloom through the upper bass and mid-range the new update sounds very tight. It has deeper bass with none of the softness and roundness that the older version has. It actually has more dimensionality and better timing than the older update as well. I was concerned initially that people might not like it compared to the older version but I have listened to it in a number of systems now and had enough ears listening as well that I feel certain there's no going back.

I hope that helps,

John

For what it is worth, I don't find mine to have any softness or do I find it to have that much of an analogue sound but if it does, I prefer having mine sounding analogue. Mine sounds very clear with great dynamics and pretty tight sounding all around. The information he provided does not convince me that the new upgrade is any better then what I already own. It seems to offer just a different flavor from what I am interpreting from John. As I understand it, the new version does not use the black gates and a few of the other parts that were used. I think John told me that they are not available anymore. I think that he also told me that Ed M. told him that using no cpas was the best route so John figured out how to mod the units without the old way of upgrading them.

Dark,

I concurr with Lush. I've been in pretty constant communication with John and Moray during the past couple of months and I just did a A/B at a friend's house with the brand new mods and an older one. It *is* more of everything we like about the unit. My friend is shipping his unit out next week...and he's pretty tight with his money, FWITW. The good news for bidat owners is that the power supply innovation is now part of the upgrade for it, as well.

Bigkidz,

My uncle is good friends with John, I've actually had dinner with the gentlemen. My uncle had my old Bitstream and was able to do a direct A/B vs my new Bitstream. These are the impressions sent to John:

"At first and on newer, or well made recordings the differences were minimal. After awhile and especially on older recordings (The Essential Leonard Cohen by Columbia), the newer dac was more detailed, smoother and had an even greater ease. Sibilants disappeared. Just a more refined sound overall. Nice work once again. Congratulations."

I haven't done a direct A/B because I don't have my old DAC on hand. However I don't blame you if you don't want to upgrade your DAC, I wouldn't want to. I simply had an opportunity to get a Bitstream back and I took the opportunity as I had cursed the day I had originally traded for a Benchmark of all things. I can honestly say that out of all of this I've learned an important lesson. Don't replace Bitstream because you might gain in one area but lose in many others. The new Bitstream is as analog sounding (or more so) as I had remembered with my old one. Again merely working off memory.

Thanks Lush. I have the older upgraded Bitstream with the Black Gates, etc. At that time, my Bitstream had already a few mods done to it before John got it for his top upgrade. When finished, he told me that mine was one of the best ones that he had measured. Whatever that means to the overal sound, I do not know. I would love to do a comparison between what he does now to the Bitstream and mine as I am not married to any component but John's reply did not make me want for anything new. Anyone want to send me their newly upgraded unit?

Bigkidz,

I also don't mean to imply that the upgrading decision is an easy one. It's a hassle and money's money. I'm too nervous to ship my bitbox again. ;-) I only know that the new upgrade takes nothing away from the analog/musical glory of the original in my system.