@beetlemania
IMO, Thiels are generally very transparent...
Some of you may recall my recent posts where I expressed a desire for a more live presence with my Thiel CS5i's. I also thought about beatlemania's post about the transparency of Thiels in general because I was starting to come to the opposite conclusion after having owned 3.6's and now 5i's. It was/is getting to the point of contemplating a change to a more efficient speaker and a tube amp.
My experience with the CS5i's has been that better transports and DACs can provide more detail which gets one closer to better transparency/live presence.
I had been researching DACs in the $5000 range as a possible improvement for quite some time but thought I would try what the $1000 price point was all about. The $899 Soekris was a step in the right direction as I have chronicled in an earlier post.
Anyway, I had been reading about the Mojo Audio Mystique V3 DAC and noticed that they were starting to come up on the used market as folks with deeper pockets than mine have moved on to the new Mystique EVO.
I acquired a V3 earlier this week and am astounded at the improvement I am hearing from the CS5i's. The bass is deeper, the dynamics are better, and soundstage and imaging have improved. I can look at a speaker and "see" an instrument in front of the speaker which has never happened before. I believe I am hearing background noises that I could not hear before. In general the sound is more fleshed out.
To tie this all together, I think beetlemania may be right about transparency. My caveat would be that the old comment that Thiels require good (probably higher priced) amplification to sound their best also extends to requiring a higher quality source.
Anyway, the move to a more efficient speaker is now on hold for a bit while I listen to the Mystique settle in.
Thanks for listening,
Dsper
