Zu introduces Soul 6

@kingofgix  Soul VI will take you further in terms of leveraging ongoing evolution of your system and I don't see any reason you can't mate it with your existing system, the W4S DAC probably being the component you'll eventually come to upgrade. But Soul Supreme is definitely the more forgiving of upstream compromises (including source material), of the two speakers. Its Radian 850 supertweeter is harmonically graceful but does not equal the extended frequency response of the Soul VI tweeter. Also, if you run the Soul Supreme at its native 16 ohms impedance, eschewing parallel loading resistors, your Hegel's output will be reduced roughly in half but a lot of solid state amps sound a little cleaner and smoother into 16 ohms than into 8 ohms. It's not major but can be noticable.

One option you have is to buy Soul 6, taking advantage of Zu's 60 days return policy, and if you feel you need to back off on vividness a bit, you can order Soul Supreme if you come to that conclusion about Soul 6.

Phil

Phil,

Thanks.  Interesting that you mention upgrading the W4S DAC, as I am considering getting a Yggdrasil.  

@kingofgix The Yggdrasil is a good DAC at its price. But if you are planning to spring for that I suggest you consider the mhdt Pagoda Balanced instead. I had a chance to directly compare both R2R DACs for three months. Both have organic, natural sound. The mhdt was better dynamically and does a noticeably better job of remaining uncongested in any combination of musical complexity and dynamic surge. The Yggdrasil's one slight advantage was in rendering deep bass, but on full orchestral works or even "stadium" rock, it smears events and loses instrument threads during crescendos while the Pagoda kept its composure and conveyed the weave intact. You also get some latitude to tune the Pagoda via choice of the output buffer tubes.

The comparison was made using tube adaptors to enable use of 6922 tube types in the 5670 sockets. That's key. The Pagoda retains its uncongested advantage with certain 5670 tubes but is dynamically burstier and more explosive, plus throws a larger soundstage, with a good 6922-type installed.

Then there is the matter of whether to spring for a Pagoda or Pagoda Balanced. If you don't have a balanced system, the single-ended Pagoda is fine and saves some cash over Pagoda Balanced or Yggdrasil. Theoretically, there is no reason to use a Pagoda Balanced in a single-ended system since via single-ended outputs you are only using half the circuit. But, having had both Pagoda Balanced and single-ended Pagoda (two systems), I found that Pagoda Balanced in a single-ended system sounds discernibly better via XLR>RCA adapters than via its own single-ended outputs or a Pagoda. So, given the price similarity, if you are prepared to buy an Yggdrasil, I suggest a Pagoda Balanced and a pair of balanced output adapters instead, along with 5670>6922 socket adapters and a nice pair of NOS 6922 or CCa tubes. If sticking with 5670 tube types, Raytheon 2c51 or Bendix 6385 come closest to what can be obtained using 6922 types.

Phil