Have You Heard the Northstar CD Combo?


WOW! I just bought a Northstar Transport and the Extremo DAC. I can't believe how good this sounds. It blows away my Sony scd-1 in stock mode, and even betters it with the mods that I had in the Sony. I never thought I could get this excited about a piece of digital equipment. I also love the size. Very small compared the the scd-1 beast. That thing almost broke my back! It is still not the equal of my analog system, but I can go from listening to LP's to CD's and not feel the need shut the digital off and fire up the TT right away.
slowhand
Anthony also has a $600 I2S cable that is really killer. I've tried the Northstar and the RA cables, which are both excellent. The filtered Northstar cable is probably best for really revealing or top-heavy systems. My favorite is the $600 one from Anthony.

Slowhand - every instrument in it's place is a result of the low jitter and 24/192 upsampling. I feel that this combo with mods bests pretty much anything else on the market. The Extremo DAC is even better with mods, but the mods are so complex that I'm not doing any more of these.

Steve N.
My understanding from the importer is that the upgraded cable North Star offers is $1200. I wasn't aware Anthony had one. I may have to look into that further.

Steve - are you still doing North Star mods, but just not on the Extremo DAC?
After putting the second set of Rollerblock Jr's between the transport and dac, I find that I definitely like the sound better with just one set under the dac. The second set seems to cause a loss of dynamics.

What power cords do you guys like best with your Northstars, and do you use the same kind on both the dac and transport?
Clio09 wtre:

Steve - are you still doing North Star mods, but just not on the Extremo DAC?

Yes, I'm still modding the Northstar 192.

steve N.
Recently I've been using the Stealth M5000 on the transport and Stealth Dream Digital on the DAC. Previously I have also tried these combinations:

1. Acoustic Revive Power Max II power cords on both units
simultaneously.
2. PAD Dominus on the DAC and and Virtual Dynamics Nite II
on the transport.
3. Virtual Dynamics Master on the DAC and Nite II on the
transport.
4. Virtual Dynamics Master on the DAC and Oyaide Tunami GPX
on the transport.

I've pretty much settled on the Stealth but when I get the transport back I'm going to give the Acoustic Revive PCs another listen and maybe try an Acoustic Revive and Stealth combo.