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PC-Audio vs. High-end CD Player-GAME OVER

Hi All,
I just auditioned the Wavelength Audio Cosecant DAC on a very nice system at the local dealer. It was run through a Hovland 200 preamp , a Plinius amp and Avalon Eidolon Diamond speakers. This is all in a very well treated, good-sounding room.
It was, in a word spectacular. Beautiful tone, excellent bass, imaging soundstaging, etc. What was really amazing was a sense of space, or ambience that was imparted. We then compared the same CD's (Diana Krall, Jennifer warnes, some jazz), on a Levinson CDP. I'm not saying that the levinson is the last word in players, but it was what he had on the shelf.While it sounded good, it was much more bright, and "constricted".
Control was through an Imac using I-tunes, and the CD's had been nurned using Apple Lossless.
I ordered my Crimson on the spot.

David
deshapiro
deshapiro OP
177 posts
 
Gordan Rankin recommends having 2 firewire hard-drives, with one acting as backup. The control can also be with a remote that comes with the Mac mini, or Imac, if you use one of those as your control computer. Itunes can act as your archival/control software. It will organize your CD's, and fetch album art automatically. As to the sonics, I will know more in a week or two.

David
tgrisham
1,291 posts
 
David,
Thanks in advance for the help. I have not made the jump to PC music, yet. A couple of questions, if I may...
1. Do you copy music to your ipod for the car?
2. Do you distribute the music to other rooms in the house and do you need an RF remote?
3. Since the HD does all the work do you need a sophisticated computer or would the simplest computer with massive HD space work? Have you tried different computers? It seems that the better the DAC, the better the sound. Is that right?

Thanks again. I like my CDP. My next upgrade will be to a fine DAC in preparation for a conversion to PC.
mrmb's avatar
mrmb
299 posts
 
I traded a Wadia 861 for a Wavelength Brick Silver.

Prior to obtaining a MacBook to drive the Brick, I used a very old Dell Pentium II desktop with an external hard drive. With the exception of PC fan noise, the sonics were the same as the MacBook -- superb! So, as long as one is using an external DAC, and a "silent" PC (the MacBook is), the PC doesn't have to be state of the art!

Sonics are superb, convenience is spectacular -- even better than I had imagined! In my book this is an impossible combination to beat. Of course, one has to do a lot of ripping. But over the years my son and I had ripped hundreds of discs in order to record compilations. So the software was present, and backed-up, we have duplicates of each others tunes stored at different sites.

For my purposes, the game is over.
phaelon
1,052 posts
 
The time to upgrade my front end has come and gone and I'm reluctantly leaning towards a PC based system. Wavelength DACs seem to be all the buzz but folks are talking like there are three different DACs where as I count seven: Brick MSRP $1750, Cosecant MSRP $3500 Silver $10,000 USD, Ultimate DPU $11,000 Silver $17,500, Crimson $7500, Silver $15,000. The raves I hear seem to be about the silver units which are out of my price range(at least new). Must one pony up for the silver to get the MAGIC or does the copper come close? Thanks
splaskin
170 posts
 
The copper units have the magic as well. The Silver units deliver more detail and sonic purity. The best USB DAC that Gordon makes, to my knowledge, is the Crimson. The Silver Crimson is worth the money, but I found the standard version to be very special.

If money is a limiting factor, and it is for most of us, I would sugggest you try the Cosecant. The Crimson is a big step up in performance and should be purchased if you can swing it. Forget the Silver transformers for now. You can always upgrade the units.

Steve
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