432 EVO

Ok, I had the server in my system for a couple of hours this morning and here are my impressions.

It comes with dual power supplies, one is a 9v and the other 12. Hopefully I got this right but the 12v is the main power supply and the 9v is for the motherboard.

It took a good 20 minutes for the server to warm up from a cold start. We tried it with 2 different USB cables, I don’t recall the brands used but there was a big difference in price. One was $1200 and the other $3000. I played it with both but much preferred the more expensive cable. It focused the soundstage and made it bigger.

I only used Roon since the ripped files weren’t mine and I wanted familiar music for the audition. Tracks I played were Norah Jones "Come Away with me" Tom Waits "Looking for the heart of Saturday night" America "Sister golden hair" Grateful Dead from Barton Hall 5/8/77 "Scarlet Begonias" Alison Krauss "The lucky one" Steely Dan "Babylon Sister" and Paul Simon "Late in the evening". There were huge differences between recordings and I chose the America track due to it’s lack of quality. It sounded pretty lousy! The rest sounded at least as good as my Modwright/Oppo spinner setup but most sounded better. There was more detail and the bass took on weight. My speakers are open baffles, Spatial audio X3 which sound on the thin side with my regular CD player used as a transport. There was none of that here. The sound covered the spectrum. With the upgraded cable the players had a much more specific place on the stage. Not much changed tonally but I found the sound more engaging. The added flexibility of being able to stream is a huge bonus for me. I pulled the trigger.

I don’t write reviews for a living so I apologize for anything I might have missed. If anyone has any questions I’m capable of answering please ask. I’ve given up on waiting for the transport I ordered. I’m not getting any younger and I wanted to get on with my life.

Jeff

Thanks for the report @thyname.  If I understand you correctly, you compared the 432 Aeon (into which Dac?) to your Modwright OPPO (which model?) and liked what you heard using a $3,000 USB cable enough that you ordered the Aeon? 

You found your system sounded richer while also providing more detail and sounding more engaging through the Aeon.  Do I have that right?

What were you using to stream to the Modwright OPPO, or were you playing CDs?

Would you have ordered the Aeon with the $1,200 USB cable?

Thanks for any additional info.

I think you are confusing me with someone else @tomcy6 , I have not had the chance to try any EVO 432, neither do I intend to do so anytime soon. Sorry

@firstgrowth Did you operate it in 432hz mode or 440hz?

It's me he's referring to.  I know it's apples to oranges but the Modwright/Oppo 205 combo is a CD player I used as a spinner.  

I liked the sound with the less expensive cable but like it more with the more expensive one.  I hate the whole cable game but I trust my ears and I'm not going to delay my satisfaction over a little bit of money.

The sound was much more robust with the streamer.  It's not really a fair fight based on price but the ears want what they want.

To your question about whether or not my system sounded better over all, yes it did.