mcintosh vs jeff rowland

What did you notice when you swapped out the golden reference? I am looking for a new IC for my CD Player. I am interested in your response. The golden reference is a great interconnect as well.

I should start by expressing the respect I have for the cardas golden reference interconnect. It is quite a good cable and I would not have been using them had I not found them to be better than all I had tried prior to buying my virtual dynamics cables. However, when I swapped the ultra clear cables by virtual dynamics I could not believe my ears. The improvements in clarity, attack, soundstage, and dynamics were not subtle. Basically, my system is now producing a much more believable and enjoyable sound, no matter what kind of music I have chosen to play. It's seemed almost like the virtual dynamics cables were now capturing and conveying a ton of information that had fallen off the sides, so to speak, of the cardas cables. I should note that they also seem louder than the cardas cables. I simply wasn't aware that an interconnect cable could ever make its presence felt (or not felt, I suppose, since trasparency is always the goal) the way these ultra clear cables have with my set up. They are darn good cables.

Jamiek are you talking about virtual dynamics ultra clear with Harmonic Slide?

Jprice, I am curious of your take, or anyone else's, on this AudioEnz review?

I read the AudioEnz review some time ago and, just as the reviewer found the Continuum amp to be "inconclusive", I found his review to be very much the same - inconclusive.

I do find it interesting that in another review,the same reviewer unhesitatingly found the Continuum to be superior to the Gamut DI-150 in several areas. ( http://audioenz.co.nz/forums/showthread.php?t=8099 ) Remember that Jonathan Valin said in TAS that the Gamut was the best integrated he had ever heard.

This guy aparently really listens and listens well. His evaluations are complete and well thought through. I guess that his findings are a result of his personal taste. As for myself, I did find the Rowland to be very emotionally involving - but then I don't have platinum ears like the Audio Enz reviewer. (I also liked the Gamut a lot).

What is my take on his review? A very good review - expressing another view on a very fine amplifier. I do wonder though if his amp was fully broken in. (several hundred hours of "normal to hard use" to make it come into its own.) My continuum really didn't become fully "musical" until I played it a lot, and then it became magic.