upgrades to the system Next year

[colin.hepburn]

Hi All
Well that’s the first upgrade of the year now purchased
Yes, I now own a Denafrips Dac Ares II or will in a week or so Iain the distributer is a very pleasant and helpful chap to deal with two calls with him over the last week of an hour or more on each call discussing the Dac and swapping equipment views so looking forward to receiving it

Link to his site https://www.willowtreeaudio.co.uk/denafrips-ares-ii
And the review of this dac https://youtu.be/bb-O8JF24PI which you all have likely watched already

So now its which CD transport to go for I am looking at the Audiolabs 6000 CDT or the 9000CDT or maybe the Cambridge
Reviews
600O CDT https://youtu.be/JAfk5a5M5ds
9000 CDT https://youtu.be/DwYmk8pX2oc
Cambridge CXC Series 2
https://youtu.be/CEl7VsA0mjE
Decisions Decisions
Colin

[colin.hepburn]

Hi All
Well my Denafreps ares ll Dac arrived today well-packed double boxed and all that stuff so full marks for that
The Dac looks good well made and feels heavy and solid coming in at 3.5kgs and so it won’t slide off the rack when pressing the buttons

The buttons have a good tactile feel but are a bit fiddle to use and see with the 1mm sized led’s plus switching between NOS and OS is also fiddle and confusing at first to set up but it is set and forget and it’s the same for the slow and fast filter settings but when you have chosen your preferred settings it’s done for the most part but still playing with this for now

Ho and the sound seems to back up what the reviews are saying about it not being digital sounding and having good sound staging
For time being I am using my Mazants CD52SE as the transport to burn in the DAC, for now, I know some will disagree with that last state meant it will be an interesting experiment to compare the Ares ll to the AKA and Wolfson chine’s kit Dacs I have

[bob orbell]

After finding a new unused SME IV tone arm ( wanted one for a long time ) and fitting to my LP12, I have only been listening to records, I bought a new matt from a ebay seller, it is acrylic, very well made and this too gives a welcomed improvement, well worth the £30.00 I am also waiting for a new sub chassis ( Linn Kore ) and might also go for a Karosel bearing, but Linn's prices are now getting stupid. The transformation the SME and matt made is just stunning . Bob

[Greg.]

Originally Posted by bob orbell

…………….but Linn's prices are now getting stupid.

That qualifies for ‘Understatement of the day’.

[bob orbell]

Couldn't agree more Greg, but, their upgrades DO produce a better sound, to the LP12 anyway, my LP12 was new 1984 and has had Cirkus, Lingo 1, and shortly a Kore sub chassis, I will then take a listen to the Ling 4, but it's got to be good at over £1600.00 . Bob

[colin.hepburn]

Hi All
Not a lot of interest in my new ladder DAC then a ladder DAC with no output stage and has a neutral sound often described as analogy sounding and talking of analogy my thorns TD 160 MK2 with rega RB 250 Will be back in the game at some point but it needs a new plinth still and the TD 150mk2 also needs a new plinth plus arm board and arm
Colin

[bob orbell]

Sorry Colin, but as you may have gathered, I am off digital at the moment, in the past I listened to many CD players and a few DAC's, but to be honest they all sounded much the same, that is why I stuck with my Musical Fidelity X-RAY. Bob