Moon P8RS _ W7MRS

[Anatta]

What happened with the Esoteric D/P-02?

[TOGA]

Anatta, Esoteric 02 were hard to get at that time I brought Accuphase for in home audition. And I found Accuphase to be much more musical than my Esoteric 03, so
It's time for change. Esoteric use twin AES/EBU cables which is very costly, and these cables plays a lot of role to tonality too. So I wanna have some change. I am sure both are great. Accuphase doesnt have any kind of sampling rate conversion, but it make beautiful sound, while Esoteric has too many options, also likely that I will have to buy expensive Rubidium clock to make it complete.
Toga

[Anatta]

Do you really have to use dual AES interface between transport and DAC? I think the data rate of a single AES connection is enough to carry both channels.

Anyway, even if you want to use dual AES there's no need to get expensive cables because the Esoterics have word clock I/O so the D-02 DAC can be the master for the P-02 transport eliminating jitter. When you connect the word clock out of the DAC to the word clock in of the transport, the reference clock for conversion is generated by the DAC and it slaves the transport to this clock, this way the DAC doesn't have to extract the clock embeded in the AES signal output by the transport by use of PLL and jitter is mostly eliminated. So expensive digital cables become irrelevant.

Also, you don't need rubidium external clock. Here Esoteric (dCS too) tries to make a profit by exploiting ignorant audiophiles. The whole point of an external clock is to synchronize multiple digital devices to a single reference clock and is usually used in a recording studio. But for an audiophile system situation the best quality is obtained by making the DAC the master because the clock should be as close as possible to the DAC chip to eliminate jitter. A DAC should always work on its internal clock and not receive it from an external device.

If you want to know more about this read this thread:

Setting Transporter to Slave for World Clock Input

or here but is very long:

Proper word clock implementation

[TOGA]

Ok, if the I fail to get reasonable price on Acc , I will give Eso a try, if i can find one.
Yes i will need to use dual AES, as single is limited to 88.2 , higher than that or DSD up conversion
Require dual. And believe me, these digital cables make sound different just the same as analog XLR
Cable, clocked or not. Even ac cord feeding the DAC esoteric D03 made huge different.
Toga

[TOGA]

I think I have ears damaged by the Burmester already. I can't listen to my own amps anymore. It feel lean, cold and thin.. That is what I call ears damaged.
Lucky I have spare amp from the Madrigal era, the Proceed HPA3. I connect ARC Ref40 to Proceed amp and it is more meaty. Tomorrow I will have Vitus Audio 101 class A and 102 preamp delivered. I think I will have to replace amps earlier than plan due to the high standard set by that loaned Burmester.
Toga

[joeinid]

Originally Posted by TOGA

I think I have ears damaged by the Burmester already. I can't listen to my own amps anymore. It feel lean, cold and thin.. That is what I call ears damaged.
Lucky I have spare amp from the Madrigal era, the Proceed HPA3. I connect ARC Ref40 to Proceed amp and it is more meaty. Tomorrow I will have Vitus Audio 101 class A and 102 preamp delivered. I think I will have to replace amps earlier than plan due to the high standard set by that loaned Burmester.
Toga

Ha!

[Masterlu]

Toga... Very Nice!

[RevelMann]

Originally Posted by Masterlu

Toga... Very Nice!

Hi guys, very informative discussion !

Have you tried ARC R40 mate with VTL power amp ?

[Glisse]

Hi Toga,

It has been fascinating to read your progress in developing your system, trying many high quality components. Thanks for posting all the details you do, and for being as honest as you have been in your findings

I think most of us in this friendly forum are "old" enough to know that there is no perfect component, just ones which may be a great fit in terms of system synergy, budget, and how and what we like to hear.

I know you have heard Vitus before, but maybe that was with your previous speakers, not the Q3. A close friend loves the combination of Magico and Vitus, but as we are now on different continents, I haven't been able to hear this combination and so will be interested in how you find it.

I think the Burmester 911Mk3 is a special amplifier, but it is very fickle to get the most out of. More than any other component I have. But then also, I use mine with Amati Futura, which I am sure sound quite different than your Q3. For me, the marriage between speaker and power amplifier is the first thing to get right, then the smaller thing likes source, cables, conditioners, etc, can follow, just like little children, to create the perfect family

It is also interesting to read about value for money - where I am, the 911Mk3 is much less than the Moon W7M. Where you are, it seems to be about the same difference - the other way! These things matter.

[joeinid]

Glisse,

Perfectly said and all true from my viewpoint. I am struggling myself on which way to go.