Audio Enthusiast from Panama living in Missouri

[cma29]

Dan - One of the key reasons I settled on the K-03 was your thorough review of the unit on AA. Thanks for sharing your expert impressions with us. Hopefully soon I will have that "little piece of heaven" in my home. I think I'm getting close.

[jdandy]

Originally Posted by cma29

Dan - One of the key reasons I settled on the K-03 was your thorough review of the unit on AA. Thanks for sharing your expert impressions with us. Hopefully soon I will have that "little piece of heaven" in my home. I think I'm getting close.

Carlos.......Thank you very much. I am so consumed with the Esoteric K-03's performance I purchased a second one for my studio sound system. Everything I have played, either on the K-03's transport or external through its fabulous DAC, has been like listening the music for the first time. Even CD's and SACD's I am intimately familiar with have surprised me. The K-03 is a remarkable digital component. I am confident this player will enrich your classical music listening experiences beyond your expectations. I'll be watching for your impressions.

[Josquin des Prez]

Originally Posted by cma29

...
Josquin des Prez – I have not had contact with Jim Pendleton at Osage Audio in Hallsville, but maybe I should pay a visit. Thanks for the tip. Maybe you and I can get together for a listening session sometime when I am in St. Louis.

Sure. Let me know when you plan to come to St. Louis. I don't get much chance to share my system with those who know how to fully appreciate it.

[cma29]

Originally Posted by Josquin des Prez

Sure. Let me know when you plan to come to St. Louis. I don't get much chance to share my system with those who know how to fully appreciate it.

Thanks. I think that's a problem we all run into. All my wife says about my system is "Why are those speakers so big?" and "Can you please turn it down?" It's always nice sharing with fellow enthusiasts.

[chessman]

Carlos, welcome aboard!

Be sure to check out the classical music thread in the music forum, where you will find many like minded enthusiasts.

http://www.audioaficionado.org/music...g-tonight.html

[cma29]

Originally Posted by chessman

Carlos, welcome aboard!

Be sure to check out the classical music thread in the music forum, where you will find many like minded enthusiasts.

http://www.audioaficionado.org/music...g-tonight.html

Thanks, chessman. I'll be sure to check out the classical music thread. I'm always looking for undiscovered treasures.

[Haydn]

Originally Posted by cma29

Thanks for the warm welcome, everyone. I feel like I belong already.

In terms of music, I favor orchestral classical music from the Baroque through the late 19th century (bonus points for the fellow who can identify the building in my avatar picture). A good audio system is not much without great music, so I have tried to educate myself in terms of the repertoire, interpretation and, of course, sound. A good resource for this has been Gramophone magazine out of the UK. I have a monthly subscription and I complement that with their annual “"Music Guide,"” a 1300-page encyclopedia of the best recording and interpretations available by composer. Their focus is mostly European, but they produce pretty good music across the pond. An example of a favorite recording I found through Gramophone is Beethoven’'s Eroica symphony as performed by Jordi Savall’'s Le Concert des Nations on the 1997 Auvidis Fontalis release. It's a period performance, but what really strikes me is the sound signature of the performance. For example, for the Marcia Funebre there is a tympani that comes through the right hand side that accompanies the opening chords. I had never heard a tympani used in this part of the symphony before and it sounds extraordinary. The fugue in the same movement is intense and soon thereafter the brass during what sounds like a Final Judgment call pierces through the orchestra like it should. Bottom line: this symphony, interpretation and recording are extraordinary. It's not a SACD, but it sounds better than many SACDs I've heard. Every other Eroica lets me down now even though I would say Harnoncourt gets close to the spirit of the piece as well. I also enjoy recordings from the Scottish label Linn and, of course, Reference Recordings. I can’t wait to hear some of these favorite recordings through the K-03.

Josquin des Prez – I have not had contact with Jim Pendleton at Osage Audio in Hallsville, but maybe I should pay a visit. Thanks for the tip. Maybe you and I can get together for a listening session sometime when I am in St. Louis.

I believe the building is the Musikverein in Vienna.

Bonus points

Belated

[cma29]

You got it, Haydn. I love Vienna. It's such a beautiful city.

I saw the Vienna Philharmonic at the Musikverein play the Mozart Requiem K 626 in December 2005. During the Tuba Mirum my wife cried listening to the bass, Robert Holl, sing the opening bars. What a great experience.

[sthorson]

Carlos,
I hadn't logged in for a couple of weeks, but the beginning of your story is just like mine; arriving in college and getting an introduction to a new world of audio! My time was in the 70's and our dorm hall had one certified audio nut (he built a Dynaco 400 amp, AVID speakers, some turntable, KOSS Pro 4AA headphones) and he changed all of us.
You have played quite a game of "fix the next bottleneck" in building your system. I wish you plenty of opportunities to play that system; from my experience, one child leads to 2, or 3, or 4 (my case) and time has seemed harder to find. But, then they start moving out and we only have one left at home and nobody really cares much what I do!

Welcome aboard, you will find a lot of really smart people here to help with issues. I'm not one of those smart people, but I have some issues!

Steve

[cma29]

Originally Posted by sthorson

Carlos,
I hadn't logged in for a couple of weeks, but the beginning of your story is just like mine; arriving in college and getting an introduction to a new world of audio! My time was in the 70's and our dorm hall had one certified audio nut (he built a Dynaco 400 amp, AVID speakers, some turntable, KOSS Pro 4AA headphones) and he changed all of us.
You have played quite a game of "fix the next bottleneck" in building your system. I wish you plenty of opportunities to play that system; from my experience, one child leads to 2, or 3, or 4 (my case) and time has seemed harder to find. But, then they start moving out and we only have one left at home and nobody really cares much what I do!

Welcome aboard, you will find a lot of really smart people here to help with issues. I'm not one of those smart people, but I have some issues!

Steve

Thanks for the warm welcome, Steve.

Actually, I work from home when I am not traveling (twice a month or so) and my system is in the same room where I work so at least I get top play music while I'm at my desk. Sometime I sneak in a more serious listening session, but still not ideal. After my 3-year old gets home all bets are off.

You are right about the experts here on AA. I got some help from Dan (his avatar has an American flag and an eagle) setting up my new K-03 and the classical music thread is great. This is a guy there, AudioNut (aka as Julian), who has 14,000+ records and 2,000 CDs/SACDs. It's been great sharing with the group.