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Old 10-17-2016, 09:59 PM
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tutomac tutomac is offline
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Default SilenZio en mi casa...

Hello all.
My SilenZio by Audio By E is here. I have been anticipating with a slobbering mouth. I is replacing my Mac Mini as my music server.
Emile put a very decent "starter" package that includes a 6TB N.A.S. unit from Synology. Both the SilenZio and the NAS arrived at the same time.

These are some of my first impressions...

Packaging/shipping was excellent:

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this thing is solid. It is a beautiful all aluminum box, that fits my taste to a tee. It's looks are a great exercise in classy minimalism. Sleek lines and thick surfaces co-mingle to provide a sense of functional design that looks all business, yet leaves no fancy add ons/gimmicks to be desired:

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I had anticipated it's arrival with a WW Platinum Starlight USB cable (x2), a Recovery USB reclocker, and a set of Stillpoints Ultra Minis...

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I also added a WW Silver Electra PC and have WW Silver Starlight HDMI and Supernova Toslink cables coming.

The SilenZion looks right at home, IMHO:

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I was able to efficiently hide the Recovery nicely tucked above the box, hardly visible from the listening position:

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Once connected, I contacted Emile for my first trip around the SilenZio. Emile is one cool sir. Everything that has been said about -E- on this site is absolutely true. AAMOF one of the selling points for me was the personalized customer service -E- is known for. Could not have been a better experience. E walked me through the process hand in hand so to speak. He has the patience I only dream of having. Granted, this ability to stay calm during my storms is only a reflection of E's mastering of the science behind didital music.

After a few hiccups (all courtesy of yours truly, of course) my old files are up and running on JRiver MC22. I am still getting acclimated with a slightly different process for playing my files, but I can tell it will be rather soon when I will be able to run things smoothly and as second nature.

I control JRiver both on the SilenZio through a wireless keyboard and mouse, and remotely with an iPad and iPhone. These handheld applications work great (JRemote).

The next big step is learning to rip CD's. We will work on that as soon as I have had enough playing time with the new hardware/software.

For now, I will tell you this. THE QUALITY OF SOUND IS JUST UNREAL. When I first listened to some tracks, the number one attraction was how dead silent the SilenZio is, both the hardware and the musical background. It's black, deep black.

So far, I have played material very familiar to me. My also recently acquired Bryston Model T's are shining in their delivery of really sharp, clean highs and mids. Piano and guitar are way, way more detailed. More than they ever were through the Apple system.

In my short experience, it seems like the higher the resolution the better the performance. This was not the case with my Mini, where the was no true difference to my ears was between MP3 and the rest. I mean that 44KHz, 96KHz and 192KHz sounded the same to me. With the SilenZio however, I am able to appreciate the value of a 192KHz or 96KHz track vs an MP3 one. Maybe not the difference between 192 or 96, but certainly the earlier.

So far, my intentions are to have SilenZio input my digital files into my C52 via USB, my MCD500 via Toslink (for headphone listening) and for giggles, the SP-3 two channel delivery via HDMI.

I am hoping in the next few weeks to months I will be able to listen to all inputs and create a ranking of preference.

Thank you Emile for your absolutely dedicated customer assistance. I'm afraid we're not done yet, so please don't give up on me!

Thank you Ivan for all the cables (WW) and tweaks (Stillpoints), plus all the Bryston gear so far (Model T, TC-1, SP-3, and BHA-1).

And thank you all of you AAers who have given your input and impressions on the SilenZio and E. I echo your experience.

Happy listening!
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