My objective is to duplicate the sound of a good jazz venue as best I can. I'll never match it but getting close is fine. I've had various audio components through the years and tubes particularly DHT tubes/ASSET have gotten me the closest. So this is where I will settle down and appreciate.
Balanced AC power is fantastic !! 1800va balanced isolation transformer/conditioner. All aspects of music reproduction are improved for every single component.
Tripoint Tripoint Troy.
A wonderful grounding box component. When added to my system it increased the sense of natural sound quality and emotional engagement. The Troy has a humanistic and “soulful “ quality to it.
Coincident Speaker Tech Total eclipse 2
This wonderful speaker is transparent,open and involving. It`s large yet completely disappears as the source of sound within the room. Very easy to drive,94db and 14 0hm impedance (Minimum 10 ohm). I replaced the stock Solens capacitor with the Duelund CAST in the crossover.
Coincident Statement linestage
Superb performance. In my opinion , a masterpiece by Israel Blume. As would be expected, a wonderful match with its sibling the Frankenstein MK II.
Coincident Speaker Tech Frankenstein mark 2
A terrific 300b SET amplifier that is the foundation of my system. The EML XLS 300b tubes are a superb match with this amplifier.
Acquiring these 300b SET mono blocks changed the course of my music listening experience. They elevated the emotional engagement, tactility and “breath of life “ realism.
Yamamoto YDA-01
Wonderful music lover's DAC that has a very natural/organic sound quality. Duelund CAST addition(output coupling capacitors) makes it sound even better. It has a very minimalist circuit/design that was implemented well.
Ocellia Silver Reference IC
Very natural and pure sounding with excellent tone and timbre preservation.
Ocellia Silver Reference Speaker Cable
Same qualities/ comments as the IC.
Star Sound Technologies Sistrum Apprentice component platforms..
These Star Sound platforms are mandatory in my system. Effectively managing resonance and vibration leads to a very noticeable sound improvement with every component and especially the speakers. Excellent product.
High Fidelity CT1 Ultimate Digital cable
A highly impressive digital cable that mates beautifully into my system. Contributes to the natural sound presentation.
Pro-Ject Audio Systems CD Box RS2T
This is a superb Redbook CD playback transport. It’s both high resolution and impressively natural.
. I’m using the excellent Fidelizer Nikola II LPS. Splendid pairing.
Lavricables Grand and Master series Power Cables.
Pure silver wire and unshielded power cables. These are used with all of my audio components. They are very open, transparent, high resolution with beautiful natural tone and timbre presentation.
Abbas Esoteric Audio 3.2SE
Built by renown Ukrainian Abbas Zulfugarov. NOS DAC utilizing the classic Phillips TDA 1541 multi bit chip. Two 6080 tubes in the analog stage. 5 various rectifier tubes in the power supplies.
3 separate toroidal transformers (And 2 chokes ) for the power supplies.A very serious and successful upper tier DAC implementation. Using with the Abbas SPDIF and power cable.
Gentlemen, I also picked up "The Boss" by Seiichi Nakamura Quintet + 2 (Live in "5 Days in Jazz" 1974) that I'm really enjoying. It's a XRcd24. A little on the expensive side :-( but very dynamic and well recorder.
Charles I have one for you Kirk Knuffke a really gifted trumpet player, his music is bit like an experimental Miles Davis style, think stripped down Sketches of Spain. His album Arms and Hands is really worth checking out. Cheers!
Charles, I purchased and have really enjoying: Tardo Hammer: Look Stop & Listen and Hammer Time. Bobby Broom: Plays for Monk Roni Ben-Hur Trio: Sofia's Butterfly. Thanks for the suggestions ;-)
RE: Tidal. Unlike many others out there, I personally did not like the service (at the lossless setting). It sounded a lot better than the other streaming solutions, but had some underlying issue that made me squint or grit my teeth a tiny bit on every track. If I listened to the same track that had been copied to my hard drive (through jRiver), it lost that glare and got some added dimensionality. As Charles likes to say, it simply sounded more natural. Eventually I just went back to my old streaming service, Rhapsody. It has (way) less resolution, but also doesn't have that weird bite to it, so at least it's generally gentle on the psyche.
Charles, Yes the Yamamoto makes fine music indeed I pair it with my Sonos to great effect and lossless files on Tidal were the final frontier in streaming for me! Highly recommended if you ever choose to go that route. Jon
Jond, That is indeed good news concerning Monk. He is one of my very favorite composer/musician. I have the upmost respect for his enormous talent and contributions to jazz music. Jond, we both use the same Yamamoto DAC so I think I have some idea of the excellent sound you must hear at home. It is terrific with RBCD, just a joy! Charles,
Ok Charles I feel totally stupid now! Thelonious Monk is indeed there I just did a bad search! Listening to Monk's Music now one of my all time favorite albums! Cheers!
Charles nothing can be available for streaming unless the artist or his estate licenses the music I assume that's the case with Monk unfortunately. I did listen to a lot of Bobby Broom last night and I thought "My Shining Hour" was really fantastic, a more "fun" album than "Plays for Monk". And I listen to CD's from time to time but I've completely stopped purchasing them, I'm sure I'll come across Tardo eventually online. Thanks again for the great recs!
Jond, You are welcome. Jazz streaming that offers no Monk, how is that even possible? If you listen to CDs the Tardo Hammer I suggested is exceptionally well done. I'm listening to Shirley Scott "Blue Seven" at the momment, just love her playing that Hammond B3, such flow and swing! Charles,
Charles, I really enjoyed the Warren Vache with Tardo really lyrical and flowing very relaxing to listen to. Sadly none of Tardo's recording are on Tidal so that's my only chance to hear him. Listening to Bobby Broom Plays for Monk now, great guitar and nice to hear some Monk tunes. Tidal has a bunch of Bobby Broom but no Thelonious Monk I'm sure that's a licensing issue. Thanks for the recs Charles!
Jond, I hope you like the recordings, taste can certainly vary amongst all of us. The Tardo Hammer recording I recommended is a good mixture of music composed by Tadd Dameron. Both beautifulI ballads and uptempo Bop. Charles,
Charles, Thanks for the recs, found both Bobby Broom albums on Tidal will give them a listen. Searched for Tardo Hammer and came across a record by Warren Vache featuring Tardo Hammer it's called Ballads and Other Cautionary Tales. Will give it a listen and report back. Cheers!
