I don't know if you all care about what I think, but I'll tell you anyway.
I got my MG944's on Monday and my Torii MK III on Wednesday so I don't have a bunch of time in front of them yet. I am still waiting for my ZDAC, so things will still be changing.
Ok, I'll start with the MG's first. I was unimpressed with them for the first hour or so then Boom, they really came on. Great bass, midrange that makes me go out on the street and grab someone just so they can listen to it and a very nice high end. The longer I run them the better they sound. They are so smooth, ground and lapped smooth.
The build quality is way beyond what could be expected at this price point. Being the type that I am, I checked all of the screws, everything was tight and the screws weren't marred up. That shows me that the details are watched, details are important to me. Anyone can get the big things right,it is the little things that make things truly great.
Just as I typed this, Ry Cooder hit a note that made my toes curl.
Nuff said about the MG's, keepers.
Zen Torii MKIII.
Holy sheep shit Batman! This is what I have been reading about for all of these years. The sound is so...... so... round, that it rolls around my head and smoothes out all of the rough edges on my brain! This must be what all of the junkies are chasing after. It is more addictive than a mixture of meth and video poker. I'd say that this combination sounds at least 214% better than my last system and I'm still running off of the analog output from my Wadia 170I.
So now you have read about my inital thoughts. I'll give you more of my ramblings when my DAC shows up.
I'm thinking about telling my boss that I sprained my spleen and will have to take the next week off just so I can spend more time with my music.

Well, it's only going to get better, day by day.

I'm interested to see how the ZDAC stacks up against the Wadia. I really like mine, but I still prefer my Sony SCD-XA5400ES SACD player better for cd playback.

Well, that's interesting. I don't have the same speakers, but my Torii Mk III will play much louder than I can or will want it to. I do believe the ZDAC-1 puts out a slightly hotter voltage than some sources, so here's hoping that it will bring the right volume level to your system.

We do care what you think. There must be a way to boost the input voltage to enable higher volume.

Donnie,

While volume is subjective from one person to another, the Torii-III should be abe to rock the house as well with the MG's  I had the same problem with my Torii-II that Lon now owns, my Torii-I with only 12 wats could rock the house while the T-II couldn't. When I sent it to Steve before Lon got it, what ever the problem was, he fixed it.

Again, my rocking the house, and your rocking the house could be two different things.

Does the amp do OK, then when you push the volume knob up just a bit more does it distort? Or are you turning it all the way up, its stil clean, just not loud enough?

Thanks for the kind words on build quality, we try our hardest!

ZYGI

The one thing that everyone should understand is that I am running my Torii off of the output from a Ipod. I don't think that the analog outputs from my Wadia boost the signal at all.
For right now I've just moved my chair from 8' out to 2.5' away fron the speakers. It sounds way better than anything that I have ever owned.

Okay, I have an iPod and Wadia iTransport in my bedroom system, and the sound is quite lower than any cd or dvd or Blu-Ray source I have used. The ZDAC should cure your problem I think. . . a CSP2 definitely would.




Edited to correct ZStage to ZDAC.  The ZStage would correct your problem, as will the ZDAC. I had erroneously thought you had the former on order.

I just got my ZDAC-1 and plugged it in between the Wadia 170I and my Torii.
I'm struggling to find the exact technical or expressive term to explain what I'm hearing. OK how about this,
It is Mutha' Friggin' Slammin'!
The volume that I was missing is there now and the sound is even better.
It is hard to believe that I am using a Ipod to run something that sounds this good. Later on tonight I am going to run some FLAC files out of my computer and see how that sounds.
I'm one happy camper right now.

Awesome! I bet the flac files will interesting, and if you are up for it, compare an error corrected Wav or AIFF file!

Cool.  I only use my iPod in my bedroom system, to house cds that my girlfriend loves and wants to listen to that I don't yet own.  I store them in wav and they sound pretty damned good coming out of the iPod. The volume is lower than the Blu-Ray source I use also, but in the bedroom there's enough volume provided by the Torii.

I quit using iPod as a portable source. I don't have many opportunities, and prefer to just not have music when I might.

So glad the volume problem is solved! Keep on explorin' and enjoyin'.