Pale Rider
|
Fun topic. More to come I am sure. Unlike Lon, I have been a Decware owner for less than a year, hard for me to believe. I was first exposed to Decware over on Head-Fi, where I had begun to go through the wallet-sucking upgrade process on quality portable headphone gear. I was intrigued, but ultimately did not buy the Decware portable headphone amp. As I upgraded my desktop headphone rig, I eventually ended up with a set of Audez'e LCD-2 headphones. They sounded pretty good on my RSA Apache headphone amp (a beautiful, and great-sounding $3k SS headphone amp). But there were some tracks on which the Apache was clipping. So, I set about looking for power, and was referred to the Taboo. I placed an order, at the same time as I also ordered a Cavalli Liquid Fire hybrid headphone amp. I love both, but I fell in love with the Taboo. The Taboo makes the Audez'e sing. So can the LF, but with the Taboo, they sing with delight.
I had been out of hi-fi audio for about twenty years, having settled on the occasional mid-fi home theater experience plus very high quality headphones. The Taboo changed that, and then Steve announced the Ultra, something that seemed almost too good to be true (and it is; it is both too good and true). It seemed to address the divide, or at least part of it, between hi-fi and HT. And I needed something that could give me that in one room.
Based on the Taboo (my last tube amp was a Dyna ST-70 when I was a kid), I went all in. I ordered the Ultra, two Torii Mk III amps, an SE84ZS, and three pairs of ERRs and all kinds of cables. And then I started waiting. As Lon notes, this is really all custom product. And it is subject to the output capabilities of a small group of very dedicated people. But eventually, everything showed up, and I gradually assembled a mostly analog system. my sources are all-digital: PS Audio PerfectWaveDAC (waiting on Mk II upgrade now) w/ Bridge reading files off an NAS, an Oppo BDP-95 BluRay player, 2 AppleTV units, etc. I also have two PS Audio Power Plant Premiers, because as Steve warned, the new equipment would be very revealing of shortcomings in everything, including power. Perhaps I should say "appreciative." Because as you improve your system, the Decware equipment simply keeps revealing more. So, when you upgrade your power, the Decware shows its appreciation.
I agree with Lon's observations about the pluses (and few minuses) of dealing with an always evolving product line and a company like Decware. The pluses staggeringly outweigh the minuses.
Most importantly, I simply enjoy the music. When I force myself to sit and listen to the sound, critically compare tubes, compare recordings, etc., I can also enjoy the sheer technical beauty and capacity of the equipment. But I only do that when I stop listening to the music, which is increasingly less frequent.
An unexpected side benefit has been that my wife and kids really love the equipment, and we all are listening to much more music, and the TV is on much less. My 15yo daughter has taken an interest in tubes. This is a benefit unique to my circumstances, but it is certainly pleasant.
|