El Presidente Lonely Raven has officially called a CDApS meeting for the 20th day of December 2015.  Secretary Palomino will be hosting in his basement sound chamber.

The agenda is in flux but here is a list of possible topics:

Regen
- for real?
- battery - improvement?
- Curious USB cable - improvement?

Super Zen UFOs
- Will they kick our A$$ again?

Room treatments
- quick experiment to judge the impact of room placement

Music, music, music
- please bring on SD card or USB stick

Amps will be warmed up in the bullpen before swapping in.

Starting time is 1:00PM

Well, we held the December CDApS meeting yesterday.  Here's a quick update.

Lots of good stuff.  El Presidente was unable to attend due to family/girlfriend commitments, but we soldiered on without him.

Rob brought his UFO'd Super Zen, power cord and coax to test.

The meeting started with Rob listening to my system to lay down a baseline while his Zen warmed up in the bullpen.  He appreciated my tweaks and felt I had good clarity and soundstage going.  He said, much to my relief that the sound was smooth without digital edge.  This is what I was hoping to hear given what I invested in the regen/curious cable combo.

Then we put in the Zen.  Once again, clearly the Zen sound we both love.  Very impressive with the UFOs.  The Zen played plenty loud and we could easily hear the classic SET sound.  My opinion remains that the UFO mod is pretty much a no brainer.  Very full sound.

We swapped out power cords to see how my WE16g DIY compared to his cord (Rob, not sure you told me what it was).  Anyway, the DIY actually sounded better in the mids and highs, but lacked a little in the low registers.  Not bad given I had about $50 in it.

I put my USB/SPDIF converter back in with my illuminati D60 cable - running Mac-->Pangea USB cord-->Regen-->Curious cable-->Matrix converter-->D60-->Chord QuteHD.  The bottom end sounded fuller.

Then we put in Rob's HFC CT-1E Digital Cable.  This is a great cable and made everything just sound right top to bottom.  Expensive, but a great cord.  In the end, we liked the system without the Matrix/SPDIF in the chain (running USB into the Chord, but I think the Matrix was the limiting factor).

We put the Torii back in just to hear the comparison to the Zen, but this time with Valve Art 274B rectifiers in.  We were surprised how close we got to the Zen sound with these rectifiers.  I had actually been using NOS RCA 5U4Gs since before I got the regen to help tame some of the digital nasties.  So I was nice to hear the Valve Arts in the system with the extra detail and punch.

Our last test was a change in diffuser positioning test.  I had fooled around and come to the conclusion that they sounded better directly behind the horn mouth rather than using them to create a solid wall of diffusion on the front wall.   After some A/B, Rob agreed and that is where they stayed.

My take-aways were:
1. Zen with UFO's rocks
2. WE16g wire - there is something to it
3. Rob's coax is worth the money if you need digital coax
4. VA 274b's will stay in the amp
5.  Room setup with diffusers/absorbers is pretty close to final (I will try to post a picture if anyone is curious)

Thanks to Palomino for hosting yesterday.  It was a great time.

He has been very active doing lots of tweaks as of late and it has paid off for him.  The first thing that grabbed me was the smoothness of the presentation vs. the last visit.  I assumed it was the Uptone Regen since I had heard it already at Lonely Raven's house not long ago.  What a great little device for not much money!  He had also blocked the 5V power contact on the Curious USB cable because he said it gave him better results, but I did not have a chance to confirm that.

The soundstage was very good but I cannot say for certain how it has changed.  In retrospect, soundstage was far down the list of attributes I listened for, which is a shame, considering how focused Pal is on it.  His room has literally 360 degrees of treatments, and placement of each one is no accident.  However, I was glad validate the location of diffusers along the back wall.  Every treatment has found its home but he struggled with this one decision.  The differences weren't big, in fact I really can't even describe it beyond that fact that it impacted the width and continuity of stage, but over time I think the two options would manifest themselves quite clearly.  It is interesting that when people work together, decisions that can take one person hours can be validated in minutes.

Pal commented shortly after we placed the Zen in that it was a bit much for him (too much transparency?), but after a couple more songs I didn't hear him say that anymore.  I actually agreed with him initially, but once ears adjusted, and we started hearing all the good qualities, we became addicted.  How do you think he ended up putting the Valve Art 274Bs in?  Because they make his Torii sound more like the Zen.  Your welcome Pal!

I also want to say that in his room with the DIY Monoliths, 2 watts is more than enough power.

In order to determine the USB converter vs. USB-direct approach, we played Radiohead's "Creep" several times into his Torii with the Valve Art 274Bs.  I will go against Pal's comment that I preferred the USB-direct, but it definitely won the directness/cleanness/transparency battle.  The USB converter approach, especially with my HFC CT-1E cable, gave the best well-rounded, top-to-bottom frequency presentation.  Bottom end was much improved, however, you gave up some transparency.  It was one of those decisions that I thought deserved long A/Bs, whereby you live with one for a couple days and then the other for a couple days.  

Last point: the WE 16g power cable with solid copper ground is a great cable!  Just a great DIY project for anyone willing to make one.  I preferred it into my Zen, whereby the Triode Wire Labs 7+ gave a stouter, heavier presentation.  The TWL works great in my system and it doesn't sound nearly as heavy, which just further proves how much synergy matters.  Sometimes what looks best on paper just isn't.

Thanks Pal for a great meet!

Orange, I don't think I will replace.  But I am certainly considering adding the Zen to the stable.  That's what everyone does right?  Just add more and more amps?

The thing about the Torii III is it is just so flexible.  A twist of a dial here add a tube there and you can make it sound however you want.  Just changing those rectifiers brought the sound closer to the Zen.  

I have the volume on the Torii at 1/4 at home and even turn that down for hot tracks.  The only place I need more power is my cottage system.  Either that or more efficient speakers.  The Monoliths sound fine up there with Rachael.

My next step may be to UFO one of my Rachaels.  That may fill out the sound at home, give me a little more Zen sound and then I'll take the Torii up north.

Yes, P an PRock, HFC is on my radar and Shunyata's digital equivalent coax as well.

Next Spring, if you guys will still have me (put my ears on that HFC digital coax too)....I want to bring my Speaker's and Cables to a CDaps..... .  I sometimes ask myself, "why did I sell my SE84CS"? Steve's pentodes in triode...will always be something special. However, my now addiction to his Level of UL....is my Scene..... .

I will also bring my Ediswan 6922's (2 pair) for Listening. This isn't about who's System is better or something....I might be going home and selling stuff....I don't know?  I think the Kimber Select IC's and especially the KS6063 Speaker Cables will be a lot of fun. Note: I got the 6063's for 52% off retail from Joe at the CableCO. ....to rich for my blood otherwise. ......freakin' awesome delivery of the music.... .

We'd love to have you, Stone.  This would create a massive agenda for the day and so we'd best start planning a date and location soon.  No kidding!

Re: computer audio, Pal and I were talking about doing a comparison next time of various sources.  I have the Baetis Revolution II which is a totally different approach from his Mac Mini.  I have never really compared the Baetis with anything save my old Squeezebox Touch.  I think we all have much more to learn on the quality and differences of computer sources.

Also, Stone, I compared the HFC to the Shunyata Python Digital S/PDIF and preferred the HFC.

Rob

Your room will be ready Stone: