Been thinking for a few days now on how to approach this review. I find it a bit difficult because I am so amazed on many levels, that I don’t know where to start.....so I am just going to put the pen to the paper and see where it takes me.
First off I’ve been a part of the Decware community for over seven years now. It has been quite a journey during this time and I want to thanks Steve, the entire Decware team, and all the forum members for their help and assistance. Over the years I have acquired several pieces of Decware equipment starting with the Z stage, the ERR speakers, ZSB, and the DAG cables. They have all served my solid state system very well over the years.
Fast forward to 3 years ago when I attended my first Decfest. This was the biggest impact on my musical journey thus far. It was nothing short of a jaw dropping experience that solidified my commitment to the Decware brand. I landed on the Torii after a long consideration with the decision making of pairing the right amp with my speakers, while taking into account my room size, acoustics, and the flexibility of having an amp that could drive most speakers with the allowance of headroom.
Day 1:
I connected my speakers, DHC-1, and fired up the amp without hooking up the interconnects...there was near dead silence. For this listening session, I decided to run the amp without my ZSTAGE to get a feel for the amp by itself. As I started to play some music, one thing that was immediately noticeable was the sound at low volume levels. All the detail, clarity, and microphonics at a lower volume level were there...which I never heard on my solid state at those levels.
Now I decided to go through my entire catalog like a kid to just have some fun. First I started with Jazz music and I was truly enamored by the sound. A veil was lifted and I was now able to pickup nuances in the recordings that I was never able to discern before. My non audiophile wife was really enjoying the sound as well to where she started throwing out requests.
Next I decided to play some female vocals with anticipation. Diana Krall and Billie Holiday sounded so much more realistic. Next I threw up Clare Teal’s “California Dreamin’ “and this was where the amp truly blew my mind...talk about black backgrounds in her opening verse. Steve talks about this in the amp description and he wasn’t kidding. Dead silence!!
Next up was Opera and I had to play one of my favorite songs “The Prayer” from Andrea Bocelli. My amp and DAC were now warmed up, so it was time to flex the amp and turn up the volume. I shit you not...the song brought a tear to my eye. The sound and connection I had at that given moment during that song was transformational. The power and liveliness in his voice brought on a whole new dimension. I decided that I can’t be the only one in tearing up....so next up I decided to play my wedding song for my wife....Josh Groban’s “When You Say You Love Me”. By midway through the song....my wife now started to tear up. So thank you Steve for creating an amp that caused 2 adults to tear up for the pure enjoyment of the sound of the music. Even though the amp is not broken in yet...it’s easy to hear how transparent and detailed this amp is by comparison to a SS amp.
Next up was some good old Rock and Roll. My first choice was CSN’s “Southern Cross” since this is a favorite for both me and my wife. The soundstage was nice and wide and I was able to detect some open air...maybe even too much at first. This is where the Torii was a godsend....I just dialed back the treble adjustment on the amp....and it helped. I then jumped into some Pink Floyd, Rush, Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Mellencamp, and other favorites. Being a musician and having played the guitar growing up, this area was particularly important for me to evaluate. When a system can accurately reproduce music as you know how it should sound from your experience, then you know you have hit a home run. Hearing the twangs, strings squeaking, strumming, and microphonics on the guitar solos were easily discernible and it’s reproduction was accurate. Steve talks about how the 25th Anniversay mods work particularly well on the Torii, perhaps better than any other amp in the Decware lineup [according to the Zen Master]. With the caps now juiced up, it makes the amp so fast...well he was not kidding!! Rock and even some Heavy Metal just crank!! I can’t wait to order a ZRock in the future, I’m sure it’s stellar!!
Day 2: I couldn’t hold out any longer… I decided to hook up the ZSTAGE to use it as a preamp. I then added my ZSB switch box so I could run multiple inputs thus allowing me to enjoy the Schiit Bifrost 2 for Qobuz and the Audioquest Dragonfly Red for MQA music on Tidal. Adding the ZSTAGE was a huge leap forward and left me Godsmacked!! The added gain acted like a fire breathing dragon...everything opened up and became so lifelike. The added weight really woke up the Torii....I can only imagine how it would sound using a CSP3 or a ZTPRE.
Separately [with and without the ZSTAGE], I noticed that certain songs the bass was a bit flabby, but the adjustability of the Torii utilizing the bass cut switch along with the adjustability of the ZSTAGE allowed me to compensate. I know the bass is the last thing to come in as the amp seasons, so I’m not worried.
Now that I have a more revealing system, it’s a bit of a double edged sword. My solid state amp not only smeared the sound, but also covered up the handicaps. With the Torii...a veil has been lifted to where I can hear more of the recording. This also allows me to hear the weaker links in my system which are now more noticeable. Now it’s time to really start to tweak things in my system. I had acquired a kickass power cable from Will, but its just a little short in my current setup since the amp is setup up on my credenza. I plan to order the Pi Audio Group DigiBuss II, so then I’ll be able to use the DHC-1 to connect the PI to the wall, and use Will’s custom cable to plug into the Torii. Something is telling me that I will get Godsmacked all over again!!
Dom
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Torii MKIV 25th First impressions (Read 7952 times)
