Just thought I’d share my experiences thus far with my audio evolution. My buddy purchased an MK3 and Zu Superfly’s some years back. I visited him and was quite impressed with what I heard. Being close friends, we encourage each other to go down the “rabbit holes” in our hobbies and really learn. For me, being more learned about a hobby brings more enjoyment.
For the last 25 years, I have owned a Rotel amp and pre amp, B&W speakers, a $75 Sony CD player(I know I know) and a Velodyne sub. Bought some “decent” interconnects and speaker wire. Then didn’t touch for 25 years being satisfied with a good system. Well leave it to my buddy to change all that.
So, rather impulsively, I started researching like mad and decided I would invest in a new system. Spoke to Steve, gave him my budget and he gave me his recommendations. I looked at what he recommended and thought, wow there’s a lot of money left over! Right
I decided to order some Zu Soul Supreme speakers based on reviews and having heard them with a Decware system. Then I took Steve’s recommendations and threw them out the window! I doubled my budget quickly and ordered the MK5 with upgraded mods, csp3 with anniversary mods, zrock and phono stage pre amp. Then Steve dropped the 12-15 month bomb. With new speakers on the way, I was a bit deflated but would wait patiently.
Speakers arrive and I hook them up to my old system. After having read a bunch and learned that they have to be broken in, I listened to them tentatively. They sounded better but I was not blown away as much as I would have hoped for at that price point. After one whole day of listening, my patience was exhausted. Time to buy a temporary amp to hold me over.
I started researching some less Chinese amps that get good reviews, Cayin and Willsenton for example. Was ready to go with the Willsenton until I spoke to a few business owners that used to carry them and no longer do. I don’t want to say anything negative regarding them so let’s just say I moved on. At this point, having researched amps for a week or so I was getting impatient. I then looked into a refurbished amp, which brought to Deja Vu audio. After speaking to Vu the owner a couple of times, he said he was a fan of more vintage sounding amps and really likes Synthesis, a small family owned Italian company started in the 1960’s. Not many reviews out there but decided to trust a professional who has been in business for 35 years. Did I mention that my patience was exhausted!
The amp arrives and obviously it is a very notice difference. Noticed a much fuller sound right away. Also noticed that Miles trumpet really comes out at you and piano keys sound completely different.
Still not satisfied mentally knowing that all this is going through a cheap CD player and 25 year old interconnects. The interconnects from Decware make a noticeable improvement immediately. Much more than I would have thought possible actually. Then the Event Zub3 speaker wire from Zu arrives and again was shocked by the improvement. The Denon CD player, which is hooked up now and Cambridge streamer arrive. The CD player has created a much fuller sound and a soundstage not seen prior. Very happy and can’t wait for the streamer to be installed.
So what’s the point of all this? Reading the threads/posts here finds me wishing I could better articulate the improvements I’ve experienced. Fuller is probably a very basic term which encompasses many traits like, sound stage, depth, dynamics etc….I look forward to learning more as I go.
What’s next? Being that I’m streaming and using cd, I’ve read up on the Prima Luna Evo 100 dac unit. Any comments or thoughts picking one of these up?
Also, I suspect that the improvements will be even harder to point out as the system improves with more/different components. I am lucky to have this system as a basis of comparison before the Decware arrives.
Thanks for taking the time and for any advice you offer.