Thank you Dougsat, I put some time into it when we did the post-purchase reno on the house.
baylinor: not bi-amping the mains, but bi-wiring only.
the Berhringer Ultra-Curve is routed out of teh Oppo, I only use it when flipping through YouTube or other video sources, and as a simple EQ at that. ALL my MUSIC is from a NAS harddrive in the house that is accessed from a mini-PC in this room, or the mini-PC on the office rig in a much smaller room.
baylinor, you are correct about treatments, it is needed...unless turning it up to "11".
emergingsoul: if you can afford the MC-901 I think its a no-brainer...the ultimate amplifier for the 802D3...I built a system for a friend in St. Augustine with the 800D4 / MC 1.2K combination, and dual JL Audio Gotham subs....McIntosh 3-chassis preamp...I can't recall the model number...hands down this is the best system I have ever heard in my life. I'd love to hear what you think of the MC-901!!
In love with the fireplace location. Most often they put them in the middle of a wall which screws up the entire room for audio systems. Love your room.
Are you Bi’amping’ the main speakers? I also have 802d3 and 600 W mono blocks from mac. I was thinking about stretching to the 1.2 K or possibly the 901, but concerned about the heat given off. So maybe the 1.2.
@captelee thank you so much for the detailed response. Thanks for the background on the Komodo dragons and hats off to your passion on helping out the local communities. It is such a realistic looking carving.
The more I read into your response, the more I want to hold off on the DAC 200. It's still an interesting DAC. I reached out to T+A and they wrote me back indicating the DAC200 was just introduced last year and there is no current plan to change the chipset. I am curious about the 1-bit DSD conversion you mention. I'll do some more research into it and also JRiver. I might look into the PSD 3100HV. It's funny you mentioned ASR, I did dabble into some of their DAC testing that made me get one of the Topping and couple of the SMSL DACs. They are decent, nothing that I get giddy about.
I am driving a pair of Magico A3's and a pair of Burmester B1 with the T+A. You can check out the system under rman9.. Honestly, I can say, this is the best integrated I have ever heard.. I listen to it more than the Luxman C900/M10X separates combo now.. It just grabs you, and folks tell me that it gets even better with break-in. So I am looking forward to that.. The break-in is such a hard concept for me to wrap my head around, I can't say I understand the engineering reason for it.
rman9 - one more note may be helpful about the T+A DAC 200....their 1-bit DSD conversion is a "ground-up" new design....it is separate from the side of the DAC that handles other typical PCM (FLAC / WAV / APE files) data fed to it. Therefore I found on many of my live recordings my favorite settings are to input the data into the DAC as DSD. I run a PC and use JRIver media center to "play" the music, all of various high definition resolutions, but JRiver can be set to output a specific resolution....you can for example "play" an album that is 44.1KHz/16bit (CD quality) and have JRiver output it as a DSD 1-bit....on many examples the T+A sounds superior in this arrangement. I do not stream anything, but I do know JRiver can have streaming accounts ran through it as well. I think these comments are relevant to your question.
Vino_david - I have tried, my wife won't let me. She is kind enough to go to a local hotel / spa on the semi-annual weekends when old friend come out for a listening party.
rman9 - the wood lizard is a quite accurate carving of a Komodo Dragon, carved by the villagers who live on Komodo island in the national park. Buying such art from them helps their community immensely, as does visiting the park where most of them work. The rest are mostly simple fishermen. About once a year, the dragons get a hold of one of them, usually because of complacency, whatever the reason, it isn't the dragon's fault, they were there first.
That's an amazing integrated amplifier you are running, curious what speakers it is driving? T+A does it right, another fine example of German engineering and comprehension of sound reproduction. I haven't had my DAC 200 for very long (April). I do love it and hands down it surpasses any other DAC I have owned. I listen to "a lot" of live recordings, some are engineering masterpieces, some are quite rough, the same can be said for studio recordings of course. I find I sift through the DAC200 filters in sampling parts of a full "show" before I'll sit down to listen to it. One always seems to sound best to me, often a different one. In the past I never did this, that was with the iFi Pro iDSD...I set it and forget it. It could also be noted that the DAC 200 has older Burr-Brown chips in it, I thought that was very strange considering the state of the technology in the past two years. If you read into that enough you probably wouldn't buy the DAC 200. Its early enough in regards to these units arriving in North America that it is easy to sell whenever you want to make a change....that's part of the fun of this addictive hobby, trying different gear. I am always listening to music if I am not working, always. I am more into the music I believe, but thoroughly enjoy the technical side. Try the DAC 200, if you don't like it, try something else. I think I'll have mine until T+A puts out a DAC with the newer chipsets. Its a bit of chore sifting through it all but the best place to study DAC components and industry progress at that level is audio science review...not much "audiophile" voodoo magic over there, more measurements and design notes by the guys and gals who make those components. Its worthy of some time.
Now the wood tortoise is from the Galapagos islands, also carved by locals on Santa Cruz island...also supports their local economy...not so scary, its about 1/4th actual size.
@captelee what a wonderful system.. I would be fearful to come into the room, only because of that lizard or iguana.. Looks so creepy..
I hope I can ask a specific question. I just got the T+A PA 3100HV delivered on Friday.. I am stunned by how beautiful it sounds. bought it with the APM installed and I am beyond pleased. Now for the question. I have the Hifi Rose RS150B for streaming and DAC. I am really keen on the T+A DAC 200 now that I have my feet wet with the T+A PA3100HV.. How do you like the T+A DAC? I am looking for a high quality DAC, and not having streaming is not that big of deal. Please let me know..
milpal- I haven't listened to the Oppo as a DAC in about 6 years and just use it for the occasional need of a BluRay player. I did just a replace a iFi iDSD Pro, the first version, for the T+A, still running the iFi in my office rig. For teh next price point up, into the over $5k price, the T+A did it for me. The live stuff I listen to mostly...just takes the performance into the stratosphere.
Wow, that lighting looks awesome. Very nice setup. Must sound real spacious.
I see that you have the Oppo 205 and the T+A DAC 200. Can you provide some feedback on how the same music played on these 2 components sound. I have the same Oppo and looking to get a new DAC. The T+A is so tempting.
captelee on 