Top to bottom coherence, imaging, transparency, speed and musicality is why I chose the Crescendos; I haven't heard any speaker that's seamless as the AZ!
The Vac's tight bottom end, fast transients and beautiful midrange matches very well with AZ and I rarely turn the volume control past the 9 O-Clock position and they are slightly bigger, 14" or so taller. This photo was taken at a lower vantage point and they appears bigger.
Most of my recordings sounded the same with the Avalon's and the AZ extracts so much more detail, speed and truly disappear.
Herron equipment is absolutely fantastic but I want a Tube amp with no compromises and the Vac 160i fits that bill perfectly. They sound similiar but Vac has more body and flesh...
System edited: Clarity Cables and HiDiamond interconnects are run in series using AudioQuest female to female connectors and Clarity/Hidiamond speaker Cables are doubled up as well and sounds fantastic...
The Alpha Dac is very smooth and sound more tube-like than my Ayon CD2 and EE Dac I had a few months back. Soundstaging and imaging are very precise with excellent ambiance retrival. The Outriggers are from Sound O City and they made difference in stability and locking in Avalons imaging capabilities.
The Alpha sounds nothing like the Rega, sold mine after little use.
System edited: System updated with Morrow Cables but will evaluate with Clarity Cables to determine which one works better in my system: more to come in the next few weeks.
Added the Berkeley to my system last night and it sound fantastic, more tube-like than my Ayon, which sounds bright in comparison. Also, I'm finding out the the Morrow cables are much better in my system than the JPS. I have the MA1's breaking in and have ordered some Morrow SP4, DIG4 and MA4's to try. These cables are very promising, very wide and deep soundstage that sounds so real
I was in the same situation but chose the BDA-1 and use the Rega Apollo as a transport. The Saturn does not even come close to the BCD or BDA-1 in soundstage, microdynamics and musicality.
