The title is taken from an Ian Anderson lyric ("Slipstream"). It captures the feelings I experience when I partake in my two passions: surfing (25 years) and listening to my stereo. There's a healthy escapism in both pursuits. I've been a life-long music lover; got my first record player in middle school (1970s), and still have some records in my collection from then. While I've always had decent systems, I really got into high end during the last 10 years. First REAL system was Rotel + Vandersteen. My oh my has this upgrade transformed my system! The Luxman makes the Vandersteens dance (and sing)! And amazingly, the Oppo creates satisfying digital sound with the Luxman/Vandersteen combo. Will upgrade to the BDP-83 (possibly SE) in the next year, and plan to add the Logitech Squeezebox Touch as well. Maybe an external DAC? Analogue is just wonderful now--the Luxman's phono stage is miles above the Rotel's. I got the "ruby cantilever/optimized contour nude contact line diamond" rebuild done on my Clearaudio Virtuoso cart. Couldn't be happier. And let's not forget the headphone section. As you can see, my cans aren't the highest end (no slouches either), yet the Luxman headphone stage has been making for some tremendously satifying late night listening sessions! I listen to jazz, folk, rock, classical, and anythng in between. Probably spend 8-12 hours a week listening closely (more like 40 if you count background listening). I welcome comments and suggestions!
System Update: Wyred4Sound Dac-1 and Squeezebox Touch
Got the DAC about a year ago--amazing improvement to digital output! What I love is the way it makes my old CDs sound listenable, interesting, and engaging. The tizzy highs and disconnected lows are gone, and in their place is an almost analogue roundness to the music. I upgraded to the super caps, so it's like the W4S DAC-2 minus the volume control and 24/196 usb. If I ever decide to hook up a computer via USB, I'll go for the asynchronus upgrade, but now I just have the Oppo feeding one coax input and the Squeezebox Touch feeding the other.
I just got the Touch, so I'll delay comment until I've had a chance to listen more. But so far (two days) I'm really having fun. If anyody has any Squeezebox tips or suggestions I'll welcome them!
I got the reference to the Tull song right away, it's one of my fav songs from Aqualung. From reading your post I see we have some things in common. I got my first record player when I was in Middle School as well. But that was in the late 60's. Still have almost all my records from back in the day. Since then I have been a big time music lover. I am sure we fit the description of quite a few Audiogon members. I have to admit that the terminology and the components you talk about in your post are beyond me, well except for the Vandersteens. I can only imagine just how good your system sounds. With the years of listening experience we have, we tend to know good when we hear it:-)
Miles ahead compared to the Rotel. Made my Vandersteens come alive. See my posting in the amplifier section of the forums for more raving by me about this thing! http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?aamps&1253333734&openflup&33&4#33 Buy it--you'll be happy you did!
Great! The Touch looks interesting, but the remote doesn't have a mini display like the one that comes with the Duet. The Logitech website says the Duet has a 24 bit DAC but doesn't mention kHz. The Touch specifications say "supports sampling rates up to 24bit/96kHz". But who knows when the Touch is coming out! Anyway, you've got me thinking about the Duet again--I can see the remote is a big plus for accessing radio and music files. Glad it's working for you.
Nice to know another surfin audio nut! Aside from myself and my best friend, you're the only other one I know of who partakes in both of these passions. BTW, you've got some beautiful gear! One day I hope to upgrade speakers, and the Wilsons would be on my short list. Happy surfing and listening to you!!
Thanks for checking out my system and the compliment. The information I've found on the Duet has come from two different places. The Logitech website specifications states that the Duet has a Wolfson 24-bit wordlength DAC but does not mention the model number or the sample rate. CNET says the sample rate is 44.1 and 48khz and that the firmware for the controller and receiver is upgradeable. I've owned the Duet for about a year and know they have had a couple of upgrades that just appeared (at no charge). I expect that they will upgrade the Duet to upsample to 96khz at some point as well. The convenience of having a hand held, rechargeable, and wireless multi-system usable remote is great. On the other hand I used I-tunes with Apple Lossless files when I ripped my CD collection to my PC and none of the artwork from the CD's carried over to the Duet even though most of the artwork appeared on the I-tunes program. All of the albums I've downloaded from the I-tunes store shows the artwork on the Duet remote. The missing art work is not a serious detractor for me, and getting to listen to all the free internet radio stations has introduced me to dozens (actually 100's) of artists I didn't know about and could never afford to buy music from all of them anyway. Hope this mini review is helpful. Listen every day.
Hey, thanks for your compliments and comments! Cio52, I love those stands under your Harbeths. It's good to hear some unsolicited feedback about Mapleshade products. I get the catalogues. Does the Logitech Duet's DAC do 24/96 conversion? I know the Transport's does and the new "Touch" will. Thanks for your insight into the sonic performance of the Duet. I will certainly get the Duet or Touch first, then consider the DAC--if one is necessary. Right now, I'm enjoying music so much from the simple Oppo and Clearaudio Emotion that I'm not super motivated to add/upgrade. The Luxman keeps improving! Oh, by the way, I'm going to look for the jazz records you and Johnny recommended.
Great system. I use the Logitec Duet and have been very happy with the sound using just the Wolfson DAC inside the Duet through my McIntosh preamp linestage. Suggest that the sound through your Luxman would be great as well. So try it before you invest in an outboard DAC, you can always buy one later. Happy Listening.
My compliments on a terrific system. I can imagine that the sound of music is really nice. Vinyl and Vandersteens work quite well together. Happy Listening !!
System edited: Forgot to add the Ginko Audio Cloud which is under my turntable. I've had the Luxman for about 3 months and it just keeps getting better!
