Sonic Visions
Rockna wavedream balanced signature vs Denafrips Terminator (with v3 dsp board)
Please find this high end DAC head to head done by SV member Xecuter over here: Rockna Wavedream vs Denafrips Terminator
Interview with Parker Litchfield (Senior Engineer at Soundsmith)
We are extremely lucky to have a very smart audio engineer in our discord community! His name is Parker and he has graciously agreed to do an interview. Hopefully we can make this a bit of regular feature so we can tap into his deep knowledge.
When did you first get into audio? What were your first experiences that pulled you into audio?
My first venture in audio started freshman year of high school. I hooked up my parent’s vintage Polk Monitor 7 speakers that were collecting dust to a Yamaha RX-500U and played music using my phone. I was happy to have a stereo. From there I started thrift shopping and picking up used and broken HiFi equipment. Eventually, I came across a turntable at the goodwill and purchased a shure M97XE cartridge. My first new audio purchase. From there I began collecting records and the rest is history. I guess what pulled me in was the curious nature of a high performance electromechanical system. It was truly fascinating to me at first, and still...
When did you first get into audio? What were your first experiences that pulled you into audio?
My first venture in audio started freshman year of high school. I hooked up my parent’s vintage Polk Monitor 7 speakers that were collecting dust to a Yamaha RX-500U and played music using my phone. I was happy to have a stereo. From there I started thrift shopping and picking up used and broken HiFi equipment. Eventually, I came across a turntable at the goodwill and purchased a shure M97XE cartridge. My first new audio purchase. From there I began collecting records and the rest is history. I guess what pulled me in was the curious nature of a high performance electromechanical system. It was truly fascinating to me at first, and still...
Yamaha NS5000 Impressions
Beautiful and majestic. Two words that come to mind when thinking about the NS5000. And if I had to be brief with my overall thoughts I would simply state those two words and head back into my listening room.
I first heard the NS5000 at the toronto audio fest 2019. I recall a massive huge hall and jazz ensemble music playing.. It was a triangular corner of the hotel that must have had 20 foot high ceilings and a 50 x 40 foot floor space. I noticed the yamaha sign and was curious. Why was yamaha here? Are they displaying their instruments at an audio show. No. They make speakers? Wow. Please excuse my naivety… I set my eyes on these 2 black polished boxes. I looked around expecting some massive floor standers somewhere but couldn’t find them. As I proceeded deeper in the room I was immediately struck by how real the band sounded. The tonality was just right… piano keys ringed with a pleasing crispness, saxophone blossomed and dynamically scaled in its sound through the halls the...
I first heard the NS5000 at the toronto audio fest 2019. I recall a massive huge hall and jazz ensemble music playing.. It was a triangular corner of the hotel that must have had 20 foot high ceilings and a 50 x 40 foot floor space. I noticed the yamaha sign and was curious. Why was yamaha here? Are they displaying their instruments at an audio show. No. They make speakers? Wow. Please excuse my naivety… I set my eyes on these 2 black polished boxes. I looked around expecting some massive floor standers somewhere but couldn’t find them. As I proceeded deeper in the room I was immediately struck by how real the band sounded. The tonality was just right… piano keys ringed with a pleasing crispness, saxophone blossomed and dynamically scaled in its sound through the halls the...
Impressions of the Spendor D7.2
I had the opportunity to visit a true gentlmen recently at Vinyl Sound in Richmond hill, Ontario. Daniel Kuburovski the owner of this audiophile haven who enthuastically invited me to audition his spendor D7.2 on the phone when I asked him about them. This was a stark contrast from another store I called that same day that hung up on me mid sentence.
Daniel's service from that call to the end of my visit was first class and easily the best interaction I have had at an audiophile store. For that alone this store should be praised.. but of course what about their wares?
The spendor D7.2 is a relatively small wood floor stander that was powered by dual 3010S2 Mono Power Amplifiers and a prima luna evo 100 preamp as well as a cambridge audio digital player.
The stature of this speaker belies the sound it produces. Going through my normal test tracks such as Nicholas gunn - Veracruz I was astonished at the massive soundstage cast by these diminutive 40 lb towers. Images were well...
Daniel's service from that call to the end of my visit was first class and easily the best interaction I have had at an audiophile store. For that alone this store should be praised.. but of course what about their wares?
The spendor D7.2 is a relatively small wood floor stander that was powered by dual 3010S2 Mono Power Amplifiers and a prima luna evo 100 preamp as well as a cambridge audio digital player.
The stature of this speaker belies the sound it produces. Going through my normal test tracks such as Nicholas gunn - Veracruz I was astonished at the massive soundstage cast by these diminutive 40 lb towers. Images were well...
Terminator DSP board upgrade impressions
After having my terminator dsp upgrade board for months and never getting around to finally upgrading it the day finally came. The upgrade process was pretty straight forward... probably the toughest part was sliding the denafrips beast out and back into my rack! I took out 2 screws, popped the top... took the old dsp board out (was pretty stiff in there) and replaced it with the new board.
Once everything was hooked up I listened with the HD800S (did listen to reference tracks before the upgrade). Immediately what was more apparent was simply more detail retrieval... reverberations, echoes, minute sounds were now much more easy to perceive in my standard nicholas gunn test tracks. There was a great separation of musical elements and more of a 3d holographic presentation. Soundstage grew slightly. Overall music is now more engaging, immersive and easier to connect with emotionally.
The Denafrips terminator is a superb dac and this upgrade board makes it even better! Please keep...
Once everything was hooked up I listened with the HD800S (did listen to reference tracks before the upgrade). Immediately what was more apparent was simply more detail retrieval... reverberations, echoes, minute sounds were now much more easy to perceive in my standard nicholas gunn test tracks. There was a great separation of musical elements and more of a 3d holographic presentation. Soundstage grew slightly. Overall music is now more engaging, immersive and easier to connect with emotionally.
The Denafrips terminator is a superb dac and this upgrade board makes it even better! Please keep...
Impressions of the Talis S300
So heard the Talis by T+A electroakustic at Angies audio corner. They were connected to an N100h network player and T+A PA3100 integrated amp and dac. Nate the rep there was super helpful in quickly getting things connected and setup and I listened to Tidal. Now he didn't do fine room adjustments and didn't actually listen to them and adjust them at all so they were just placed about 8 feet apart in a medium size room (I would estimate 25 feet x 20 feet but irregularly shaped and lots of openings to other rooms.
Starting with nicholas gunn - veracruz my main test track I was immediately impressed with the transparency and detail retrieval. This is the kind of detail I heard from speakers with beryllium drivers like the sopra 3 or persona 9h. The treble had a slight sparkle as I heard water flowing in other tracks on the same nicholas gunn album. The center image was incredibly strong and defined and simply sounded clean and pure. The soundstage was quite expansive and although...
Starting with nicholas gunn - veracruz my main test track I was immediately impressed with the transparency and detail retrieval. This is the kind of detail I heard from speakers with beryllium drivers like the sopra 3 or persona 9h. The treble had a slight sparkle as I heard water flowing in other tracks on the same nicholas gunn album. The center image was incredibly strong and defined and simply sounded clean and pure. The soundstage was quite expansive and although...
Impressions of the Sonja 1.3
I had the privilege of hearing the YG Sonja 1.3 system at my local dealer just a few days ago and was thoroughly impressed by these towering imposing looking speakers. The gentlemen who I will call 'R' was firstly extremely inviting and very knowledgeable. What I really appreciated about him is his kindness, preparedness (he prepared my playlist of songs ahead of time) and his very easy going personality. I really enjoyed asking him questions not only about this amazing system but about audio in general.
His system consists of the following:
His system consists of the following:
His room was approximately 16 feet by 22 feet by...
Tonda Vimberg-D and Tidal Contriva G2 impressions
Got a chance to listen to the Vimberg Tonda-D (TD) and Tidal Contriva G2 (CG2) today and wanted to share my thoughts.
Upon seeing both speakers I was immediately impressed with the fit and finish especially with the CG2. Placing hands on the cabinet and tapping each of them it was nearly as if I was tapping hardwood and while playing I felt absolutely 0 vibration when touch the top of the cabinet (I tried not to get too touch feely less I piss off the dealer). The TD has some very interesting honeycomb aluminum drivers. The white and black configuration looked nice and was surprised actually that it is quite large. The CG2 had an amazing deep wood finish with a strong reflecting gloss coating… the metal feet and rings were so polished they always sparkled under the normal room lights in the listening room. The TD has more modest brushed feet (aluminum, vs stainless steel on the CG2) but still im pressive looking nonetheless.
System:
The speakers were both compared on a...
Upon seeing both speakers I was immediately impressed with the fit and finish especially with the CG2. Placing hands on the cabinet and tapping each of them it was nearly as if I was tapping hardwood and while playing I felt absolutely 0 vibration when touch the top of the cabinet (I tried not to get too touch feely less I piss off the dealer). The TD has some very interesting honeycomb aluminum drivers. The white and black configuration looked nice and was surprised actually that it is quite large. The CG2 had an amazing deep wood finish with a strong reflecting gloss coating… the metal feet and rings were so polished they always sparkled under the normal room lights in the listening room. The TD has more modest brushed feet (aluminum, vs stainless steel on the CG2) but still im pressive looking nonetheless.
System:
The speakers were both compared on a...
Denafrips Terminator Review
About me (audio experience history)
I’ve been in the audio game for about 10 years. I am mainly am a PC music lover. I just love listening to high end audio at my desk. I started with a superlux 668B and a cheap laptop. Even with those humble headphones I remember being surprised how much better they sounded over my basic laptop speakers and ever since those days I always strived to take incremental steps in improving my audio experience hopefully while enjoying all along.
My first serious audiophile headphones were the beyerdynamic DT990 pro 250 ohm again running out of a laptop. I was shocked by how incredible these sounded compared to my superlux. At the time the $200 CAD I spent on them seemed excessive but the reviews were positive. Little did I know how much more cash would be involved in further gains in sound quality! I met @Shahrose on head fi at my workplace at the time and he gave me incredible insights (and continues to do so to this day) that helped me...
I’ve been in the audio game for about 10 years. I am mainly am a PC music lover. I just love listening to high end audio at my desk. I started with a superlux 668B and a cheap laptop. Even with those humble headphones I remember being surprised how much better they sounded over my basic laptop speakers and ever since those days I always strived to take incremental steps in improving my audio experience hopefully while enjoying all along.
My first serious audiophile headphones were the beyerdynamic DT990 pro 250 ohm again running out of a laptop. I was shocked by how incredible these sounded compared to my superlux. At the time the $200 CAD I spent on them seemed excessive but the reviews were positive. Little did I know how much more cash would be involved in further gains in sound quality! I met @Shahrose on head fi at my workplace at the time and he gave me incredible insights (and continues to do so to this day) that helped me...
Borealis and Australis - Aurorus Audio impressions from cskippy
Discorder cskippy has written some impressions on these headphones developed by UncleRuckus and the team at Aurorus audio, please have a look::
www.superbestaudiofriends.org
Aurorus Audio - Borealis & Australis
Ok, after spending a lot of time listening to them, here are my impression and measurement:...
www.superbestaudiofriends.org
DAC 101 with Seltzertronics
Check out this amazing video by one of our discord goers Seltzertronics, great work!
Magico M2 and S7 impressions
Spent a lot longer than I thought I would listening to the M2 and S7. It was a great experience.
M2:
When I first saw them they looked nice but rather small. I immediately felt… these can’t possibly deliver a solid low end.I spoke for a good while with the seller Mark who was extremely kind and helpful. He really knows his stuff and was very welcoming and forthcoming with his vast audio knowledge, thanks Mark!
Anyhow after a bit of an intro and discussing my needs and my current gear I sat down. Please keep in mind that the speakers are in a room that Mark admits is lean and irregularly shaped so they are not 100% ideal. Basically its a basement room that is asymmetric with an opening hall way ‘port’ going far to the right, the listening area I would estimate is about 18 x 24 x 7 feet (but not totally sure). The M2 and S7 were connected to a luxman integrated 300 watt amp with chord dave + mscaler and nordost interconnects and cables.
First Mark played a Jazz piece by Lee Morgan...
M2:
When I first saw them they looked nice but rather small. I immediately felt… these can’t possibly deliver a solid low end.I spoke for a good while with the seller Mark who was extremely kind and helpful. He really knows his stuff and was very welcoming and forthcoming with his vast audio knowledge, thanks Mark!
Anyhow after a bit of an intro and discussing my needs and my current gear I sat down. Please keep in mind that the speakers are in a room that Mark admits is lean and irregularly shaped so they are not 100% ideal. Basically its a basement room that is asymmetric with an opening hall way ‘port’ going far to the right, the listening area I would estimate is about 18 x 24 x 7 feet (but not totally sure). The M2 and S7 were connected to a luxman integrated 300 watt amp with chord dave + mscaler and nordost interconnects and cables.
First Mark played a Jazz piece by Lee Morgan...
Welcome to the Sonic Visions
Welcome to the Sonic Visions forum! Born out of your high end audio discord community we hope this becomes a great new resources for the exchange of experience, ideas and perspectives on all things hi-fi audio. Please enjoy your stay! If you have any ideas on how we can continue to grow or further the community, don't hesitate to post!
Also please feel free to join our Sonic Visions discord located here: https://discord.gg/PAMBexj
Also please feel free to join our Sonic Visions discord located here: https://discord.gg/PAMBexj