Inoculator

Forza Claire is the best sounding headphone cable I’ve heard at any price. (Haven’t ever spent over 1k though)

Forza - all the way. Great cables at great value

Woot! @Gazny that's awesome to hear, the Neotech bulk braided stuff is most excellent.

Red + GentooPlayer (w/a CLTO kernel and ram system) here. It's pretty OP.

Tweaking isn’t much @JK47, just changing kernels mostly. You can get better kernels at a yearly subscription as an option

@JK47 I would say I spent the better part of a work from home day tinkering with getting both up and running successfully and dialing things in based on settings others have found that work. I have not messed with ram system yet like @AdvanTech

Always was impressed with the Volti room at RMAF, sounds like you are enjoying them, congrats.

I've only heard the Voltis at shows being hogged by boomers playing Hotel California and The Chain on repeat, but what I could stand was promising! Congrats and looking forward to impressions.

An occasional Tequila Sunrise is OK, but no speaker deserves repeated Hotel California. No ears do either!

lol

@Cellist88 haven't had the opportunity to hear, but I know it has lots of fans out there

What did you end up with the end mate?

@Jokko sorry for the delay. After some extensive A-B I landed on the Signature Plus modded PS Audio DS MK1. It pulled away a bit on details/space once I put it in the newest firmware. The Weiss was quite good though and depending on synergy could have won out.

https://forums.mikeholt.com/threads/2-ground-rod-used.33587/

The whole nec code makes my brain hurt, but what I can comprehend is that a separate ground may allow the equipment to become energized if nearby lightning strike. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gg4wBI7bWgI

Now lift the ground from everything but a dac or pre etc. And wire direct chassis grounds between other devices in star ground manner.

I will admit that I had my doubts when I saw it used the old Sabre chips, but I have to say that Weiss did a good job

They're not the only ones who got Sabre right, but apparently there are very few!

wish I could but at this time it is prudent I don't participate in any tours until more diagnostic information is available.

How is it modded? And by whom?

@wbass I ordered the fully modded Signature Series one from APS transformers https://apsaudiotransformers.com/SALE-Our-new-Signature-Series-upgraded-MK1-DAC#wbs1 The most important part of the mod is their transformers and the Vocm mod, which can be bought separately and you can send a unit to them.

Yes. We happen to agree :) The new Signature Series PLUS is doing well. The newly designed internal power supply works very good.
https://apsaudiotransformers.com/Signature-Series-PLUS-SALE#wbs1

@crenca I know it is hard for me to understand as apparently it is just a bunch (quad?) of ESS 9018 chips. I haven't dove too deep because hearing is believing, but must be the custom filter Weiss uses. My understanding is also that at least the USB input goes through the built in DDC, so I am thinking that is part of the magic. Was great even with stock switching PSU, but phenomenal once I paired a Plixir LPS.

Does PS Audio do the upgrades on the Directstream, or is it another company?

Dude I just ordered a DS DAC that has 8 ES9018 Sabre DS DACs per channel. We're about to see what's up!

Also an update for folks, any perceived thinness was gone when paired with a Vintage Naim NAIT 2...stunning combo with the LS3/5a. Something to that all brit-fi chain, hard to believe you can get that level of engagement and musicality out of such a simple system.

Rob would say that optical is the benchmark, cause it can be totally isolated, but USB can be as good as long as you have a clean usb source like my ultrarendu, he also likes laptops or phones/etc on battery power as usb sources.

The USB feed from Allo USBridge Sig was better than the USB feed from my iPhone and MacBook. But the Optical feed from my DDC was better than the USB feed from the Allo, in terms of better overall resolution, refinement, separation, imaging and lesser digital glare.

@rlow I just got the Plixir in recently, and holy cow what an upgrade for the Weiss DAC204. Almost criminal it ships with a off the shelf switching PSU, was clearly really holding the DAC back. Excited for longer-term impressions once fully broken in.

Aweome! I love how passionate you are about this hobby and always love seeing what you're up to next.

I didn’t realize how large the Allnic is. Looks extremely impressive.

My Allnic phono is the best I've heard. I did a medium-size shootout a few years ago, and it was my preferred unit by a fair margin.

@wbass it really is something. I am getting to spend all day spinning records today, and I keep having the thought of, if this is entry-level from Allnic, how do their other offerings sound? Brain can't even process it.

I think the SUTs are the same no matter where you are in the line, and I think they're pretty good and compare well to my Bob's Devices and Slagle SUTs. A lot of tube phono stages have Lundahls built in, and I don't rate those as highly.

I've never heard these but they're by the guy who makes the Nighthawk:
https://josephcrowe.com/products/speaker-system-no-1901

@bobboxbody Joseph's work is so sick! Love following his stuff. I was not aware of these little guys, will check it out.

Feeding it some current?

@Gazny so far just a brief session out of the enleum amp-23r. My favorite headphone rig I ever ran was auteur+3f , so 3FN may have to be in my future

All of them ended my respective gear-churning journeys with the setups I paired them with. All achieved previously unknown synergy/upgrades or lifted unknown veils in my systems. All brought me closer to the music, so for that I am very grateful.

I'm actually really curious about your impressions on the Whammerdyne amp.

@Northwest I am slack on those but will eventually be doing an extensive write up. Hoping to get a suitable comparison in and letting a few more months pass so honeymoon stage is well over.

@Vansen You think that kind of Radio Shack nostalgia is easy…or cheap??

I found a photo of that firework launcher and the case definitely did not come from RadioShack, lol. It’s still in my dad’s messy garage. https://i.imgur.com/EYeNiLb.jpg

@Inoculator thanks for the feedback. Weiss 204/205 has ESS 9018. Do you have the latest board on 204 ?

Using it with my office turntable which I have to admit I am not familiar enough with to comment on overall sound quality, but seems nice and neutral sounding. Maybe sounds a tad flatter/thinner than the R26 I use on this setup but too many variables to comment yet.

This is the first phono preamp in a while that I’ve wanted to demo next to my Manley Chinook. I’ll even loan you the Manley if you’re curious about it.

Not winning any design awards that's for sure.

loaner tour worthy?

@yotacowboy I would say so, I can't swing a personal loaner on this one though. Maybe one of the friends of SBAF is a dealer for Weiss and could hook it up? They are the hot ticket item right now, I had to wait a month to get mine from my local dealer.