Fido

thanks Chuck for the tube rolling update - I cant wait to try my new Brimar preamp tubes - just to see if I can even hear a difference. Sometimes I can not hear what many on this Forum are talking about. When I added the Lmahl tweeters to my Fortes I was told I needed to add lpads because the tweets would be hotter than the mids but I loved the sound of the new tweeters in the current configuration so I left the lpads I had wired up out. Listening thru my Node2i sounds fantastic thru my Denefrips Dac. I cant justify spending $3000 on a Lumin Streamer if I cant hear the difference between a $3000 Streamer and a $500 Node 2i. I am sure I might be missing something but if I cant hear a difference then I do not really care.

Sorry but the buyer followed thru and bought the woofers. Another member of this Forum.

I love my HSU sub - sounds fantastic

This has been a really interesting discussion. Most interesting is that people will argue about anything!!!! My take is that art and perceptions are different for everyone. Like Claude, I have been a professional photographer for many years. I shot film for years - had my own darkroom and processed and printed thousands of images. Once digital came in I switched to DSLRs and never looked back. My clients required images in the digital domain. I was an event photographer and shot many reveals of latest products at major trade shows in the USA. I was hired by Sony and the major movie studios to shoot a new technology called Blu-ray DVD. My images from that shoot were used the very day of the reveal and by the next day were being shared all over the world. The reveal was shot in a very darkened room while screens showed the DVD tech B-Roll footage. Were these images as high quality as something I could have captured with more light and an 8x10 film view camera? Of course the answer is no but for Sonys purposes they were more than high quality enough. I love the look of analog - even crappy Polaroid - yes low res and noisy but there is a feel that is warm without the micro detail. Audio is similar in that it can be pleasing and sound great to me while others would feel that clinical detail is all that sounds good to them. The coolest thing is that we have the choice to view or listen to whatever we like.I still have my film cameras and lots of high end digital camera gear and I have vinyl, CDs and streaming. I prefer the sound of my Tube amp over my replaced hybrid solid state Mcintosh amp but not because I think tubes are BETTER. I just prefer the sound distortion and all.Same goes with vinyl. I like the physical tactile feel of the record playing process. Bottom line is I like music no matter what its source. BTW - I am also not a pixel peeper nor do I follow all the rules of color theory or a lot of compositional rules. -- Ha ha - sue me -- I like what I like and make no apologies about that and nobody else should feel intimidated because they like analog or digital better than the other. or like me - like both

I still enjoy listening to vinyl but I would not pretend to say it is technically superior to digital alternatives. I will admit that I prefer a warmer analog sound like my tube amp exhibits and vinyl often excels at. That said with a good DAC digital is continuing to sound better and better every day to these old ears.

Even for an old retired photographer like me $600,000 is a lot for a turntable. The most I ever spent on a turntable was the Technics I bought from Pete H here on the Klipsch Forum for $650 and even that stressed me out. It is tough when good musical streamers can be had for around $500 these days. Many ways to listen to music and many different mediums and many ways to spend ones $$$$$$. That said who needs a $600,000 turntable??????? None of my pals have $600,000 turntables but I must run with a lower income crowd.

It is fun to be curious about hearing different equipment and discovering how music sounds when you change anything in the chain. Whatever draws me more into the music is always a good thing and I have fun with it. Fun is what life is all about. I am older but it has not stopped me from trying out a lot o f'new to me' equipment this past year - hence - McIntosh hybrid amp that I loved sold to make way for my first ever tube integrated amp, A Node 2i streamer into an R2R DAC, A Technics Turntable with Denon MC cartridge, Dave's Lmahl Tweeters in my fathers vintage Fortes, Heresy speakers made into Super Heresys and several other tweaks. i listen to music many more hours daily. More involving and fun but when I read someone on this forums experience with tube rolling or some other modification they tried and liked I just want to hear the results for myself to see if I get even more drawn in. GLWS

so tempted to go up and see and hear the danleys - Please Fido - RESIST!!!!!!!!!

Id love the details ofBrimar Tubes you bought

I agree that Dave's Lmahl tweeters were fantastic upgrades that made my Fortes sound so much better. Hence Dave's Smahl Tweeters for my Super Heresy mods

Why not buy the Danleys and the Primaluna? you only live once! Claude loves his Danleys and he has owned a lot of them. Those pro photographers must make a lot of $$$$$$$ 🤘

my beautiful wife wants both but to her really sounding good is good enough - you understand because you are mr TECH wether its Audio or Photography. Decor is important to me, also but I would love those Danleys. i would totally understand if my wife did not think the trade off to get BETTER bass would be worth the tradeoff of the statement industrial looking speakers would make in our living room haha - you know I want them though - lol

Congrats on that - Im sure if I had a separate music room my wife would be cool with those DANLEYS but having a small house and only the living room for music it would be a no go. I hear those speakers sound AMAZING - GLWS

you are a lucky man if your wife lets you have those bad *** speakers in your living room - my wife would see those and remind me we don't live in a concert hall. Women think differently than most men - lol

Sale of woofers fell thru so they are still available - shipping is the killer on these - price from Cali to Ohio was $72 - I may just keep them and find someplace to store all my old audio gear - selling stuff on the Internet can be a lot of work for not much $$$$$ - dragging them to the mailbox place and getting shipping bids etc etc etc and then bringing them back home and doing this sometimes over and over again ---- with possible Covid exposure - for $100 - doesn't make much sense to me - I might as well just sell my blood or get a real job again. 🤘

My impressions exactly! Congrats on your Pontus DAC

Bump - someone must want these woofers or tweeters at some point

so how did you like the kt-120s versus the EL-34's? Was it a dramatic difference?

I love my Pontus - Hope you get yours soon and enjoy the music

One last thing about the Denefrips Dacs. The customer service by Alvin at Vinshine is exemplary. The Dacs are beautifully crafted and Alvin makes you feel like he is your personal audio advocate.

I bet that combo of the Lumin streamer and the MHDT Pagoda sounds incredible.

I love the sound stage of a good vinyl rig so I still love playing records... - but... I must admit I listen to a lot more streamed music now that I have the Pontus because its closer to sounding like vinyl than anything I have ever heard. Having 300 plus albums takes up a lot of space. Streaming as much music as possible takes up zero space and there is a lot of great music that never has been on vinyl. Even if there was every record I could ever want I have no space to add more lp's to my collection. You might want to listen to a Pontus or a Terminator and see if it checks off most of your boxes.

I use the coaxial output on the Node 2i and bypass its built in DAC by going directly to the Denefrips.

I was very happy with my beautiful Mcintosh MA252 Integrated amp and had not even finished paying for it when I went to Upscale Audio to audition the EVO 400 Integrated playing thru some amazing sounding Tannoy speakers. I was so blown away I became instantly obsessed with trading in the Mcintosh. Getting it home and listening to it through my Klipsch Fortes I realized right away that the EVO sounded even better to me with my Fortes and HSU subwoofer than the Tannoys had sounded at Upscale. I wasted no time paying off the Primaluna and I have enjoyed it almost every day this past year. Maybe amps all sound the same or maybe not - I don't know and I really don't care because the synergy of my EVO 400 and Klipsch speakers continue to blow my mind song after song after song - congrats on your new toy!

I have the Denefrips Pontus and it sounds fantastic. I play my Blueos Node 2i thru it usually running Tidal and to my ears with my system I think it sounds fantastic. Very close to listening to Vinyl as less glare and less digital sounding to my ears than the Dac in the Node 2i or the old sigma Dac chipped I used to run. Your experience may vary.