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tapatrick

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  1. Enjoy! Sounds good... PS. I doubt very much you will be sending the SX back :)
  2. Sub is connected to High Level (speakon connector) Red and Yellow wires are connected to + and the Black to -. See here from the supplied Rel manual
  3. As mentioned, I have the SX with Omega Super Alnicos. These speakers are 94.5db (8ohms). I've tried 2 rel subwoofers which extend the bass down to 30hz (the Omegas go down to 40hz). To be honest they are not really adding much, a tad more bass 'feel' and immersion. It's delicate to dial them in as the bass can easily become too much. In my listening room the bass is already enough for my preference, without the subs... The SX with the right speakers needs to be heard to be believed and the bass is not just linked to 'oomph' from a higher volume setting, as can be in other setups. There are lots of understandable comments with concerns about what might be missing with the SX and I was also hesitant to try blindly, living too far from EC Designs in the Netherlands. But with my enjoyable experience with the Fractal DAC, reports on here and exchanges with John & Gordon, I was confident to proceed. With the SX I honestly have never been happier with a system and it is now so simple - plus no more audio nervosa and messing with wires/capacitors/ram chips that never ends. But as always we all have different preferences and requirements.
  4. the big question is which one is Matthias going to finally go for... 😂
  5. Agree there is zero distortion on the SX volume and stays remarkable at any setting. The volume is as magic as the DAC (its basically a resistor attenuator). I wouldn't see the point of buying an SX and adding an amp. The BX is for that surely. On some recordings even on lowest settings the volume is enough for late night listening and agree that the bass stays significant at any setting, as opposed to usual amps that need more power (with more distortion) for more bass output.....
  6. That's interesting to hear your experience of the Omegas and I've read similar reports. I did a fair bit of research and reading reviews before deciding on the Super Alnicos and havn't regretted it. (Possibly the Super Alnicos high output at 97db would be an improvement). They are the only part of my system that has lasted the course. Everything else has been changed a few times. Would be curious to hear the EC Designs recommended open Baffle speakers at 102dB / 2ohm...
  7. The Dynamics are super. I don't tend to focus on one aspect of the SQ as the SX has a holistic quality that is very satisfying but I did try those pieces of music for you guys... :). I tried with 1812 and Jethro Tull and there is no problem with dynamics. The cannons in 1812 are a real shock! As mentioned I think the pairing of speakers with the SX is of utmost importance. You really need a sensitive speaker to benefit from the power rating and the distortion free sound from the SX - mine are 94.5db. Would love to try 100db versions - ie Finale Audio’s Kensington Speakers, but that is a whole world of experimentation I'm not going down... What I notice most is the quality of recordings and how different they can be in. The bass (if it is in the recording) is enough with the super alnicos and I have also tried 2 Rel subwoofers that I plug in sometimes. This extends the low end nicely when set properly, making the sound more immersive.
  8. Yes, The SX and RX both have the IR remote volume control. RX outputs max 1.7V and the SX supplies max 11.31V output. I'd reference back to the EC manuals as I'm not sure the copy on the Elise website is right for each product.
  9. It’s an interesting question and exploration then as to what combo of amp and speakers to add after the RX. After the SX the only consideration that could make any difference are the speakers. And obviously they need to be sensitive due to the power output. I don’t know the technicalities of the SX but the amplification is special as is obviously the digital conversion. My speakers only need 2 watts to sing. And that choice would likely also depend on the kind of music you prefer to listen to. I wanted to share that I have found a happy solution to a very long and relatively expensive search. Money that would have made more sense putting in my pension! Heyho. Music preferences have some bearing on speaker / amplification choice and my preferences are intimate guitar singer/songwriters (not only but mostly) or small jazz groups. I like to really hear and feel the soul and emotion of the music with no digital artefacts to distract from the enjoyment. Other music, ie large classical pieces or rock also sound really excellent especially if there is a large and deep soundstage. It’s just that I found myself drawn to finding a system that would produce a truly convincing, natural sounding human voice, because of the enjoyment and intimacy this brings. This has been solved in my opinion and because of this it has an obvious impact on all other areas of the SQ. No doubt the Omega Super Alnicos play a part in this solution and in an ideal world it would be interesting to try other speakers. I have a pair of subwoofers that I’ve not had time to test out yet - or even if they will work with the SX. In my humble opinion there is no need with this offering from EC Designs to spend time and money on testing different expensive sources, ram chips, capacitors, cables, black magic disks (yes I’ve been there) etc etc. Unless that is your pleasure of course. One thing to mention is that for the purists the volume ‘steps’ on the SX are not smooth as in a usual volume knob, and probably not incremental enough. This doesn’t bother me as I don’t change volume much and a small price to pay for this kind of SQ excellence and enjoyment. Of course as always YMMV. PS the EC designs are now on (pre) order in the UK at Elise Audio (info thanks to Hopkins over on What’s Best Forum) and are slightly cheaper than buying direct from Holland as I did. Although if you do not want to wait it’s probably quicker still to order direct from EC Designs.
  10. Crikey, 350w into 4 ohms. Should heat the room in winter...
  11. The SX gives up to max 14W at 4ohms. I’d recommend considering it, but only if that would be enough power for you.
  12. Here you go. The memory player has USB out, so I compared this with USB out of my old Macbook pro - both through the usb to toslink U192ETL that I have to feed the SX. There is no difference that I can detect streaming Tidal. That wasn't the case before and its because of the PowerDAC SX. Convinces me that the DAC has always been the weakest link. All the tweaking, soldering, making and swopping cables, power supplies, etc over the last decade was fun but the elephant in the room was the DAC all along. I still find it hard to accept that the source does not really matter, the conversion from digital to analogue seems to be everything. EC designs have cracked it in my opinion - and the amplification in the SX really adds to the magic. There is so much headroom and range with the amplification. Even the volume is difficult to describe compared to other amps I've had. The sound is so clean it just gets MORE at higher volumes. According to their manual, it lists the 24 steps of volume output - from only a mere 179mV at zero to 11.31V at step 24 (max). As my speakers are full range and sensitive, moderate listening into 8ohms is in the range of settings 10-12, which is only 1mV to 1.42mV output (82mW to 161mW). The max I've gone up to is 18 with toslink from a TV through the system, which is enough and equivalent to only 1.29W output. Some recordings are adequate at very low volume settings. I've not had this range of amplification sensitivity before - and crystal clarity due to the absence of distortion. I've really lost interest in comparisons. Toslink out of the Macbook pro into the SX (or toslink out of CD player) is my preference now as its super simple, no more headless, management of the beloved but quirky memory player. I use a simple 3 way toslink splitter/switch to feed the various toslink sources into the SX. I've also tried without this switch, swopping the toslink input directly into the back of the SX and doesn't make any difference. I havn't even bothered trying different toslink cables... Seriously though, the airiness, depth, sweetness, range and transparency on good recordings is breathtaking - even after several days listening. You really get to hear into the fullness of the recordings, so that's where my attention is now, whether streaming or from CD.
  13. Yes indeed. The SX is really special all in one box! I loved the Fractal Dac (with the U192ETL) but was tempted to make my system super simple and say goodbye to tweaking. The SX really works magic with the Omega super alnicos. And doesn’t seem to mind what feeds it. So it doesn’t get much simpler than this. I enjoyed the journey to get here but I can say this is my last purchase. So glad I trusted the reports of the new models. Regarding the bass comment, I read some comments about bass being light with the powerdacs, so was responding to that but it’s not that important.
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