mudman8

balcony seats are around $45, the section below balcony is about $60 I think it's called Terrace, Sides are Orchestra East and West, closer to the orchestra but the sound is also wonderful anywhere you sit. http://www.laphil.com/ for seating below but no prices of individual tickets. click on the chart and it brings up a pic of your view http://www.laphil.com/tickets/seating-chart.cfm I went to the Tristan Project, video by Bill Viola and Salonen conducting, it was spectacular sound. I"ve never had chills and thrills like that. End of each act was a standing ovation, well worth my measly $50. I really have enjoyed Salonen as a conductor the Phil sounds so great with him. Very precise and clean sound. Back to DACs, I think I'll hold off hearing one till Naim comes out with theirs. Since I have had Naim kit before I know they make good stuff.

yes the hall is incredible, I sit behind the orchestra with a friend because we like to watch the conductors and the percussionists who do little , and BIG, things. Also the Balcony seats at top back of hall have incredible cohesive sound. Another recording that was done there is Los Lobos, The Town and The City. I really enjoy playing that, good songs. I"m sure there are others out there. One New Years I took friends to see Lyle Lovett, great time without the large band, his backing group was great. I understand that many recordings of concerts have been played on KUSC. And I was there for one of the 3 nights Salonen recorded The Rite of Spring and Night on Bald mountian, the original version which ends at satans feast, no sof bells of morning and Ave Maria. Talk about dark... g

I figured these higher end components give more. I remember the teacher on one software siad after it is all done you expand the file with this button for maximum impact and then downsize it to send off to the company. Yet I"ve been reading about the loudness wars and hear it on many rock CDs. They leave no headroom and it makes the soft passages more aggressive. I do go to Disney Hall for classical music and really enjoy those performances. Nothing like 8 double basses drubbing away and going from complete silence to 100+ creating a climax. I'm sure at 24/96 they pay attention to this and many other details. Last night I watched Wall-e with a friend and at the end Peter Gabriel had a song with a chior. That's made me think about blueray into the DAC also. Oh so much to research. Read this AM on here about the cables, very enlightening. I"ve been taken with Naim for 10 years tho now have an LFD integrated. I seem to like that hand built British sound. Tho LFD is minimalist to the core with just RCA inputs. Naim is coming out with a DAC soon and there are many different inputs in the back so it can tke more than one source. Only DAC I've heard was a Lavry DA10. Quite exciting in detail. I need to rip in AIFF or WAV. That means redoing 30 or so CDs on my Mini which is sitting on my shelf.

A whole area I really didn't know about. Thanks all for the discussion. Helps me not sound like a moron if someone on the street needs to know about cables. It also brought up the issue of connecting 2 or more devices to a DAC. I have a CD player but also Bluray DVD and if I have a Mac Mini that is three sources. Tho long term I'd let the CD player go.

yeah, I had an email back from them. I'll have to figure out a trip down there, my parents are 2/3 way down in Dana Pt. so I can stop on the way to or back. So what does the Proton do that just plugging in headphones into the computer doesn't do? Years ago I took graphics classes and we edited music files and had to use Sennheiser to catch the details. I'm also really curious about the sound difference between 16/44 and 24/96 on my stereo. I'm amazed the Beatles reissues didn't come out also in the higher format. That would have been easy to do and created a ground swell for that medium. But I'm sure they'll have another reissue down the line. I've not bought any yet. I also think I'm going to have to go back and re-rip the 2 dozen CDs from Lossless to Aiff. mud

well I've been reading about DACs off and on for a few months. I Bought a Mac Mini and started loading my CDs. Then had financial distractions. I almost bought a Lavry DA11 after hearing a DA10. With more time researching I have a huge headache and new numbers and terminology. UGH! Now I"m looking at the Proton because I do believe in time higher bitrates will prevail. The Proton looks to be a good price to get in and not be limited by Redbook standards. Still I'm not sure, as I know no one else or heard anything else in DACs. My equipment is now an LFD integrated, Naim CDX2 and Rega P5 TT. ah what to do? where to find a dealer, I read lots of reviews but don't know dealers.