f1eng

I have used a Metric Halo LIO 8 to make recordings. Personally, on the type of music I have recorded, I detect no audible difference between the input to the recorder and its output which means that it is, to my ears, audibly transparent. The MH is an "industrial" product so does not have a very expensive enclosure or fancy connectors which makes it outstanding vfm IMHO. A Dac in a beautiful enclosure with SOTA connectors using the MH interior would cost at least 5x as much to make but probably be more domestically acceptable.

I am a complete cable sceptic but there is no doubt that they need and benefit enormously from a sufficiently powerful headphone amp. They are a very tough load, most portables don't cope well. Fabulous deep unbolted bass with textbook clarity. Marvellous 'phones.

I decided it took far too long to tag classical discs to my satisfaction so I have largely given up with them. iTunes used to be easier in the beginning than now since it seemed easier to put each CD into an easy to find playlist. v11 is less convenient for this. I suppose iTunes has gone from a music ripper for iPods to a shopfront for games and the iTunes store... I rip all pop CDs when I get them, since the automatically downloaded tags seem acceptable pretty well all the time.

I don't visit this forum often and have only just seen this thread (or forgotten it, my memory is not what it was). I bought a D-Premier about 3 years ago, and added another a few months later when they added the ability to chain multiple Devialets together. I have largely dumped computer audio since then but the CD performance is exemplary as are the analogue inputs, line and phono. The phono input has the most accurate RIAA curve I am aware of and it is the quietest phono stage I have used. I have tried both both direct into the MC input and via SUT into the MM input (which is what I have used for decades into loads of other phono stages). The analogue inputs are superb IME. It is pointless if you don't use the built in DAC for digital though IMO.

I have had mine for 3 months now. I bought it for portable use and it drives my AKG Q701 headphones better than anything else I have tried. These are my favourite headphones but seem very hard to drive. Rob Watts stated in one thread where its output was being questioned that it has enough power to drive efficient speakers directly. I have a pair of 108dB/watt speakers and if I can be bothered to make up leads I may well try it! It is a bit big, for a portable, but it contains a good range of inputs and outputs, which make it wide even using miniature connectors and switches. Swings and roundabouts! All in all one of the most satisfactory bits of kit I have bought in decades.

Goldmund Epilog 1&2 for both. The Tune Audio Anima is as musical but probably misses out a tad on resolution.

I use the USB cable that came with my DSPeaker Anti-Mode 2.0 Dual Core to connect it to my iMac

I tend to, yes. Since I have had a sound level app on my phone I check more often at concerts. I don't expect to achieve rock music stadium loudness, but other stuff, yes. IMHO this is one of the main ways in which home systems fail to sound like live music. Live music is much louder than most people seem to realise. Most home systems will not go anywhere near loud enough due mainly to lack of amp power and speaker compression. Most of the systems I have measured -sounded- loud well before they actually -were- loud due to this. The ear interprets the distortion and non- linearity as loud even when it isn't.

Mainly classical recordings, the Tennstedt Mahler 5th in particular, but also another by Jacques Brel, Pawnshop jazz recordings. Most of the live recordings are somewhat old now I come to think about it.

I use live recordings, including those I have made myself.

I recently heard a surround sound system using the Lyngdorf Steinway speakers. The sound was quite impressively loud but the quality was not to my taste. Then I listened to the very much more expensive Model D system which is the best sound I have jeard on demo anywhere ever, by a considerable margin. Spectacularly beleivable on piano, as one may expect, but everything else I played too. it is the first system I have heard which sounded as good or better than my system at home. It is exquisitely made and finished too. If I had not got so far down the road of developing my own system I would buy it.

There is no choice which completely describes me, but the 4th is nearest. I still have 4 turntables, reel-to-reel tape, cassette, FM radio as well as my CD player and streaming solution. OTOH I listen to 99% digital. I put an LP on only when I only have the music I wish to listen to on LP. I haven't used a cassette for a decade... I only keep the reel-to-reel for nostalgia and listening to my old recordings. I think that digital is much better than LPs, but that is probably because I spent so long working with record players and am so aware of what they add to the signal on the disc...

Interesting comment in the review about enjoying music much more on a high end system. I think it depends. With new music I think it helps to listen on a good system since on a poor one we miss quite a lot of what is going on. However with music I know well my brain fills in the missing stuff which I know is there, even though I can't hear it directly, say via my iPod on a 'plane, I still enjoy music I love on even a mediocre system. My wife, a professional musician, once said "I'd rather listen to Mozart over the phone than that rubbish on your stereo" I agree with this.

Resolution Audio Cantata

Have a look at this. Transparent, in my opinion, so upgraditis can stop, or it has for me, apart from ending up with two as mono blocs. I have compared it to high end SS and met an Audiophile who has replaced his Kondo valve kit too. http://www.devialet.com/ OTOH if your passion is box swapping it kills the hobby for you!