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ggraff

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  1. Do not overlook the little brother, the Gungnir. With the Audiobyte Hydra Z SPDIF converter, its a killer DAC. With just USB, its only so so. But with the Hydra Z it was much better than the Yggy. I had both in my system for a while and preferred the Gungnir with the Hydra combination. BTW, I did not like Yggy with the Hydra, it was better as a straight USB DAC. gjg
  2. No, we did not include any of the Windows based players. We had previously done a shoot out with J Rivers and Foobar and they couldn't come close to stock I-Tunes let alone any of the newer Mac players. gjg
  3. One of the members of our computer audiophile group just did a shoot out among all of the players we could find and felt yours was the best sounding of the group. I have not tried it yet since I need a volume control (straight from the computer to a DAC with no volume control on DAC). Do you have plans to add a volume control sometime in the future? On the remote control? Thanks gjg
  4. I did a little more research and I don't think the Hegel DAC and the Rowland DAC are using similar technology. Jeff is using FPGA chips to implement his jitter reduction methodology. I saw no evidence that the Hegel is using this or any other "exotic" jitter reduction technology when I was on their website. I also read the review of the Hegel DAC in Stereo Mojo where they were comparing it to the Lavry and Benchmark. Reading between the lines they thought it was better than both-more "analogue" like. I have had the Benchmark in my system and could believe the Hegel was better, but the only similarity between the Benchmark and the Aeris is that they are both DACs and do play music. But that is like comparing a Fiesta to a DB9- both will get you from point A to point B. Its just that the DB9 does it so much nicer. gjg
  5. I am glad that other people found it as good as we did. I hesitate to use overhyped words about products, but I felt that this one was transformational. Its the only DAC I have heard that I didn't immediately know I was listening to digital. Others I have heard were good, but still had that digital quality that is not apparent in Jeff's DAC. I just have to figure out how to get one. I suspect he will have no problems selling all of his first production run. gjg
  6. Jeff is holding most of this close to the vest, but he is working with someone in Europe that has some new ideas about digital audio. I gather it is dealing with new algorithms in the filtering and jitter reduction circuitry . What is interesting is that evidently we didn't hear this part of the design and were just listening to a very well executed normal DAC. With the production DAC, it will have all of this jitter reduction technology on all of the inputs, not just 44.1 USB that is on the prototype. Jeff promises that what we heard with the prototype will be substantially better in the production version. Jeff is not prone to hyping his products, so I believe him when he makes that kind of claim. I don't know much about the Hegel DAC or its underlying technology. It could in fact be similar. However, given Jeff's ground breaking work on the analogue side over the last 30 years, I doubt the Hegel would sound as good. I suggest writing him and seeing if he will give you more information, or maybe even a brief audition. It won't take long for you to also say OMG. Art Tedeshi, President of the Colorado Audio Society, has the prototype this weekend and is planning on having several small group listening sessions with the DAC for members. He might have more information to help answer your question and might also have a slightly different take on the DAC than I have expressed- he's an vinyl guy to the core. Sorry I couldn't be of much help on your question. gjg
  7. Jeff Rowland has now launched into the digital realm with the introduction of the Aeris DAC at CES. Jeff has long been known for producing exceptional amps and preamps. I had the opportunity to audition one of the two existing prototypes of this DAC last Saturday with a group of dedicated audiophiles- some of whom are into computer audio. Stunning was the word that came to mind by the end of the first song. By way of background a group of us has gotten together to explore the state of the art in computer audio. We have concentrated mostly on the computer and software side, but have periodically had the latest DACs to explore as well. We have had several Weiss DACs, two Antelope DACs, three Apogee DACs along with some of the usual suspects like the Ayre and Tranquility DACs to name just a few. Other than the DCS DACs, we have had most of the other good DACs on the market in one or more of our systems. While these other DACs were fair to very good, none of them had the Oh My God factor that let everyone say that is a great DAC. The Aeris has that OMG factor. After some initial set up issues (this was a prototype after all), we got the DAC working. The first song out was "Lady Be Good" from Jazz At The Pawnshop. All during the first two minutes of the song, I kept saying I haven't heard that in the crowd noise before or have you every heard that sax so soulful. Everyone was stunned at the sound. Several of the other DACs we have put in the system were detailed and transparent, but were also cold and analytic- amusical is the best term to describe them. The Aeris was just as resolving and detailed, but also kept the tapestry of the music. In fact it was more musical than my current DAC (Cullen mod DLIII) while not having all of its faults. This may sound like damning with faint praise but after all the DACs I have had in this system, I have never been tempted to replace it. I now am not only tempted, I want to put the Aeris in as the new reference. Every thing that we played just got better with this DAC. It kept the organic quality of the music while also showing problems with some of the recordings. What was amazing to me is the way it presented the music with none of the typical digital artifacts you normally hear- no sizzle or hash. The harmonic structure was what one would expect from a live performance, not thin nor overblown. Not only was the bloom not overblown, the instruments and resulting bloom kept in their own holographic space. Speaking of holography, even on complex passages, all of the instruments were in the proper three dimensional space. The soundstage stayed stable in all dimensions. The dynamic shading was stellar as was the presentation of bass. This is the first time I have ever heard bass deep and tight in my system (my room has a bass reinforcement problem at about 60-80hz). No boom with this DAC, just really tight bass (or as tight as my room will allow). Great bass grip. Comments from the listeners included: "This DAC transforms your system"; "This is the same as very good analogue"; " This is better than vinyl- no noise floor or pops and tick while still presenting all of the music"; " This thing is so good it shows the recording flaws (about Live In Paris "A Case of You"). There were many other comments, all of which were positive. All I can say it that I agree with the comments comparing this to vinyl. I chose Jazz At The Pawnshop specifically because I have heard this piece many times in my system using the original vinyl pressing. 24/48 and Jeff's DAC out performed my VPI/Clearaudio combination rather handily. I spoke with Jeff about our findings and he said there is more still to come on the production version. We listened to mostly 24/48 through Toslink, but did try USB to SPDIF as well (for some reason we couldn't get USB to hook directly to the DAC, probably operator error since Jeff is using a Mini outputting USB for his listening tests). According to Jeff, the prototype does not have any of his jitter reduction circuitry on Toslink or SPDIF, only 16/44.1 USB. He said that I should wait to hear the production unit to see what it will really do. I find it hard to fathom a better performance than I heard, but Jeff is not one boast about his components, rather he tends to understate how good they are. I have not heard the DCS Puccini which was Jeff's target, but he said he thinks the Aeris is even better. All of this performance does comes at a price, close to $10K. However, when you think about how it just bested a $15K vinyl rig by a substantial margin, its something of a bargain. There is now something out there (or soon will be) that finally eliminates the debate about digital vs analogue. This product obliterates that false dichotomy. Its now about good music well recorded.
  8. No I do not use a pre-amp in my system. It was the first thing I got rid of and has made one of the greatest improvements in my system since I started in computer audio. BTW, the pre-amp I had previously was a Jeff Rowland design, so we are not talking about a ho hum pre-amp to begin with. As far as attenuation, I am not sure how to respond or what it is you are looking for. We used the DAC's volume control if that is what your are asking about. I had I-Tunes and VLC set to 100% while doing the listening tests. We did try using I-Tunes (but not VLC) as the volume control, but thought the sound was slightly better using the DACs volume control. Hope this responds to your question. gjg
  9. I don't know that much about his offerings so I would check with him. I was just able to audition the DAC which was marvelous. gjg
  10. He added Heinz regulators along with the Ultraclocks. Beyond that, I am not sure. Contact him and I am sure he will be willing to tell you everything about it. gjg
  11. The pedal action is fairly obvious on a lot of the songs in this album, I have heard it with most DACs, but I have never heard the actual hammer strike on a string before. gjg
  12. Thanks for letting me know. I thought he had named it something else. He just wrote me and told me its called the Overdrive Signature DAC.
  13. I finished auditioning Steve's latest DAC offering. Its so new I am not sure he has a name for it yet. Below is the e-mail I sent to him after hearing this prize. I have gone through a number of DACs and this is the first one I have heard that actually excites me. Not all is perfect, as I state in my e-mail nor am I thrilled at how the power supply is laid out (three wall warts) or the fan at the top of the DAC, but it is clearly the best sounding DAC I have every had in my system. Here is what I wrote to Steve: "Thanks for giving Larry a chance to have your new DAC for a few days and helping with the M2 download. Larry, Brian and I were having lunch when you called back. After listening to your DAC, I would have really missed something special without you taking the time to send us the drivers. I have had the opportunity to have a number of very good DACs in my system over the past year and half and yours is hands down the best I have ever heard. We have had the Weiss, Antelope, several Apogees, the Ayre, Tranquility, the PS Audio DLIII and PWD, and Benchmark. None of these were even close to what your DAC presented. Its incredibly detailed without being analytic and musical without instruments/voices being mushed together. The soundstage was holographic, not just with the lead voices or instruments, but also those in the back of the soundstage. The music comes out of blackness without over blooming. What struck me as absolutely stunning was a piece from Diana Krall's "Live in Paris." In "Devil May Care" she starts out playing the piano softly and then starts really rocking. During the first minute of the track you can hear not only each piano note distinctly, but also the piano action and the hammers hitting the strings. I know this particular piece intimately and had never heard that level of detail before. In "A Case of You", you can hear the mic being turned on just before she starts to sing. Just stunning detail and still musical. The bass is very deep and well controlled. The DAC captures the harmonic structure of the bass without bloat- very well controlled. The highs are just as good. Cymbals have just the right mixture of metallic bite with sweetness- no sheen. The midrange, except in the upper midrange, is truly where this DAC shines. It has the proper weight of the lower midrange giving Diana the proper chestiness and nasal qualities. Dynamics were very good, only the Apogee does a better job of shading the micro-dynamics. I have two criticisms of the DAC, and these are fairly minor compared to the overall sound of the piece. First, it just misses the leading edge of strings like violins or harps. It also does not have quite enough bite from brass like trumpets or steel strings on a guitar. Because of this the DAC sounds slightly "slow". On the other hand, piano and woodwinds sound just fantastic. They show the leading edge quite nicely. This is the first DAC I have heard that rivals good vinyl as far as soundstaging and detail. It gives an organic quality to the music that one rarely hears on digital devices. Taking cymbals as an example, vinyl gives a very natural decay. Your DAC doesn't quite match that decay (at least not at 16/44), but neither does have the noise associated with vinyl when the decay occurs. I have not had the opportunity to hear the really expensive DACs on the market, but for now at least yours has set the standard by which I will judge all of the others we get in the system. If I had to sum it up in one word, stunning is what I would use to describe your DAC. Yours is the first DAC we have had in the system that really differentiated itself from the rest of the pack. All the rest were just different flavors of ice milk. Yours is Haagen Dazs ice cream. Thanks for allowing us to hear your wonderful DAC. You should get some great comments on it in Las Vegas." I have since had an opportunity to hear this DAC in another system, and most everything I wrote about was displayed in that system as well. However, the harmonic structure of the music, especially in the bass, was not quite as good as in my system. Different systems, different rooms, slightly different results. The second system also showed the same issues I had in my system as far as leading edge transients on brass or strings. Steve wrote back to me indicating that the optional battery power supply will cure most of my issues. At least it wouldn't require three wall warts. Not that this would bother most people, but at $7,000 I would expect a better power supply solution that this. It makes an otherwise world class product look a little home made. Steve has indicated that there is a reason for the three and I have no doubts of this, but still...I really do pick nits. BTW, I have no personal or business interest with Steve. I am offering this assessment for two reasons. When someone does something really well, his efforts should be acknowledged. Second, if you are in the market for a state of the art DAC that is not stupid expensive, you should at least consider this one. One more thing, all listening was done using 16/44 in I-Tunes or VLC. gjg
  14. Please let us know when its available for audition. I for one would be very interested in putting it in my system. Thanks gjg
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