slowGEEZR
Well-known member
I spent four hours listening to some very high end equipment at ne plus ultra, in Austin, TX today. I wanted to check out specifically the ayre QB-9 USB DAC. This was set up in a studio with Conrad-Johnson amplification, a Mac-mini pc, and Wilson Sophia II's. I wanted to verify for myself that using a portable pc and a USB asynchronous DAC did, indeed, sound good. It does, very. So good, that I will purchase a Mac-mini and a QB-9 as my main digital front end.
Ne plus ultra is located in an old mansion, in downtown Austin. There is no indication on the property that a super listening experience is located within. There are four listening rooms, of which I listened to only two. The second listening room was set up with much more expensive gear than that above and I spent over three hours in this room. The speakers were the Wilson Maxx Series 3. The digital front end was the dcs Scartlatti transport and master clock. There were more dcs Scarlatti matching gear, but I'm not sure what, specifically. The amps were the ayre MX-R monos. The preamp was the Nagra PL-L configured with balanced outs and the phono stage was the Nagra VPS. The PL-L was supported by the Grand Prix Audio VFS shock absorbing plates. The turntable was a Grand Prix Audio Monaco and I'm sorry, but I forgot the name of the tonearm. I'll update when I find that info. The cartridge was a Lyra Skala, I believe. All equipment was on Grand Prix Audio Monaco modular stands.
I figure the digital front end was valued ~ $80K and the analogue front end ~ $30K. My buddy is a digital guy and doesn't use a turntable in his very nice and expensive system. We thought this would be a great opportunity to listen to a lot music on both CD and vinyl, so we did. First, let me say that the Wilson Maxx Series 3 are speakers that sound magnificent. I tried to find fault with them, but I just kept getting drawn back into the music. I think they are a spectacular speaker, at least when driven by gear as good as this stuff is! Second, let me say that if someone were to give me either the digital front end I heard today, or the analogue front end, I would take the analogue front end. I'm not going to say that analogue is better than digital, I'm just saying, that based on what I heard today, that is the choice I would make. We listened to 33 1/3 and 45 r.p.m. LPs and CDs. For a few of the vinyl cuts we listened to, we also listened to the same cuts on CDs, presumably with the same mastering. For example, we listened to the Neil Young Archives Performance Series, Massey Hall 1971, on both LP and CD. We also listened to, “Raising Sand”, on both LP and CD. Both of these examples had the same mastering, as far as we could tell, by the liner notes.
I was amazed at the Monaco turntable's ability to project sound out of total silence. It's the best I've ever heard in this regard. If you're in the market for a turntable upgrade, I highly suggest you audition one. I had never heard Nagra gear before, but now I know what the excitement is about. Both preamps sounded absolutely neutral and grain free. The ayre MX-R monos powered the Wilsons wonderfully. This really was a totally wonderful listening session, of which I'm not sure I've heard much, if any better. Of course, there was that Bosendorfer piano piece played on German Physiks Borderland MK IV speakers Rich and I heard at RMAF....
Ne plus ultra is located in an old mansion, in downtown Austin. There is no indication on the property that a super listening experience is located within. There are four listening rooms, of which I listened to only two. The second listening room was set up with much more expensive gear than that above and I spent over three hours in this room. The speakers were the Wilson Maxx Series 3. The digital front end was the dcs Scartlatti transport and master clock. There were more dcs Scarlatti matching gear, but I'm not sure what, specifically. The amps were the ayre MX-R monos. The preamp was the Nagra PL-L configured with balanced outs and the phono stage was the Nagra VPS. The PL-L was supported by the Grand Prix Audio VFS shock absorbing plates. The turntable was a Grand Prix Audio Monaco and I'm sorry, but I forgot the name of the tonearm. I'll update when I find that info. The cartridge was a Lyra Skala, I believe. All equipment was on Grand Prix Audio Monaco modular stands.
I figure the digital front end was valued ~ $80K and the analogue front end ~ $30K. My buddy is a digital guy and doesn't use a turntable in his very nice and expensive system. We thought this would be a great opportunity to listen to a lot music on both CD and vinyl, so we did. First, let me say that the Wilson Maxx Series 3 are speakers that sound magnificent. I tried to find fault with them, but I just kept getting drawn back into the music. I think they are a spectacular speaker, at least when driven by gear as good as this stuff is! Second, let me say that if someone were to give me either the digital front end I heard today, or the analogue front end, I would take the analogue front end. I'm not going to say that analogue is better than digital, I'm just saying, that based on what I heard today, that is the choice I would make. We listened to 33 1/3 and 45 r.p.m. LPs and CDs. For a few of the vinyl cuts we listened to, we also listened to the same cuts on CDs, presumably with the same mastering. For example, we listened to the Neil Young Archives Performance Series, Massey Hall 1971, on both LP and CD. We also listened to, “Raising Sand”, on both LP and CD. Both of these examples had the same mastering, as far as we could tell, by the liner notes.
I was amazed at the Monaco turntable's ability to project sound out of total silence. It's the best I've ever heard in this regard. If you're in the market for a turntable upgrade, I highly suggest you audition one. I had never heard Nagra gear before, but now I know what the excitement is about. Both preamps sounded absolutely neutral and grain free. The ayre MX-R monos powered the Wilsons wonderfully. This really was a totally wonderful listening session, of which I'm not sure I've heard much, if any better. Of course, there was that Bosendorfer piano piece played on German Physiks Borderland MK IV speakers Rich and I heard at RMAF....
