Zephyr, good to hear from you; I assume you have an interest in the Legacy V speaker shown at AXPONA. I will have comment on it, as with many others. I have one show report part done and another coming soon. I found plenty of interesting things at the show to report on.

I thoroughly enjoyed the show, and I reached many rooms. I had wonderful conversations with attendees and reps. Many of the rooms were difficult with ventilation noise at a pretty high level. One had to listen past it. Other than that the venue was good.

Meanwhile, I'm returning to a SET amp for another go-round. It's been a while since I worked with them and my last impression of them was that they were lovely in terms of tonality and clarity, but not terrific in terms of weight. So, we'll see what happens this time.

douglas_schroeder May 03, 2015 12:38

Good Morning Doug! When will Dagogo be posting their Axpona 2015 coverage (nothing is up as yet)? In general, looking over all the show coverage, there is precious little out there in terms of deep/real show coverage for most of the equipment out there; hoping Dagogo will be posting more.....have a great weekend!

How did you like the show?

zephyr24069 May 03, 2015 12:21

Well, after attending AXPONA I'm quite content to be back to my rig, and especially my room. :)

douglas_schroeder May 01, 2015 01:38

Having a grand time currently attempting to turn the Kingsound King III ESL into a high efficiency speaker! While this is not possible in principle due to the design of the ESL, it is possible to experience the panel equivalent when you push massive amounts of current and wattage through the speakers and use the clean TEO Liquid Pre passive in the chain.

I'm running the Pass X600.5 Monos with the King III and have the TEO turned nearly full on, only one detent away from complete pass through. I am using the iPad's volume control for level selection. I would open the Liquid Pre up full throttle, but there is some electronic hum which becomes quite noticeable when open full. Only one step down halves the hum, which I'm not sure if it comes from the wall, Mac Mini, monitor associated or EE Minimax DAC Supreme. Regardless, when pushing this much power through the King III it wakes up brilliantly.

The Legacy Audio XTREME HD subs also love the power associated with the full throttle setting of the TEO Liquid Pre, as they become monsters, pulsing out huge LF. I have to keep them toned down to prevent ceiling tiles from rattling. :) I'm pleased by the seamless integration of the subs with the ESL speakers, no small credit given to the 6.1MHz up sampling of the HQPlayer software incorporated recently. The system quality of any rig I build has stepped up nicely due to the HQPlayer software, one of the most fabulous improvements I have ever done for the money, as it cost only $137, and has turned the discrete opamp-enhanced EE Minmax DAC Supreme into a far more capable DAC, which is now running better than 4xDSD. The ease of the sound is remarkable, the listenability at elevated levels is greatly enhanced. Older recordings are truly beautiful, not just tolerable. This is a realization of my principle that with a superior system all recordings, even older ones are ever more pleasing to the ear.

See my reviews of components mentioned here at Dagogo.com

douglas_schroeder April 13, 2015 16:43

My article regarding the Eastern Electric Minimax Tube DAC Supreme and DAC Junior is now published. Tremendous fun discrete opamp rolling the Supreme!

But the really incredible news is the radically upgraded digital from using the fabulous HQPlayer software for Mac with my stock Mac Mini! As you can read in the article, simply putting this software on my stock Mac Mini resulted in matching the sound quality of a dedicated two tower PC source running J-River and HQPlayer! The witnesses were incredulous that my humble Mac could do such a thing!

I'm supposed to be reviewing servers soon, and they had better be pretty incredible, because the HQPlayer software does a bang up job of converting PCM to double DSD! Hats off to Jussi Laako, the one man show at Signalyst, the maker of HQPlayer! If he can update the interface to make it more streamlined, this will be a breathtaking product!

douglas_schroeder March 25, 2015 23:42

Eugene2, yes, I think you have moved in a very upscale direction with the Vapor speakers. (Necessary disclosure; I reviewed the Nimbus White, and own it). By the time you put all that into the Swans, you would be better off going the route you did - good move.

I will likely contact Mike to check out the USB.

douglas_schroeder March 22, 2015 01:12

They were close to being a very good speaker, I had intention of upgrading the crossover with better caps, coils and internal wiring. They also sound better with the powered subwoofer disconnected and just using the eight mids and eight ribbons as a line source (after tightening all the screws). Imaging was very good for such a large speaker. I sold them to fund the Vapor's. I felt the design was incomplete.
On another note Mike from Verastarr told me he wouldn't mind sending you one of his USB cables to compare

eugene2 March 21, 2015 16:17

Eugene2, I was looking at your system's previous components and saw the Swan speakers. I had a chance to hear them at CES one year, but came away ambivalent. Did you ever build the system with the Swan speakers?
What was your impression of them? A vastly different presentation than the Vapor.

douglas_schroeder March 21, 2015 15:28

Shunyata Python, PS Audio, Nordost Brahma were some of the cords I used, I also had a couple of Elrod cables. I met Mike from Verastarr at CES and really like his series two signature stuff. Also the ZenWave power conditioner seems to make a solid difference in noise reduction Albert Von Schweikert recommended it thats why I tried it out.

eugene2 March 20, 2015 15:31

Eugene2, sounds like you are quite serious about pursuit of excellence in systems and obtaining a euphoric listening experience!

Please fill me in if you get to compare the Clarity USB to others. I also would like to know how your experience with the Odyssey mono amps goes.

I have a Nuforce little integrated in my living room, which doesn't see much action. Just something for playing Rhapsody through Sonos. I took it down to the big rig once to see where it stood, and as expected, reasonable but not Giant Killer sound. At the price it would be sensational if it did outperform separates; not likely.

What were you using in terms of power cables prior to the Verastarr?

douglas_schroeder March 19, 2015 15:21

Mitch2, let's talk. Send me a message using the system here.

douglas_schroeder March 19, 2015 01:40

This is such a great and informative blog, and Dagogo has become one of my favorite reads. I am very interested in trying the Clarity USB and Paul Pangs USB, they both seem to be getting some very good reviews lately. It will be interesting to see how they fare against the very good Verastarr USB I have been testing. My system continues to evolve I am waiting for two new components to arrive my Antipodes DX and my upgraded Odyssey Audio Kismet pre and mono amps. I also added a ZenWave Surge X and some Nordost Quantum QK 1 and QV2 devices. I upgraded my power cables to Verastarr silver foil and it has made a vast difference. I have used a Nuforce IDA 16 integrated to burn in my Vapor Audio speakers i was told the Dueland caps have a long break in period. So when everything is in should be a special night. The Nuforce is very clean but very clinical and thin sounding to my ears. We'll see...

eugene2 March 18, 2015 21:58

Hi Doug,
I will be interested to hear more about the software you have applied to your mini. I may hang on to my Mojo mini for awhile, so I can try what you discovered and compare directly to the Antipodes DX.

mitch2 March 18, 2015 13:44

Roscoeiii, wow, that's a world away from your original goal! However, I understand the ebb and flow of moving through different permutations of systems over the years. A person can end up quite far from where they thought they were headed - and be very happy. I used to flip back and forth between panel and dynamic speakers, and I recall how happy I was when I found the Eminent Technology LFT-8 speakers, which seemed to combine the benefits of both. I get it when a combination you weren't looking for strikes the ear pleasantly. :)

douglas_schroeder March 18, 2015 10:58

Enjoying following your system's progress Doug. Always educational. Yes, for speakers I went for a great price on a pair of SP Tech Revelations around Thanksgiving, when I realized I needed to put off my Vapor aspirations for a while. Then I started reading a DEQX thread, and voila a great deal came up on a HDP-4. Best my system has ever sounded with these two in the chain.

roscoeiii March 18, 2015 03:53

Roscoeiii, good to hear from you. I thought you were going to put your money on speakers. Did you change your mind?

Mitch2, I'm hoping to hear the Antipodes at some time. My experience from a few days ago suggests the proper software "server-ized" my stock Mac Mini, as the DAC is now operating in dual DSD (5.6 MHz). Not to say that its as good as all servers, but it matched one directly compared, dedicated two tower PC server running J-River. That makes a person think.

douglas_schroeder March 18, 2015 03:35

Doug,
Nice system. You have obviously invested a lot of effort and your experience to create an excellent system that gives you the sound attributes you enjoy.
I was going to ask if you have tried any dedicated audio servers but then I saw your responses to Eugene2 above.
Like Eugene, I have recently switched to an Antipodes (DX) server. My former source was a Mojo Audio Mac mini with all the bells and whistles such as linear PS, SSD, outboard AV drive (also powered by ythe linear PS) and the Atomic platform. That mini sounded great but the Antipodes sounds just a bit better and is so easy to operate.
We could use more reviews directly comparing servers to each other. It seems the reviewers are more focused on reviewing DACs than on the source that sends the files to the DAC. The reviews of servers that are out there rarely mention direct comparisons with other servers, although they sometimes compare the reviewed server with a fairly basic basic Mac mini, but not a tricked out dedicated mini server with linear PS and other key upgrades. Back when we all had CD players, it seemed there were endless comparative reviews but now that our sources are servers, the reviewers have not yet provided a resource for comparisons.

mitch2 March 17, 2015 16:24

Agreed that there are some amazing things being done in the digital domain that really impact the sound. Just got a DEQX HDP-4 and wow does that offer some amazing digital capabilities to overcome the physical limitations of speakers.

roscoeiii March 17, 2015 15:10

Marqmike, there is an amazing rate of change happening in digital playback in the past few years, not just with the gear, but with software, too. It's stunning how good file PCM (Redbook) playback has become, as well as the price to obtain it falling to extremely affordable levels - if one knows where to look. You definitely need to watch for that review, because it may answer some of your questions regarding the gear.

Feel free to contact me via the Agon system.

douglas_schroeder March 17, 2015 14:11

Thanks Doug. I am looking forward to the info. I think I would like to go to computer audio but it seems to change a lot. Maybe a good time for me to get in now if it transformative. Thanks again.

marqmike March 17, 2015 03:33

This past weekend was transformative; a visit from an industry insider and a computer file playback enthusiast left my rig with a head-spinning, super-cheap upgrade and performing digital conversion from PCM to double DSD! The file playback front end has changed, and has lifted the rig to a beautiful new performance level.

The digital playback is smokin' hot now. All will be revealed in a review of a DAC to be published shortly at Dagogo.com.

douglas_schroeder March 17, 2015 01:40

The TEO Liquid Pre has once again transformed a speaker system. I had not taken the time to use the Kingsound King Tower, full range omnidirectional speakers, with the Liquid Pre, but I knew the results would be good based on the performance of it with other speakers. Setting up the King Tower has been a joyous occasion, as the affordable omni (MSRP was at $5K) in some respects does better than any of the other speakers.

The Mushroom Cloud soundstage is a celebration, an enveloping experience which is captivating. The cleanness and nuanced information heard from this speaker is second to none of the others. The acoustic envelope for voice is as generous as a large horn speaker. Listening to vocals well recorded is an arresting experience, as they are convincingly real sounding. This is the only small tower I have heard in recent memory capable of painting such a large and convincing "canvas".

The weakness in the King Tower has always been the bass; there is a fair bit of involvement of the not so well braced/quieted cabinet. I would like to upgrade the Mid and Bass drivers and crossovers, and put a residue treatment inside the cabinets to quiet them. I think the speaker could perform at an even higher level then.

But, even as it is, the experience is so good that if I had to select, I might prefer the King Tower (with the Legacy XTREME HD subs) to the King III ESL!

douglas_schroeder March 04, 2015 18:29

4orreal, there is a slight degradation, impossible to avoid, whenever a splitter is used. However, what are your priorities? What if the slight degradation meant that you could add subwoofers? What if it meant you could add another amp? Imo, those things are so vastly more influential that the splitter becomes inconsequential. Would I avoid a splitter and lose a chance at adding a subwoofer, or adding a second amp? Never! I will use a splitter whenever it will confer a distinct advantage to do so.

I do not hesitate to use the splitter when I have to. The advantages so outweigh the disadvantage that I don't even think negatively of using it any longer.

Remember, simply because a preamp has two outs in no way assures the sound quality will be superior. I would much rather use the TEO with splitters than the active SS preamps I have used previously with dual outputs.

douglas_schroeder February 26, 2015 03:49

Doug,
I know I could use a splitter/adaptor to split the signal but won't that degrade the sound somehow (which I would like to avoid)?

4orreal February 25, 2015 15:24

4orreal, I'm sorry to hear that your quest for XLR was unproductive. I have been told some info about product development, and it sounds exciting. Since the Liquid Pre is made in small bunches a change would be costly for a one-off.

If you were referring to wishing for a second set of RCA outs, there is a workaround for having only one pair of RCA outputs. I have been using Audioquest RCA 1 to 2 splitters for several years and they work very well. I have used them with the Liquid Pre to run a second RCA out to the Legacy Audio XTREME HD Subwoofers. If a person was so inclined they could run a second pair of interconnects to another stereo amp and have four channels of amplification for passive vertical biamping of speakers. I have done such things on occasion and it's a lot of fun.

douglas_schroeder February 25, 2015 03:13