Yes, Charlie, I hear ya, a DAMN DEEP rabbit hole, er, money pit!!!!
But can be delicious too as you said.
God Bless,
Wayne

charliehatch wrote:
When my wallet finishes recharging, I plan to upgrade to the Nordost Heimdall for my DAC/Pre. .

Sorry to say, snake oil it ain't. People used to think interconnects and speaker cables didn't matter either. But they do.


Charlie

Hi, Charlie

Amen to all you said!

I'm going to try my new Audience Forte on my AVR and OPPO when I return to TX mid Sept. I love the Nordost Blue Heaven on the AVR now. I'll be VERY interested in your impressions of the Nordost Heimdall, which is two levels above the Blue Heaven I am using now on the AVR.

Having not had a chance to try the Audience PC yet, so far my impressions of the various PC's I've tried (Shunyata, Pangea, Signal Magic, Nordost, AntiCable), is that the AntiCable's are the absolute clearest, sometimes at the expense of musicality (on my system/gear anyway), Pangea's didn't change much if anything in SQ, Shunyata Venom 3's work great on my Triton;s, but not so much on my AVR (mushy even), the Signal Magic is a great combo of clarity and musicality on my amp, and Nordost's are a very good combination of clarity, musicality, and "naturelness" on sources.

So, where does the Audience Forte fit in that Anthem loves so much? Don't know yet. Sounds like it does great to delineate bass. TDB for me.

When this is all said and done and I can compare all the above and include some observations on the new Audience PC, I guess I'll reach some sort of conclusion about how far I can extend/massage the SQ with the gear I have. I'm thinking, just thinking, about the Anthem MRX 1120 as a replacement for my Marantz SR 7010. It has the same AKM DAC I love in the Marantz, the AK4458, but it has ARC room correction. I have never been happy with what Marantz's AUDYSSEY does for my system, so have done a factory re set to get rid of it. What's the addition of ARC worth? I don't know. It seems that Anthem's ARC and Emotiva's DIRAC are reviewer favorites.

Whoever said this was a cheap hobby???

Keep us informed, Charlie!!

Hey Rick,
Here is a good idea for you.
Come over to Thailand, stay with us, listen to the Emo XMC-1 before you decide.
And bring a coupla cords with you to audition in my system when you come, that way you can hear the processor and I can test out fancy PCs!!!
A win - win situation if you ask me.
And we can drink a coupla coffees together, eat some spicy food while we are at it.
What do ya say????
God Bless,
Wayne

Hey, Wayne

Now that's a great idea!!! I'd have the XMC-1 on my "think about" list also if it had 11 channels and Atmos capability. I guess I could hear it with and without room correction engaged to get a sense of what a good room correction system can do though?

Re power cords, your 220v outlets and gear wouldn't like my 110v plug-ins I suspect.

But we could have a cup or two of your home brewed and roasted coffee, have some spicy food and listen to your great system, and that alone would be worth the trip!!!!

That's tempting!!!!!

Rick

C'mon over Rick!!!!
I forgot about all those extra speakers, channels you have and like. I THINK Emo has an 11 channel ATMOS capable preprocessor too, one notch above the XMC-1 but not sure it is out yet.
As for cables, bring them on over, we use exactly the same plugs as you guys do. Yeah, some people have those crazy round European things but not this American living in Thailand.
Think about it. Check Emotiva and see.
See ya,
God Bless,
Wayne

rjohn79395 wrote:
I'm going to try my new Audience Forte on my AVR and OPPO when I return to TX mid Sept. I love the Nordost Blue Heaven on the AVR now. I'll be VERY interested in your impressions of the Nordost Heimdall, which is two levels above the Blue Heaven I am using now on the AVR.

At least now I'll be able to do some sort of meaningful A/B test when I switch from Red Dawn to Heimdall on the DAC. Then, after that all settles down, I can put the freed-up Red Dawn on my Oppo and see if it affects the quality of the digital coax out that I send to my DAC. Now THAT one I sincerely doubt, as I've already tried using a reclocker on that link with absolutely no effect whatsoever. But, why not? It will be fun to try.

Charlie