The past few days I've been listening to Herb Alpert / Steppin' out. I used 3 different configurations for the same CD.
Emotiva xpa-1 monoblocks > Oppo 105 (XLR)
Emotiva xpa-1 monoblocks > Oppo 105 (RCA)
Emotiva xpa-1 monoblocks > PrimaLuna Premium Preamp > Oppo 105 (RCA)
And the winner is...drum roll please...
EMOTIVA XPA-1 MONOBLOCKS > PRIMALUNA PREMIUM PREAMP > OPPO 105 (RCA)
The PrimaLuna gave trumpets an extra sweetness that the amps directly to the Oppo could not compete with. Now don't get me wrong, all 3 configurations sounded great but I felt the tubes in the PrimaLuna gave brass just what it needed...sweetness... warmth.

Last week I ordered a pair of Decware DSG Studio RCA Interconnects...looking forward to their arrival.

This morning I started listening to Fourplay / Journey (2004)

Late this afternoon, before the wife got home, I finished the 2cd half . While playing the 2cd to last song the wife walks in and says "oh, I just love that"...I will admit parts of this recording sound like "elevator music" and the song she commented on did sound "elevatorish" but taking the whole CD into account from start to finish, it's quite good.

My favs include, "Play Around It" and ""Avalabop"...Love how the drums sound through the Tritons.

Bro Wayne are you heading home this weekend?

Thanks Bro Anthem,
No, I am already shifted from Malaysia to S'pore to do it all over again next week.
My laptop has crashed, so I can barely get online at all, but thankfully I can see my friends at GE forum.
I finally got Skype going well enough today to at least see my wife at home, and she could hear me, but I could not get any sound.
She got a big smile and held up a few small boxes for me to see what came in the mail FINALLY, I got TOOBS!!!! She knew that would make my day.
So in another 10 days or so, I should be able to re-tube the Vincent SP-T800s to NOS.
Thanks for thinking of me,
God Bless,
Wayne

I got a CD called "The Very Best of J. J. Cale".
Sometimes it just doesn't seem fair that somebody like J. J. with so much talent should be taken from this earth, and leave a whole lot of us much less talented people here.
But I will leave such decisions to the Good Lord.
I decided to get a lot more of his songs than I had on disc before, and way more that he is actually performing (got a lot of Clapton and others covering his genius).
Some of these songs are well recorded, some not so much, and some are not the best version I have heard.
And I will leave it to you girls with good systems to say what it sounds like (yeah, I got a good system at home, but I am listening in a hotel room in S'pore on my laptop--can you say HISS??--on earpads, OUCH!!!
Listen to Mama Don't where he gets tickled with his own lines.
Twenty songs on here, all of them good, some GREAT, ALL TIME GREATS.
God Bless J. J. and us all,
Wayne

I love that CCR album. I have not listened to it in a while. Putting it on now! Thanks for the reminder Wayne

I have been MIA for a while. Work has been crazy with travel. I feel for you Wayne.
Plus it is racing season. My son and I do autocross and some track racing on the weekends. Requires more travel and my other expensive hobby.
It is taking a while to catch up with all the new posts on this blog!