D
Deleted member 91501
Guest
Greetings my name is Richard and I am a semi retired commercial photographer living in Brooklyn. I wanted to thank everyone who responded to my first post asking about a digital set up. I underestimated how active this group is but appreciate that its a large group of people each on their different sonic journey and willing to help others on their quest and without judgement. I learned early on as a photographer that it was not " the gear" that makes the photographer however I did not consider myself a serious photographer until I bought a Hasselblad ! A possible analogy is not thinking that you were a serious music listener until you bought a Macintosh amp. In both cases it's an expensive piece of gear that in reality is only a tool to achieve one's goal. I used to tell a joke to people: "A man is dating a woman and attends a dinner party hosted by a friend of the woman who he is dating. The host greets the couple and at a misguided attempt of flattery the host says to the man I know you are a photographer; you take some beautiful pictures. You must have a really good camera. The guest bites his lip enjoys the multicourse dinner and upon leaving turns to the host and says you're a really good cook you must have a great oven! Ok enough with attempts of humor.
In addition to being a commercial photographer I am an amateur musician; I played in a garage band in the sixth grade. Now I only play acoustic guitar and can tune it from "pitch" memory.
I've always had a better than average Stereo but never considered myself an audiofile. Until last year I had a pair of Klipsch 600 M speakers that ive owned for years and when I wanted sonic improvements I would often look to well recorded music: Steely Dan, Stevie Wonder, Pink Flyod etc. In the 90's I had an obscure tube CD player. I grew up with tubes. The family Stereo was tubes and of course the amp used in the garage band was also tubes back in the day. However I also embraced Digital. I switched to digital photography early on but still had my 8x10 camera for " serious" work. Two years ago when I decided to hang up the photography business I had some time on my hands and decided to build a nice stereo but do it within a budget. I enjoyed doing the research and learning about how speakers and amplifiers have changed so much in my lifetime. The "fun" or the " hobby" is that I am a bit obsessive and intellectually curious.; it was another challenge. I decided speakers would be 60% of my budget, Vinyl would be my main source when I want to listen to music. Streaming high res music using Tidal would be my casual listening while I'm doing dishes or cooking. I came up with a AudioClear Concept turntable with Satisfy tonearm a Ortofon Black LVB 250 ( Nude Shibata diamond on a Boron cantilever) , a Schitt StJarne tube preamp rolling military grade Mullard tubes from the 1970's. A NAD M10 as an integrated amp and streamer. Sonus Faber Sonetto V G2 speakers with Telluim Q Ultra black speaker cable. I discovered MCRU in the UK for power cables' a " Black Ravioli" for an addtional passive ground. David over at MCRU taught me the Philosophy that good Audio starts with the wall socket; clean power equals clean sound. I have a dedicated breaker to a Furutech wall outlet and a Furutech power condtioner for all my mains. Oh and I have two subwoofers: a SVS 13" driver and a SVS 3000 Mircro which is two 8" drivers opposing each other both with room control and a remote. I have bass traps behind my speakers, and carpet and other things to help the room. Don't get me started on my vinyl cleaning methods (lol!) . I have Dirac live but waiting for my gear to break in before I run it. Its not perfect but it sounds great and I love it !
So after watching too many Paul McGowen videos I heard about DSD. Could this be another challenge ? Its easy if you have a big bank roll. However I have never heard it. Is it some elusive, intangible unicorn? My obsessive self said hey if I can do it within a $1500 budget why not? This is why I am here. Everyday I learn so much. Last night I learned about Fosi audio. Running dual Mono amps and Opamp rolling for under 600.00 ? Sounds like my cup of tea.
All this to say " Why am I chasing DSD? Its another challenge, its another niche "collector" type fulfillment, it's my intellectual curiosity at work.
So what I've come up with is: a used Uralic Aries Mini ( did I mention I like mini componets not anything 13" x 17" in chassis size.) a power supply to match going into Fosi Audio ZA3 amp with upgraded Opamp. All DSD 512 friendly. The problem is attaching this to my Sonus Faber speakers. I would have to use some type of "Switch" the switch will effect the sound quality in a system this transparent. If you have any thoughts other than " dont chase DSD" : I would love to hear them. Thanks for reading !
Richard
In addition to being a commercial photographer I am an amateur musician; I played in a garage band in the sixth grade. Now I only play acoustic guitar and can tune it from "pitch" memory.
I've always had a better than average Stereo but never considered myself an audiofile. Until last year I had a pair of Klipsch 600 M speakers that ive owned for years and when I wanted sonic improvements I would often look to well recorded music: Steely Dan, Stevie Wonder, Pink Flyod etc. In the 90's I had an obscure tube CD player. I grew up with tubes. The family Stereo was tubes and of course the amp used in the garage band was also tubes back in the day. However I also embraced Digital. I switched to digital photography early on but still had my 8x10 camera for " serious" work. Two years ago when I decided to hang up the photography business I had some time on my hands and decided to build a nice stereo but do it within a budget. I enjoyed doing the research and learning about how speakers and amplifiers have changed so much in my lifetime. The "fun" or the " hobby" is that I am a bit obsessive and intellectually curious.; it was another challenge. I decided speakers would be 60% of my budget, Vinyl would be my main source when I want to listen to music. Streaming high res music using Tidal would be my casual listening while I'm doing dishes or cooking. I came up with a AudioClear Concept turntable with Satisfy tonearm a Ortofon Black LVB 250 ( Nude Shibata diamond on a Boron cantilever) , a Schitt StJarne tube preamp rolling military grade Mullard tubes from the 1970's. A NAD M10 as an integrated amp and streamer. Sonus Faber Sonetto V G2 speakers with Telluim Q Ultra black speaker cable. I discovered MCRU in the UK for power cables' a " Black Ravioli" for an addtional passive ground. David over at MCRU taught me the Philosophy that good Audio starts with the wall socket; clean power equals clean sound. I have a dedicated breaker to a Furutech wall outlet and a Furutech power condtioner for all my mains. Oh and I have two subwoofers: a SVS 13" driver and a SVS 3000 Mircro which is two 8" drivers opposing each other both with room control and a remote. I have bass traps behind my speakers, and carpet and other things to help the room. Don't get me started on my vinyl cleaning methods (lol!) . I have Dirac live but waiting for my gear to break in before I run it. Its not perfect but it sounds great and I love it !
So after watching too many Paul McGowen videos I heard about DSD. Could this be another challenge ? Its easy if you have a big bank roll. However I have never heard it. Is it some elusive, intangible unicorn? My obsessive self said hey if I can do it within a $1500 budget why not? This is why I am here. Everyday I learn so much. Last night I learned about Fosi audio. Running dual Mono amps and Opamp rolling for under 600.00 ? Sounds like my cup of tea.
All this to say " Why am I chasing DSD? Its another challenge, its another niche "collector" type fulfillment, it's my intellectual curiosity at work.
So what I've come up with is: a used Uralic Aries Mini ( did I mention I like mini componets not anything 13" x 17" in chassis size.) a power supply to match going into Fosi Audio ZA3 amp with upgraded Opamp. All DSD 512 friendly. The problem is attaching this to my Sonus Faber speakers. I would have to use some type of "Switch" the switch will effect the sound quality in a system this transparent. If you have any thoughts other than " dont chase DSD" : I would love to hear them. Thanks for reading !
Richard
