I went to listen to the army of DV amp an hour ago. I have there numerous times and for the past 2 years, Kharma Midi Exquisite is the house speaker although there had been some absence period when it was taken back for upgrade of its diamond (black diamond to be exact) tweeter. So far my impression on the speaker pairing with Telos600, VitusSM100, Zanden 9600 is progressing and evolving. Chronologically Vitus came first but I felt Telos600 is not even close to SM100 so in terms of performance there had been a dive but quickly rectified when Zanden came along.
PT's Kharma always impresses me on the clean and detailed mid to treble, solid and intact bass but a bit over damped in most of the time pairly with other amps. I have missed the short while when Wavac 805 was used to drive this pair of speaker and according to PT, this was another 'peak time' when Kharma did shine. Having said that, Kharma never impresses me on the naturalness and softness on strings and vocal (ie mid to treble). Coherence and soundstage is always something I would expect more to be delivered by such meticulously built speakers.
This DV amp apparently is just 10w according to the spec but when PT explained to me about the size of the driver stage before the amp stage is so huge compared to other power amp, such 10w figure became less important and the argument on the comparativestrength among amp purely base on such figure may become unfound.
Bradley has reported above on the performance and I agree on every bit that he said. It is truly the best time ever that I have heard Kharma making its last few weeks serving PT before the DV Intonation arrives. I could hear more 'moisture' and 'lucidity' on vocals and on piano, the tonality is not 'steriled' anymore, it is rich and bears shadings and variations. I am totally amazed but how DV has transformed and unleashed the hidden strength of the speakers although in terms of bass control, DV does exhibit a bit of 'limitations' but letting loose the floodgate when there is a sudden surge in power consumption. Can '10w' drive well the Kharma, the answer is still a 'solid' yes, will DV amp drive well the forthcoming Intonation, I think the answer is a 'bold' 'Yes' in font size '36'!! 2 weeks to go and I see a glorious ending of the Kharma in serving PT.
Marvel, I wonder how does the soundstage of PT's compare to your analog experience? I heard LP many times but none approaches the soundstaging experience I heard on Thursday. I remember I always think big apartment means big soundstage. I sort of change perspective. Big apartment has better condition to achieve better soundstage but not necessarily mean automatically grant. I think what I heard is a complete soundstage pierce through 4 sides of the wall. The most amazing is the projection of soundstage beyond the listening position. The vocal, like Bradley descibes, walk out of the speakers towards the listening position.
The Englufment of the listener within the acoustic inside the recording means soundstage. It is my new definition. Most of the soundstage experience I had is detachment of the listener from the acoustic space of the recording. It is like me watching the soundstage in front but I am detach from it.
Those acoustic resonators are really magical. I cannot think of other reasons why such a small room can throw the whole stage of carmen fantasy out.
IN PT's setup, I think both the resonators and the Heritage contribute the most on the construction of the soundstage. It is engulfing especially on live recordings where the original microphones had already captured the sound not just from the info at front stage but also at the back. In PT's ultra-end setup with the tailor fit tuning, such information can be heard and thus creating an engulfing soundstage without actually having the 'surround speaker'. IN my setup, I can produce a soundstage with a better depth when playing Noye's Fludde, I believe Baldur is unbeatable in this particular arena.
What I am so impressed is the stuff inside the soundstage. I heard quite a few pair of big Wilson and JM Lab throwing a grand soundstage. I used to think that is pretty much the ultimate. I am not too familiar with hi fi terminology. The continuity of actions in the axiss, until yesterday, was unheard of in my audio journey. Soundstage is part of the package. The performance within it is what matters.
Take the carmen fantasy as an example, there are probably 3 to 4 layers of chorous out there behind the main vocals. These 3 to 4 layer of singers even interchange positions continuously. These actions never intrude the performance of the vocal, but they are there alive. When they are called upon, the sound of the chorous comes from the backstage. The amazing thing is even the echo can be felt upon.
The Heritage dac is state of the art. I am even more surprised by the skinny orpheus transport. I am kind of confused now after visiting PT.
Comments
I went to listen to the army of DV amp an hour ago. I have there numerous times and for the past 2 years, Kharma Midi Exquisite is the house speaker although there had been some absence period when it was taken back for upgrade of its diamond (black diamond to be exact) tweeter. So far my impression on the speaker pairing with Telos600, VitusSM100, Zanden 9600 is progressing and evolving. Chronologically Vitus came first but I felt Telos600 is not even close to SM100 so in terms of performance there had been a dive but quickly rectified when Zanden came along.
PT's Kharma always impresses me on the clean and detailed mid to treble, solid and intact bass but a bit over damped in most of the time pairly with other amps. I have missed the short while when Wavac 805 was used to drive this pair of speaker and according to PT, this was another 'peak time' when Kharma did shine. Having said that, Kharma never impresses me on the naturalness and softness on strings and vocal (ie mid to treble). Coherence and soundstage is always something I would expect more to be delivered by such meticulously built speakers.
This DV amp apparently is just 10w according to the spec but when PT explained to me about the size of the driver stage before the amp stage is so huge compared to other power amp, such 10w figure became less important and the argument on the comparativestrength among amp purely base on such figure may become unfound.
Bradley has reported above on the performance and I agree on every bit that he said. It is truly the best time ever that I have heard Kharma making its last few weeks serving PT before the DV Intonation arrives. I could hear more 'moisture' and 'lucidity' on vocals and on piano, the tonality is not 'steriled' anymore, it is rich and bears shadings and variations. I am totally amazed but how DV has transformed and unleashed the hidden strength of the speakers although in terms of bass control, DV does exhibit a bit of 'limitations' but letting loose the floodgate when there is a sudden surge in power consumption. Can '10w' drive well the Kharma, the answer is still a 'solid' yes, will DV amp drive well the forthcoming Intonation, I think the answer is a 'bold' 'Yes' in font size '36'!! 2 weeks to go and I see a glorious ending of the Kharma in serving PT.
Marvel
.
The Englufment of the listener within the acoustic inside the recording means soundstage. It is my new definition. Most of the soundstage experience I had is detachment of the listener from the acoustic space of the recording. It is like me watching the soundstage in front but I am detach from it.
Those acoustic resonators are really magical. I cannot think of other reasons why such a small room can throw the whole stage of carmen fantasy out.
IN PT's setup, I think both the resonators and the Heritage contribute the most on the construction of the soundstage. It is engulfing especially on live recordings where the original microphones had already captured the sound not just from the info at front stage but also at the back. In PT's ultra-end setup with the tailor fit tuning, such information can be heard and thus creating an engulfing soundstage without actually having the 'surround speaker'. IN my setup, I can produce a soundstage with a better depth when playing Noye's Fludde, I believe Baldur is unbeatable in this particular arena.
Marvel
Take the carmen fantasy as an example, there are probably 3 to 4 layers of chorous out there behind the main vocals. These 3 to 4 layer of singers even interchange positions continuously. These actions never intrude the performance of the vocal, but they are there alive. When they are called upon, the sound of the chorous comes from the backstage. The amazing thing is even the echo can be felt upon.
The Heritage dac is state of the art. I am even more surprised by the skinny orpheus transport. I am kind of confused now after visiting PT.