The Orpheus One SE arrived yesterday!
Let me go back a little first. I sold my old DAC a week before the arrival of the SE, the missing link disabled my CD-only two channel system. During the period, I was so bored that I even watched soap opera with my wife. That was how low I have sunk! However, the wait was over. Even w/o direct comparison with the old DAC, the SE is stunningly superior.
When I first connected the SE, I listened briefly, I noticed the hi-fi attributes was not that different from before, except that the treble was obviously more extended and more resolute, and the bass was less than my too-bass-heavy old DAC, so good, it has already corrected the two main issues I had with my old DAC.
I let the SE played a few hours when my wife and I went out for dinner and workout last night. After coming back home, I finally had the chance to sit down and did a more careful listening. And wow! what a huge transformation the SE brought to my system! I had the strong feeling that I was listening to music instead of hi-fi. The most telling sign was that, everything I played I just fell deep in to it, even the tracks I did not care for before took on their own life and became enjoyable. I was thinking I may need to do some fine tuning after the arrival of the new component, but no, at least not yet, the DAC just played music right. I am not thinking about too bright, too dark, soundstage, imaging and all that, I just paid attention to how beautiful and how real the music was.
I now understand what Linnman said about “gets the basic right�. AE, thanks again for your wonderful products and advice!
Robert
When I first connected the SE, I listened briefly, I noticed the hi-fi attributes was not that different from before, except that the treble was obviously more extended and more resolute, and the bass was less than my too-bass-heavy old DAC, so good, it has already corrected the two main issues I had with my old DAC.
I let the SE played a few hours when my wife and I went out for dinner and workout last night. After coming back home, I finally had the chance to sit down and did a more careful listening. And wow! what a huge transformation the SE brought to my system! I had the strong feeling that I was listening to music instead of hi-fi. The most telling sign was that, everything I played I just fell deep in to it, even the tracks I did not care for before took on their own life and became enjoyable. I was thinking I may need to do some fine tuning after the arrival of the new component, but no, at least not yet, the DAC just played music right. I am not thinking about too bright, too dark, soundstage, imaging and all that, I just paid attention to how beautiful and how real the music was.
I now understand what Linnman said about “gets the basic right�. AE, thanks again for your wonderful products and advice!
Robert
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Comments
Bigpiece
I am glad that you find 01SE much more musical than your previous DAC which we have discussed on emails that it is a bit colorated in the midrange and speed is not right as well.
Zero+01SE is not easy to find a rivalry in the range of USD20K in my view no matter if you are talking about a one piece player or a transport+dac combo.
I have a very high expectation on their mono amp coming up which features a 3 time bigger transformer than their previous 3-Mono which I have used.
Do drop by next time when you come to HK and hopefully you will find a pair of the new 350Mono 'demo'ing in my system.
Marvel
Now that I had it for 2 days, I would say the SE exceeded my high expectation. Again, the most stunning part for me is how it conveys music. It did not matter what I played, vocal, instrument, classical, pop, ... etc., it seems that I was listening to better musicians, playing with finer skill and more emotion, even though those were from the same CDs I have listened to for so many times.
What about power cord on SE? Daniel and Big Piece, what power cord do you use for your Orpheus DAC? I am currently using the Argento Level 1.
Marvel, I was going to Hong Kong in August, but the trip has been postponed to late September. I would love to listen to your latest then, and hopefully the new 350 mono amps. So, does the new mono look completely different from the old 3s?
Robert
I believe Marvel, being the "cable freak" in HK (or even Asia??), will be happy to share more on his PC experience.
Bigpiece
O350 mono is a 'normal sized' power amp because it uses big transformers (1050va) as compared to the 350va in 3 Mono.
For power cord selection, I would recommend you keep this one first as it is reasonably good. SMR is too bulky and heavy to be used and I know Argento is going to have some new power cords in the near future (as I have tried their prototype already)...If you cannot wait, go for SMR EE and this is the 'period' for power cord, no better for sure.
Marvel
Thanks for the power cord suggestion.
I think I may do modest cable upgrades. And for the next stage, I will look into either new speakers or new amps. I am inclined to keep my present Linn Klimaxes, and go for more efficient speakers.
Robert
Are you looking for anything above 90db sensitivity or more than 95db? They are different camp.
Daniel
I meant speakers more efficient than my existing 85db Dynaudio C1. I do not want to limit myself to the high efficiency speaker--95db+---camp.
It seems that my Klimax Charkra Twin is doing a decent job driving the C1s. It should do even better with a set of more efficient near full range floor standing speakers. However, there is no speaker of the sort that I am in love with, so I am still watching.
Robert