Something I thought I would never buy - Spartan, but I did!
This happened when I have decided to buy Wavac AC-2 when I heard from PT that there would be a 'cost no object' power distributor made from Tripoint, the same company who produces Troy. At that time, PT said he has not tried it but he has great confidence on this mysterious power distributor.
To me, Wavac power conditioning is a proven technology working perfectly fine to reduce the noise platform of my 805MK2 by 9db compared with its Mk1 brother. With just some slight struggling, I bought the AC-2 whch brings me several weeks of musical enjoymnent until PT called me that Spartan has arrived! Before that, I was talking to PT in several occasions that AC-2 has marvellously reduced the noise of my whole musical soundstage like cleaning up the windows of my apartment, it would be good if AC-2 has a version which can support high power for amps, PT told me as far as he knows, it is not in the roadmap of Wavac (yet). It is not because of the technology, it is because the technology is so expensively implemented that it can only be offered in their extreme hi-end power amp.
Spartan sat in PT's system like an Italian handcrafted furniture when I went to listen to his system, to better described it, it is like a short coffee table! I recall I did write something about that listening session with Spartan and the Master Reference ground cable of Troy so I skip now on describing what I experienced then. One thing I did not mention at that time was I have decided to buy something size of which in terms of physical size and $$ is not something I can readily swallow...
After several months of waiting and saving up money, Spartan finally delivered today!
My immediate reaction after listening to a few CDs and LPs which I am most familiar is all the power cables seem to have been upgraded. If AC2 can clean up my windows, Spartan actually removes the windows entirely. Music just flows out naturally without stress unvealing details which have been burried, blurred in the past by the noise through the power path. Being a long time cable freak trying all the power cables and distributors, Spartan comes with 2 power cables which resemble very much like the Argento SMREE both in terms of outlook and performance. They are extremely resourceful, dynamical and linear.
I recall doing several ABAB comparisons between Wavac AC2 (a conditioner remember) and the flagship ORB power distributor (ie no active conditioning), yet, the results all converge to the same: AC2 is more open, quiet, articulate and texture rich...Regretably I cannot do the same ABAB comparison between AC2 and Spartan because the former was immediately taken away when Spartan was delivered! I am sure AC2 will find a new happy owner very soon...like trading a Nissan GTR with a BMW M3, GTR afterall, is still a supercar!!
Spartan delivers a much stress free listening pleasure to me with endless harmonic details when listening to piano, lots and lots of contrasts and shadings when listening to violin and vocals, much grandeur soundstage when listening to live recording, be it pop concerts like Eason Chan or Joan Baez in the Bullring, piano concerts recording of Horowitz, Swedish choir in the church...Spartan in conjunction with Troy only leave me now with one last obstacle, which is the room acoustics! All other noises induced into the signal path, power, EMF, whatever one terms it, seem to have been drained away by Troy and Spartan, not to mention the SRA technologies on the noise induced by mechanical vibration!
With 12 outlets, 6 of which providing high current and 6 of which on source, I can now rest the mind in peace in power distributing after all these years of trying so many exotic products. Is it the end game? Nobody knows, if all the products are 90% there, Spartan is at least 99%, the remaining 1% should be the most demanding and could possibly money burning. For the record, Marvel will anchor himself in this distributor in his never ending hi-fi journey! If I violate this oath, I wish my system would sound like Jlam singing unplugged!!
Marvel
To me, Wavac power conditioning is a proven technology working perfectly fine to reduce the noise platform of my 805MK2 by 9db compared with its Mk1 brother. With just some slight struggling, I bought the AC-2 whch brings me several weeks of musical enjoymnent until PT called me that Spartan has arrived! Before that, I was talking to PT in several occasions that AC-2 has marvellously reduced the noise of my whole musical soundstage like cleaning up the windows of my apartment, it would be good if AC-2 has a version which can support high power for amps, PT told me as far as he knows, it is not in the roadmap of Wavac (yet). It is not because of the technology, it is because the technology is so expensively implemented that it can only be offered in their extreme hi-end power amp.
Spartan sat in PT's system like an Italian handcrafted furniture when I went to listen to his system, to better described it, it is like a short coffee table! I recall I did write something about that listening session with Spartan and the Master Reference ground cable of Troy so I skip now on describing what I experienced then. One thing I did not mention at that time was I have decided to buy something size of which in terms of physical size and $$ is not something I can readily swallow...
After several months of waiting and saving up money, Spartan finally delivered today!
My immediate reaction after listening to a few CDs and LPs which I am most familiar is all the power cables seem to have been upgraded. If AC2 can clean up my windows, Spartan actually removes the windows entirely. Music just flows out naturally without stress unvealing details which have been burried, blurred in the past by the noise through the power path. Being a long time cable freak trying all the power cables and distributors, Spartan comes with 2 power cables which resemble very much like the Argento SMREE both in terms of outlook and performance. They are extremely resourceful, dynamical and linear.
I recall doing several ABAB comparisons between Wavac AC2 (a conditioner remember) and the flagship ORB power distributor (ie no active conditioning), yet, the results all converge to the same: AC2 is more open, quiet, articulate and texture rich...Regretably I cannot do the same ABAB comparison between AC2 and Spartan because the former was immediately taken away when Spartan was delivered! I am sure AC2 will find a new happy owner very soon...like trading a Nissan GTR with a BMW M3, GTR afterall, is still a supercar!!
Spartan delivers a much stress free listening pleasure to me with endless harmonic details when listening to piano, lots and lots of contrasts and shadings when listening to violin and vocals, much grandeur soundstage when listening to live recording, be it pop concerts like Eason Chan or Joan Baez in the Bullring, piano concerts recording of Horowitz, Swedish choir in the church...Spartan in conjunction with Troy only leave me now with one last obstacle, which is the room acoustics! All other noises induced into the signal path, power, EMF, whatever one terms it, seem to have been drained away by Troy and Spartan, not to mention the SRA technologies on the noise induced by mechanical vibration!
With 12 outlets, 6 of which providing high current and 6 of which on source, I can now rest the mind in peace in power distributing after all these years of trying so many exotic products. Is it the end game? Nobody knows, if all the products are 90% there, Spartan is at least 99%, the remaining 1% should be the most demanding and could possibly money burning. For the record, Marvel will anchor himself in this distributor in his never ending hi-fi journey! If I violate this oath, I wish my system would sound like Jlam singing unplugged!!
Marvel
0
Comments
Soundstage fanatics should really open up thier mind to the new definition of soundstaging. For God's sake, soundstage is now a physical black box. With the Spartan, the ambience of the hall can be felt in all coordinates. For some of the church recording, I can feel the triangular ceiling because even the directional movement of the echoes are now unveiled by the Spartan. It travels up to the ceiling and then bounced back downward. Isn't it amazing?
Imagine the quality of piano, all the inner contrast on the left hand side of the keyboards is vividly revealed with a dynamic process that is so coherent. On Wager's symphonic scores, the roaring of the metallic horn interwined beautifully with the woody tonality of the string section with front to back layering. It is so damn crazy. I never heard something like this from my Sunray before.
Peter, what's your feeling so far?
I am sure you will find this a magnificent piece of instrument alleviating the entire signal to noise ratio by a wide margin. PT came to listen to my system 2 days ago and was disturbed by the vibration on the chasis of the Tidal Preos preamp, this was not experienced when previously the background was not as quiet as of now with the Troy and Spartan. Is it a good thing, I would say 'yes' and 'no' because my system is now less noisay and therefore more sensitive to minute interference. The 'bad' thing is I have to try some ways to tackle this mechanism vibration, albeit minute.
Not sure if you have heard the name: Critical Mass System. This is another isolation solution alongside SRA which has become the de facto norm in our discussion forum for years. In a highly diversified system like mine, how can I miss trying this new 'toy'....more to come when it is delivered....
Marvel
1. The Spartan
2. The SRA Craz Rack +Ohio Platform(some equipments are better sounding sitting directly on the Rack than on the Ohio)
3. The Tidal Diffusor