I am no expert in equipment like your good self. It is very difficult for a vinyl guy to spend so much on a digital source. My last CD source was Linn CD 12 and I sold it in 1999. Ever since, there is not one single digital based system that touches me to the point of owning it, especially after the ownership of Da Vinci LP system. The Zanden 2000p/5000s at one point, I said to myself - "not bad" but my heart was not touched until the Vekian suite. Because I am a frequent concert goer, the Vekian has the ability to recreate a concert hall experience especially on concerto, and orchestral music. And I have to say there is probably no CD source that can come close to the reproduction of piano closest to what I heard from the concert hall. It touches me but it is too expensive for this old man to swallow.
Then, comes the Neodio. Most of my favorite classical recordings are the old Decca CDs. When they were played through at PT's Cessaro Beta system, I was shocked by the revelation of tonal colors of different instruments. In comparison to his Zanden source, I felt the musicality of it was achieved by Yamada san's genius sound tuning techniques and the smoothness of tubes due to 2nd order distortion in general but it is unable to reveal as much as tonal color as the Neodio particularly in the lower mid bass region where the Neodio reigns as King of the Universe in terms of tonal color, dynamics and vibrancy. The tonality of gunerai is easily distinguished from that of Del Gesu etc....
I don't know how to comment the quality of the transport independently but as a combo, it satisfies my soul.
Just an additional point on Vekian - this is the only digital source that can get the reproduction of piano so right. This point alone, if you are a genuine piano lover, should justify the ownership of Vekian. Musicality does not come only from string and vocal. The lyrical implication from the pianist can be immensely musical too.
What a big party on NeoDio in such as short period of time! And I can't agree more that It is certainly something very special indeed! As I said there are so many bullshits in the hi end audio world, it is rare to have a designer to think out of the box and apply an analog clock circuitry. Just when the whole generation is educated by the accuracy of quartz/rhodium clock, why would then someone can make something that wins the heart of many by walking against the mainstream? This spirit alone deserves respect.
There are similarities between NeoDio and Vekian. The up-sampling algorithm of the Vekian dac is not done by software download but a discreet hard ware execution instead. That means, during the R and D stage, the engineer had to hardwire the components again should he need to change to another algorithms. Why all these trouble when the world can download anything within a brink of an eye? Why would someone build the Vekian CDT will full mechanical coupling right at the beginning to the laser head all the way to the external feet outside the chassis? This is not some fancy chassis as dis-assembling the Vekian transport takes 2-3 hours to reach the laser head if you are not experienced. Why so long? It is because everything is tightly mechanically coupled to each other.
This AE world is getting more and more interesting.....Ask more questions please!
In numerous comparisons, Vekian is still scoring the highest averaging all the hifi and musical elements for evaluating a CD source....Neodio's average score is lower than Vekian which does not come out as a big surprise to me. I also tried briefly cross linking the Vekian transport to the ND DAC and ND transport to V-DAC. Such x-linkage yield some ups and downs compared to the original combo. I tend not to draw any conclusion at this moment as I am still waiting for some more cables to arrive in order to ensure I am comparing apple to apple since all these components are really sensitive to a change in cables or with or without the ground wire....Proper levelling of the ND transport is also critical to yield better treble extension and softness. Regretably I cannot find how to do the levelling on the feet of the ND and I can only try some combinations of hardcover paper, spike plates, etc in order to strike the best balance and levelling....
Of all the music, I think ND plays cello the best resembling the best vinyl setup that I have ever heard. It just reveals all the ambience and air surrounding the cello putting me just in front of the performer. Listening to ND makes me feel relaxed with the musical notes being massaged into my mind. In contrast, the same cello music would appear a bit too impactful and forceful under Vekian, whether it is the original intention of the performer, I have no clue at all...all I know is I keep searching through my tiny collection of cello music from my CDs ever since I started to use ND.
Having said that, nothing comes close to Vekian when playing piano music which is also my favorite! Every keystroke is so clearly presented from head to tail without any compromise on the clarity of the harmonic decays intermingling with the next rising keynote....champion is still the champion!!
Yes VR is right. The z-axis is compromised. The dimensionslity of the imaging is undermined. The transient response is not the smoothest. Staging is not as stable when the passages get complicated. Basslines of the piano lack sustain. And the list is long....... Kind of surprise our king of audio equipment lacks the constraint layer upgrade inside the dac....
Marvel bro, I raised the question of constraint layer vibration is because I don't think cross-play makes any sense. The NR22 DAC is built with constraint layer technique to minimize mechanical vibration.
It is hard to combine the merits of both camp without losing the negatives of both camp too. Without the constraint layer upgrade inside the Vekian DAC, you cannot listen to the maximum potential of the combo. Then, you start crossing play introducing more variables without clear conclusions.
Voy, definitely crossing mixing these components would yield some results which are deviating from the original intention of the designer...I am sure with the constraint layer upgrade for the DAC, my Vekian combo would even have higher flying colors than today. Yet, such may not diminish my fond liking of the way NeoDio interprets certain type of music...by cross mixing these components, this can facilitate me to understand more about which component is doing the magic or taking up the majority of the responsibility to produce the magic. Before acuqiring the whole suite of Neodio, I thought I would only need to buy the DAC to mate with the Vekian transport but knowing more about the make and design principles of the ND transport, I decided to go for the whole suite. Would Vekian transport outperform ND transport irrespective of whatever DAC pairing with it? I think the answer is 'Yes' by and large...but the synergy between the ND transport and DAC cannot be undermined. The magic of an analog vinyl feel cannot be achieved by x-matching but only on a while ND suite. I imagine people using ND one box player would also agree with me if they output the digital signal to another DAC, the magic would go away.
What had you learnt from cross-playing them? I'd interest to know. And what cables are you waiting for? I though you have all flagship cables in this world.
Comments
I am no expert in equipment like your good self. It is very difficult for a vinyl guy to spend so much on a digital source. My last CD source was Linn CD 12 and I sold it in 1999. Ever since, there is not one single digital based system that touches me to the point of owning it, especially after the ownership of Da Vinci LP system. The Zanden 2000p/5000s at one point, I said to myself - "not bad" but my heart was not touched until the Vekian suite. Because I am a frequent concert goer, the Vekian has the ability to recreate a concert hall experience especially on concerto, and orchestral music. And I have to say there is probably no CD source that can come close to the reproduction of piano closest to what I heard from the concert hall. It touches me but it is too expensive for this old man to swallow.
Then, comes the Neodio. Most of my favorite classical recordings are the old Decca CDs. When they were played through at PT's Cessaro Beta system, I was shocked by the revelation of tonal colors of different instruments. In comparison to his Zanden source, I felt the musicality of it was achieved by Yamada san's genius sound tuning techniques and the smoothness of tubes due to 2nd order distortion in general but it is unable to reveal as much as tonal color as the Neodio particularly in the lower mid bass region where the Neodio reigns as King of the Universe in terms of tonal color, dynamics and vibrancy. The tonality of gunerai is easily distinguished from that of Del Gesu etc....
I don't know how to comment the quality of the transport independently but as a combo, it satisfies my soul.
There are similarities between NeoDio and Vekian. The up-sampling algorithm of the Vekian dac is not done by software download but a discreet hard ware execution instead. That means, during the R and D stage, the engineer had to hardwire the components again should he need to change to another algorithms. Why all these trouble when the world can download anything within a brink of an eye? Why would someone build the Vekian CDT will full mechanical coupling right at the beginning to the laser head all the way to the external feet outside the chassis? This is not some fancy chassis as dis-assembling the Vekian transport takes 2-3 hours to reach the laser head if you are not experienced. Why so long? It is because everything is tightly mechanically coupled to each other.
This AE world is getting more and more interesting.....Ask more questions please!
Of all the music, I think ND plays cello the best resembling the best vinyl setup that I have ever heard. It just reveals all the ambience and air surrounding the cello putting me just in front of the performer. Listening to ND makes me feel relaxed with the musical notes being massaged into my mind. In contrast, the same cello music would appear a bit too impactful and forceful under Vekian, whether it is the original intention of the performer, I have no clue at all...all I know is I keep searching through my tiny collection of cello music from my CDs ever since I started to use ND.
Having said that, nothing comes close to Vekian when playing piano music which is also my favorite! Every keystroke is so clearly presented from head to tail without any compromise on the clarity of the harmonic decays intermingling with the next rising keynote....champion is still the champion!!
Marvel
You are absolutely right. The difference is not marginal.
It is hard to combine the merits of both camp without losing the negatives of both camp too. Without the constraint layer upgrade inside the Vekian DAC, you cannot listen to the maximum potential of the combo. Then, you start crossing play introducing more variables without clear conclusions.
Marvel
What had you learnt from cross-playing them? I'd interest to know. And what cables are you waiting for? I though you have all flagship cables in this world.