Hidden Review

[PeterSt]

Or what about "an objective review" ? Look here for some quotes from a review of something quite else :
(I took care that nothing was taken out of context)


Taking his advice to heart we first used the recommended cables between our Ncore 1200 monos and speakers. Streaming source was a dedicated PC running XXHighEnd into the Phasure NOS1 DAC.

With the current combination of streaming source and matching DAC with Ncore power amplifiers we’ve arrived at our most lifelike musical system thus far. Its ability to process transients as though there were no recording involved is unique. This results in a truly lifelike sound without any miniaturizing downscaling – *if* the rest of the chain is responsive.

As a matter of fact—and we noticed this before—whenever playing music via the very advanced XXHighEnd player standing waves in the room do not occur. There's just bass and plenty of deep bass at that. This remarkable finding warrants more experiments to comprehend what really might be going on.

To give old-fashioned CD playing a spin, we included our PS Audio PWT transport and matching PWD DAC to the mix. Though this DAC has a form of volume control, it operates in the digital domain to chop off bits which degrades the signal. Whenever steep attenuation is needed, the sound gets too brittle and tinny. To overcome this a preamplifier is mandatory. At the time of the review we had use of a Trafomatic Reference One or our integrated Audio Note Meishu running Western Electric 300B tubes.
Coming from the peak of streaming audio as XXHighEnd implements it back down to earth and CD replay becomes quite a rude shock. Admittedly simply popping a CD into the tray and hitting play is far easier than the time-consuming tweaking and tuning required to get optimal sound from XXHighEnd’s steep pile of interrelated parameters but that’s part of the deal and our hobby. Where we used to drool over the musical qualities of our advanced CD replay rig, now we are somewhat embarrassed by it. We've learnt how much more there is up for grabs—involving the correct tools, player software etc—beneath the shining surface of a compact disc. Legacy spinning playback really lacks a lot. There’s a sort of slowness to its sound where starts and stops aren't sufficiently taut and instant.

Going through the various paces of streaming, CD spinning and finally vinyl in quick succession had to admit that streaming with XXHighEnd has far more in common with vinyl than CD even when the latter exploits a memory-based transport. The traits we so enjoy with this streaming source like speed and scale are far more present with vinyl than polycarbonate.


You may need to read the last sentence a couple of times to get the merits of it.

http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/vaessen2/1.html

[CoenP]

This is exactly what i wanted to add to my post from yesterday (another thread)!
The nos1 xxhe combo has created its own version of a sound with the traits many appreciate in vinyl playback. My personal favourite: a natural musical flow, which has everything to do with speed and realistic dynamics.

Not that vinyl has no raison d'etre anymore. It has its place for unique recordings, a meatier sound (working on that), the joy of the whole recordplaying ritual and the tactile challenge to get the setup right. All in all its a different experience to be appreciated for its own merits.

Regards, Coen

[boleary]

The traits we so enjoy with this streaming source[XXHighend/NOS1] like speed and scale are far more present with vinyl than polycarbonate.

So vinyl is closer to the level of speed and scale (and other traits) provided by the XXhigend combo than cd's. Nice!

[Scroobius]

Peter - I am delighted to see these reviews you deserve the recognition for all your hard work. It is good to see that others are beginning to recognise what your totally no compromise approach is achieving.

Hearty congratulations!! (maybe my turn to buy the scotch!! ha ha).

Paul

[PeterSt]

Here is another one, taken from a review of the Trafomatic Audio Reference One preamplifier.


Going digital offered further possibilities. In combination with a PS Audio PerfectWave transport and matching DAC, the Reference One was a welcome alternative to the PWD's progressive nibbling of bit resolution when attenuation was invoked. Even modest 16wpc tube power running full throttle into 100dB+ speakers is not recommended when ear drums and window panes remain valued assets. Fully lossless attenuation as provided by XXHighEnd‘s streaming software running on a dedicated PC in combination with their Phasure NOS1 DAC needs no separate preamplifier and its designer actively dissuades their use. However a very good means to assess the impact on sound quality of a (good) preamp is to run a comparison between software attenuation and its hardware-based alternative. Setting XXHighEnd to 0dB attenuation (full speed ahead in other words) with the Phasure NOS1 DAC attached to the Reference One driving the high-power NCore monos into the Pnoe horns, we took notes on speed, transparency and life with an ‘f’ and not 'v'. We then took the same type of notes whilst attenuating the signal to -45dB and driving the NCores straight from the DAC.

Within the limitations of our means this test was merely indicative. The Hypex class D monos only accept balanced inputs, the Reference One only single-ended whilst providing for a balanced output through a discrete set of secondaries in the output transformer. We tried to smooth out this differences by using 10 meters of Nanotec MS #307 interconnect in XLR as well as RCA flavors thanks to the support of Hayashi-San of Nanotec Japan. Not completely to our surprise, the straight DAC/power-amp connection scored highest. The combination’s extreme S/N ratio—in excess of 130dB—prevents any detail from falling through noise floor cracks. Transparency though scored equally in both setups. Admittedly speed and life are matters of taste. We like the in-your-face experience of horns and for concerts sit as close to stage as possible. Introducing the preamp moved us further back into the venue. The seats were still very good but without the ‘touch and smell’ of front-row seating with its explosive life charge.

With these setups, the Reference Pre did not even make it to unity gain let alone added gain. To have the Reference do what its faceplate says—be an amplifier—we lowered the output of the Phasure NOS1 DAC to -64dB which equates to whisper mode on the ultra-efficient Pnoe horns. Now we yanked the Trafomatic volume up to hit the desired 85dB in the listening seat. Here the stepless volume pot was turned well past 2 o’clock. The aural results were the same as with the preamp in deep attenuation role. There was no added noise whilst transparency and speed were on par with the previous test including the virtual seating relative to stage distance. Yet now we had actively tapped into the 15dB of triode gain.

The final setup was a combination of PWT/PWD for legacy CD, Reference Phono One with Feickert Blackbird for analog and unattenuated XXHighEnd/NOS1 for streaming. Here it was possible to play the same music from vinyl, CD and as a ripped file and switch, then use the remote to adjust volume. For small volume changes Trafomatic's wand buttons need to be tapped briefly because a slightly longer press changes the volume in firmer steps.

For the Reference One preamp it was all the same no matter what source was used. For the listener it was different. It was very clear that ripped CDs converted by XXHighEnd to 32 bits at 705.600Hz was very close in speed, transparency and more particularly life to vinyl.

[manisandher]

Nice!

Kind of mirrors my own experience comparing the XX vol control to my Pass X1 preamp and also a high-quality passive controller. In terms of transparency, the XX vol control was similar to the passive - the Pass was way, way behind. In terms of dynamics, the XX vol control was easily the best - the passive was still better than the Pass. And to think that I paid well over £5000 for the Pass, ten or so years ago...

Mani.