Atlanta Area HD800 - Page 3

Ugh, I'm going to a wedding on the 29th.

My gears might be little late due to audio-gd moving this week. I don't think it'll be an issue though, but the burn-in time would be shorter. anyway, if you want to delay a week or so, i am fine.

I would probably have my DAC but not my amp. Dr. Lloyd (Mapletree Audio) isn't taking any orders in August because he's having (or just had) surgery. Orders open back up on September 1st.

I can make it the next week. Where is this meet going to be?

I think googlephone is generously offering his place in Douglasville.

I'll *hopefully* be able to make it on the 5th. I think I have relatives coming in that day to spend the weekend at my place but I think they're coming in later that night... I'll keep you guys updated.

Why don't we gather who's coming and who can't, and come up with the dates?

Can we update the first page maybe if possible with who's coming/maybe with different set of dates? Or we are set on 5th now?

I can make the 5th. Douglasville is only 20 minutes away from me.

Yeah. It's way too early to make any kinda impression. I still do not have a CAST cable too. So, I will reserve my thoughts until I get that, plus proper burn in time.

Okay. More formal and detailed impression/review would come in time. However, I can give a few initial impressions.

First, let me just point out that I do not have the Channel Island VDA-2/VAC-1 combo any more. So, I wasn't able to do a direct comparison to other DACs in the past. Second, the SACD is also gone. No direct comparison to the DAC of it either. Finally, HD800 is far better (and expensive) than my previous UE Pro 10 + Null Audio Silver Cable setup. So, it's hard to come up with the impression/comparison. So, take it with grain of salt. Oh, one last thing. I try not to be a fan boy here. I am not gonna claim that I hear some differences unless I can verify with repeated tests. In any rate, here it goes.

This thing definitely has a detail. Some of the songs that I hear quite often, I didn't know that these background sounds were there, until I listened to RE1. I do not think it reveals something that wasn't there. It's simply more detailed and clear, so the sounds are more distinct to hear. I don't want to say something that might stir up the arguments. Let's just say that each individual notes are easier to identify and hear than before.

As for sounds, this thing is quite neutral. Not to the level of STAX, but definitely very close to it.

The piano and high pitch vocals are really exciting to hear. Some of the voices that I thought unpleasant to listen to are now great to listen to.

The blackness of the phoenix/Re1 is really great. Not playing anything and put the volume at max (99), I do not hear ANYTHING from it. Quite awesome. No statics/noise/buzz at all. This is very nice thing for me since I listen to a lot of new age songs and slow vocals that tend to have a lot of pauses (does that make sense)?

Soundstage. Heh. This is the part that surprised me the most.. But, this might attribute to the HD800 a lot more than Re1 and Phoenix setup though. I have a XLO imaging sounds that is helpful to setup the loudspeaker. I often use this to figure out in-phase,/out of phase and sound staging. This surprised me the most. You just have to listen to it to believe.

Okay. This went further that I originally planned, so I will stop here. Plus, it's being burn-in right now, so the sound signature would change over time. I just wish I get the CAST cable soon as my RCA isn't the best performer here.

Regards

Just bought my MAD Ear+ HD from the FS forum, so that'll be coming in next week! Still no word on my HF-2s though... hopefully they ship next week **crosses fingers**

Good news, my HF-2s are shipping out tomorrow and should be here by the end of next week