[bbophead]

Quote:

So little being being said about the amps...just wondering???

First, the front door was open to the street.  I don't know why.  Second, there was a lot of talking which is to be expected at a meet.  Third, and speaking for myself, I'm intimidated by a $2300+ headphone amp.  I did listen to it but it's much easier to hear differences in a noisy environment between headphones than it is between amps or dacs.  There was also a high end dac (EAD?) feeding the Liquid Fire.  About the only thing a friend of mine could really say was that the LF drove everything well with the possible exception of the Denon 7000 which seemed to have less bass than with the Peachtree.  Whether this was good or bad, I don't know, but he said it WAS different.  Ideally, a meet should have one room set aside that is private and quiet (no talking) so one could make some kind of valid judgement regarding amps and dacs.  I know, good luck with that!
 
 

 

[MorbidToaster]

First, the front door was open to the street.  I don't know why.  Second, there was a lot of talking which is to be expected at a meet.  Third, and speaking for myself, I'm intimidated by a $2300+ headphone amp.  I did listen to it but it's much easier to hear differences in a noisy environment between headphones than it is between amps or dacs.  There was also a high end dac (EAD?) feeding the Liquid Fire.  About the only thing a friend of mine could really say was that the LF drove everything well with the possible exception of the Denon 7000 which seemed to have less bass than with the Peachtree.  Whether this was good or bad, I don't know, but he said it WAS different.  Ideally, a meet should have one room set aside that is private and quiet (no talking) so one could make some kind of valid judgement regarding amps and dacs.  I know, good luck with that!
 
 

Pretty much everyone there agreed that the Liquid Fire was not the right pairing for the D7000. Including myself...and they're my cans. lol

I'm really considering a Peachtree Nova in the future. It's just a beautiful device.

 

[bbophead]

I'm really considering a Peachtree Nova in the future. It's just a beautiful device.

Here's why I bought the Nova.  I was attracted by the old school looks.  The whole thing is beautiful.  I needed a good dac.  I had just sold my $500 stand alone dac.  I needed a good headphone amp.  All I had was a Class A transistor amp that a friend had built for me 25 years ago.  It has since been updated and sounds pretty dang good.  I demo'd the Nova at Audio Systems in Austin (Mark Lyon, the owner, is a dealer I have known and trusted for many years, first in Houston at Audio Concepts).  I tested it with the GS-1000 against the Grado HP amp, Music Hall HP amp, the little Music Fidelity (can't remember the model but you know the one) and everything else I could stick something into.   :^ )  I have not regretted the purchase.  Frankly, selecting or not selecting the tube is fun but for me the only diff I hear is without the tube in circuit, the HP amp seems a little more open and just slightly more detailed.  I prefer that.  The unit also has a sharp or rolled off button position for the dac in the rear of the unit.  I prefer the sharp postition.  Obviously, the unit is all about options.  Not to mention it has 5 (five!) digital inputs, USB, 2 coax, and 2 toslink.  I have 2 CDPs, a stand alone CD burner and satellite radio.  Run 'em all through the sabre dac.  There are 3 analog inputs plus a line out and a preamp out.  I havent really used the preamp to drive a different power amp much or used the power section (it's a chip amp) to drive speakers so for me, that's all a bonus.  I think Peachtree has a real winner,  As for sales, every time I pick up a mail order audio catalogue, they've got 'em for sale.  Go figure.  The well heeled buy it for the second or third system.  It's primary for me.  HTH.  
 

 

[MorbidToaster]

Here's why I bought the Nova.  I was attracted by the old school looks.  The whole thing is beautiful.  I needed a good dac.  I had just sold my $500 stand alone dac.  I needed a good headphone amp.  All I had was a Class A transistor amp that a friend had built for me 25 years ago.  It has since been updated and sounds pretty dang good.  I demo'd the Nova at Audio Systems in Austin (Mark Lyon, the owner, is a dealer I have known and trusted for many years, first in Houston at Audio Concepts).  I tested it with the GS-1000 on the Grado HP amp, Music Hall HP amp, the little Music Fidelity (can't remember the model but you know the one) and everything else I could stick something into.   :^ )  I have not regretted the purchase.  Frankly, selecting or not selecting the tube is fun but for me the only diff I hear is without the tube in circuit, the HP amp seems a little more open and just slightly more detailed.  I prefer that.  The unit also has a sharp or rolled off button position for the dac in the rear of the unit.  I prefer the sharp postition.  Obviously, the unit is all about options.  Not to mention it has 5 (five!) digital inputs, USB, 2 coax, and 2 toslink.  I have 2 CDPs, a stand alone CD burner and satellite radio.  Run 'em all through the sabre dac.  There are 3 analog inputs plus a line out and a preamp out.  I havent really used the preamp to drive a different power amp much or used the power section (it's a chip amp) to drive speakers so for me, that's all a bonus.  I think Peachtree has a real winner,  As for sales, every time I pick up a mail order audio catalogue, they've got 'em for sale.  Go figure.  The well heeled buy it for the second or third system.  It's primary for me.  HTH.  
 

I'm fairly sure there's one in my future, just gotta fit it in the the spending pattern now. lol

 

[dmcs414]

I meant to post my impressions earlier but got kind of busy once I got back to Dallas. I really appreciate our gracious host for providing the space and the kindness of our fellow Head-Fi'ers for bringing and sharing their treasures and making an out-of-town meet newbie feel welcome.    
 
For me the most surprising thing, and what I think I ultimately will take the most from is the experience of getting to hear the amazing difference a truly superb DAC makes when paired with top-of-the-line headphones and amps for a FLAC-based laptop setup like mine.  Specifically, what struck me was when I was able to listen to the same song on the LCD-2 connected to the Cavalli Liquid Fire amp first directly connected to my mediocre E-mu 0404 as a DAC for my Asus laptop FLAC setup.  (Though to be honest I didn't know just quite how mediocre the E-mu was until shortly later)  Then we disconnected the E-mu and tried the same setup but with the Spitfire MKII belonging to rcs5.  It was noticeably better but I knew the DAC was still the weak link in the chain as I had had a taste of what the LCD-2 could truly sound like previously on the Peachtree Nova/JVC XL-Z1050 CDP setup belonging to bbophead.  The real light bulb went off when driftingbunnies (Ben) was kind enough to bring over his DAC, the Cullen Modded PS Audio Digital Link 3 stage 3.  That setup of headphones, amp and DAC played my drum-n-bass song (Noisia's "Sunhammer" feat. Amon Tobin) like nothing I've ever heard and truly blew my mind for a few glorious moments.  Every aspect (phenomenal bass, mids, highs; each instrument, each note) of the track I chose, which I consider to be one of the most complicated and intricate electronic pieces of music in my collection, was brought into perfect harmony with no element lacking in any way I could notice.   Moreover, I realized how absolutely vital the quality of the DAC is when listening to equipment of the caliber of LCD-2 and the Liquid Fire.  Needless to say I'll now be looking at either an AMP/DAC that suits my purposes or a much better stand-alone DAC when I get around to pulling the trigger on a new rig. 
 
Other impressions I had I'll try to keep brief-  My AKG K240 Sextetts sounded surprisingly good with classical music (violin concertos specifically) paired to rcs5's Spitfire MKII and Schiit Valhalla.  Since the Valhalla was already on my short list of future amps this made me very happy as I listen to quite a bit of classical as well.  Would love to hear what that setup could do for the cello. 
 
The Peachtree Nova sounded fantastic with both the LCD-2 and HE-5LE, but I found I strongly favored the LCD-2s.  Additionally, I was delighted with the "tube off" button.  Depending on what I was listening to, it really had a noticeable difference too; some songs I found I enjoyed more with the tube on, some without.  That's a really cool feature.  
 
Morbid's D7000s sounded much better to me on his mobile setup than I remember my previously-owned modded D5000s and stock D2000s ever did. That was unexpected and delightful.
 
One other impression I got was that I strongly favor the sounds of the LCD-2 to Sennhesier HD800 (not in attendance obviously but which I've had ample time to listen to)
 
I was also glad to see my faith in the little digiZoid ZO vindicated by a couple folks who gave it a listen.  It really does shine in a way that has to be heard to be believed.  But of course some rigs and indeed some types of music likely wouldn't benefit from it nor would I ever think to apply it, as in the case of the LCD-2/LF/PS Audio DAC setup.  
 
I would post pictures but Ben did such a fine job and I'm not really the photographer in the family, so I'll leave it at that.  (Hey Ben, maybe you can give me some lessons some time
 
Finally thanks everyone for such a great time.  
 
 

 

[driftingbunnies]

Does anybody know Alex personally? I wonder when he's going to release the liquid gold.

 

[pabbi1]

Alex will have to answer that, since the rest of us are under NDA. You can, of course, see the Liquid Gold prototype I built about a year ago in my sig... is a perfect compliment to the HD800, even for a SS amp (NOT my usual fare).
 
Others might also wonder about Liquid Lightning (electrostatic)... but, one thing at a time.   (d)

 

[sachu]

Quote:

Does anybody know Alex personally? I wonder when he's going to release the liquid gold.

aah the Liquid GOld..hmm its the best solid state amp i have heard thus far. The LIquid Fire however is a clear two strides ahead of the Liquid GOld in terms of sonic quality.
 
Release date i have no clue about.
 
See link in my signature for a pic of my Prototype build. Its the only current headphone amplifier i own and love it.
 
here's a side view of the prototype. I just used a plywood base and case i picked up in my local surplus shop as it was only a proto build.
 
my prototype is very warm and happy running 30Volt rails, output devices are idling at 175mA in Class A. This is the fastest amp I have heard...as in stupid fast.
 

 

 

[BoilermakerFan]

It's probably important to know that those of us ( or at least a couple of us) building the prototypes definitely push the designs beyond their intended commercial specifications to make sure they will be stable and reliable as a commercial product.  I have taken my LG prototypes far, far beyond their design specs and they are still up and running.  I'll begin abusing the Liquid Lightning shortly. 

 

[driftingbunnies]

Looks exciting. I'm just looking for a good SS amp without having to resort to the liquid fire

 

[sachu]

My honest opinion..go with the liquid fire if you can afford it.

 

[driftingbunnies]

Yeah. But I can't really afford it right now. I also don't like having to wait for the amp to warm up and would not want to worry about tubes. I just sold my jade cuz I would rather just stay with SS. I know that limits me a lot and tubes are a lot of fun. How long do the tubes in the liquid fire usually last?

 

[sachu]

You want to wait for the amp and source to warm up every time regardless of whether they are SS or tube based. 
I usually turn on my rig for 30 mins prior to listening. It always sounds better (sometimes the differences can make it seem like you were listening to a completely different amp or source) after the warm up period. The components need to reach their optimum working temperature.
 
Tubes can last from 2000-4000 hours depending on how hard they are being driven.

 

[MorbidToaster]

You want to wait for the amp and source to warm up every time regardless of whether they are SS or tube based. 
I usually turn on my rig for 30 mins prior to listening. It always sounds better (sometimes the differences can make it seem like you were listening to a completely different amp or source) after the warm up period. The components need to reach their optimum working temperature.
 
Tubes can last from 2000-4000 hours depending on how hard they are being driven.

Tubes scared me off for awhile as well until I realized how long 3000 hours actually is. lol