[sachu]

Quote:

 
 
ASR: thank you for the honest impressions, I admire you for this as I, for one, typically have a hard time being really critical on something I heard at a meet if I did meet with the manufacturer.
 
I am a bit disappointed with your mitigated impressions of Cavalli's LL, I wonder how much this negative impression of flat soundstage and lack of dynamics has to do with the Oppo source? Haven't heard such player but the comments sound typical of issues with less than stellar players. 

That is quite possible as Asr is going off of impressions with his KGSS with a plinius CD-101 source which is phenomenal. And as already mentioned, it was meet conditions. 
 
Every other impression of the LL has been that it is right up with the big guns (again under meet impression).  I am looking forward to listen to it.

 

[JIGF]

 
Quote:

Glow Audio speakers? http://www.glow-audio.com/voiceone.html
 

Nope, just remembered. It is Norh.
 
Although those by Glow Audio look much nicer.

 

[OzarkTom]

Has anyone tried the Glow amp on their headphones?
 

 

[sillysally]

Quote:

 
 
ASR: thank you for the honest impressions, I admire you for this as I, for one, typically have a hard time being really critical on something I heard at a meet if I did meet with the manufacturer.
 
I am a bit disappointed with your mitigated impressions of Cavalli's LL, I wonder how much this negative impression of flat soundstage and lack of dynamics has to do with the Oppo source? Haven't heard such player but the comments sound typical of issues with less than stellar players. 

The Oppo 95 that I think was used is a good source player with its ES9018 DAC chips - one for the 7.1-channel output, and another for the dedicated stereo output. However with the Oppo there is some question with the bass and how it centers the sound, but not the sound-stage or the dynamics, imo.
 

 

[n3rdling]

Thanks for the impressions Asr.  

 

[Xcalibur255]

Quote:

Hey Skylab, here is an interesting new thread on OTL amps by Roger Modjeski. Roger is one of the best in the business of designing electronics. I would love to hear an OTL on these Decware's.
 
http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=99822.0
 

I'm pretty amazed at myself that I was able to follow nearly all of that discussion more or less.  Interesting stuff.

 

[metalsonata]

The Norh was gonna be my second guess. I really love this style of speakers, and have a pair of Joey Roth's ceramic speakers myself. I realize that better quality sound can be had for the price, but damn, do they look great.
 
Quote:

 
Nope, just remembered. It is Norh.
 
Although those by Glow Audio look much nicer.

 

 

[lonebear27]

Did anyone here try out the new Fostex HP-A8 DAC/amp? I'm actually pretty interested in it.

 

[Maxvla]

It was broken or non-functional demo.

 

[OzarkTom]

Roger Modjeski is one of the tops in the industry as a tube designer. I first met him back in the mid  80's at CES. He has designed many tube amps and pre-amps through the years. He has desgined both, OTL and transformer driven. He enjoys picking the brains of the audiophiles on AC, a very informative man.
 
If he does bring out that OTL amp, one will definitely be mine.
 
Quote:

I'm pretty amazed at myself that I was able to follow nearly all of that discussion more or less.  Interesting stuff.

 

 

[lonebear27]

Quote:

It was broken or non-functional demo.

I see. What a shame, was really looking forward to how this sounds. Ah well.

 

[Asr]

I forgot to add earlier that I also listened to the Woo 234 monoblocks with an HD800 for only a few minutes. I was hoping/expecting that the 234 would transform the HD800 into something at least a little different, but I couldn't discern any obvious improvements over my previous experience with the HD800. If there were any benefits they were too subtle for me to pick up on quickly.
 
Quote:

Well tempered impressions.  Was your ambivalence to the 009 and LCD3 more based on price to performance ratio or its lack of forward progress over their predecessors.

I'd call my impressions neutral mostly due to a perceived lack of forward progress over the respective predecessors. The price of either the LCD-3 or the SR-009 didn't really enter my mind - I was expecting more of a jump from the LCD-2 r1 and SR-007 (OII MKI), respectively.
 
Quote:

ASR: thank you for the honest impressions, I admire you for this as I, for one, typically have a hard time being really critical on something I heard at a meet if I did meet with the manufacturer.
 
I am a bit disappointed with your mitigated impressions of Cavalli's LL, I wonder how much this negative impression of flat soundstage and lack of dynamics has to do with the Oppo source? Haven't heard such player but the comments sound typical of issues with less than stellar players. 

I personally have no idea how much my impressions might have been affected by the Oppo BDP-95. Keep in mind that everything I wrote is relative for me - I was comparing based on experience with my own system, in a brief listening session in a show environment. I've seen plenty of comments from other people who raved about the Cavalli system - doesn't mean that the system had objectively flat soundstage or lack of dynamics, but that's only what I thought at least. A true, better comparison could be done if I still had my KGSS and SR-507 and could compare directly to the Liquid Lightning.
 
In another aspect unrelated to sound quality, I also found the Liquid Lightning to be significantly lighter in weight than the HeadAmp KGSS (as I picked it up to see how heavy it was), and it was definitely smaller in physical dimensions too - much closer to standard rack-space size for audio components. Its dimensions seemed to be relatively close to those of my Arcam FMJ CD36 CD player. It also seemed to run marginally cooler in temperature than the KGSS as well - I was actually surprised at how cool to the touch it was.

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

I didn't particularly like the SR-507 on the CLL myself, being a little "in your face" and etched sounding.  I thought the Liquid Lightning was a much better match with the 007/009 and HE-60.  I wish I had tried the SR-507 on the BHSE and my KGSS but there was just too much stuff to listen to that weekend.  I also wish I had tried the HE-60 on the BHSE.  Maybe next year.

 

[Asr]

First 12 of 23 pics below, remaining pics will be posted later. Note: Head-Fi scaled down these pics upon upload, larger versions can be viewed by clicking on one.
 
If anyone has a spare RMAF show booklet btw (pictured directly below) and wouldn't mind sending it to me, would appreciate it. Will cover postage.
 
RMAF 2011 show booklets

 
Tektron-Italia OTL tube headphone amp (HeadRoom room)

 
Grado PS500 and PS1000, 1 of 2

 
Grado PS500 and PS1000, 2 of 2 (Note: though this pic makes the PS500's driver housing look like brushed aluminum, it definitely wasn't and felt more like a graphite-like material to the touch)

 
TTVJ Apex Butte (w/ iPod for size comparison)

 
Head-Fi/CanJam room overview

 
right side of the Head-Fi/CanJam room (from the entry doors)

 
HRT's vendor table

 
Unique Melody's vendor table

 
Woo Audio WTP-1 and WDS-1 spec sheet

 
Woo Audio WTP-1 and WDS-1

 
spec sheet for Woo Audio's 234 monoblocks

 

[Maxvla]

Hit me up with your address in a PM. I'll send you mine. Don't need it.