Christer, please keep your spirit up, from a Swede to another! I paid 2000 Euro in Electricity for December so lets so lets mourn and have Glögg and lets overcome...
Give me an option of a Chi Fi product that could rival a TT2/HMS combo whatever ASR is ranting, and I will be there to listen to it and if it is better I will sell mine as well, though I doubt this will happen short term though...
That said HMS is a subtle experience and need time to realize, and I am not sure it is in the category of value for money but nevertheless it is noticeable and best together with the TT2", I do not regret getting it, but is an item it would be more missed if it was removed from my system than I would say that I would say WOW when it was added, as said it will take some time to realize it and appreciate it...well my 20 öre...
Im going to give you my honest opinion on TT2(XPHD, FILT1) vs Chi-fi(AGD, NOS). I was actually going to post it yesterday, but I decided to wait. I wanted to be sure that my blind test yesterday was correct. True. 24hour warm up of both systems. This is not going to be a "FAIR" comparison.
Price:
My AGD(DDC, DAC, MCKL, HEADAMP) system actually cost a little more than my TT2, even with the new prices.
(To make this short I ended up comparing them on musicality, they both have there wins in there frequency ranges)
Musicality:
What I notice is I only gave the win to AGD on the layering/seperations/textures-thickness and they actually have pretty much the same musicality, AGD just had that extra "swing" I like very much, which I think is the secret of the DDC/DI20HE, because the DAC/R8 does not do the same on its own. This is actually a big win for TT2 almost makes it even with:
DDC: DI20HE
DAC: R8HE MK2
MCLK: LHY OCK-2
AMP: HE-9 LE
TT2 on its own is worth the price, it mobs the floor with my ADi-2 easily!
When saying all this, I am trying to justify/worth my TT2, and I have to be true, the small differences makes the AGD atleast a class* over the TT2, but as said before TT2 was all alone!!!
(*Every element on AGD, felt like independently playing, giving me the vibe of being in the music with the musicians. I don´t know if TT2 is a dS, but it gives me the same character. dS feels like 1 track/side is playing even when the layering is good like it is on the TT2.)
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There are so many details to compare like dry and wet etc. In the end is what you like that counts. If the DAC you have moves you, its doing its job.