Armando Rancano
New Head-Fier
Once upon a time, in the land of youth and low budgets, lived a budding audiophile that sacrificed vacations, wore the same clothes day in and day out and ate no more than necessary to stay alive, all to have enough money to support an audio addiction.
It is an addiction requiring, not amends, but a very good confession, since I am truly not an audiophile by definition, at least according to a friend who owned a number of Chicago-area high-end audio stores. To wit, an audiophile is someone who owns ten records and after listening to all 10 decides it's time for new equipment. Just joking, of course, I have exactly 987 songs/works in my collection. You can find a list of favorites amongst them in the public Spotify playlist "No Voice Good Ears".
My first high-end amplifier was a Quad 405. Running Class A, it got so hot I could have cooked my morning eggs on it. My speakers were Dahlquist DQ-10’s, the preamp and turntable escape recollection. The intervening years saw Maggies powered by a Levinson No. 27 amp and good but hardly memorable preamp. turntable and, later, CD player. After all, now in my late 60's, old information has to be released to make room for the new. Otherwise, how could I explain not knowing what headphones, the closest electronics to my ears, I used during that time?
Work kept me away from music listening for a long time until about a year ago, when semi-retired I began to look for ways to pull the trick of saying goodbye to this world just as I was spending my last pennies. Returning to audiophile nirvana was the no-brainer winner of the search.
Replacing my inexpensive but serviceable Polk Audio speakers with a pair of Martin Logan Theos took some time but it was a relatively easy decision. Finding complimentary electronics was a longer journey, which continues to this day. After all, I have to stretch it until I’m out of pennies or breath.
Digging into my electronics museum in search for a better alternative for the just purchased Rotel preamp, I found a Sonic Euphoria passive preamp and a Music Hall 25.2 DAC. I proceeded to improve the latter with a 1970’s-era French tube to the tune of $175 and then ran into Burson Audio while looking to improve the OpAmp chips in the DAC.
Notwithstanding Burson's dislike for integrated circuits, I was doubtful that replacing three chips would do much to separate instruments in heavily orchestrated passages, hear ones that I had miserably failed to notice, and find bass and sonic subtleties where I thought none existed. But the OpAmps from Burson looked as sexy in their red covers as a brand-new Chevy Corvette so coveted by traffic cops looking for speeders. I went for it. After all, $200 is hardly a fortune for an audio addict on a fixed income.
“Out of the box”, as audiophile talk goes, I was happy as a clam to hear far more than what I had hoped for, so much more in fact that I figured a whole DAC and preamp made with components from Burson could just possibly hold hope for more blissful music listening.
I went for the CV2+, not just a DAC with a state-of-the-art chip, but an energy powerhouse for my rather hungry Sennheiser HD650’s, electronic and manual volume controls, and a super-sexy enclosure heavy enough to work out my aging biceps. In truth, I’m a softie for good layout and strong colors. One look at the internals of the CV2+ alone had me sold on at least hearing the unit. In this case, and it's hardly kissing and telling, beauty is not just skin deep. I guess finding circuit boards attractive is truly the mark of a weird, if not obsessive audiophile.
Delivery from Australia to beautiful Palm Springs, California was hardly uneventful. The OpAmps had been delivered on time, but waiting for CV2+ to arrive was the stuff nightmares are made of. Despite hold instructions for a station pickup, the unit was put on a delivery truck to for home delivery after its long journey first to Hong Kong and, inexplicably, detouring through Japan before proceeding to Oakland’s FedEx hub where it sat in customs for a few days. Can’t be too careful these days.
Fortunately, the FedEx station manager in Palm Springs took pity upon my obvious misery and had the driver come back to base with my precious cargo, placing it on my welcoming arms. I almost dropped it. The weight was unexpected for such a small unit and I knew I was not hallucinating at the gym. Credit FedEx for not prolonging my agony after their screw-up.
Well, “out-of-the-box”, the impact of the CV2+ on my audio system after a mere 48 hours of non-stop listening finally yielded the miracle I so longed for growing up a Catholic altar boy. I had stopped believing when I started college, but non-stop listening in my quite comfortable Ethan Allen recliner restored my faith in the healing powers of music beautifully reproduced. I wish such a quality recliner had been properly equipped to avoid the short breaks necessitated by bodily functions.
I swear on whatever is holy that I have not been under any mind-altering influences when I say that welcoming so many different kinds of musicians into my 13x18 living room has been a wonderful social experience. It’s absolutely remarkable how the three-piece Parker Millsap band can fit into the same space as the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. God only knows who will show up next as the unit wears in. Notice I did not say break in, it’s so misleading.
The realism the CV2+ has brought into my audio system is remarkable. I sat for years in the second row, center, first balcony at Symphony Hall in Chicago, and in a center balcony at the Lyric Opera House. Dating a music critic for some years, I have been to more live concerts of all kinds, in the best seats of many houses, than most people who are equally incapable of singing a note or playing an instrument.
I chose to skip words used by audio reviewers in this introduction/recommendation, like transparency and coloration, because the only thing that matters to me is how close music reproduction comes to my live listening experiences, at least those still remaining in my memory banks. The CV2+ has brought me so much closer that I look forward with anticipation to trying the Burson Timekeeper Virtuoso amplifier and see how it compares to my Anthem MCA 225.
I’m a sucker for another date with a small company that creates affordable, beautiful products that do such a good job of recreating reality. The ML Theos are already fantasizing a little infidelity in yet another three-way. They are naughty boys.
. I have some good audio equipment as well, in the search of audio nirvana, but I still don't think I qualify as a true audiophile because I don't have live performance experience like you do as a baseline to compare the quality of recordings to, and my ears aren't particularly discerning either (but I can hear at least some difference between my equipment and source file quality). I just enjoy recorded music to pass the time by.
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