[Argo Duck]

I'll be sure to post it gefski, cheers. Interested in your final uber impressions when you're done

 

[SwanSong]

Ciúnas converter landed Finally!!
It´s being on for about 7 hours now. The first and quick impressions on sound are: Smooth & Big.  
Stay tuned. More to come today...

I couldn't wait any longer I ordered earlier this week! Ok ProAc what's the skinny? Big is good in most cases ! How much detail is hidden in that smoothness, that was my concern?

 

[Turn&cough]

Quote:

I couldn't wait any longer I ordered earlier this week! Ok ProAc what's the skinny? Big is good in most cases ! How much detail is hidden in that smoothness, that was my concern?

Depends compared to what. It's less detailed than the EE Minimax but more detailed than a NOS Paradisea.
 
At the same time it's less rough around the edges than the EE but has more PRaT than the Paradisea.
 
Unless you're playing in the megabuck leagues it's all about tradeoffs I guess. Even then I'm not sure up to what point you can have your cake and eat it.
 
A bit like bicycles - you can't have an ultra light $5000 racer that can compete off road and vice versa.

 

[SwanSong]

Yeah, I'm looking for a balance for sure, like perfect seasonning of your favorite dish.

 

[ProAcTivo]

Ok. I have now listen a bit more. First thing, and even without extensive listening, the software used changes the sound a lot. With Audirvana Plus the sound is more defined, the instruments and voices are more separated from each other but i find it a bit more "unnatural" and the sound stage smaller than with Amarra. Now listened with jplay and the sound is different. More like in between the previous two. But the most important thing, none sounded harsh!! I mean, this thing is absolutely fatigue free.

 The Amarra sounded much more like my Quad 99 CD-P, and is the software that brings me more closer to the sound that i had with the Quad...Smooth, and more laid back, more...just listen.

Well, i can say now that the Ciúnas is VERY good. My concern with PC audio was the DIGITAL nastiest that i heard before with the MF V-Link192 connected to the Quad 99 CD-P. I mean, the differences to the cd player were so obvious that i sold the V-Link192 right away.
With the Ciúnas + Octave is a totally different story. I can now see that some of that "delicacy" on the Quad sound was more a coloration thing. I see now that the sound was more congested. The transparency that the Ciúnas brings is outstanding.

Some words about this little thing:
Sound is definitely deeper. Not as wider as the Quad but more deeper. Like some more layers from front to back.
The sound is natural. Not a single sign of harshness and not aggressive in any way YUPY

 

[SwanSong]

Outstanding! Did you find a tighter low end that some have mentioned? How long did your order take from order to delivery? I look forward to less congestion I know I'm suffering from that issue. Have you tried Audirvana + up sampling via Ciúnas? I now upsample everything to 96k but I plan to use 192k via coaxial input after I get tha Ciúnas.

 

[ProAcTivo]

Outstanding! Did you find a tighter low end that some have mentioned? How long did your order take from order to delivery? I look forward to less congestion I know I'm suffering from that issue. Have you tried Audirvana + up sampling via Ciúnas? I now upsample everything to 96k but I plan to use 192k via coaxial input after I get tha Ciúnas.

Yes the bass is very good indeed. I think thigtness is player dependent. With Amarra bass is overall more proiminent and full on the music but a little more blurry too. Lots of people like that bass more. With Audirvana is more tight, or maybe "fast". I have a much better bass now. I thought the Quad had very good bass but now i see... I've been In France for all week and only now arrived to Portugal (wednesday flight cacelled) so i will listen a lot more on the weekend and pass more impressions. Well i placed my order 12 may and received it 7 july...almost a month but is here now Worth the wait.
I tried upsampling but not much. I noticed a more focused sound but a little too much sometimes.. I think i prefer NOS, but i'll try it again with more extensive playing.




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[Argo Duck]

12 May to 7 July is almost two months But wait, 7 July hasn't happened yet...are you a time traveller sir?

Seriously, thanks for your impressions and looking forward to those from the weekend

 

[ProAcTivo]

12 May to 7 July is almost two months But wait, 7 July hasn't happened yet...are you a time traveller sir?

Seriously, thanks for your impressions and looking forward to those from the weekend

Lol. Sorry. 7 of june... You know, 15 hours on a bus is not easy...

One thing that i can assure now is that the burn-In time is realy important on the ciunas. This little box is opening a lot. Audirvana sounds a lot smoother now.

P.S. When i say a lot, very diferent, more this, more that, you All know what i mean right? We are talking about those little nuances that we All seek...of course there is no night and day diferences...there is no "Amarra is miles ahead from audirvana" or vice versa...i think 90% of the people "outside" of this hobby doesn't even notice any diference. But 90% of "us" hifi fanboys hear OBVIOUS diferences In almost everything. We hear most of the times with our soul and emotions, other times with total attention to sound details. In this long process we realy train our hears to absorv music and thats wy we feel the differences. I hear my gear hundreds of hours In one year. My sister hears 2 hours of radio hits per week max... I've been on this hobby for more than 10 years now. I'm a very diferent listner now. I think this is a process like everything In life. Time make us better listeners.


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[Happy Camper]

Lol. Sorry. 7 of june... You know, 15 hours on a bus is not easy...

One thing that i can assure now is that the burn-In time is realy important on the ciunas. This little box is opening a lot. Audirvana sounds a lot smoother now.

P.S. When i say a lot, very diferent, more this, more that, you All know what i mean right? We are talking about those little nuances that we All seek...of course there is no night and day diferences...there is no "Amarra is miles ahead from audirvana" or vice versa...i think 90% of the people "outside" of this hobby doesn't even notice any diference. But 90% of "us" hifi fanboys hear OBVIOUS diferences In almost everything. We hear most of the times with our soul and emotions, other times with total attention to sound details. In this long process we realy train our hears to absorv music and thats wy we feel the differences. I hear my gear hundreds of hours In one year. My sister hears 2 hours of radio hits per week max... I've been on this hobby for more than 10 years now. I'm a very diferent listner now. I think this is a process like everything In life. Time make us better listeners.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

Yes it does. But don't say it too loudly or the science mafia will be attracted.

 

[ProAcTivo]

SwanSong i can assure you now that you won't regret the decision you made. The Ciúnas converter is absolutely outstanding. Not really many words to describe it. What the hell i was doing with a cd player?
Burn-In time first (about 3 days) is mandatory for serious listening tests. I mean, i only got that feeling of real floating sound after some burn-in.
In the beginning i felt that Audirvana was a little aggressive combination to the Ciúnas...now i don't feel that at all. Beautiful sound all the way. Bass is just perfect. I never, never never had this bass before. Today i listened music for several hours, and it was amazing. The sound is so good that i didn't changed anything all day. Audirvana Plus (direct mode, integer mode 2) without upsampling and with iTunes library. Why change player or play with settings? I dont want to. The sound is so GOOD man. In the future i will probably experiment more to "fine tune".
Played a lot of things, Atoms for Peace, Nitin Sawhney(wow), Frank Ocean, SBTRKT, Muse, Pink Floyd, The XX, Daft Punk, Etc... All sounded addictively good.

The only HD album was the Random Memory Access from Daft Punk and it sounded so smooth and beautiful.

This puts my last best source combo (Quad cdp+Octave) so behind. I'm trying hard to find something where the Quad could win but NOTHING. The Ciúnas+Octave is just much better.
Never enjoyed music this way.




Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

[djobeat]

has anyone compared this to the fostex hp p1? which one is superior?

 

[SwanSong]

SwanSong i can assure you now that you won't regret the decision you made. The Ciúnas converter is absolutely outstanding. Not really many words to describe it. What the hell i was doing with a cd player?
Burn-In time first (about 3 days) is mandatory for serious listening tests. I mean, i only got that feeling of real floating sound after some burn-in.
In the beginning i felt that Audirvana was a little aggressive combination to the Ciúnas...now i don't feel that at all. Beautiful sound all the way. Bass is just perfect. I never, never never had this bass before. Today i listened music for several hours, and it was amazing. The sound is so good that i didn't changed anything all day. Audirvana Plus (direct mode, integer mode 2) without upsampling and with iTunes library. Why change player or play with settings? I dont want to. The sound is so GOOD man. In the future i will probably experiment more to "fine tune".
Played a lot of things, Atoms for Peace, Nitin Sawhney(wow), Frank Ocean, SBTRKT, Muse, Pink Floyd, The XX, Daft Punk, Etc... All sounded addictively good.

The only HD album was the Random Memory Access from Daft Punk and it sounded so smooth and beautiful.

This puts my last best source combo (Quad cdp+Octave) so behind. I'm trying hard to find something where the Quad could win but NOTHING. The Ciúnas+Octave is just much better.
Never enjoyed music this way.




Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

ProArc TiVo
I can't wait I'm two weeks in now hopefully I'll be getting a tracking # soon. I use Pure Music I enjoyed Amarra but it was a little to thick in the low mid for my setup. I preferred tube rolling vs software warmth if you know what I mean. After I burnin the Ciúnas I'll retest my tubes to find the best combo, I love the Russian tube "rocket" at the moment. What was you thoughts again when you up sampled?

 

[sam1000]

Questions for those who're using Ciunas with SB touch..
 
What settings are you using for EDO buffer size and other parameters?
 
I haven;t changed the default buffer size and get a lot of crackling sound. I do not have this issue if I change the output to Digital instead of USB.
 
When it's working(not crackling), I have noticed quite a bit emphasis on bass in a good way. I'm coming from Integra 80.2 pre-pro.
 

 

[ProAcTivo]

Quote:

ProArc TiVo
I can't wait I'm two weeks in now hopefully I'll be getting a tracking # soon. I use Pure Music I enjoyed Amarra but it was a little to thick in the low mid for my setup. I preferred tube rolling vs software warmth if you know what I mean. After I burnin the Ciúnas I'll retest my tubes to find the best combo, I love the Russian tube "rocket" at the moment. What was you thoughts again when you up sampled?

Well, haven't had much time to experiment...when i arrive home i just want to listen some music But i tried two or three songs 44.1kHz vs Upsampled to 176.4kHz and is pretty much what i have said before...the sound upsampled is more focused, more defined. The bass is more tight and more precise. Everything is more "exited". For some music i like it, but not for all. It´s funny, but the upsample is more obvious in poor recorded albums. For example, on Kings of Leon, only by the night(so badly recorded...) the upsample really puts it together. On Daft Punk RAM the upsample does almost nothing because everything sounds just FANTASTIC.  My Octave is a NOS dac, so having that feature is a plus, but i think i will be hearing original sample rate most of the times. One thing that i can tell you is that bad recorded music will still sound bad with Ciúnas. This thing is transparent!  The good thing is that good recordings will sound amazing, and the amazing recordings will sound unbelievable.