STAGEDAC Review. Part III.
Here we go again.
I have been enjoying my Stagedac for the last couple of weeks and, even when my intention is to use it only for my headphones, I have decided to give it a go with the Hi-Fi (Jan Meier asked for it).
This time I decided to have fun with the music chosen and listen to more “powerful” tunes than I have done so far. The scope was to assess if the Stagedac "opens" the sound stage which is the contrary of what I wanted with the headphones.
The methodology was similar to the one used with the headphone amplifier: My Musical Fidelity A3 CD player was connected though Toslink to the Stagedac (using Fisual Cable). The Stagedac was connected to the Musical Fidelity A3 Dual Mono amplifier through the fixed RCA output. This time I used Van Den Hul "The name" cables because I like their sonic signature (it attenuates the high frequencies). The A3 Amplifier was connected to my B&W CDM1 though 3 meters of QED Silver Anniversary (bi- wired) each way. The B&W CDM1 use the famous Nautilus tweeter and the high frequencies can be too much in a bright listening room (that it is my case by the way, so forget about using fancy silver wires like Nordost!). The speakers are placed in Atacama Nexus 6 stands filled with sand. The distance between speakers was about 3.5 meters and they were slightly “toed in” to give a more focused stereo image. I sat equidistant from both speakers.
I used the position 3:1 in the DAC section (with mid position for delay, and top for intensity and tonal balance) and gave it a go with Metallica's “The Call of the Ktullu” from their 1990 S&M album. This CD has a quite wide stereo mix but, somehow you feel that the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra should sound even wider, therefore it is very good candidate to test. With the Stagedac in stereo it sounded fantastic, well focused and with the orchestra wrapping Metallica between both speakers. I moved the position to wide stereo and the effect was quite noticeable. The string section moved farther to the left and the brass section to the right. You still could hear the band in the centre of stage but somehow, with more space. The effect is quite nice, it is not a massive expansion but it is real. Next, I tried Joe Satriani's “Always with me, always with you”, which is a live track from his album Time machine. This particular song blew me away when he played live in 1991 in Seville. The sound of this song is very intimate and mainly focused on his guitar. With the Stagedac in stereo position, it sounded very good but it was when I changed to wide stereo when I felt that the “ambience sound” expanded. The guitar was still very well focused in the centre but it sounded more natural, more like a live concert, more "3D". Very convincing. I tried with lots of different tracks and the degree of expansion varies but it is always there.
I presume the effect can vary also quite a lot depending on the speakers used. I have had KEF floorstanding speakers before and they expand the sound incredibly well but my B&W are fare more precise and focused so the changes that the Stagedac produce are easier to spot. I bet it will not be so noticeable with electrostatic speakers (Martin Logan, etc)
Once again, my thumps up for Dr Meier. This feature is also worth the money even if you do not care about using headphones.
I think that is it for me: I have reviewed the DAC section and the Crossfeed for both, headphones and speakers. I hope it was entertaining!
Yours
