[decur]

well, it has been 1 week since i have recieved my "upgraded" isabella,named isabella lfp-v edition.
the upgrade involved adding a much improved type of battery. this battery is a lithium phosphorus  type,with many added benefits
over sla type batterys.
for those interested in learning more about this new battery technology,i suggest checking out red wine audio web site for more detailed information. the other modification done was having the headphone jack installed on the front panel(via a new face plate)
 ok,let me start by saying,that i am a firm believer of "off the grid audio" i have owned in the past,many pre-amps and headphone/pre-amps,some being quite pricey, that all used ac wall power! some were linear types and some were switched type power supplies.i have also used power conditioners,power regenerators and fancy power cords,all with the intention of getting as clean of an a/c input as possible.
no dice!
a/c powered audio devices just do not cut it anymore for me, after getting a taste of what red wine audio has to offer.
there is nothing like clean high current battery power attached to fully discrete(no opamps) boards and discrete tube output stages!
all with the shortest signal paths. i cant think of a better design.
 in my opinion,the lfp-v edition of the isabella is a huge upgrade!
vinnie of "rwa" claims these new batterys deliver more actual current to your drivers. we all know,and any audiophile will tell you that "clean current" is a key ingredient to great sound.
well, i can attest that the lfp-v power delivers in spades! here are the differences the way i hear them between sla isabella and 
lfp-v isabella.
SLA TYPE offers -(dead quiet background)-( natural tone and timber)- (realistic & believable sound)- (excellent details)-(wide soundstage)
 
                                                                                                   
LFP-V TYPE offers-(more dead quiet background,scary quiet)-(more natural tone and timber)-(more liquid sounding,that you can almost taste)
(more realistic & believable sound,almost as if my entire body from head to toe is immersed in the music)- (details galore! try the audeze lcd-2
headphones with alo lux-fep cables! you wont believe your ears!)-(wider soundstage)
                                                                                                 
 
                                                                                                  
                                                                      
                                                                                                    
the isabella sla and lfp-v have the same house sound,and i strongly suggest tube rolling! the isabella is worthy of the best tubes you can afford! and the differences in tubes is not subtle   imo.
my equiptment shown in picture  rwa isabella lfp-v,rwa black lightning(powering my nuforce cdp-8 cd player/transport with lfp-v battery power) ray samuels audio f-117 (battery phonostage) audeze lcd-2 headphones with alo lux-fep cables and senns hd-800
headphones with alo up-occ copper cables
                                                                                                   

 

[hodgjy]

The formatting was kind of confusing to follow, but once I could focus my eyes, the review was quite nice.  Thanks for sharing.

 

[KingStyles]

Well congrats on the upgrade. This is what I was lobbying for when the hpa first came out. I am glad it finally came to fruition. Just a year to late for me. I wish Vinne the best of luck and I can imagine that it sounds quite a bit better than the non upgraded version.

 

[decur]

Quote:

Well congrats on the upgrade. This is what I was lobbying for when the hpa first came out. I am glad it finally came to fruition. Just a year to late for me. I wish Vinne the best of luck and I can imagine that it sounds quite a bit better than the non upgraded version.

it just pulls you in closer to the music! more than i thought possible!

 

[mrarroyo]

Nice reading your impressions, both of my units are packed and will be sent to Vinnie early next week. Should get my upgraded 30.2 and Isabella early in September, I wish it was earlier.

 

[krmathis]

Thanks for the review. Great reading (although hard to read)!

 

[Vinnie R.]

Hi decur,
 
Thanks for your review of your Isabella LFP-V Edition! 
I think some of the comments above about it being hard to read have to do with the formatting of the text - the review itself (what was written) was detailed and much appreciated!

 
And you have the first Black Lightning LFP Edition powering that Nuforce CDP-8.  All - I heard it for myself when I built the Black Lightning for decur and it was the best CD transport I've heard so far!
 
I'll contact you in early September to mod your Isabellina HPA and Sig 30.2 power amp to the LFP-V Edition.
 
 
Quote:

Nice reading your impressions, both of my units are packed and will be sent to Vinnie early next week. Should get my upgraded 30.2 and Isabella early in September, I wish it was earlier.

 
Hi Miguel,
 
Thanks for all your patience.  I'm backlogged with new orders and upgrades through October now - but your Isabella LFP-V Edition and upgraded Sig 30.2 LFP-V Edition will be ready early September.
 
Thanks again!
 
Vinnie

 

[decur]

Thanks for the review. Great reading (although hard to read)!

The format was good when I wrote this article,although when I hit the send button it came out all messed

Up. I will have to re do! It came out real goofy on my ipad

 

[decur]

Quote:

The format was good when I wrote this article,although when I hit the send button it came out all messed

Up. I will have to re do! It came out real goofy on my ipad

re- format!!  enjoy

 

[alexdemaet]

Would the Red Wine Audio Isabella preamp be a good investment to enhance my 1) speaker rig and 2) headphone rig ?
 
1) speaker rig:
SPEAKERS: ACI Titan XL subwoofer+ACI Emerald speakers
amp: RWA Signature 30 (partial upgraded to30.2) amp
dac: Stello DA220 Mk II
source: Squeezebox Classic
2) headphone rig:
headphone: Grado GS1000i
amp: Meier audio Swing
dac: Stello DA220 Mk II
source: Squeezebox Classic
 
Some interesting advisements:
"There are some who argue that the preamp is the most important piece of electronics in the audio chain (assuming your amp is well matched to your speakers).
If you are just wading into preamps, you will doubtless run into the active vs. passive debate. In a nutshell from my experience:
Passives have great detail retrieval but tend to suffer in terms of dynamics and drive ("oomph" factor to use the technical term). They also need to be well matched to your system and tend to need short interconnects. I found that I had to step up a good deal in price to get the strengths of passives and actives both in one preamp.
And of course there are many nice passive designs, each with their own advantages and disadvantages. The LDR, First Watt B1 and Dodd Buffer are all popular here (long threads on each).
And then there is the tube vs. solid state debate. And then there are hybrid preamps (which I have, a Musical Fidelity kW).
If at all possible, I'd recommend trying various designs in your system to decide what in the end you prefer.
Lastly be sure to pay attention to impedance matching of a pre with your amp. It is generally recommended that the amp have at last 10x the input impedance as the preamp's output impedance.
Hope all this helps."

 

[alexdemaet]

Take a look at my situation:
1) speaker rig:
SPEAKERS: ACI Titan XL subwoofer+ACI Emerald speakers
amp: RWA Signature 30 (partial upgraded to30.2) amp
dac: Stello DA220 Mk II
source: Squeezebox Classic
2) headphone rig:
headphone: Grado GS1000i
amp: Meier audio Swing
dac: Stello DA220 Mk II
source: Squeezebox Classic
 
(I am just trying to understand preamp ) It seems my speaker amp has volume knob and it's a power amp so I believe it is best to go for some speaker monoblock power amps (without volume knob) OR a speaker power amp then to go for a preamp like a Red Wine Audio Isabella (http://redwineaudio.com/components/isabella)? I would like to upgrade my system to achieve best result with a budget of 2000 euro (2,614.47 USD).

 

[alexdemaet]

I am not looking for a preamp or monoblocks anymore. It would be better to upgrade my speakers and/or I would like to re-acquire an AKG K 1000 so my Signature 30.2 can still be of good use.