Pauljenkins88
New Head-Fier
I've got DCS Bartok & DCS Rossini clock ,awaiting the arrival of my new Riviera aic-10 headphone amp....
Riviera AIC-10 headphones & speakers amplifier
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Personally speaking, the best pairing dac so far I have heard with Riviera is Esoteric N05XD
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eskamobob1
Headphoneus Supremus
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- Nov 16, 2011
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Oi. Don't do this to me. My dac demo list is already in the double didgets. I don't need want to add another to it....
But realy, using an m1se (no mdx) right now and it's fantastic. I put off a dac purchase for a while to prioritize other hobbies after i sold my old one and I seriously forgot just how much I have been gimping this amp
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I have actually tried both N05XD as well as the fuller and warmer sounding big brother N01XD (20K) with Riviera only to find out these shocking results. The more netural and crispier N05XD matches magically with the warm sounding Riviera if not even better than the twice priced N-01XD.
Aesthetically speaking, in the newest Esoteric Discrete dac line, only N05XD has black color which is sexy as hell with the best build and finish to my eyes in all dacs. It is not dark black, but more of a greyish black similar to the color of Riviera.
Sitting black Esoteric N05XD with Riviera reaches the peak of aesthetic and sonic orgasm.
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I will back home on Sunday and will pose thenIf there’s no pic, it ain’t true.
Honestly Esoteric Discrete Dac is good enough even before adding master clocks or better source, and pairs surprisingly well with not Riviera ( best synergy) but also all the other systems I ownedIf there’s no pic, it ain’t true.
It made me seriously struggles the need of upgrading to any other dacs, Including the best US made chip dac Mytek Empire or the best dac internationally in 2022 Soulnote D3.
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It looks even better than pics. It is its sound that made it crowned as the product of the year 2021.
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After your kind recommendation, I have got a Cardas Clear cable today, even though I'm never a Cardas fan after trying their whole lineup headphone cable for my HD800s. Yet this one could be so far maybe my favorite Cardas product comparatively.
Basswise, I heard a lightly more mid bass than sub bass and it is definitely much less pronounced than I expected it to be. The mid bass is much less than JPS Red Lite power cable, the sub miss is noticably less than Kimber PK10 Ascent.
You are absolutely right in pinpointing its balanced sounding where the bass doesn't affect other frequency adversely. Frequency wise, it sounds coherent and organic, exactly what you said.
What surprised me most is the control and black silent background. It feels most like adding a top notch Jitter Purifier and it has achieved better results than actually adding an external Jitter Purifier in my experience. With a very black background and low noise floor, the imaging gained better resolution and at the same time getting slightly fuller without digital sounding.
It could almost be a perfect PC, except the enhanced imaging, Micro-details, body and bones are achieved in my humble opinion at the expense of macro details and three dimensionality. Even mated with the dac having the largest three dimensionality N05XD, the astronomical room seems to be shrinked and that crazy gigantic three dimensionality somehow disappeared a bit. The stage is definitely less open with less air. And It totally makes sense in that I always believe imaging and stage are at the two ends in the continuum in most cases.
It is just my first impression of the Cardas Clear PC which could be immature at this point. I'm definitely intrigued to try their higher lineup PC.
@moosemp Thank you again for point out an amazing and promising direction.
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moosemp
100+ Head-Fier
Hifixman@, Thank you for your impressions that are very informative and may be great help for listeners that hesitate which PC to choose. I would be happy to try Esoteric DAC, must call the distributor to lend one for me. Now I am listening more to ENVY than Riviera and I also find Cardas pretty good with it, but searching for perfect cable is neverending story. Top Furutech is a strong contender here, but too expensive for me
Very informative again! Just wondering How would you describe the sonic difference between Envy and Riviera please?
moosemp
100+ Head-Fier
It is difficult job do describe differences between these two fantastic amps. So -some common features of them both first. They both play in highest league still avaliable for reasonable price. Craftsmanship quality of these manufacture ,boutique, all handmade products is amazing. Made in small numbers will bring proud of ownership, I am positive they will stay in any collection for very long time. Overall impression after long time is that for me there are no weak points sonically, just different presentation, but on highest level - creation of 3D space, perfect sense of being there with concert recordings, finest resolution of detail, full frequency spectrum extension with deep very resolving bass reproduction, sparkling high frequency when present on recording, pure , neither accented nor smoothed midrange, explosive dynamics with
proper material, dead quiet background.
The most intriguing and also common feature for both amps is wide possibility of tubes rolling, thus creating whatever you wish and can imagine. This makes impossible to describe REAL character of both amps. I was completely satisfied when received them and started listening. All above mentioned positive remarks are atributed easily to factory units, with standard tubes. As I wrote in my previous posts I thoroughly enjoyed Riviera for couple of months and started tube rolling later on. This was amazing experience but I have to say clearly that IMHO this is personal decision of owners whether they leave The amp character as its creators intended or will search their own. With ENVY I was satisfied with Full Music upgraded tubes from The very beginning, but being aware of possible improvement ( or just a change) in sound character I started experiments with other tubes.
These experiments were not cheap, tubes are expensive but it is worth every cent to try, so much satisfaction it brings and expands my knowledge. I collected a lot of tubes that will remain in my collection, each of them bringing the new and sometimes unexpected qualities to my system. I must recall a lot of post of Head fiers that inspired me a lot- thanks!!!!
I will not mention different 12AU7 applied with Riviera-this was evaluated in detail elewhere in our thread. Instead I will underline The need to mess around with 300B tubes for ENVY. You will not regret trying WE (current production) or ELROG - by now standard version. Both will stay with me. In future I will try Molibdenium too. I did not experiment with 6sn7 leaving it for future. There is also a lot of possibilities
. The next aspect to consider is headphones choice. I had most satisfying results with RIVIERA and Abyss 1266TC, other headphones did not come close. Focal Utopia is not good choice imho, although ONLY in direct comparison. But with ENVY it also shines, forget its narrow(???) scene or other minor issues also described elsewhere. This is for me perfect pairing. ZMF Verite open or closed are great headphones, Meze Empyrean too, but I found Abyss and Utopia superior in most respects and in overall presentation.
So pointing out some different features of both amps-
1. Despite of high power delivered by both amps Riviera drives Abyss with more authority and słam, which is mostly prevalent with electronic music, heavy metal, rock&roll, but also with symphonic music.
2. In jazz- especially from60-ties end earlier recordings I appreciate ENVYs ability to forgive some imperfections in recordings, while Riviera does not forgive. The same with vocals. This means that with RIVIERA you see artists on scene enlighted with halogen light rather than candles….but you can easily switch tubes….
3. Symphonic works sound more monumental with Riviera, that does not mean ENVY can not create big sounstage, you rather look at music
in front of you with Riviera ,while ENVY wraps The sound around you in more intimate way.
4. Small Classic music performances are much more pleasantly presented with Envy, I can not tel why;(
5. There is really some 300b bliss in female vocals in ENVY presentation , I know it well from my previous experience with 300b amps and loudspeakers. I like it very very much, although my vocabulary is not good enough to describe it precisely.
I tried my best in remarks above but I am aware it may not satisfy your expectations, maybe I will write more but now I am just listening
SUMMING UP- in my opinion these two amps demand head to head comparison in well known system to make choice and purchase one of them. You also need to evaluate different headphones- some extraordinary surprises may happen.
Your best valued recordings may guide you as well, but be aware you can hear it like never before.
I am glad to have both amps and to share my thoughts with you. If you can- go for both and experiment. It will take years of listening pleasure to give justice to both amps.
proper material, dead quiet background.
The most intriguing and also common feature for both amps is wide possibility of tubes rolling, thus creating whatever you wish and can imagine. This makes impossible to describe REAL character of both amps. I was completely satisfied when received them and started listening. All above mentioned positive remarks are atributed easily to factory units, with standard tubes. As I wrote in my previous posts I thoroughly enjoyed Riviera for couple of months and started tube rolling later on. This was amazing experience but I have to say clearly that IMHO this is personal decision of owners whether they leave The amp character as its creators intended or will search their own. With ENVY I was satisfied with Full Music upgraded tubes from The very beginning, but being aware of possible improvement ( or just a change) in sound character I started experiments with other tubes.
These experiments were not cheap, tubes are expensive but it is worth every cent to try, so much satisfaction it brings and expands my knowledge. I collected a lot of tubes that will remain in my collection, each of them bringing the new and sometimes unexpected qualities to my system. I must recall a lot of post of Head fiers that inspired me a lot- thanks!!!!
I will not mention different 12AU7 applied with Riviera-this was evaluated in detail elewhere in our thread. Instead I will underline The need to mess around with 300B tubes for ENVY. You will not regret trying WE (current production) or ELROG - by now standard version. Both will stay with me. In future I will try Molibdenium too. I did not experiment with 6sn7 leaving it for future. There is also a lot of possibilities
. The next aspect to consider is headphones choice. I had most satisfying results with RIVIERA and Abyss 1266TC, other headphones did not come close. Focal Utopia is not good choice imho, although ONLY in direct comparison. But with ENVY it also shines, forget its narrow(???) scene or other minor issues also described elsewhere. This is for me perfect pairing. ZMF Verite open or closed are great headphones, Meze Empyrean too, but I found Abyss and Utopia superior in most respects and in overall presentation.
So pointing out some different features of both amps-
1. Despite of high power delivered by both amps Riviera drives Abyss with more authority and słam, which is mostly prevalent with electronic music, heavy metal, rock&roll, but also with symphonic music.
2. In jazz- especially from60-ties end earlier recordings I appreciate ENVYs ability to forgive some imperfections in recordings, while Riviera does not forgive. The same with vocals. This means that with RIVIERA you see artists on scene enlighted with halogen light rather than candles….but you can easily switch tubes….
3. Symphonic works sound more monumental with Riviera, that does not mean ENVY can not create big sounstage, you rather look at music
in front of you with Riviera ,while ENVY wraps The sound around you in more intimate way.
4. Small Classic music performances are much more pleasantly presented with Envy, I can not tel why;(
5. There is really some 300b bliss in female vocals in ENVY presentation , I know it well from my previous experience with 300b amps and loudspeakers. I like it very very much, although my vocabulary is not good enough to describe it precisely.
I tried my best in remarks above but I am aware it may not satisfy your expectations, maybe I will write more but now I am just listening
SUMMING UP- in my opinion these two amps demand head to head comparison in well known system to make choice and purchase one of them. You also need to evaluate different headphones- some extraordinary surprises may happen.
Your best valued recordings may guide you as well, but be aware you can hear it like never before.
I am glad to have both amps and to share my thoughts with you. If you can- go for both and experiment. It will take years of listening pleasure to give justice to both amps.
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