[matthewhypolite]

Thanks,

Agree that the stores will probably need some lead time to get specific units, but figure if they see someone doing legwork for an out of town visitor, it will make for more of an appearance of a serious buyer and motivate the stores to get on it.
Would it appear any less magnanimous if part of the reason I was doing it was to have an excuse to break away while my wife does her shopping?. Not that I mind touring the NYC hi-fi scene and would do it anyway, but this looks like a win for me as well as helping out a fellow head-FIer...

It's gonna cost @matthewhypolite though - at least one beer and possibly two!

Deal!

 

[jlbrach]

park avenue audio is of the group listed the nicest and easiest to deal with

 

[joseph69]

In no particular order:

Lyric Hi-Fi
Audio 46
Sound by Singer
Park Ave Audio
Devialet/Sonos (if you're looking for those brands specifically)
Woo Audio

Stereo Exchange - they have a lot of great gear, but I really dislike this store due to the sales reps. Be prepared to be sized up and blown off if you don't appear wealthy.

You'd just need to jump over the Queensborough Bridge (AKA 59th Street Bridge) from Manhattan into Long Island City Queens to get to Woo Audio.

 

[mulder01]

It's gonna cost @matthewhypolite though - at least one beer and possibly two!

2 beers and $30,000

@matthewhypolite If I come across rude or arrogant it's not intended. I would honestly not want you to go and spend $$$$$ on a DAC, not fully knowing whether or not you made the right choice. I mean, it's entirely possible you come home thinking the yggy is just fine, or maybe that you'll sell your wa33 and run them straight out of a Dave. There are just so many possibilities of what could be really good, that it would be nice to have the knowledge that you have the absolute optimal system for you, and for potentially a lot less money than you thought... or... potentially... a lot more... That is also a danger... If it ends up happening... Anyway, I'll stay out of it - I've derailed this thread enough.
At least we all know some good stores to check out in NYC now...

 

[simorag]

Anyone with experience of a LCD-4 (presently own) vs an Alpha Phi TC? As someone else also stated, I am a recovering bass-head and have come to really appreciate the planar bass sound..how would one compare the Phi TC vs the LCD-4, is the Abyss darker in presentation overall? Has anyone experienced sibilance with the Abyss, is the high end brighter or about the same as the LCD? I am going to do the rental through cableco once they are available as they currently only have the phi but not the tc and want to be sure to listen to the exact model as it appears that the sound signature can vary quite a bit with their revisions...

My experience with the LCD-4, based in a two-weeks home audition, compared to an Abyss Phi with CC pads (not the TC) is that LCD-4 and Abyss are complimentary headphones. To my ears, they do different things best. The only thing in common is that they share a fantastic bass, where the LCD-4 has bore bloom and the Abyss has more visceral impact and twack. With the Abyss you can tweak the bass easily by fiddling with the pads, by the way, if you want a even more sub-woofer like bass response, at the expense of some articulation.

Midrange is where the LCD-4 does its magic, and I have not heard another headphone which gives you such an emotional connection with vocals. Abyss is still great, of course, but in comparison sounds a tad leaner, colder and more distant in my system. And, yes, the Abyss Phi exhibit some sibilance IME depending on the recording, whereas the LCD-4 are velvety smooth. The Superconductor HP cable improves on the Abyss midrange, by adding some sweetness and body to it, while costing as much as an used LCD-4

Treble is much more airy and extended with the Abyss and this also helps soundstage and transparency, at the cost of some brightness. LCD-4 treble is rolled off in comparison, which is not a bad thing with some hot recordings. The problem with me is that treble presentation of the LCD-4 trades off transparency for smoothness too much, and the overall impression is of a slightly veiled soundscape.

Imaging is very good with both, but I would give the edge to the Abyss, as with the headstage, which is significantly wider on the Abyss, while keeping a good depth and - to a lesser extent - height resolution.
Abyss presentation is unique in that it resembles speakers more than any other headphone I have heard, while LCD-4 has a comparatively more headphone-ish, intimate and closed-in character.

Finally, PRaT (Pace Rhythm and Timing) was so much better with the Abyss, where transients attack and decay were faster and fast paced music and complex rhythmics passages were coming out far more exciting and readable.

I was tempted (and still am) to get an LCD-4 as a secondary HP for vocals and easy listening sessions (as opposed to critical listening), but then the TC came out and I have decided to invest on the upgrade of my Abyss instead.

I am eager to know from the few TC fresh owners where the TC improves over the Phi, especially when it comes to brightness / sibilance.

 

[Zhanming057]

I believe all of those are available in New York City, though not at the same store. I know travel takes time, but that might be achievable in a weekend.

I'll be in the city next month and can scout it out if you're interested. My guess is with the budget you're looking at, the stores can get anything not normally available for a pre-arranged demo.

Any idea where I would be able to try the MSB discrete in NYC? I also don't know of any Nagra dealers with a demo system ready in NYC, but the Dave, TT2 and both WA33's should be very doable in a single weekend.

park avenue audio is of the group listed the nicest and easiest to deal with

If anyone is there and has a speaker tap to XLR adapter, I would highly recommend trying out their Accuphase E470. With the Abyss Phi that amp is spectacular.

 

[FLTWS]

.....
I am eager to know from the few TC fresh owners where the TC improves over the Phi, especially when it comes to brightness / sibilance.

Me too! In time I'm sure poster impressions and the usual suspects with their websites / web-zines will enter the fray.

 

[bfreedma]

Any idea where I would be able to try the MSB discrete in NYC? I also don't know of any Nagra dealers with a demo system ready in NYC, but the Dave, TT2 and both WA33's should be very doable in a single weekend.



If anyone is there and has a speaker tap to XLR adapter, I would highly recommend trying out their Accuphase E470. With the Abyss Phi that amp is spectacular.

I don't see any MSB dealers listed in NYC but perhaps one of the stores has some connections. Will find out when I visit but it's certainly possible that some of the DACS on the list won't be available.

 

[Articnoise]

Agreed. With well known music. And sometimes even a short demo of gear isn't enough unless you have a very trained ear.

I really like Linn Klimax and Linn's DACs can be upgraded.

 

[Zhanming057]

I don't see any MSB dealers listed in NYC but perhaps one of the stores has some connections. Will find out when I visit but it's certainly possible that some of the DACS on the list won't be available.

If you do find one who has MSB equipment available for in-store demo, please let us know MSB is the one brand that I'm curious about and haven't had much chance to experience. I've been thinking about replacing my Nagra Classic DAC with a Vivaldi stack, but I figure I need to try out an MSB discrete first.

@Articnoise Linn's DAC's are amazing! The only bad thing is the proprietary audio over ethernet input. I don't have a router at home and my music library is on my laptop, and I just don't want to deal with their setup process.

 

[galacticsoap]

All this talk of amps has me wondering about driving my TC's via the speaker taps of my Accuphase C2820/A70 pre-power combo. My Lazulli Reference cable has a balanced termination (along-side a XLR to single ended adapter). So I gather all I'd need is a balanced to banana plug adapter:

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Balance...hash=item2837bc07bc:m:mA6EGZFDrySZv-X4Tr63CIA

Anyone see any issues with this approach? Obviously not too keen in damaging the TC's or my amplifiers!

 

[Zhanming057]

All this talk of amps has me wondering about driving my TC's via the speaker taps of my Accuphase C2820/A70 pre-power combo. My Lazulli Reference cable has a balanced termination (along-side a XLR to single ended adapter). So I gather all I'd need is a balanced to banana plug adapter:

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Balance...hash=item2837bc07bc:m:mA6EGZFDrySZv-X4Tr63CIA

Anyone see any issues with this approach? Obviously not too keen in damaging the TC's or my amplifiers!

No issues, just make sure you hook up the headphones before turning the amp on. Usually this is fine but some power amps don't like powering out without a load.

Otherwise, should be fun

 

[syn959]

My experience with the LCD-4, based in a two-weeks home audition, compared to an Abyss Phi with CC pads (not the TC) is that LCD-4 and Abyss are complimentary headphones. To my ears, they do different things best. The only thing in common is that they share a fantastic bass, where the LCD-4 has bore bloom and the Abyss has more visceral impact and twack. With the Abyss you can tweak the bass easily by fiddling with the pads, by the way, if you want a even more sub-woofer like bass response, at the expense of some articulation.

Midrange is where the LCD-4 does its magic, and I have not heard another headphone which gives you such an emotional connection with vocals. Abyss is still great, of course, but in comparison sounds a tad leaner, colder and more distant in my system. And, yes, the Abyss Phi exhibit some sibilance IME depending on the recording, whereas the LCD-4 are velvety smooth. The Superconductor HP cable improves on the Abyss midrange, by adding some sweetness and body to it, while costing as much as an used LCD-4

Treble is much more airy and extended in the Abyss and this also helps soundstage and transparency, at the cost of some brightness. LCD-4 treble is rolled off in comparison, which is not a bad thing with some hot recordings. The problem with me is that treble presentation of the LCD-4 trades off transparency for smoothness too much, and the overall impression is of a slightly veiled soundscape.

Imaging is very good with both, but I would give the edge to the Abyss, as with the headstage, which is significantly wider on the Abyss, while keeping a good depth and - to a lesser extent - height resolution.
Abyss presentation is unique in that it resembles speakers more than any other headphone I have heard, while LCD-4 has a comparatively more headphone-ish, intimate and closed-in character.

Finally, PRaT (Pace Rhythm and Timing) was so much better with the Abyss, where transients attack and decay were faster and fast paced music and complex rhythmics passages were coming out far more exciting and readable.

I was tempted (and still am) to get an LCD-4 as a secondary HP for vocals and easy listening sessions (as opposed to critical listening), but then the TC came out and I have decided to invest on the upgrade of my Abyss instead.

I am eager to know from the few TC fresh owners where the TC improves over the Phi, especially when it comes to brightness / sibilance.

Amazing Chord and cable setup you have there simorag! I hope to have similar Chord setup one day. We have similar music tastes and close to age as well. Do you find you lose any of the Dave magic from the Formula S?

I have TC and LCD-4 in house, but haven’t compared them side by side yet from my Benchmark setup. I did find that the TC were slightly easier to drive than the LCD-4 out of my HPA4.

I don’t have any experience with Phi CC, but I did find that the TC presentation soundstage width and height, and speed very similar to Stax SR-009, but with better bass. I haven’t noticed any sibilance from the TC, but have to listen to more different types of music to know for sure.

So far I’m really loving the TC and seem to be the perfect headphones. I’m sure some of that might be due to new toy syndrome so have to give it more time to see if that changes.

 

[ufospls2]

I am eager to know from the few TC fresh owners where the TC improves over the Phi, especially when it comes to brightness / sibilance.

I find this really interesting. I don't have any form of AB-1266, but when I owned the original phi with non CC pads, I definitely noticed sibilance at times. I wondered if it was my source gear, but perhaps not.

Anyhow, what I am getting at is that with the Diana Phi I have currently, I notice no sibilance. What I'm wondering is if there was a tiny tweak done to get rid of the sibilance with the Diana Phi, and if that same tweak is present on the AB-1266 TC.

Interesting at the very least. This is all speculation on my part of course, and we would need @Joe Skubinski to chime in.

Perhaps the lack of sibilance is just the CC pads and source gear changes etc...I have no idea : )

 

[bfreedma]

If you do find one who has MSB equipment available for in-store demo, please let us know MSB is the one brand that I'm curious about and haven't had much chance to experience. I've been thinking about replacing my Nagra Classic DAC with a Vivaldi stack, but I figure I need to try out an MSB discrete first.

@Articnoise Linn's DAC's are amazing! The only bad thing is the proprietary audio over ethernet input. I don't have a router at home and my music library is on my laptop, and I just don't want to deal with their setup process.

Will do. Looking at the MSB site, they do list a dealer in Boston but it looks like it may be their US business HQ. Perhaps they can setup something for you since you profile shows you live in that area.