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I generally try to avoid thinking about my stereo equipment, wanting to listen to music, rather than sound. Every few years, however, something clicks, and I start wondering how it is doing. This time my curiosity was tripped by a couple of trips to hear the system that Tempo Audio has been threatening to market for several years.
http://www.tempoelectric.com/
I should say that Arthur Loesch, the designer of this gear, is my colleague at the State University of New York in Albany, and we have talked a couple of times over the years. His and Joe Levy's business are across the river in Troy. I have no other connection with Tempo Audio. At any rate, by some significant margin, especially playing vinyl, The Tempo Preamp, 300b SET amp, and the Tempo speakers produce the best sounding audio I have ever heard.
So, to my question:
I have my music collection on hard drives, and take a digital out from an Aardvark 24/96 sound card into an antique Timbre TT-1 DAC. I was using a Cary preamp into a Cary Sweet 807 amp (more gear from the 90s) and out through a pair of Rosinante Signature IIs--remarkable speakers of which only a few examples were manufactured. I was afraid after hearing the Loesch equipment, my system would be unlistenable, and, while it was not in the same league, I was still pleased with it (and it was paid for).The speakers are very good.
At any rate, I decided, since I could control the volume with the software, to pull the preamp out and connect the Amp directly to the DAC. BINGO! The preamp was, it turned out very dirty, and I started investigating cheap passives, as I needed a couple of inputs and a switch. I perhaps picked up a little excessive energy in the mid-upper range, but it was a clear and immediate improvement.
So I was on a roll. I have an 80 gig Ipod, loaded with Apple lossless files. I had compared Apple Lossless and Wav format when I started putting my music on hard drives, and I had decided that wav was clearly superior. But just for laughs, I plugged the Ipod into the amp with a 2 dollar cable. It sounded great. The music seemed a little veiled in a general way--couldn't pen it to anything in particular (which I attributed to the lossless format), but this is what is distressing: the sound stage was distinctly bigger and more stable than my usual one. This was too obvious to miss. My wife, who has only a passing interested in audio (though she shares my interest in music), came into the room and heard it immediately.
Okay, the computer and the DAC are just a big IPOD. How do I go about building up a sound stage? Of course, the Ipod is not to be sneered at.With my Shure phones, it sounds great. And I am using iTunes as the data base for my music. The Aardvark sound card was made for studio use, met with Joe Levy's approval. I have tried two digital cables with remarkably undifferent results. Of course, the TT-1 was extraordinary in its day. Perhaps the technology has just improved enough that all of that high-end weight and finish is not necessary.
Where do I begin? I am willing to go into this theoretically and practically. What help can you give me? What can you point me to to read?
I'd be interested in hearing from others who try their Ipod directly through their power amp.
Thanks, Don
I have my music collection in wav format on hard drives, with digital output from
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