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CAS Day 1

Posted by the old school (A) on August 16, 2014 at 12:01:35

Some initial impressions:

With a very few exceptions, I could not listen to a digital system for more than a few seconds. This included the YG, Acoustic Zen, Wilson, Sound Lab (also had muddy bass), Gallo, Linn, Teresonic (alive, but WAY too bright). An exception: the Wells Audio room.

For once the Zu speakers sounded realistic driven either by tube or ss SET amps. Yes, with an inexpensive analogue source.

Here is a shock: my favorite room on day one was the Music First Audio one which employed an Audio Note E speaker (the same one that I hated at previous shows). Playing the same cut from "Chet" that I used with previous AN based systems, almost all of my reservations disappeared. Here the sound had proper attack and sustain, with fantastic dynamic range. Chet's trumpet had the bite and dynamic range that a trumpet heard live has. This was with either an AN M6 phono preamp ($19,195) or an AN M2 phono ($4087). The only amp used was an AN Empress parallel single-ended 2A3 monos, 8 wpc, $7,200 (IMO, a steal!). The difference between this system was the source (here a Triangle tt, a Triangle MC cartridge, and a Music first step-up) vs an all AN system in previous rooms.

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