Weissman

Most gigs at the Enmore sound pretty bad, in my opinion. I’ve been to quite a few, and I’ve learnt to lower my expectations about how any band/artist is going to sound there. I don’t think it’s just a volume problem, as I’ve been to concerts there that weren’t too loud, but the music was just one big sonic mess.

Agreed - I’ve been to Kimil a few times over the years and have found them good.

One thing to consider if you end up going the disc player route is that the DP560 will plat data discs (ie DVD-Rs with dsd or pcm data files on them), meaning you could burn hi-res downloads to disc and play them. I don’t think the DP430 can. I haven’t tried this myself yet but but it was one of the key reasons I went for the DP560 as I expect it will become more difficult over time to buy high res on physical media. I don’t envy your choice though. It’s hard to weigh up a number of different factors with little or no chance to audition the components

Hi. I spent a bit of time on Sunday comparing the DAC30 and the dac section of the DP560 with my Mac mini as source. I used a generic USB cable and Audirvana+ playing the tunes. Short answer is that I could clearly hear the difference between the two which I wasn’t really expecting - I thought the Mac might been too much of a limiting factor. They both sounded good, but there was a noticeable flattening of the soundstage, less extension in the highs and a bit less definition in the lows with the DAC30. Still enjoyable, and I would probably be happy if I wasn’t able to compare it to a better dac, but there was definitely a notable difference.

I’m glad it was useful. Over the next couple of days, I’ll try to do a comparison of the DAC30 and the dac section of the DP560 by feeding both with my Mac. Would that be helpful? I figure it might give you a reference point for how much a compromise using the DAC50 will be while you use a Mac as source.

Not exactly addressing the OP’s question, but this thread piqued my interest in doing a similar comparison. I thought the results might be of interest to others. Source: Accuphase DP560 Alternate DACs: DAC30 (fed by coax spdif), DP560 (single ended analogue out via included Accuphase interconnects), DC801 (via HS-link, with output via balanced Cardas golden cross) Each feeding into Accuphase E560 - Cardas golden cross biwire - proac response D38s Perhaps unsurprisingly, each step up in (original) price yielded improvements in sound quality - mostly in terms of transparency and noise floor, but also with (consequent?) improvements in tone, soundstaging, attack and decay. Not that the differences were earth-shattering - I could live with any of them. I also suspect that the quality of the transport may be a limiting factor - the DP560 as a transport sounds much better than my largely unmodified Mac mini (SSD, 16GB ram, Audirvana+, Weiss Minerva FireWire to spdif conversion), particularly in the upper registers. I suspect the differences I heard in the comparison using the DP560 as a transport would be much less if I used my Mac.

Hi Les, I'm not sure that the ME has degraded at all, although it has been a long time since it's had a service as it has worked flawlessly in the quarter of a century (!) I've had it. In any case, my earlier comments about the ME not being as refined as the Accuphase was referring to my ME75 vs the power amp section of the Accuphase - I did that comparison with a couple of different preamps (but not the ME15). Still, I think I should do some more comparisons and get a clearer picture on the pluses and minuses of the ME components. And thanks for the welcome! P

I suggest Gregory Porter - Liquid Spirit on Blu Ray Audio. Also second the suggestion of Beck (Sea Change) and Queen (Night at the Opera).

Thanks all for the welcome. Wen - Along the lines of what you suggest, I’ve temporarily swapped out my integrated for the ME...not quite as refined but I’m definitely enjoying the slightly deeper and possibly faster bass. Nice retro gear you have, btw.

Thanks for the warm welcome, Yetiman!

Hi all, long-time audiophile finally taking the step to be active (at least a little) on a forum… By way of introducing myself, here’s a brief summary of my hifi journeys to date: First bitten by the hifi bug…around 1989, when a mate of mine at uni played me his system consisting of (if my memory serves) a Denon CD player, ME25 pre, Hafler amp (DH220?) and Proac Tablettes. Suffice to say I was smitten and, especially when he swapped out the Hafler for a ME55, I knew I was on my way. First “serious” system: Luxman D112 CD, Luxman integrated (L205?) and Proac EBTs. Still own the Proacs although they don’t get much play-time these days. This was a very satisfying system for quite a while, but the enjoyment factor went up several notches when I bought an ME15 and ME75 (both of which I still own). Current main system: Primare BD32 & Mac Mini/Audirvana both connected to a Weiss Minerva, Accuphase E560 integrated, Proac Response D38. Currently contemplating: tweaking my Thorens TD126 Mk3e which I’ve owned since about 1990 but rarely use. Also thinking about the best step to improve my digital front-end. Oh, and wondering whether I could live without the sweetness of the Accuphase’s 30 watys of Class A as the D38s would benefit from a bit more juice. Too many potential upgrade paths!!! Mis-step along my hifi path: decided at one point I wasn’t into music so much and chose to downgrade. This only had the effect of making me realise how much I missed good sound! Looking forward to participating in the forum.