Mr Goldmund Posted October 13, 2015 Share Posted October 13, 2015 I just wanted to write up a quick summary of my experience with my modified Shindo Auregies L http://www.shindo-laboratory.co.jp/English/Aurieges-L.html. Prior to acquiring this little green gem I've always used dac/pres directly into the SGR monoblocks, first Vitus RD-100, then Calyx Femto. Just for fun I plugged the Auregies L in between the DAC and poweramps, and phoaw the sound was lifted up many notches. When the Auregies L was stock, I'd summarise what I heard in my system as: musical coherent relaxed - in a pleasant way natural timbre This was an enjoyable experience and opened my eyes in terms of what a quality preamp can do to a already great sounding system. The Auregies L seems to bring all the components together and play music, without breaking a sweat. Gone is the change in dynamics associated with a digital volume attenuator in the DAC, and replaced with a pleasantness that just seemed to flow through in an effortless way. Over time with more listening sessions, I felt whilst pleasant, having the Auregies L I seemed to have sacrificed some levels of openess and slam. Mindful this may not have been the original intent of Ken Shindo when he designed this preamp in the first place, or perhaps the Shindo amplifiers will help with this but I am not ready for Shindo amps yet. By sheer luck I met a man who has years of experience servicing Shindo gear, and through conversation we spoke about the upgrade opportunities through changing of some cheap capacitors into high quality ones - to be honest the other components in the Auregies L were of high quality and NOS, not much upgrade paths there! I'll detail the upgrades made and the sonic improvements of each component in subsequent posts. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vmhf Posted October 13, 2015 Share Posted October 13, 2015 Thanks for sharing your thoughts Ethan. I have a Shindo Masseto pre paired with a Cortese power amp. It is end game stuff for me I daresay! 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
analog brother Posted October 13, 2015 Share Posted October 13, 2015 that's what we all say! lol 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
metal beat Posted October 13, 2015 Share Posted October 13, 2015 Thanks for sharing your thoughts Ethan. I have a Shindo Masseto pre paired with a Cortese power amp. It is end game stuff for me I daresay! Victor Can we quote you on that? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vmhf Posted October 13, 2015 Share Posted October 13, 2015 Haha! I'd rather not mate. The Shindo Giscours and 300B Western Electric Monos are waiting for me once I have received my Powerball winnings 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
analog brother Posted October 13, 2015 Share Posted October 13, 2015 (edited) victor has had this combo for quite a while though... staying power! Edited October 13, 2015 by analog brother 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
metal beat Posted October 13, 2015 Share Posted October 13, 2015 Haha! I'd rather not mate. The Shindo Giscours and 300B Western Electric Monos are waiting for me once I have received my Powerball winnings And some Kondo as alternate amps 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
analog brother Posted October 13, 2015 Share Posted October 13, 2015 (edited) was just looking at kondo website yesterday (for the first time) - that stuff should be illegal, man Edited October 13, 2015 by analog brother 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bronal Posted October 13, 2015 Share Posted October 13, 2015 (edited) I've been tempted to buy an Aurieges many times, but have always been put off by the 5000 ohm output impedance. To get best bass, the rule of thumb as I understand it is: output impedance - input impedance of the power amp = ~1:100. Did you notice any change in bass quality? Edited October 13, 2015 by bronal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happy Posted October 13, 2015 Share Posted October 13, 2015 (edited) Id love a Shindo pre in a distant future only if they came with a remote volume control. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Edited October 13, 2015 by davidro Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Goldmund Posted October 13, 2015 Author Share Posted October 13, 2015 Thanks for sharing your thoughts Ethan. I have a Shindo Masseto pre paired with a Cortese power amp. It is end game stuff for me I daresay! Thanks, your Shindo gear is superb to say the least 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Goldmund Posted October 13, 2015 Author Share Posted October 13, 2015 I've been tempted to buy an Aurieges many times, but have always been put off by the 5000 ohm output impedance. To get best bass, the rule of thumb as I understand it is: output impedance - input impedance of the power amp = ~1:100. Did you notice any change in bass quality? Great point. Against the vitus, I noticed an immediate drop in bass thump and quality. Vitus was excellent for bass. Against the calyx as a pre not so much. The calyx is an excellent dac that should be used in it's standalone form. The subsequent changes in caps will highlight how the bass reaponse changed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
metal beat Posted October 14, 2015 Share Posted October 14, 2015 (edited) was just looking at kondo website yesterday (for the first time) - that stuff should be illegal, man the normal Japanese web sites your trawl are illegal rock, paper, scissors Edited October 14, 2015 by metal beat 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Conrad Posted October 14, 2015 Share Posted October 14, 2015 I also own a modified Shindo Aurieges. The cap change made a huge improvement, and it was already very good. They took around 100 hrs to run in. Some may say it's heresy to meddle with the Shindo Magic. Bring it on l say! But only by someone who really knows what they are doing. If anything I have found that the bass has improved since it has been in my system. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Goldmund Posted October 14, 2015 Author Share Posted October 14, 2015 Alrighty, here's the second part of this review: In terms of upgrades and capacitor changes there was essentially 2 stages, the first being the more significant and the second more of a tweak based on the type of sound I wanted. The first stage changes included: Audio Note Kaisei cap BHC cap in the PSU section Jensen ceramic PIO signal caps Along with the capacitor changes, the input and output impedence was also tweaked to better suit my SGR EL300m mono blocks, particularly addressing the bass response. The music changed dramatically with the above cap changes. I'm not a capacitor expert so can't say which has done what but basically the combination of the above 3 gave much more weight to the midrange (I'm told this is the AN cap), while the the sounstage dramatically increased (I'm told this is the BHC and Jensen working) and most importantly dynamics, slam, bass and openess increased significantly (I'm told this is largely the Jension ceramic PIO). I was really please at the outcome, if the stock Auregies was more suited to classical and jazz in a relaxed way, the upgraded version could now play just about all genres, and brought along pace and energy without sacrificing the pleasant tone the Shindo is known for. Orchestra numbers now had real impact, and really brought out the power of the SGR mono blocks. I was happy with the sound then, however in the back of my mind I've always wanted to try Duelund cast PIO signal caps. I was a non believe of some of the hype surrounding this cap, and questioned the extraordinary price associated. However, all was changed when I heard LyndonLim's upgraded Magepans with Duelund cast PIO caps installed - it was a different level altogether, the natural timbre (particularly voices and string instruments), the dynamics, the inviting sound was unbelievable. As such, second stage upgrade was initiated. Out goes the Jensen ceramic PIO and in goes Duelund cast PIO - at more than $500 just for the 2 caps this was a costly exercise without even including labour... I recall picking up the Auregies L and driving home thinking, "this had better be worth it". And then I fired up Musica Nuda - Live a FIP on Tidal. Through the tracks "Roxanne" and "Fever" what I heard shocked me, the double bass notes were much more defined, much more real and for the first time I felt the impact of his fingers strumming the strings. It was a revelation. Track after track I was now drowned in the music, changing to the Duelunds in my setup was definitely the right move. I'm told that the Duelund caps need 200 hours of run in to sound their best, I reckon I'm not even half way there and already satisfied. If it gets any better, then that's a bigger bonus. So in summary, like another member posted, leave the cap changing to people who know what they're doing (not me) as there are a number of things that need to be tweaked as well. If you know what you want out of the sound, then this is a sure way to reach satisfaction. This also isn't cheap, as part of this journey I've spent about half the costs of the actual Auregies L itself, but hey, to my ears it's worth every penny. I'm not sure if there's anymore that can be done but never say never. 5 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest palexsia Posted October 14, 2015 Share Posted October 14, 2015 I also own a modified Shindo Aurieges. The cap change made a huge improvement, and it was already very good. They took around 100 hrs to run in. Some may say it's heresy to meddle with the Shindo Magic. Bring it on l say! But only by someone who really knows what they are doing. If anything I have found that the bass has improved since it has been in my system. Very good now next step is tube rolling and sound even better as i do with my Masseto . The only thing is personal taste so you may choose different tube to suit your listening . I found that with every amps not only Shindo when we change better caps then give time to run in then do tube rolling the result is magnificent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Goldmund Posted October 14, 2015 Author Share Posted October 14, 2015 Very good now next step is tube rolling and sound even better as i do with my Masseto . The only thing is personal taste so you may choose different tube to suit your listening . I found that with every amps not only Shindo when we change better caps then give time to run in then do tube rolling the result is magnificent. Thanks do you know what tubes work well and where to get them from? I've not had much luck finding a lot. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest palexsia Posted October 14, 2015 Share Posted October 14, 2015 (edited) Most of my tubes bought from ebay USA , lately is from John of hifi exchange in Box Hill he got so many rare nos tube and locally as i see you are in Vic , you may try tube depot usa . Hope that help but keep in mind tube rolling may be costly as you may go through a few different to have the right one you want for my like i use Mullards / brimar on the Masseto but i do know other people use Telefunken . Edited October 15, 2015 by palexsia Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Goldmund Posted October 15, 2015 Author Share Posted October 15, 2015 Most of my tubes bought from ebay USA , lately is from John of hifi exchange in Box Hill he got so many rare nos tube and locally as i see you are in Vic , you may try tube depot usa . Hope that help but keep in mind tube rolling may be costly as you may go through a few different to have the right one you want for my like i use Mullards / brimar on the Masseto but i do know other people use Telefunken . Just tried John, no luck but will keep hunting on the net for telefunkens! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest palexsia Posted October 15, 2015 Share Posted October 15, 2015 Just post WTB these tubes you want maybe some sna member have them . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
denimhunter Posted November 16, 2015 Share Posted November 16, 2015 I used to have Aurieges L and now Masseto. Tube rolling is the easiest upgrade path. Try using GEC rectification valve. 6x4. I know SNA member who sells them. They are big improvement. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
denimhunter Posted November 16, 2015 Share Posted November 16, 2015 Also better power cable. I found cap changes can change tonal balance significantly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wasabe Posted January 17, 2016 Share Posted January 17, 2016 Loves the Shindo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cesar Miranda Posted February 15, 2023 Share Posted February 15, 2023 Shindo labs forever Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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