Tag Archives: T+A

Blog Posts

Asheville, Walnut Cove, Biltmore Forrest and Western North Carolina Audio and Home Theater specialists present Cane Creek Audio and Paul McGowan of PS Audio, Intl.

Leave a comment

New DAC from PS Audio. I’d love to hear it, owning and truly enjoying the previous version, but they are now dealer direct, so not for me. Besides, ignoring the fact that fact that what I use now is roughly twice the cost of this piece, what I’m using now is a lot more functional. Adding a T+A MP2500R SACD/CD player and streamer to the mix is the best quality stereo I’ve ever had and the ability to stream Qobuz through it, is the coup de gras of musical convenience.

They’re here……

Since the beginning of the pandemic and the partsdemic: the crazy times we all seem to be accepting as “normal”, there is sometimes a light of success shining through.

Yesterday afternoon we shipped the first lot of DirectStream MKII DACs to anxious beta testers.

What a journey it has been. If memory serves correctly, designer Ted Smith performed 8 revisions of the MK2 board to accommodate the changing parts and packages.

As those keeping up with the changes know, at the last moment we found yet another problem. All hands on deck! The problem’s been resolved and the solution gave us an even better design.

But now they are shipping. And, let me tell you, this DAC is nothing short of extraordinary: quieter (the audio emerges from the black of the deepest velvet), faster, with separation of instruments unlike anything I have ever heard before.

A triumph of years of research and development.

For those beta testers awaiting theirs, the spigot’s been turned on. A trickle today, opening more tomorrow, and the flow at full blast by week’s end.

We can’t wait for you to get your hands on this beauty.

Blog Posts

Asheville, Walnut Cove, Biltmore Forrest and Western North Carolina’s Audio and Home Theater specialists present Cane Creek AV and Paul McGowan – PS Audio, Intl.

Leave a comment

Apparently PS Audio’s newest DAC is perfect. Imagine that, as perfect doesn not exist.

So, yes computers for music are noisy and one way to get around a noisy computer is to use an audio only server, specifically made with an eye towards noise. That’s what I do with a Melco server and a T+A MP2500R DAC/SCAD player/Streamer, with galvanic isolation.

Works great and the streamer inside the T+A is wonderful sounding and as good as the WAV files I have ripped onto the Melco!

Know your enemy

I get a lot of flack for my dislike of USB as a medium between the computer and DAC.

Truth is, it’s not USB I don’t like. It’s what USB connects with that bothers me.

Noisy computers.

Here’s the deal. We all know computers are vile, noisy affairs that hopefully are as far away from our pristine high-end audio systems as possible.

When we want to extract music from these noise-ridden contraptions what’s the best arm’s-length, noise-free way to do it?

Ethernet—an isolated one-way communication medium.

What’s the worst way to connect?

USB—a two-way connected open-gate flood of data and noise.

Our goal should be to get the data out of our computers with as little noise and connection as possible, which is why Ethernet (or long-ago fiber optics before Toshiba’s TOSLINK format screwed up our chances for high sample rates) or WiFi are the best choices.

I get it. It’s a heck of a lot easier just to fire up a USB cable and be done with it. Ethernet and WiFi are pains in the keester.

But better.

One possible solution is to use a USB reclocker device like the Matrix.

It helps, but it isn’t perfect.

Perfect is a new DirectStream MK2 DAC with 100% galvanic isolation.

With an MK2 in the system, you can use USB and stop worrying about it.

Blog Posts

Asheville, Walnut Cove, Biltmore Forrest and Western North Carolina’s Audio and Home Theater specialists present Cane Creek AV and Paul McGowan – PS Audio, Intl.

Leave a comment

Paul is prepping us for the new PS Audio BHK 600 amplifiers and looks like as ultimate an amp as they can build. Unfortunately, they are only direct now, so, as a high end audio dealer, I won’t be able to partake.

Besides, after talking my T+A PA3100 integrated amp out of my Furman IT Ref 20i power conditioner, I don’t really want anything else, as sonically, these are fantastic sounding amp. At least plugged directly into the wall.

However, with no surge protection this way, I will be installing a SurgeX SA20 surge protection unit, which also has EMI/FRI filtering. I hope not too much of the latter, as I now know that this can kill the amps sound, as the Furman did.

The $35 resistor

I am well aware people in our HiFi Family think were nuts. And, that’s ok. Better nuts than boring.

When people ask me if parts of identical value but different construction sound unlike one another I kind of scratch my head. In my world, parts in the signal path all sound different. It’s like asking me if chocolate and vanilla taste different.

The answer seems so obvious.

But then I climb out of my cloud and plop back down into some form of reality that isn’t mine but close enough to the others in order to communicate.

When building products that people can afford it becomes a challenge to know where to spend what funds you have available. I can assure you $10 Audio Note resistors or $50 Rel Caps in every position on a circuit would place audio equipment out of reach for all but a few.

The challenge then comes down to selectivity. Where to best place your parts funds to get the performance you’re hoping for.

I remember well the tough choice I had to make when designing the Genesis Stealth integrated amplifier. The volume control in the Stealth was the heart of the device: my last all-out assault on fixing the volume control before I finally gave up and eliminated the volume control altogether through the invention of the Gain Cell.

The Stealth volume control was simple. A series resistor with variable shunt resistors. Instead of trying to use what everyone else was struggling with: a high-quality potentiometer or fancy stepped attenuator, my simple circuit depended 100% on the quality of a single resistor.

After much trial and error, I landed on a 1-watt 0.1% tolerance Vishay that in quantities of 500 pieces ran us $35 each. Ouch. That’s a lot when even a great 1% metal film costs about a dime.

The point of the story is simple. The only reason we cut into our own margins by $70 for the stereo pair was because it sounded better. A lot better.

Hopefully, this story will resonate with some and confirm with others what they always suspected. That we’re nuts.

Certainly not boring.

Blog Posts

Asheville, Walnut Cove, Biltmore Forrest and Western North Carolina’s Audio and Home Theater specialists present Cane Creek AV and Paul McGowan – PS Audio, Intl.

Leave a comment

Today, some original content from me as my 21 year old so, Michael, has put his toes into the Audiophile realm, for the first time.

Typically, Michael has gravitated to things that are hot amongst his age group. His first interest was better earbuds, then Gaming headphones and now something better. With dads help, he is on his way.

When he came home yesterday, he asked about good sounding headphones and how to get better sound from his gaming computer, as well as other sources, such as YouTube.

The answer is better headphones and a decent DAC/Headphone amplifier that has Bluetooth. I happen to have both sitting around, neither getting much use, so they will go back to school with him later today.

I recently took on the T+A (Theory+ Application) product line out of Germany and purchased their T+A DAC 8 DSD to see what they were all about.

What they are all about is the best sounding solid state based audio I’ve yet heard. I liked the DAC 8 DSD so much, I sold it to a local customer and bought T+A’s MP2500R, which combines basically the same DAC, but adds an integrated  SACD player. SACD is DSD and supposedly is the best audio you can get from a digital source.

I expected delivery of my demo MP 2500R, pretty much within a weeks time, so I installed Skips DAC 8 DSD, only to find out that CV19 has affected Germany and I would have to wait for the MP2500R.  I was so impressed with the sound of T+A’s DAC, I also purchased their AMP 8 power amplifier and it too, is amazing.

So, in addition to the MP 2500R, I will also be receiving their T+A PA 2500R, which is their integrated amplifier. My unit will be outfitted with their MC phono stage and I have high expectations for it.

What does this have to do with my son? Tune in tomorrow.

Blog Posts

Asheville, Walnut Cove, Biltmore Forrest and Western North Carolina’s Audio and Home Theater specialists present Cane Creek AV and Paul McGowan – PS Audio, Intl.

Leave a comment

Put lousy sounding audio equipment in a great room and it will sound lousy. Put great stereo equipment in a lousy room and it wont sound great. There needs to be a balance of both. I’m lucky that I have a great room and great audio equipment from Rogue Audio, Luxman, T+A (THeory + Application),  Well Tempered Labs and Dynavector. Things usually sound great over here!!

Setup and rooms

We all pay at least lip service to the importance of rooms and setup though I suspect in our heart of hearts we believe the components are really the key to sound quality.

It’s truly a chicken and egg sort of thing: crappy equipment in a great room isn’t going to sound amazing just like excellent equipment in a crappy room’s not going to set your hair on fire.

But like the age-old debate about whether sources are more important than loudspeakers, the truth behind setup and room importance vs. the contribution of the stereo equipment is always going to be a contentious one.

I have heard equipment I have little respect for sound more than amazing in a well set up room. In fact, if I had to summarize my years of experience, I’d have to say I’ve heard better high-end audio systems of medium quality equipment in great setups than the opposite.

I can’t tell you the number of great collections of equipment that have sounded dreadful. Yet, knowing that equipment can sound amazing leads me to conclude that in the end, all things considered, setup, and room is more important than the components playing in them.

Just sayin’.