When I want to test vocal harmonies three of my favorites are below. I will test them out later today on the S300 and later on the M700’s
Beatles - Because on Abbey Road
CS&N - Helplessly Hoping on their first album
Peter, Paul and Mary - This Land Is Your Land on Moving
Yes and have actually heard them. Very impressive if not a little dry.
I bet some tubes could fix that.
Nice.
Which release of “Because”? I am kind of hooked on the (2-Chan) Blu-Ray edition from Giles Martin. It’s a big sound!
I have the CS&N on vinyl I am not sure if I have the first album here at the house, but I am sure I just brought So Far in from storage. I’ll spin it soon.
I don’t have the PP&M record.
The biggest midrange-harmonies difference between the S300 and M700, one that made me say to myself “okay, there it is,” was on the remastered HD version of “Attics of My Life.” Plus, Phil’s bass lines are great for checking the bass control, which is tighter on the M700.
And another that’s one of those recordings so good it sounds great on anything is “God Only Knows” from Pet Sounds.
Also, if you have the time and interest, I’d love to hear what you use to evaluate these two amps. My reference cuts are primarily digital and Hi-Res.
Enjoy the eval sessions!
Shawn
Shawn, I usually play my early Apple LP release of Abbey Road but I also have and am impressed by the Giles remaster from a few years ago.
I usually use LP’s when evaluating my systems but in many cases think digital is every bit as good and am impartial to both medias. Old habits are hard to break.
Thanks for the suggestion on the Dead’s Attics. That one will have to be digital.
tgilb,
I’m curious, what did you hear? Are the M700s amazing yet?
Regards,
Shawn
Shawn, I had a friend over for a test between the two amps yesterday to get a second opinion. I have an early pressing of Abbey Road that I think sounds as good or better than any of the remasters. We started with the S300 and side two of Abbey Road and it sounded great as expected. Switched over to the M700’s with the same album and he thought the soundstage widened and was somewhat more encompasing with the bottom end deeper than the S300. My thoughts were similar but I think that I have grown so used to the sound of the S300 and have thoroughly enjoyed it so am still in decision mode on the M700’s.
The design engineers did a great job equally on both amps. The S300 is a phenomenal amp for someone interested in a single unit stereo amplifier.
I think both amps sound great but different so I am not ready to say that I enjoy the M700’s more. We continued on the M700’s with the Analog Productions remaster of Gregg Allman’s Laid Back, and early pressings of King Crimson’s Lizard, and Blue Jays by Justin Hayward and John Lodge. All sounded great. The strings on the song Maybe on Blue Jays were realistic with very nice detail.
Much more music to evaluate over the next week. I am enjoying the journey.
That sounds like a great listening session. Is there less pressure on your ears from the M700s?
The M700’s are mellowing out as are my ears to their sound. Great amps driving the Treo’s with a different sound signature than the S300.
I recently switched from the S300 to the M700. As much as I enjoyed the S300, the M700 is just a different animal. I listen to many kinds of music and as was mentioned before, the soundstage expanded and the mid really opened up.
I do find the high is a bit brighter and a much bigger bottom end.
And when I listen at lower levels, I get a much better experience.
Hi guys,
Here I have a question which is about the same as yours, …, I tested the S300 (single dual mono amp) in dec 21, and tested the M700 in feb 2022. Both with the same hardware (Direct stream DAC) and Heresy-III Speakers accompanied with 2x SVS-SB16 subs.
Eventhough the M700 sound very good, but S300 do sound a bit warmer, and with the M700 I miss SPL information in “Low Mid and Mid” (300Hz to 1kHz) compared with the S300, but on the other hand, I gained some SPL audio information on the Bass Spectrum (50Hz to 200 Hz)
As these differences can be heard well by ear, and both have there pro’s and con’s, I’m seeking integration in testing a Bi(Tri)-amp hybrid setup where de LF signals are handled by 2 x M700 and the HF signals are Handled by a S300. Eventhough professionals claim this would not make any difference, the measurements say otherwise. (see pictures). For now findings are mixed. there is more SPL available, clarity remains OK, but the D50 definition sightly decreases (still being OK, but yet, it can he heard by ear in some songs).
I’m not sure yet whether this is the best integration, on some moments I experience more Blackness / Calmness, and on other moments this test-setup misses “punch”. (perhaps because of the T-splits to bi-amp to M700-LF/S300-HF
Currently I do not know yet which setup is best for me yet, … perhaps switching to 2 x S300 duals mono (and put them in bi-amp config) ???
In annex you have the calculated RT60 in ms, Musical Clarity (C80) in dB, Definition (D50) in %, SPL in dB aligned on 75db with 1kHz as centerpoint. All measurements are done with same hardware, with a calibrated mic on the same location and same acoustic configuration in the room. No DSP or EQ corrections applicable in these test. In operation I use “gentle nudges” by ROON DSP, to smooth out the bumps and pits.
The middle and upper frequencies of the M700 did sound better with the M700 over the S300 in my system. While I do understand the mentality of having the M700’s drive the lower frequencies, I do not understand having the S300 drive the upper frequencies (especially when you have the M700’s there). If you intentionally want to have a different amp drive the mid and upper frequencies, have you thought of trying something with tubes (or a solid state amp) known to be smoother for the mid and upper frequencies?
I thought also a 2nd duo of M700, but for now 5K investment is too much. perhaps later, … , energy bills are eating big chunks of income these days, so need to be carefull on the money 
I took out 2 x dual mono Class A tube amps last year , are they where to costly to operate at a 12H/day working rate. replacing 8 tubes every 700 to 800 hours (minimum 3 times a year) , and consumption. For this instance, even running “only” those tubes at current power electricity rates would cost me 1100 euro’s every year + 800 euro’s in replacements of Power en Pre Tubes, and then I’m not even taking about pre amps, so no not tubes at this moment.
After some “gentle” nudging en smoothing with ROON DSP Before and After. As for now I will leave this config for a few days or weeks. The waterfall is the waterfall after correction as REW calculated.
If you’re looking for a solid state preamp that has that wonderful magic tube sound check out Pass Labs products. Extremely happy with my XP-12 which replaced the also excellent PS Audio BHK pre which is a hybrid with tube front end.
My Grimm MU1 has a -3 dB setting in case the DAC I use might benefit from it. I have tried it from time to time and I don’t have a belief one way or another on any audible benefit.
Normally I reel in horror at the thought of using any Roon audio processing at all. The Legend is quite loud in the oh my don’t do it train of thought. But I am very curious to learn your take on the processing you are using HQ. Listening for negative effect on the overall sound has me most curious.
I am a fan of Roon. But I have zero experience with any of their processing options.
Welcome to the forum @Harley_Quinn!!!
As I understand it, HQPlayer was designed by Jussi Laako and is independent of Roon. Roon has it’s own upsampling facility, but it is inferior to HQP which is offered thru the Roon setup program. I’m a Roon lifer and I use HQP to upsample flac files to DSD256. It sounds delightful.
Do you think one would (generally) benefit from doing this for all AIFF and FLAC files at CD CD resolution and higher as well?
I rip all CDs to AIFF but I have many “high res” files that came along with my OCTAVE records disc purchases, for example.
Given the way the DS DAC Sr. converts all files to DSD and back, I have abided to the “maintaining the file as is and let the DS do its thing” mantra to this point.
FWIW, I play ripped and downloaded files via Roon and JRMC and have all DSP type functions turned off, but for originally setting up my Dragon Fly Red USB DAC (for my desktop headphone system) and the DS DAC in Roon as being “fully MQA compatible”.
I’m not sure about your setup but you can try HQPlayer4 desktop. You might like what it does to your files. DSD256 seems to be the sweet spot, and you would need a fairly capable computer to run HQP. It’s a rabbit hole worth falling into IMHO.
Thank you, John. Are you upsampling to/through a PSA DS DAC?
Cheers.
