I agree but would like to see the idea expanded to overall soundstage including depth and height. If it’s meant to be instructive it should include explanations of what should be heard in a well sorted system.
Happy Cake Day @allan.thunes
Thanks. It took a minute to figure out.
My SACD disc took me several minutes to remove from the very tight cardboard insert! Unfortunately, the disc has 1/4" width scratched tracks from the hub center to the disc OD (no, I didn’t use pliers), and each track injects pops indicating tracking errors!
Have a replacement disc coming and will wait to do a full evaluation (Hint: from what I could clearly hear, string bass, pipe organ bass and synthesizer bass are awesome, so is the depth of soundstage presentation. Warning, keep volume low on track #7 till you can evaluate your system woofer safe excursions)!
Yep, the packaging was a total miss on this one.
It should have come with the standard packaging with the “tray” for the disc to rest in.
I get the feeling Paul & Co. get in a hurry sometimes. That said, its the related enthusiasm that endears the PSA crew (and the P in PSA) to me.
Happy Cake Day
Thank you. Time flies when you’re obsessed.
Exceptional production, tangibly capturing Paul’s Labour-of-Love and overall philosophy - Integrating the didactic with the aesthetic into, well, emotionally-moving.
As someone who is not a musician and somewhat of a neophyte ‘audiophile’, this is very helpful in nuancing my auditory ‘palette’.
The only wish I’m left with, across Octave’s releases, is the somewhat skewed genre selection. I hope for greater representation of rock, classic as well as progressive/conceptual.
*To contextualize, the ‘mechanics’: Oppo BDP-103 transport, DS-MK2, BHK pre- & 300’s, Aspen FR30, REL S/812 (pair).
You probably realize your are one card short of a full straight. Time to get a PST to replace that OPPO.
Just messing with you. You can message @paul172 if you want to talk to someone who has an OPPO and has tried the PST.
I still have an Oppo 105D, in use in my video system. It was no match for my DMP, let alone my PST!
An echo of my mother’s words…Being, perpetually, ‘one card short’…
Concretely, I’ve been contemplating on the PST, given the accolades therefore imagining what is lost with the Oppo connected via Coax to the DS-MK2 (the Oppo is the last remnant of a previous home-theater system). The only issue being a considerable number of my sources are Blu-ray and DVD (audio and video), not just cd’s, therefore rendering the PST rather limited in functionality.
You need the I2S card from Oppomod.com that way you can connect the Oppo player via I2S directly to the MK2 and you will get DSD info from the source! Affordable and somewhat simple mod.
$220
Or you can buy a cheap (mostly China made) converter box (regular HDMI > I2S) for about $50. I’ve done that and it seems to work well.
I have the Oppo UDP-205, and the PST, both connected to the MKII. Yes, PST is another world for SACD/CDs, but handy to still have the Oppo for DVD-A, Blu Ray discs, FLAC/DSD files on drives, and as I’ve now discovered, as a streamer. So I just use the HDMI out of the Oppo with the I2S converter for all these non-SACD/CD sources into the MKII and to my ears, getting great sound (not PST sound but very good).
Thank you for directing me to Oppomod.com.
I’ve been using the GeerFab D.BreakOutBox GeerFab Audio - GeerFab, extracting DSD64 and higher resolution PCM from the HDMI to Coax.
Are you familiar with D.BOB, and if so does the I2S provides better SQ?
Which converter box do you recommend?
I’ve heard of it I can’t say I’ve heard it. I have an Oppo 205 with the full Oppomod conversion. I’ve compared it directly to the PST and the PST does have the performance edge tho it’s closer than one would think. I personally believe the PST and the modded Oppo offer the best performance thru I2S.
This is the one I have…
Thank you.
When I played the last track of Art of HiFi: Bass, Toccata in D Minor with the new FR20s, my wife rushed to me from the next room saying that the whole house is rumbling.
Is there an associated PDF booklet with the release that can be downloaded?