Your Next Upgrade? (Part 2)

Everything Else
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So I have the Nordost Frey 2 USB (C to A) for a few hours. There was no issue downloading files from PC to Samsung T7 SSD. When playing SSD through my streamer, it works fine for the most part. A few album covers can not be displayed (do not know why) and the screen refreshed a few times during the first hour, but it seems to stablize now. So far there is no issue playing DSD, AIFF downloads and CD ripping.

After a couple of hours of playing, the SQ has improved. It is quite an improvement from the Belkin USB I have been using. Right out of box (after one hour download), the previous slight warm/darkness was gone. Instead, the music sounded faster and cleaner. Even at the first hour, the Nordost seems to privide more details from a darker background (new cables usually sound a bit grey, so I expect it to improve even more), and the bass is as tight as I ever heard from my streamer. The SQ is a bit edgy, but that is normal for new cable too. I am sure in a few days the smoothness will come.

No question! The Nordost will make playing local files as enjoyable as streaming, if not better!

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My brother got a 0.75m AQ Diamond USB cable from Amazon for $700 to replace the Cardas cable he is running from his Samsung 860 EVO SSD hard drive to his Esoteric N-01XD streamer/DAC and he said it was much better in clarity and resolution than the Cardas. I have a extra USB cable laying around from all my previous upgades and decided to give it to him to try and compare it to the Diamond. The cable is a 1m Audience FrontRow USB cable I brought a long time ago. He quickly returned the AQ cable to Amazon as the FrontRow really showed how good his Esoteric can sound. He really didn’t give the AQ any time to break in, but he says he don’t believe any amount of break in will make the Diamond a FrontRow. Anyway, I gave the cable to him. What are brother’s for? He also got the iFi Elite power supply for the hard drive like I did and it made a pretty nice improvement in sound quality for him also.

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I like IFI Elite too with Euphony Summus2 streamer, but Lumin U2 is at another level.

It seems a lot of digital cables are better than AQ Diamond now, and they need to come up with a Dragon upgrade soon :thinking:

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I found upgrading USB on the Bacch dsp tio Babyface FS to a Inakustik Referenz 450 cord made a positive improvement. All It does now is compute binaural michrophone filter. On a drive it is bound to improve especially the price of those Nordost frey.

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Ever since I upgraded my turntable, I though I would lose interest in my digital system, but as I got back to listening to my Esoteric/DSD MKII again, it’s not so bad as I have thought, as I tweaked it with SR Galileo power cords and ChordMusic USB cables which made it just sounds simply unbelievable! So much body and so real sounding! I really enjoy listening to it. And there are so many files I have that I don’t have in vinyl and that are mind blowing recordings also.

This is my analog system. All power cords are SR Galileo SX’s which are simply amazing cords.
Avid Acutus turntable, Esoteric C-02 preamp, and Esoteric E-02 phono stage.
Here’s a picture of my analog front end.

IMG_7034
IMG_70341920×2560 286 KB

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That’s a lovely turntable :smiling_face_with_three_hearts:

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No no no, I’m not spending $400. on a record brush, but last night I had dinner at a friend’s house and he showed me his new Ramar record brush. It’s made in Germany and is a thing of beauty.
His system is worth maybe $700K, so he barely noticed the bill.

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270

I’ve said before that my streaming is for shopping for LPs, so I haven’t spent much on it; a Denafrips Pontus2 and Bluesound Node.
Well, I had this $225 that I didn’t know what to do with, so I bought a Zu Audio “Event” S/PIDF cable;
replaced an Audioquest “Carbon”.
Sean from Zu said to give it 100 hours before listening but it took 100 seconds to be wowed. It unmasks much more of everything. I kinda hope it doesn’t change it’s character after burn-in.

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What’s wrong with this

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The seller needs to move the decimal point over one or two place to the right and the kits will sell like hotcakes?

:man_shrugging: :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

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What could be wrong with it? It says right in the ad that it’s the “ultimate”.
I use the Audioquest thingy. It’s not the 'ultimate" but it’s prettyprettypretty good.

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I had the Nordost USB running all night. It is getting an amazing result one day after. This is probably another AQ Diamond beater :laughing:

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Whats wrong with earbuds and a phone?

Or humming?

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Too much to list , especially any humming by me

I ain’t no Eva Cassidy

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Precisely! :+1:

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I just returned a Puritan 156 that I borrowed for two days. I never had any humming issues anywhere in my system but I was curious after all the praise, including Steve Huff’s review.
As far as sound quality, it definitely sounds better than the wall. But compared to my P20 it’s flat, muffled and lifeless


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Which components did you feed by the Puritan?

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Exactly what I heard when I compared the two.

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analog: Pass Labs
XP-32 line stage
XP-27 phono
XA25 amp
Linn Radikal 2 turntable motor controller/ power supply
Linn LP-12 Klimax
Linn/EMT Ekstatik cartridge

Then separately, Digital:
Pass XA25
XP-32
PS Audio PST
Denafrips Pontus 2
Bluesound Node

Wilson Sabrina X

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Let’s see how Luca feel when the MSB DAC is pairing with Puritan 156. It is interesting to hear a few veterans like P20 a lot more than Puritan. :thinking:

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