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Post by Jean Genie on Oct 15, 2012 18:37:35 GMT -5
So, rc, your saying 'no'? My bad, I didn't realize he's had 'em a whole month
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Post by Dark Ranger on Oct 15, 2012 18:42:54 GMT -5
No, the improvements are not due to break-in. It's actually the XSP-1 that has improved things. Mark noticed the improvements very quick, far too quickly to attribute to break-in. He's had his Maggies for a while now. I just wish he'd come out and say whether he actually likes the XSP-1. All this beating around the bush is tiresome! ;D
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Post by wcparks on Oct 15, 2012 19:04:52 GMT -5
Thanks for the review mark but you are sure making it hard on me since I wont see mine untill Wednesday.
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Post by roadrunner on Oct 15, 2012 19:19:08 GMT -5
Mark
If you have Noran Jones in Come Away With Me would you play it and report back. That is a recording that should show all kinds of improved listening with the right gear. Her breath control and piano playing shine thru even with the USP-1 and it would be interesting to see if you would gain even better reproduction of its sound when using the XSP.
Celtic Woman is another of those albums that were engineered and mastered very well. That would be a great album for checking out difference in "revealing". Those are two of the CDs I plan on using to compare the USP and XSP. Of course, I will also have several of my Reference Recordings HDCD albums in the test material.
Thanks for the great job you have done reviewing the XSP to get out a quick response to our impatient Lounge brothers and sisters. Have a safe trip to Germany and get your ass back to listening to your music on the XSP. ;D
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klinemj
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Post by klinemj on Oct 15, 2012 19:19:29 GMT -5
gaglione...to your question, "Do you think some of the improvement in SQ that you attribute to the new pre may be, to some degree, due to the 1.7s settling in?"...
To echo what the others already said..."No". Emphatically no, as a matter of fact. The Maggies have been in place and played daily for quite a while, and I single-variably switched out the USP to the XSP today. Instant difference.
Also FYI, for the first music I listened to, I have been intensely listening for a week to embed it into my brain. So, those first impressions were really, really fresh. As in, I listened to most of it last night w/the USP and the most critical of it this AM just before switching to the XSP.
Mark
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klinemj
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Post by klinemj on Oct 15, 2012 19:20:30 GMT -5
Ronnie - I don't have any of Norah's stuff...sorry! But...you will get to listen soon enough!!!
Mark
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Post by BassThatHz on Oct 15, 2012 19:31:13 GMT -5
Paintedklown, I used to fight the same sibilance battle when I was having the b&w803. Might be the aluminum tweeter being fussy. Problem totally resolved when I change to penaudio speakers. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!! Sadly, I am inclined to blame my B&Ws aluminum dome tweeters as well (and have many times on this very forum), and for the short time I had the MMGs in my system, I wasn't fighting them to not sound harsh. I hated sending them back (as they are stunning sounding), but I had the realization I was more of a "bass head" than what I had considered myself. Either way, it's all good, because I ended up using the funds from the MMGs to put toward the XSP-1, which I needed more than new speakers, as I am just using my Yamaha receiver as a pre-amp now...it's not the most elegant solution for critical 2 ch listening. As you can tell from my sig, I'm pretty serious about my sound quality & system design. I'm flat to 4hz and I am quad mono-amping my mains, in a custom-built room with a dedicated 200amp pull just for it, and walls that are 15inches thick of soundproofing. (8" of cement, insulation, 3/4 MDF, and then a room-in-a-room design made of soundboard drywall. And then additionally, absorbers and diffusers... more like 19" thick in total I guess.) I have OCD for sure... no question about it ;D Needless to say my B&W N803's sound "almost" perfect to my ears, that's with only a UMC-1 (for now....) Having room treatments and properly balanced bass with lots of power behind it, helps enormously to reduce distortion; and I'm all about that. For example: My B&W 803's are sipping on 4200watts, each. They are a power hungry speaker. Even at their maximum woofer excursion(continuously) and 500watts draw from the wall per side, it barely lights up the ready L.E.D's. One word: Headroom. hehe I can honestly tell you that the UMC-1 is the limiting factor in my system... but that's what an XSP-1 is for ;D I could only imagine how good it would be with an XSP-1, mindblowing no doubt... can't wait!!!
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klinemj
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Post by klinemj on Oct 15, 2012 19:44:52 GMT -5
More updates on phono and operations...
First, on phono...I cannot directly single-variably compare the XSP to the USP at this point, but I know the USP well with my XPA-2 and my old Paradigms and reasonably well with my Maggies. And, I know my old Thorens quite well...we've been "good friends" since about 1983 or so, and I have heard it with many amps/preamps/phono stages. What I do not know very well at all is my old Thorens with my nCores. So, don't take this comment as a direct comparison at all...but - I don't think any USP-1 owner will be dissappointed with the XSP's phono stage.
I honestly have not heard my old Thorens sound any better, and in fact it sounded great. On the key music I listened to on albums I have been listening to for ~30 years, my system sounded better than ever, with many details revealed I have never heard on LP. Music I listened to was: Stones' "Can't you hear me knockin'...", Steely Dan "Babylon Sisters" and "Hey Nineteen", and then "Night Train", "Louie, Louie", and "Green Onions" off the Who's Quadraphenia LP (by the original artists, not the Who).
Everything I said about the CD review came true in phono stage.
For operations, I switched back and forth between CD and phono inputs, and there's no noises at all...perfectly quiet. I tried the tone controls (which I never intend to use), and when you turn them on - there's a second or so when it goes silent then the sound comes back. I turned up the treble to the max and min and same with the bass...not sure which frequencies are being manipulated but despite the +/-3 dB range I didn't hear a dramatic difference. Maybe I am not using it right, but I don't care anyway - as noted...I don't intend to use them. But, they didn't cause any problems.
I toggled the switches for full range vs/ low/hi pass...they feel solid and you know you have moved one when you move it. I have not tried the hi/low pass settings as I intend to use them both in full range and tailor my low end via my sub's x-over.
The HT Bypass works great, as expected.
I do really like that the remote labels the inputs by input # and not a pre-set name. For me, this will be simple..."Bal 1" will be my CD Player. "Phono" will be my TT. And, if anything else - I may run analog outs from my BR Player as "Input 1" to be able to A-B my ERC vs. by BR player. And, if I get an Oppo 105...it would be "Bal 2".
Overall...a great device. Loving it!
Mark
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RPA-1 man
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Post by RPA-1 man on Oct 15, 2012 20:17:53 GMT -5
Hey Mark,
Thanks for the review updates. I have a question for you. Could you check to see if the LEFT/RIGHT Sub Outputs are active at all times or are they only active in HT Bypass mode?
Thanks, Paul
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Post by ansat on Oct 15, 2012 20:37:05 GMT -5
Congrats mark. Looks like it was worth the wait
sent from my phone. sorry for the short response. Tony
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Post by AudioHTIT on Oct 15, 2012 20:51:32 GMT -5
and then "Night Train", "Louie, Louie", and "Green Onions"; off the Who's Quadraphenia LP (by the original artists, not the Who). Mark Nice running commentary and review Mark, you have me considering a solid state preamp. But you lost me on these cuts you attribute to Quadrophenia, are they buried in other songs somewhere?
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klinemj
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Post by klinemj on Oct 15, 2012 21:18:03 GMT -5
Paul...re. "Could you check to see if the LEFT/RIGHT Sub Outputs are active at all times or are they only active in HT Bypass mode?"...I will try to get a chance to check in the coming days. I am presuming they are active 100% of the time. I am using the summed output as I only have 1 sub, and I can tell you the sub is active in HT Bypass and on other inputs like phono and CD (Bal 1 for me). Tony - yes it was...what we heard at Emofest was legit! AudioHTIT...I have an LP that is a soundtrack and English import. 3 sides are The Who. 1 side is various artists including James Brown, Booker T & the MG's, etc. It has completely different cover art than the standard LP/CD. The cover looks like the following link: www.thewho.info/images/Quad-ST-LP-UK.jpgMark
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klinemj
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Post by klinemj on Oct 15, 2012 21:20:34 GMT -5
PS...thanks for all the "thanks" for the review and compliments on my system. I felt obliged to do the reviews, and I have a laptop...so, I sat and listened and posted stream of consciousness thoughts as I listened...easy-peezy-lemon-squeezy, as my daughter says. And, I feel lucky to have my system...
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Post by jamscape on Oct 15, 2012 21:28:48 GMT -5
Hmmm. This was an area I was worried about and this isn't giving me a warm fuzzy. I'm not worried enough that I won't purchase the XSP but it could be a problem for me down the road. From the specs that have been published, I had a feeling that there weren't enough steps in each direction at 1db. I like the fine 1db resolution but was thinking there should have been six to eight steps. I believe it to be better to have more adjustment and not need it than to not have enough adjustment when you might occasionally need it. I don't often use the tone controls on my pre but I do use them when needed for certain recordings. I also don't get why there would have to be an audio dropout of one or two seconds when engaged. I've never experienced this with a tone defeat switch before. I would think it should be instantaneous.
Again, these are just some minor concerns I have. I do still intend to purchase the XSP-1 very soon.
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Post by monkumonku on Oct 15, 2012 22:02:32 GMT -5
Ronnie - I don't have any of Norah's stuff...sorry! But...you will get to listen soon enough!!! Mark Yeah, LIKE TOMORROW!!!
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Post by AudioHTIT on Oct 15, 2012 22:16:40 GMT -5
AudioHTIT...I have an LP that is a soundtrack and English import. 3 sides are The Who. 1 side is various artists including James Brown, Booker T & the MG's, etc. It has completely different cover art than the standard LP/CD. The cover looks like the following link: www.thewho.info/images/Quad-ST-LP-UK.jpgMark OK got it, it's from the Movie, I've seen it but never the soundtrack. Thanks. - Bruce
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Post by ansat on Oct 15, 2012 22:23:00 GMT -5
So... emo said it sounded great. Went to emo. And it sounded great. It was reported that it sounded great. And it sounds great it home. Hmmmmmmm...
Xmc plug.
sent from my phone. sorry for the short response. Tony
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Post by RightinLA on Oct 15, 2012 22:35:15 GMT -5
Mark now that you have the XSP-1 and gave such a fine review of it, I can't wait to receive mine early in November.
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Post by Golden Ear on Oct 15, 2012 22:45:05 GMT -5
XSP digitally controlled analog volume maybe responsible of good sound in any level, whereas my USP volume control has been a problem of being too hot and aggressive. XDA volume control to me seems has more resolution because I could hear micro detail and dynamics and having USP masked those details even when XDA set to 80.
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Post by roadrunner on Oct 15, 2012 23:23:15 GMT -5
Ronnie - I don't have any of Norah's stuff...sorry! But...you will get to listen soon enough!!! Mark Yeah, LIKE TOMORROW!!! Yeah, I know mine will be coming in tomorrow. I just hoped Mark had those albums so I could compare notes with him on some very well mastered media; and those are two very popular female artists. Many pre-amps have a problem with getting the timbre correct for piano music, female voices, and with depicting breath control accurately. Mark has very resolving electronics and speakers and hoped to compare his impression in those areas to see how similar it is to what I will hear from my gear once the XSP is installed. I will live without it. Curiosity has always been one of my defining traits. My mother told me that I nearly drove her nuts when I was a kid by always asking her "WHY". She tells me I was relentless in getting answers to my questions. Some of my school teachers also discovered I would not accept "because it is" as an answer and love me for it... other teachers hated me for it. ;D Now, Rickie, Why Do You Want to know how come I would ask Mark about those two albums when my unit will be here tomorrow? ;D ;D ;D
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