quick report on the Endeavor MkII yesterday evening.
just a few quick notes: I know Scott's room pretty well, have heard the changes in his system during approximately the last 5 years. It was also where I first heard my current speakers, which I ended up buying from him. He is very careful with electricity and the room treatments that he did a couple of years ago made a significant improvement. We have a similar approach to audio and he is also endlessly curious, like me. I also wanted to listen to a long overdue session of what was a completely new system, since my last visit had been quite a while ago.
The Endeavor System:
Laptop w/ JRiver>Dartzeel LHC-208>Endeavor E-3 MkII.
SC: Audio Plus Oval 9 (IIRC). Power cable was factory and ethernet was generic.
Very first impression when I started listening to my tracks: these speakers do the disappearing act perfectly and throw a huge, huge sound stage. Now I haven't heard any speakers in Scott's room that haven't done that, but it probably has as much to do with the way he sets his speakers up with the way he chooses speakers. Nonetheless, these are not small speakers and for them to just disappear shows me what they can do given the right circumstances. During the fourth track I noted that they throw a sound stage very similar to what I know from audio physic: very immersive with excellent placement.
On the other hand I know that my favorite trait of Dartzeels are tonal accuracy (which Mr. Hervé does better than anyone else, imo) and a very resolved and organic presentation. Unfortunately that didn't translate through the speakers, which were somewhat grainy and unresolved in the mids and LFs, which, again in my estimation, muddied the larger part of the frequency spectrum and presented a rather unresolved sound. Highs, nonetheless, were very good, which makes me think that they would be even better if the other issues weren't present. Still, I do miss the kind of "air" that Ribbons and AMTs bring to the table, which is, obviously, a personal preference.
If I were to make an educated guess I believe that my Diablo would be a better match, since they drive speakers like nothing else I've heard, but again, I'm biased... there is a reason why I have Gryphon and not Dart. That still doesn't solve what I believe Darts do better than anyone else, which is tonal accuracy and a highly resolved, organic and musical presentation.
The latter part of the evening I auditioned Scott's main system which, by no small margin, now sounds its best. Imo he should tread lightly with any changes, because he's got something very special going on with his G1s, the Dart mono blocks and preamp. I was even able to A/B his Lux D-08 with the NADAC, which for someone who likes to analyze is always a treat.
And so my quest proceeds...
View attachment 31611