I am currently using Soulution 520/511 electronics. I am thinking of upgrading my electronics to end game level SS. I can only think of brand of ultra level quality such as Boulder, Dartzeel, CH Precision, Trinity. I have high sensitivity speaker( 99db) and small space(20m2). I would like to ask for your expert opinions on the following:
- Is there any other SS brand would you consider Ultra end?
- The second and more important question is Am I right to think that delta upgrade between a mid level gear in electronics compared to end game one is much smaller than that of other arear such as DAC/speaker/cable/source/grouding tweak/vibration control/power conditioning?
Thanks
Hi...lots of great questions which many of us ask ourselves all the time! A few thoughts:
1. Your 20m2 room and 99db speaker sensitivity gives you potentially quite a few options in SS. Not sure about how difficult your speaker is to drive, etc. But certainly there is a good chance you can run with a variety of lower powered and higher powered SS.
2. As for SS amps, my personal favorites are Gryphon, Boulder. I have not heard FMA which I am told is fantastic, nor CH Precision which 1-2 audio friends of mine with 'limitless funds' ($1M+/- systems) have moved towards in the last 12 months. I have not heard higher end Goldmunds but even their 'mid level' presented some shockingly polished and extended treble which was a strong sign for me. D'Agostino is great though out of personal preference, I have chosen Gryphon.
3. As for the uplift...this is tricky and I suspect it depends on your system, your room and your power grid coming into the house. If your room and power are well thought out/designed...you may not benefit from dedicated power conditioners, etc.
In my own experience, there are TWO things that have provided benefits i could not replicate any other way:
- Good physical isolation: for me, that means HRS, Stillpoints Ultra 6s underneath...with some level of mass damping on top (HRS, Artesania, sheer weight). The benefits were (with very, very, VERY careful setup) that the signal came through stronger but without any editorializing of the original signal tonal quality i had before. In addition to stronger, the signal was also far clearer...specifically on complex choral music, i could actually understand as much as 30% more words than without the isolation. Amplification gave me SOME of this but not nearly as much. But again, this is probably because of our flooring which was likely vibrating particularly with the big Velodyne DD-18+ sub
- Good Tripoint/Entreq grounding. This is an odd one to describe because despite the 'clearer, tonally purer, organic, better micro-rhythm, etc' benefits, NONE of these benefits were replicable with any other method of system set up i could think of. It was entirely different, totally and unequivocally better...but i could not get this from isolation, speaker setup, cables or anything else. It just removes 'invisible audio dirt' out of the way that I only realized was there AFTER it was gone.
Other than these two, I have found that quality SS made a huge difference in allowing the system to effortlessly 'be itself'...ie, no limit on power, on dynamics, on attack, on noise, etc. That was what Gryphon gave me. I understand totally that Gryphon has its own signature...all electronics inevitably do...but for me, the high quality SS of Class A gave me a quality and quantum of power I did not feel the need to think any further about...and enabled me to concentrate on other areas of the system...digital, preamp, cables, etc...
my two cents. Hope that helps.
ONE OTHER THING ABOUT YOUR QUESTIONS:
You asked about the uplift from mid-to-SOTA. That is a real 'it depends'. For many of us on this forum, the difference is just as great going from low to mid, as it is from mid to hi. NO - that does not mean the actual uplift is necessarily the same level...some so-called mid-fi is actually incredibly good. What it DOES mean is that when you truly appreciate 'whats best'...then going that extra mile is a remarkable achievement where you just sit back in your chair and REVEL in the incredible quality which you know and fully appreciate very, very few people have. THAT is very special, and [for me] what makes high end audio truly amazing.
In my experience, you can make GREAT music with well-selected, great value-for-money mid-fi...and even many of us might never look back. But if you are in this game til the end and you have the desire to spend the EFFORT as well as the funds, then that extra mile of distance can be very, very rewarding and for some, even MORE rewarding than getting up to mid-fi just because the mountain is that much higher, trickier, complicated, to get just right.
One man's opinion. Hope that helps.