That's interesting. I guess it depends on whether or not it is a demo from Reno HiFi or a brand new unit. I found with my demo XP20 that it needed about 4-5 days. And if the power is ever turned off (unit is unplugged) then it and my Xono need a full 2 days of being on before they sound the same again. Mark Sammut also told me that with the pre amps, they do not need music run through them for break in. They just need to be plugged in. I would confirm this again with him, though.
Phono Preamp to match with Spectral Gear
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That's interesting. I guess it depends on whether or not it is a demo from Reno HiFi or a brand new unit. I found with my demo XP20 that it needed about 4-5 days. And if the power is ever turned off (unit is unplugged) then it and my Xono need a full 2 days of being on before they sound the same again. Mark Sammut also told me that with the pre amps, they do not need music run through them for break in. They just need to be plugged in. I would confirm this again with him, though.
The XP-15 that I acquired from Mark was said to be a demo (though the box showed no evidence of having ever been opened). Mark warned that it would take some time for the XP-15 to burn in. I forget how many days he said it would take (maybe 10?), but he pretty much nailed it.
The XP-15 sounded great out of the box - easily beating my Xono in every way. But the XP-15 improved in important ways with burn in. I found that I had to revisit load settings after it finally settled in.
The XP-15 was a tremendous upgrade. I've been consistently impressed with how well this worked out.
Kenny, this thread is going to be expensive. Your comments and those of others in reviews are getting me to seriously consider replacing my Xono with one of the new XP phono stages.
Do it. I think you would be amazed with even the XP-15.
The Xono had really been dragging down the performance of my analog front end (VPI Aries 3, JMW 10.5i, Lyra Skala & Helkon mono). It was certainly the weakest link. This is probably even more the case with your very, very nice analog gear.
Tone and timbre may be the two areas that improved the most with the XP-15. The Xono was colorless in comparison.
Thanks for elaborating on the XP-15. I have beautiful tone and timbre with my current set up. In fact these may be the strongest qualities of my system. And I do agree with mep on this one. "Colorless" is what I want in my system. I really don't want to add anything to the signal, or as little as possible. Tonal balance and transparency are two of my main goals.
Perhaps you mean that the Xono sounds "sterile" or thin or bright or something to that effect. I did get a bit of that character before, but resolved it with better speaker/listener placement.
A friend whose opinion I trust and rely on heavily compared the XP-20/30 and Xono/XP-25. He told me that he found the XP-30 to be the biggest improvement in his system. I have compared the 20 to the 30 in my system and know the level of improvement. Perhaps I will have to audition the 25 to see for myself.
It's really the Xono that is "colored" relative to the XP-15. It strips away color turning everything into shades of gray. The XP-15 made it obvious that a ton of goodness coming from my phono cartridge wasn't making it past the Xono.
Yes, "sterile" is a good way to describe the Xono relative to the XP-15. "Bright" too - especially with strings.
I didn't even realize there were problems with the Xono until I heard the XP-15. I really thought my Xono was doing a fine job. The only reason I elected to try the XP-15 was because I had hoped it would reduce the noise floor. I was planning to begin ripping vinyl to digital, and wanted to get the noise down a bit before embarking on that effort. I was frankly stunned by the magnitude of the improvement. And I continue to be amazed as I am still working my way through my LPs and hearing dramatically improved sound.
Yes, you really should audition the 25 (or 15) for yourself.
I have the XP-25 in house with a few hours on it. I really want to give it the full week to settle down, but I also wanted to share some initial impressions. I feel it literally makes a toy out of the 810LP; it shares the same overall organic sound of the Ayre, but it clearly outclasses it by a wide margin in everything: dynamic contrasts, purity of timbre, control, lack of compression (I can finally enjoy my Carmina Burana/Telarc the way I thought was possible), soundstage specificity (separation of instruments and voices) though not necessarily size, high frequency extension, etc, lack of noise, and most of all, the unit sounds so natural, live, and true. Heifetz's and Oistakh's violins have all the power I would expect - shivering, to be honest. On the other hand, I only bought the Ayre while awaiting the Spectral phono - so not a fair comparison, and I finally decided that I am just wasting the A90 and had had enough of a wait. There are some minor negatives, but will withhold judgement until it's fully broken in.
I am equally impressed by the unit's operation - switching anything (loadings, inputs) automatically silences the output with relays, until the unit settles again; this is just beautiful architecture, and I don't understand why the manual makes a bold statement to mute the unit when making any adjustments, as if the operational behavior I am seeing is new to later units??? The noise floor is exceptionally low - virtual digital-silence at the level I listen to (past 12 o'clock, which is loud) with 66dB gain, and I had no hum issues with the XLR-to-RCA adapters - in fact, there is significant hum if I do use a ground wire.
So, unlike the 810LP with which it was immediately obvious it would be going back, the initial impression is that this one deserves my undivided attention.
I am equally impressed by the unit's operation - switching anything (loadings, inputs) automatically silences the output with relays, until the unit settles again; this is just beautiful architecture, and I don't understand why the manual makes a bold statement to mute the unit when making any adjustments, as if the operational behavior I am seeing is new to later units??? The noise floor is exceptionally low - virtual digital-silence at the level I listen to (past 12 o'clock, which is loud) with 66dB gain, and I had no hum issues with the XLR-to-RCA adapters - in fact, there is significant hum if I do use a ground wire.
So, unlike the 810LP with which it was immediately obvious it would be going back, the initial impression is that this one deserves my undivided attention.
For the money, the xp25 is hard to beat...$10k msrp given it's performance and convenient load and gain features makes it a sonic bargain so to speak when we talk SS phono stages. I will continue to keep mine even though a may go for a tube stage in the not too distant future...maybe Lamm, Ypsilon, ARC Ref 10, Doshi, Allnic.
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Glad to hear the Pass has given you a sense of higher performance. I look forward to reading your thoughts as I will be looking for a replacement for my Ayre P5xe as well. Have been experimening with different loading? The different designs may require different loading for optimal performance.
I was reading the about the BMC current injection phono and thought of the quest for a better phono preamp. I know you are looking for balanced in/out.
Have you given any thought to the ARC Ref 2se? Given the price you are shopping at it would seem fair competition.
I was reading the about the BMC current injection phono and thought of the quest for a better phono preamp. I know you are looking for balanced in/out.
Have you given any thought to the ARC Ref 2se? Given the price you are shopping at it would seem fair competition.
The ARC Ref 2SE might have a difficult time driving the low input impedance of a Spectral preamp. I tried a PH-7 with my 30S and it was both amazing and lowsy. It threw an amazing 3D soundstage, but the midbass on down was bloated, slow and uncontrolled, as if there wasn't enough juice to keep a tight grip on things.
For the Ref 2SE, ARC recommends a load of 50K-100K ohms, with a 10K ohm minimum. DMC-30 preamps have a 15K ohm input impedance.
The XP-15 revealed to me that the Xono's higher noise floor had been masking some problems effecting my table. My Aries 3 rests on a Vibraplane. The Vibraplane does a great job of isolating the table from floorborne vibration, but it does nothing to drain off any energy generated by the table and its drivetrain. Placing Stillpoints cones under the Aries motor and plinth reduced the noise floor considerably. It also stripped away a resonance I hadn't even noticed until it was eliminated. The Stillpoints had a profound effect on playback. Backgrounds became blacker and tone became purer, stunningly so.
I just point this out as the XP-25 should be even quieter and more resolving than my XP-15. So one will definitely be hearing more of what's coming from one's table - both the good and maybe even some not-so-good.
I use stillpoints Ultra SS under my XP-25 gain and power stages along with the rest of the rack components. Ultra 5's under my amps. highly recommended.
That is where "active" isolation tables make the ultimate difference between passive solutions. It's a steep price though.
Try some Stillpoints under the network boxes of MIT speaker cables. I couldn't help but laugh out loud by what I heard when I placed cones under mine. I didn't expect to hear a difference, so I was surprised to hear a very obvious improvement. They eliminated what I thought had been a room-related resonance. Amazing what those bloody things can do. I have the older cones under just about everything now - except my listening chair.
The other place they made a surprising improvement was under my Quantum QB8 power strip.
Damn you !!!
I thought I was done buying those things...LOL.I do have them elevated with aluminum cones. I will try them under diamond hard ceramic cones, that were replaced by stillpoints. If I hear an improvement, I will try stillpoints.
Try some Stillpoints under the network boxes of MIT speaker cables. I couldn't help but laugh out loud by what I heard when I placed cones under mine. I didn't expect to hear a difference, so I was surprised to hear a very obvious improvement. They eliminated what I thought had been a room-related resonance. Amazing what those bloody things can do. I have the older cones under just about everything now - except my listening chair.
The other place they made a surprising improvement was under my Quantum QB8 power strip.
I totally agree. In my case, I used some Goldmund cones under my network boxes.
In fact, Transparent REF XL MM2 network boxes come with tiptoes on the bottom too. Hmmm...maybe should try some Goldmund cones under them too!
I used Wave Kinetics A10 U8 decoupling footers underneath the network boxes of my Transparent Opus MM2 speaker cables (I removed the standard carbon fibre cones). very significant improvement in focus and especially transient snap and bass articulation. the network boxes had been essentially 'singing' along with the music and 'blurring' the sound until I fixed it.
speaker cables are very environmentally sensitive.
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