OMG!!! I'm T-H-I-S close to shelling out on the Eera! Aargh!!! Just when I said I was done buying components! Seriously, this is one HELL of a cdp. I really do believe that if there were a few more players of this ilk maybe in the early '00's, downloading/hi rez, people may have been pretty content sticking w/16/44 rbcd. No worries, I am one happy bunny finally finding a digital component that can hold it's head up proudly w/my excellent analog front end. Now I don't feel there is a great compromise switching btwn the two.
Eera Tentation
- Thread starter spiritofmusic
- Start date
I think I know how you feel. After having thoroughly enjoyed a few well-mastered CDs again today through my system I thought if 30 years ago people would have been introduced to digital with this kind of awesome sound, we wouldn't even have the debate analog vs. digital, or CD vs. Hi-rez (shrug).
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A better EERA customer (Jim) just snagged my Autographe order LOL. At least I'll get to listen to it first during delivery and pre-delivery inspection. Didier forgot to tell me the lead time. Payment has been sent. Now you have to share that PC list with me spirit.
+1. I have never been an LP guy on purpose (to concentrate everything I had on the best digital I could afford)...but I also have no desire. Other than finishing a nice isolation/grounding exercise of my existing system...I am just buying music.
Gammajo, you really should do. I believe Albert Von Schwiekert is the US distributor. There is no UK profile, so I've been dealing w/the Euro distributor, Cor Dekker, who has been very helpful in allowing me a long trial.
Jack, re PCs, you have to bear in mind my history, which may not be consistent w/other guys here. I live in a residential/industrial area. All my neighbours have broadband on seemingly 24/7. there are internet booster stations/aerials nearby. And I'm smack in the middle of light engineering. So there are massive demands on local power, so much so that my voltage can swing +/-10% to 15% moment to moment!!! This has put massive demands on my system sounding any good until a few years ago, but ever since I addressed things, with first 8kVA balanced power, and recently Entreq grounding, my rig is singing really sweetly. And now delving into PCs which has been educational w/the Eera.
I've got best results w/the Entreq Challenger, and Sablon Audio Gran Corona, vitally both w/RHODIUM plugs. On the Sablon, a gold plug PC was intolerably warm. But w/Rhodium, both are magical w/the Eera. I'm about to try a final Sablon variation, a Rhodium Quantum Gran Corona PC. My final conclusion is that the Entreq Challenger has the edge on speed, dynamics and low noise floor, the Sablon Gran Corona has the edge on bass texture/extension, tone density and power. On balance, I think I'm going w/the Gran Corona, but both really make the Tentation sing more than any other other CDP I've ever heard. With Sablon, the designer mainly sells to the US market, and claims his standard Palladium plug is the best balance of all, but he can only source Rhodium for the UK market, Entreq supply Rhodium as standard.
Jack, re PCs, you have to bear in mind my history, which may not be consistent w/other guys here. I live in a residential/industrial area. All my neighbours have broadband on seemingly 24/7. there are internet booster stations/aerials nearby. And I'm smack in the middle of light engineering. So there are massive demands on local power, so much so that my voltage can swing +/-10% to 15% moment to moment!!! This has put massive demands on my system sounding any good until a few years ago, but ever since I addressed things, with first 8kVA balanced power, and recently Entreq grounding, my rig is singing really sweetly. And now delving into PCs which has been educational w/the Eera.
I've got best results w/the Entreq Challenger, and Sablon Audio Gran Corona, vitally both w/RHODIUM plugs. On the Sablon, a gold plug PC was intolerably warm. But w/Rhodium, both are magical w/the Eera. I'm about to try a final Sablon variation, a Rhodium Quantum Gran Corona PC. My final conclusion is that the Entreq Challenger has the edge on speed, dynamics and low noise floor, the Sablon Gran Corona has the edge on bass texture/extension, tone density and power. On balance, I think I'm going w/the Gran Corona, but both really make the Tentation sing more than any other other CDP I've ever heard. With Sablon, the designer mainly sells to the US market, and claims his standard Palladium plug is the best balance of all, but he can only source Rhodium for the UK market, Entreq supply Rhodium as standard.
A full report please Jack. Been interested in an EERA w/dig input since reviewing the Tentation. Had no idea of its existence. How much? ___ Gulp expected.
Hi Bob,
I don't know what US retail will be set at. Minimum would be equivalent to 15k Euro, most likely 18k. Input is SPDIF only 24/192. Actually Didier wrote >192. Kinda cryptic. <still scratching my head>
I don't know what US retail will be set at. Minimum would be equivalent to 15k Euro, most likely 18k. Input is SPDIF only 24/192. Actually Didier wrote >192. Kinda cryptic. <still scratching my head>
Have decided to go ahead w/the Eera. There's a v.special synergy w/the Sablon Gran Corona PC, where the slightly overenergetic, forward top end I initially noticed w/another PC is now counterbalanced by an organic midband and earthy bass. I didn't think it possible, but I now have analog and digital front ends that totally complement each other. My preference will always be to play lp's, but the analog sensibility of the Tentation is so far in advance of any other cdp that I've ever heard, that there is as close to equivalence as I'm ever likely to find at reasonable price. I suspect Lloyd's Zanden cdp probably has a more creamy mid band/upper bass presentation, and the eg Trinity DAC, DCS Vivaldi etc combinations prob best it for ambient info and detail retrieval, but both at a massive extra cost.
I really couldn't be more happy with rbcd.
I really couldn't be more happy with rbcd.
BIG NEWS!!! Congrats and enjoy! Very happy for you...I know how hard you've labored thru the audition process, and how hard you have been counting all the pennies for each and every upgrade. But at this point, sit back, grab a glass of your favourite drink and enjoy!!!
I will do, Lloyd. But after lunch. Will seek out some Real Ale w/my long suffering (aka non audiophile) GF. I predict a present coming her way!!! Cheers! Btw, I can't thank you enough for pointing me in the direction of Sablon. Mark's cables are a Hell of quality product at a real world price. With just one PC transforming the sound of my system, Lord knows what a full loom will do 
!
So Eera Tentation. About one pro review, and a handful of user comments, all of 2-3 years ago. Not even sure how I remembered it at all to investigate it further, it's as far below the radar as you can get. But what a world beater!
!So Eera Tentation. About one pro review, and a handful of user comments, all of 2-3 years ago. Not even sure how I remembered it at all to investigate it further, it's as far below the radar as you can get. But what a world beater!
+1
I now just enjoy as well after having settled with my new power supplies for the amps and with my new CD transport (after exhaustive assessment found to be same sounding on the Berkeley DAC as my old Wadia 8 transport that had been dying; problems finding tracks and no replacement parts available anymore). I don't drink my favorite whisky though when listening since I need to be on full alert. I can hear so much more in the music due to the new power supplies, and yesterday the richness and amount of different simultaneous musical lines in Hindemith's Concert Music for Strings and Brass (1930) almost drove me out of my mind. What a treat. Everything in the music was as easy to unravel as in the concert hall. And boy, what a sound.
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Al: you, Lloyd and I (and most here) are of one mind on the pre eminence of power, and the need to get it right. Many are sticking w/power conditioners/filters. And the rest are investigating radical options like Shunyata, EquiTech, Entreq, Tripoint, Isotek etc. Plus uber power supplies like y'self. Personally I've laid down my hard earned on Westwick 8kVA balanced power, Entreq Silver Tellus (and potentially Atlantis) grounding, and now Sablon power cords/poss complete loom. And I have NO regrets, despite the cost likely to be equivalent to a major component purchase.
I remain AMAZED at the totally radical and wholesale impvts made to the sound, while in no way disturbing the inherent character of the system. Detail, but in a totally holistic way, power AND delicacy. What more could you want?
I remain AMAZED at the totally radical and wholesale impvts made to the sound, while in no way disturbing the inherent character of the system. Detail, but in a totally holistic way, power AND delicacy. What more could you want?
Hopefully someday I'll get to visit London (I've never been to England) and have some Ale with you and Lloyd!
Hopefully someday I'll get to visit London (I've never been to England) and have some Ale with you and Lloyd!
...or whisky...
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