Torpedo

Sure, I'd have disagreed with myself too if I had known the problem appeared so many months later. I must have skipped it in your OP I'm assuming nothing else changed in your system a few days or even weeks before noticing the hum, and that it could have passed unnoticed until that moment. I didn't try to mean that being a common issue with AV receivers it's correct, right or even acceptable, but when used as sources/preamps for good sets of amps and speakers those devices get noisy. I read a lot of messages about similar issues at AA when I was more active there.

Zero 7 - The Garden (2006)

I regret to be insistent, but I don't think the Denon is misfunctioning, those hums on AV receivers are quite common Good luck fixing it mate

I have my Tri.fis with the Westone cable, but there's some work which has to be done in the tiny connectors to have them fitting into the Tri.fi's jacks. I think they were doing it at Jaben, not sure since I got mine used with the Westone cable already adapted.

LOL Aren't those portable?

I wouldn't touch it that soon, wait at least for 200-300 hours. I know you have a lot more experience than myself on components and burn-in times, but caps, and those Black gates are new, take some time to sound right. You wouldn't like to know about V-Caps TFTF

It's a modded version. John modded it in 2002 IIRC. Newer modded units have basically the same mods, but a more profuse use of Black Gates, which I'm not sure I'd like. A friend of mine owns another one but with an external trannies box (not the whole PS). It sounds different. People having heard several modded models says all sound different for unknown reasons even to John. Spritzer, I haven't listened to the Audiozone, so that makes things quite different. The Melior could sound harsher than a NOS DAC depending on the transport.

Ooopss I didn't get the quote as I wanted. This is a reply to GPH I think in the first page: Not necessarily so (about the need of having perfect pitch to enjoy and understand sounds). Can you name all the different colors and their slight variations and assigning them their frequency value? Probably not, and not a single painter, movie director, photographer... in the world can do it. Does that take any value to their art or the people enjoying it? As I see it not being able to assign a frequency value to a note, and therefore a "name", doesn't equal not being able to differentiate a 410Hz tone from a 415Hz one, and knowing for sure which is higher. They're different things.

IMO having perfect pitch is just having the ability to put a right name to a note, which is completely different to recognizing notes as different, being able to know if a piano is well tuned, recognizing instruments for their timbre and knowing if the timbre reproduction is right, acknowledging if a band is performing well tuned and playing in time.... For a musician can be handy having perfect pitch, but for the rest of human loving music, I find it quite irrelevant.

Very true. In fact, my Bidat despite being on 24/7, it never sounds the same to me when starting a listening session than about 20' later. Spritzer, the Melior I tried here didn't sound anything like you're describing, so give it a chance. IMO it's mellower than the DAC1, and probably it's bass is no match, but has some other very interesting properties, which for me are more important.

Congrats mate, the bitstream is quite nice, but it won't give you the bass the Bidat has. Still give it some serious burn-in, it will change, however I'm afraid it's not what you expect.

I haven't been blessed with that ability. It's something you just can't train. I can get close by a 3rd interval more or less, but never the right note, if I hit it, it's just pure chance. I still remember with hatred the music dictations in my elementary school days. If the teacher didn't give a reference...

I've listened to one of the Pioneer receivers using Icepower modules -I can't recall the model- at a friend's who has my same speakers. He writes reviews for a consumer electronics magazine, so he receives on loan many pieces of kit to judge, which I go to listen to his place quite often. This was the system being closer to mine that gave me more valid judgment terms. I also listened to a Jeff Rowland Concerto at a dealer, so set up including speakers was too different to get any solid impression on the amplification alone. However I found some signature in the voices, I mean that sort of artificiality I mentioned before, which was quite reminiscing of the Pioneer. Using the Tripath module I've listened to a T-amp, which wasn't bad at all for the price. In fact surprisingly good for what I expected having listened to other cheap D amps previously. However its power limitations were too big to find something to blame exclusively to its digital nature. I can't recall other D amps worth mentioning, mostly midfi models lacking interest, so my weak memory discarded them. A friend of mine has built a D-amp, not sure what modules he used, which in his opinion sounds really good -I take his opinions quite seriously-, but I haven't listened to it yet. I have to schedule a trial at home with him. Maybe it's different to other D-amps I've tried. Like I said, I'm quite confident that they'll manage to make those things sound as good as anything else. Well, in fact they've already done, some of those amps like the JR I bet sound better than many SS or even tube offers. It's just that the mistakes are different, so it's our own preference which will decide what we like better.

I know Grawk, but well, to each one his own. I'm really finicky about human voices quality, probably professional bias, so on recordings I know how it should be, I'm quite hard to please Not implying they sound plainly wrong, just that I know of better things. Probably with more development they end up sounding gorgeous, there's a lot of potential into D amps. Pete, if you tried a modded unit, then no valid conclusions can be made to foresee how a higher in the range but stock unit would sound. Maybe you can try one without having to spend your money.

Pete, I have very short experience with D amps, but while very clean, kind of "detailed" and "airy", with good bass control and presence, they must be doing something not very well yet, that I find them soul less. As if the midrange and the natural timbre of acoustic instruments were not right, sort of bleached and "plasticky" if that means anything to you. However just trying one by yourself wouldn't harm. If you have enjoyed the Adcom and you find it sounding right for your taste, why not going for it? Don't let the "I want more" fool you, sometimes the better is the foe of the good. Grawk, have that LV113 of yours checked, just with some caps replacement, a cleaning and eventually replacing potentiometers would leave you with a great sounding amp for years to come. I had a LV-109/ LE-109 combo for years, and I gave it to a friend who still enjoys them. I was fool enough to replace them for a Krell integrated Human moronity knows no limits.

Yep, those MF sound "powerful" and capable to drive many speakers. It's true that I had heard them sounding better driving other speakers like Sonus Fabers, Proac and B&W, but funnily enough all were restricted at LF. I also must agree that overall sound was pleasant and the midrange sounded quite right for SS at that price. In fact I liked them better than later versions, which while more powerful, were less natural sounding. Who knows, maybe an A3 sounds gorgeous driving the Paradigms. One never knows until trying it.

Yep, those MF sound "powerful" and capable to drive many speakers. It's true that I had heard them sounding better driving other speakers like Sonus Fabers, Proac and B&W, but funnily enough all were restricted at LF. I also must agree that overall sound was pleasant and the midrange sounded quite right for SS at that price. In fact I liked them better than later versions, which while more powerful, were less natural sounding. Who knows, maybe an A3 sounds gorgeous driving the Paradigms. One never knows until trying it.

After all the crap I've been reading about Mikhail I still don't understand how his deceived customers don't start a common well organized lawsuit.

Tough call, it depends very much on the Paradigm's demands and your preferences about detail and all those things. Maybe I'd go for some vintage Luxman like the L550 or a more modern LV105, I love how those amps sounded, very natural. From more modern production depending on your preferences, I keep good memories from the Arcam A85. Not a world class amp, but still powerful, tidy and "right" for an affordable integrated. In a different vein of sound, more vivid, lots of PRAT and airiness with well controlled bass, the Naim Nait 5i could interest you. But it's only 30wpc IIRC. With some more power and still that kind of "fast" pratty sound, the Densen Beat could be much of your liking. I don't think any of these is factually better than the Odyssey, just different flavors which could be more of your liking, it all depends on what kind of sound you want to achieve.

Not really if you take into account that among the best selling speakers are B&W, Bose and Dynaudio, and most people is well served with the stock iBuds.

Hahahaha, I can't go to the playa, I am allergic to sunlight Spritzer, having listened to several ML speakers after knowing what planars like Quads and Apogees can do, one wonders how they were able to fuck it up that much. Even Maggies are more enjoyable

Have you heard them Dusty? I had a A3cr pre and power amp combo and while had some "musicality" in it, the bass was overcooked driving the pair of 4312A monitors I had then, which are sensitive and quite an easy load for any amp. Not sure they're a good match for the Paradigms. Odyssey amps are quite good for the price. I tried a stereo Stratos here. Not the most transparent and clean sounding amp ever, but remarkable performance for the price indeed. Kind of honest, which is the gear I like better.

So the conclusion of this is that untrained people under blind conditions prefer the sound of Magnepan speakers to listen to 5 tracks of music for a while. And probably the more tired they were for the high number of tests going on in a single day, the more they liked them

Very good point Justin, maybe it's the excuse to contact Ebay before the 7days term, and asking them if that's a fair proposition from the winning bidder. Maybe there's some rule obliging him to pay on his own.

No problem, wait those 7 days, start a dispute, let Ebay do his thing, post awful feedback for him, and re-list the amp. I don't think there's much more you can do about it, unless you're willing to contact the second best bidder just in case he's still interested. Maybe Cash Converters gives you more for the amp. Or perhaps you're more lucky selling it on Agon or any of the German Hifi sites.