Posted by Bill Epstein [ 12.75.71.218 ] on June 15, 2005 at 17:55:17:
I paid $39 for my Grado Black which BTW shipped as a Green. It has a good bass and mid-range but gets congested as the you go up the scale and add instruments. Much like the rest of this class up to $100. You know who they are.
This is a first impression: first 2 hours.
The 10X5 immediately signals that the instruments sound like the instruments they are. Not an approximation but close to real. Voices don't offer the same clues unless you sat next to Emmy Lou for years and really know her voice. Brass, woodwinds, strings; they all have more character.Bowing, tonguing, pitch and timbre. Very impressive.
Emmy Lou's "White Shoes" album really shows off the kick-drum. Mendelsohns "Midsummer's Night Dream" LSO on London does the same for The melody line the Tuba caries in the first movement. Also an excellent portrayal of large sections like first and second violins.
Alison Krause still has an "edge" to her voice which may be real or a product of the fono (Bugle) stage 'cause it's less "edgy" with the DV than the Grado.
A good bit of the cart's good first impression is due to it's having half the output of a moving magnet: the attenuator is attenuating less. But it also handles going LOUD and the accompanying dynamic swings on un-compressed music extremely well.
I don't hear a "moving coil peak" or "presence bump" or treble edginess. Of course, the Norh SET triode EL-34's soften the top a bit I imagine.
I wonder if the Denon DL-103 is this good? At $185 plus step-up it's about as expensive. I could add a few dollars of ressitors to the Bugle and get enough gain but the noise level would rise.
I guess there's no getting around the $400 bucks it takes to get this quality.
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