New DAC time (again)

Mine is a two disc set, but this is the first disc. I rather like disc two as well with it handful of arrangements of keyboard concertos for their original form as violin concertos.

For those only interested in the standard violin concertos, this is first rate.

ATB from George

This term crops up often in classical music reviews. In the gustatory world, astringency means bitterness. What does it mean in the music world? Acerbic, acrid, austere, biting, bitter, caustic, cutting, pungent, severe, sharp, tart, or something else?

Do you mean that the sound has a slightly acid (i.e., sharp) quality (from the replay equipment) or that Elizabeth Wallfisch's playing is biting?

Dear Jan,

Playing on gut strings can bring a surprisingly bright tone if played near the bridge. I used gut strings on my double basses for over a decade as I rejected the ease of steel, which relatively [though louder under the ear] project less well away from the instrument, and most significantly have rather narrower range of timbres, from the nervous bright sound near to the bridge to the silky sound sou la touché [over the end of the finger board]. 

Sometimes people take the potential for edginess in the quality on a baroque fiddle as a bad thing. It is not. It is real. It is part of the expressive armoury that gut strings bring!

However, on the whole, gut strings are more notable for a beautiful sweetness. And can manage a completely un-accented legato when the music calls for it which is nigh impossible with steel strings. Gut can be far more articulate, for the simple reason that they are so light. A poor instrument will never sound with gut, because the weight is not there in the string. You need a very fine instrument that is both highly responsive [potential for brightness becomes greater] and at its best under low tension from the strings. These things do tend to run together, just as much with the cello and bass as with the violin and viola ...

Your list of adjectives nicely describes the astringency that can be apparent in replay of any stringed instrument, but particularly one with gut strings. I would say the one single word [if forced to a choice] that mostly catches it is acidic, like drinking an egg-cup of vinegar! Not sulphuric of course!

What I do find with the V! is it can give a compelling and credible account of the tonal range that Wallfisch does bring to her playing as heard live. This means two things. The recordings are top notch and that my replay has their measure!

I have intimated already that the V1 in my system is actually closer to the reality I have found in real concerts of hers than even my CDS 2 [52-200] was with SBLs, though ESLs are significantly finer in every single way than SBLs of course. 

Things have moved on, and the V1 catches the best of the CDS 2 and improves on it!

If I have a criticism of the nDAC [CDX 2 used as transport instead of my using iTunes on a current gen. MAC Mini] it that is has less ability to catch the range of string timbres than the V1 in a similar set-up. ESLs though in that case the pre- was a 282, and the amp was either a 155XS or 200. The effect was too unrelentingly bright to catch the potential for repose in the timbre. 

I'd call the V1 and NAP 100 superb value, and if used with the right speaker set, giant slayers!

ATB from George

PS:

Dear Jan,

I am away now till Sunday evening though will be about briefly tomorrow as I have to visit the Post Sorting Office, so I'll look then if you want to reply!

Best wishes from George

Cycling to Bromyard fourteen miles over some seriously hilly roads and back twice in one weekend will provide excellent preparation for my weekend of cycling next weekend! I hope it is a bit cooler then!! At least there are no steep hills like in Herefordshire! If it is too hot we can always just go to the pub unlike those poor devils on the T de F!!!

but... does it really require a monitor to browse your music collection?

No, browsing is fine just using the front display and the volume control knob on the right of the front panel. It's limited to album and artist.

Adding an external display through the HDMI connector on the rear provides album art (in the pictures I've seen of it in this setup). I've not yet tried the Mirus with a monitor, but will give a go this weekend (the TV and the stereo are in different rooms). An Apple remote (reprogrammed by Resonessence) lets you browse and control playback functions from the listening position.

Kevin, I do not get your question: what do you mean by "a monitor" ? Browsing a collection (by directories / files or by file properties (tags)) requires an output device (say a display) and an input device (keyboard, buttons, etc.). Both can be on the DAC / player itself and / or on another device. This can be a simple remote control (with or without display), a laptop, an ipad, an iphone, an android smartphone etc. What's the problem ?

Problem is this device does not have a network connection.  If you want to play from a SD card you either look at that little screen or hook up a monitor via hdmi.

I see. Yet another example of how to get things wrong in implementing elementary functionalities than. Sad but already seen. Thanks, nbpf

Fior classical music, then yes it does. Often cover art can be very similar for multiple discs in a set!

You need more than artist and composer, or album name!

There is no way to get enough information - visible without a magnifying glass - onto a playing card sized display ...

ATB from George

I completely agree with Frank here. Each great musician will produce his own timbre, only somewhat modified by the specific instrument he is playing. Edwin Fischer, on recordings made in London, plays the EMI Abbey Road Steinways, as did the contemporary Solomon [Cutner], but you would never confuse the comparative timbre of either artist! You would never confuse the timbre of Heifetz and Artur Grumiaux, both playing Stradivari violins ... [etc].

As for coloration in the replay, which is nothing other than distortion of the original, it is most satisfying to have the least possible in any given circumstance. For example, and I think Frank will agree with me here, the Linn Sara is a great fun sort of loudspeaker, but is far more coloured than the Naim SBL for example. The differences in timbre [from one artist altering his or her own tone for expressive communication, or indeed between different artists and different instruments] is reduced when there is coloration in the replay [both from the original recording  and additionally from the home replay system].

It is this very lack of a significant amount of coloration and the concomitant accuracy to the timbres the recordings contain from the original performances that places, for me at least, the ESL as being not just better than any conventional speaker, but actually the only currently acceptable type [for me], because timbre is the thing that is the third pole of music after rhythm and pitch! Dynamic is tied inextricably to timbre of course, and so may be thought of also as the third degree of significance in music.

I do accept that this is mostly significant for naturalistic recordings of classical acoustic instruments, and of lesser importance where music is either a studio recording creation as such, or employs electronically amplified instruments. In these cases the ear does not have such a range of actual concert experience of what the timbres are supposed to be in the first place, so that the replay can be far more coloured before it ceases to be convincing.

ATB from George

I think that the SD card reader interface is a work-in-progress. That said, once connected to a 60" plasma screen, the album art is pretty impressive! But that would all be for nought if the sound quality wasn't up to snuff. Well it is, and it's so good that I am prepared to forego the ergonomic niceties of nServe to see where this technology goes. Interestingly, the Mirus uses a large FPGA to handle tasks upstream of the Sabre DACs, and these FPGAs seem to be wonderfully flexible devices, essentially giving the designer a blank canvas to work with.

Also, the Mirus has modular construction, so hardware upgrades are possible. I wonder if a streaming client section could be added.

Meanwhile, the Mirus continues to deliver the goods, letting me get lost in my music at the drop of an SD card. Slightly below the UnitiServe as a source, but not far off.

Jan

I just purchased the Invicta Mira. I auditioned it using the  USB connection only.  Very impressed . Should receive it next week. Looking forward to hearing the Mira using an SD card and comparing it to USB. 

Hi Drew,

I now find myself listening almost exclusively to the Mirus. I far prefer it to the Hugo in my 82-HiCap-250 setup, fed by the UnitiServe, or directly from an SD card. The Hugo remains for headphone duties. Perhaps if I had an NDX, I would prefer the Hugo. Who knows, maybe there's a synergy between the two.

The Mirus' talents have crept up on me, but now that I know them, I find it hard to listen to anything else. My unit is back in Kelowna at the moment, to fix a twitchy relay that kept shutting the player off, and I really, but really miss it.

To give you an idea, read the review by John Grandberg at Headphone Guru. I agree completely with his take on the Mirus. Arnie Nudell over at The Absolute Sound has also fallen under its spell in his review of the Audeze LCD headphones.

It's my retirement DAC

Jan

Thanks Jan,

I will be receiving my new Mirus next week. Any thoughts or recommendations regarding different USB cables ? Is the amp you use balanced or unbalanced ? I will be using my SN2. Would you recommend using a DIN to RCA IC between the SN2 and  the Mira? 

Hi Drew,

I use a Transparent Audio USB cable when connecting a MacBook Pro. If you're not streaming from the computer (i.e. iRadio), you can forgo USB completely. Just copy your files to an SD card.

I've not tried the Mirus in a balanced configuration. I connect it to the SN2 using either RCA to DIN from BIS Audio or their Vivat RCA to RCA. The Vivat cable is superb, and I can't detect any performance drop from connecting RCA at the SN2. For connecting to the 82, I use an RCA-DIN from BIS. According to the designer, the cable is not at the level of the Vivat, but what I'm hearing is very, very good.

Jan, Do you use an external hard drive to store your music , or do you store your music on your Mac Book Pro ?

The UnitiServe is my main source. I store everything (rips and downloads) on it, with backup to a NAS. Since downloads arrive first on the MacBook, a copy also stays there, but I wouldn't store my main music library on the MacBook even if there were sufficient space. Disk failures and theft come to mind.

Whether you use the MacBook as your music source into the Mirus, or SD cards, you'll need a long-term and secure storage solution.

Jan

An update. The Mirus is now back home after being tested, disassembled and retested by the staff at Resonessence. They could not reproduce the issue and suggested the mostly likely cause to be an intermittent earthing problem on my 120 V supply or the power cable I'm using, which would cause the DAC to revert to standby mode. Well, the diagnosis was spot on. I've now returned to the stock power cable and the Mirus is rock solid. It seems that my boutique power cable was not making a solid enough contact on its grounding pin...

Last night's listening session featured Masters of Reality's Sunrise on the Sufferbus (FLAC played back from SD card). The Mirus grabbed me from the first bars of She Got Me (When She Got Her Dress On) and didn't let up until the dying notes of the last track. It was easily the best version I've ever heard of this album. The Mirus is simply the best digital playback I've ever heard. The texture, tone and dynamics are utterly convincing, even at very low listening levels, a rare feat.

Jan