[Review] "But I know y'all wanted that 808...." a long'ish review.

"But I know y'all wanted that 808...." a long'ish review.

Well, until now, I've refrained from writing a review untiI I had all the pieces together so that I could put together a system review; as opposed to reviews of individual system components .

So, the details :

System

Wadia 8 Transport with an Omiga Audio 'Liberator' AES/EBU Digital cable (to Pre) and Eupen power cable (with WattGate 320 IEC).
Tact RCS 2.0 Pre-Amp (with Room correction) with Acoustic Zen mc2 AES/EBU Digital cable (to Amp) and Eupen power cable (with WattGate 320 IEC).
Tact S2150 Digital Power Amp with Kimber Classic Power Cord and MIT MH-750 bi-wire speaker cable.
B&W 703 speakers.
Miscellanious items such as a Russ Andrews Power Block with Eupen power cable, StillPoint feet for speakers and an Ash Design Rack.

Music used

"Elvis '56" by Elvis.
"Older" by George Michael.
"The best of..." by Van Morrison.
"Beyond Skin" by Nitin Sawhney
"10,000hz legend" by AIR.
"The fat of the land" by the Prodigy.
"Electric Ladyland" by The Jimi Hendrix Experience.
"Live at the It Club - Complete" by Thelonious Monk.
"Orblivion" by The Orb.
"Voodoo" by D'Angelo.
"Rage against The Machine" by Rage against The Machine.
"ESCM" by BT.
"Grace" by Jeff Buckley.
"White Ladder" by David Gray.
"Doggystyle" by Snoop [Doggy] Dogg.
"Death to the Pixes" by The Pixies.
"The Rainbow Children" by Prince.
"N.E.W.S." by Prince.
"Golden Greats" by Ian Brown.
"Remix of the Spheres" by Ian Brown.
"Seventeen Seconds" by The Cure.
"Mysteries of Funk" by Grooverider.
"Pretty Hate Machine" by NIN.
"Speakerboxxx"/"The Love Below" by Outkast.
"New Gold Dream 81,82,83,84" by Simple Minds.
"Embrya" by Maxwell.
"Metallica" by Metallica.
"100th window" by Massive Attack.

My listening room is approx. 15' x 8' x 7.5' (LxWxH) and has tiled floors, some furntiure (wardrobe etc. behind the listening position.) and has plaster/concrete walls that are rock solid (try putting pictures up !).

The biggest thing I've had to decide recently is whether to keep the Audio Note CDT-2 or Wadia 8 for transport duties.
In my system's previous incarnations (different speakers, cables etc.) the CDT-2 just didn't cut the mustard. The Wadia 8 gave an immediate increase in performance (when warmed up) and I was very happy. However, shifting to new speakers (same room position) brought about huge changes and I discovered that the CDT-2 was not, as I thought, out of it's depth - far from it .

So, over the past few weeks I've been doing a lot of listening and thankfully came to the conclusion that the Wadia was the One. Could have been a little :shame:.

So what does she sound like ?

OK, first up we'll deal with Dance orientated tunes. Playing "Orbitus Terranium", by BT, was actually quite frightening; with the room correction in full flow, this baby rawks. The siesmic lines I'd never heard (or until now felt before) were such a surprise that the entire complexion of the music was changed . Drive, propulsion, timing/coherence any way you want to put it - I don't care but it is patently obvious that my old B&W's just weren't up for it . Don't get me wrong, they are good speakers, but the dynamics and clarity of the 703's is a million miles away and cannot, I feel, be classed as a %'age improvement because it's simply that much better. "Anthem Without Nation", by Nitin Sawhney, loaded the room in seconds (the solid concrete no doubt helping) and the bass took on physical form with waves of the low stuff, travelling from about 2 metres behind the speakers, right up to the back of the room. I'm no BassHead but my perception of what true bass should sound like has changed forever . It's certainly not over-blown or boosted in some way and the TACT Room Correction is to thank for that; it just brings all the pieces together and that's it. It's akin to watching a theatre performance when you've been used to the film version for so long :MILD:. Imaging is not the Wadia's biggest forte but this isn't a problem the TACT in tow.
The BT release and especially recordings such as "Speakerboxx", by Outkast, take on whole new meanings when you can appreciate the efforts gone put into the production ; with "Bow Tie" and "The way you move" being of particular note, from the latter. Even the often trippy "Embrya" by Maxwell swam to greater depths of spiritualness, with the sonics flying all over the room. I couldn't help but play the QSound recording of "Vogue", by Madonna. I'm far from her biggest fan but this is truly surround sound from two speakers and again completely redefined the way I approached and enjoyed the music.

Aside from mostly electronically music with manufactured bass etc, I thought I'd check out the subtle Double Bass on the "It Club" release, from Thelonious Monk. Tight, musical and weighty (as it should be IMO) and produced with excellent clarity (remember : Fully digital source and amplification. you can shove your distortion up yer erse :torkmada: ) but always part of the mix - part of the music. The midrange and high frequencies used to be a little glassy on a few recordings but removing my QED SR75 digi lead between pre and power yeilded huge benefits. At first it was superceded by a LAT Digital XLR (which yeilded great improvements) and finally to what I have at the moment. I now have virtually zero sibilance (unless recorded) and the high-end is smooth but far from overly sweet and boring. Something like "White Ladder", by David Gray, (hardly a favourite of mine) just seemed so much more controlled and human, with the low-end being revealed as an integral part of the music and not just bolted on in a 'manufactured pop'/'crap dance' way.

It's certainly not without it's faults (I'll get to those later) but it's the little underlying details which, are now released and free to interact with the songs, that give this emmotive and human feel to whatever I'm listening to. A strange but effective example of this is pretty much anything off of "Rage against The Machine". Angry, brutal but energising is how I'd describe the album. After a spin through the hi-fi it's no longer just that. You can actually hear how young Zac de la Rocka is !!!!!!! and for me that changes everything (I wasn't looking for it - it was there all along). It gives the music more emotion, more weight and bolts it into a timeframe. The music is timeless but you can tell it's their first album and feel the anger - not just hear it. I certainly can't mention this album without mentioning the drums; not the best i've heard but rock solid, weighty and lightening fast. With the TACT, overhang (caused by room interaction) is no longer an issue. Start-Stop. My old man once told me that, "It's not how fast you can go - it's how quickly you can stop.", and this is true for my current setup.

Thankfully, the change of digital cables has ensured that the number of unlistenable discs has decreased to the point that I probably couldn't even name one. THAT is important for me as I always like to listen to lots of different styles but these are mostly based on my mood at the time and if I'm my hi-fi ain't up to it, then I find it a little depressing.

There are certainly disappointing discs (production-wise) but nothing to make me want to switch off. So, those that think listening to a digital rig is lifeless, unmusical (is that even possible ?) and unforgiving can shove it where it don't shine because it's simply not true. I've heard decent high-end vinyl setups and they are different - not better or worse - just different. Any Cure fans out there may well know that their back-catalogue is atrociously produced on CD but stunning on vinyl. Well, the CD's are actually far from shabby. All the info is there - getting it out appears to be the hard part. "A forest, from '17 Seconds' is stunning. Hell, a really well produced release, such as "N.E.W.S.", by Prince, or a well (re)mastered album, such as the SACD Hybrid release of "New Gold Dream", by Simple Minds, will l blow your socks off. I know that album inside and out on tape, MD, CD (3 versions), crappy personal stereo, basic hi-fi, in car and iPod and I'm hearing musical complexities that weren't apparent before. You can attribute this to remastering but my old (80's) CD release of "New Gold Dream" benefits in the same way.

Down sides ?

>Well, there appears to be a slight 'echo' in the lowend. It's not very noticeable but it's certainly the room interacting in some way. Maybe some further tweaking of the TACT will rectify that .
>I haven't tried it out with Classical as I'm no afficianado but I'm sure the weight, clarity and drive would make it a good bet.
>I can't listen to the system after about 21:00 as my room is next to the neghbours apartment. They haven't complained but I thought it best to lay some rules for myself.
>We're moving to Brighton soon so I'll lose the listening room. This room is GREAT and I'll sorely miss it. I wonder how a Brighton apartment will sound with this baby cranked up ?

So, before I finish: the Audio Note CDT-2.
What a quite frankly great piece of kit; it gives the Wadia a serious run for it's money .
It's beautifully natural and refined (very vinyl esque IMO) and very cohesive (read "musical"). The only area it falls down on is the lower end. It has shed loads of bass but is missing the n'th degree I (previously) never knew existed. I thought maybe the Omiga Audio Liberator would address this and althogh some issues were addressed very nicely, there was little difference in the lower registers; possibly even a reduction. With the Wadia, differences over the AZ mc2 and Liberator were hardly night and day but it did tighten things up even more without sacrificing anything else.

So there we have it, hardly the most in-depth and concise of reviews but hopefully a small insight into why I've had a huge grin on my face for the past few months.

 

Forgot to add, a big thanks to WM, Merlin, HenryT, Michaelab and Tones for helping me to aquire my system.

Hopefully I'l be able to have some of you round for a listen :beer: after I moved back to the UK .