SS Part 4B: Latest Transformation - The Big Macs

[jadis]

Was invited last night by my uncle who has the Eggleston-based system, new toys for the big boys, as the case may be. The Halcro pre-amp is now resting on the side, replaced by the elegant looking Burmester 011 pre-amp, and the ML top of the line CD transport and DAC replaced by the one piece Burmester 001 CD player. Beautiful looking player, I was able to slide the top loading 'door' and wow, never felt a door that glides so smoothly, almost like it has rollers underneath. German craftsmanship.
And, the latest top dog of Shanling made it to the den, the T-300 model that looks like a bluish Martian rover. For the heck of it, Shanling added a top-cover pad that turns on its neon blue light when you place the cover on it, that is while you need to load a disc and have no place to put the top CD cover/damper; as if the table is not good enough. Oh, well, and a bonus of sorts, the owner gets a free aluminum carrying case, in case you want to bring the CD player over to a friend or anything. Gives
the term 'Made in China' another meaning...


THE BURMESTER CD001


THE BURMESTER PRE-AMP MODEL011


THE SHANLING T 300 CD PLAYER

The bluish round thing on the lower left is the 'cover stand', the blue light turns on by itself when the cover is placed in the cover stand. Amazing.

THE CARRYING CASE OF SHANLING


ALL IN THE FAMILY


BIGGER 'FAMILY' PIC


COMING SOON....THE 911 BURMESTER POWER AMP ....(FOR AUDITION ONLY)

Nice model name, either call 911 after seeing your bill for the amp, or 9-11 type of crash you will hear from your speakers...take your pill.
And oh, they have a power line conditioner that costs, *cough* $2,500. (Do we have an emoticon for *faint* ? )

[arnoldc]

ganda nung Shanling! Parang spaceship, but i think they got the idea from this product from the company who started spaceship-looking audio gears

[jadis]

hi arnold,

Oracle yan noh? Ooops, I see the label na now after brightening my screen. Beautiful.

[jadis]

btw, the Shanling uses 4 pcs of 6922s, i'm not sure if china or russian and stock tubes.

[joe3rp]

Some CRAZY HOBBY!

Halcro was suppose to be the "ultimate" as per audio tabloids....now "upgrade-itis" to a Burmester!?

ARGHH!

[Jon Agner]

Parang terminator yung Shanling at yung Oracle

[jadis]

Some CRAZY HOBBY!

Halcro was suppose to be the "ultimate" as per audio tabloids....now "upgrade-itis" to a Burmester!?

ARGHH!

yeah.....and, i just learned, this model 011 is NOT the top dog. there is a reference series, which according to the importer, is on indent order basis only. one thing about this hobby and others, like fast cars, is that there is no end to this buying spree, if money is no object. and this country has not even caught the MBL fever.....

[amandarae]

Ayawan na! Ayawan na!

[zach]

ey jadis, so how did the burmester front end fare against the ml sources? and would you know if you uncle is now selling the ml front-ends?

[jadis]

ey jadis, so how did the burmester front end fare against the ml sources? and would you know if you uncle is now selling the ml front-ends?

hi zach,

the problem with my uncle's previous set-up was that he felt there was a lack of 'gain'. parang mahina and mahinhin ang dating. with a monster of a speaker called the Ivy, with like 9 pcs of 12 inchers per side, he needs all the gain that he can get. the halcro monos have the power, but it seems that his ML source/halcro pre amp is a bit low in gain. hence a home audition of the burmester cdp/pre-amp combo. the result is a much more robust sound, macho, so to say - he likes that. and also we found the burmester faring better in 'separation of instruments'. also, bass dynamics is greatly improved. in our panel, there was one who still believed the ML source was better than the burmester, and probably it's because he owns 2 sets of ML sources. yin and yang ulit tayo babagsak. yes, i think the ML source combo is for sale.

[zach]

sent you a pm

[jadis]

sent you a reply, zach.

[Superman]

hanep, sir philip! ang lupet niyan ah! with matching blue lights...

[jadis]

hi jen,

yeah...malupit nga....balita ko tonight mag-dadagdag pa ng DCS DAC, upsampler, what have you not.....invited na naman ako.....hirap magtanggi.....(audition lang daw, no commitments).

[jadis]

Last night, for 'educational' purposes, JR brought in the DCS Verdi La Scala Upsampling Transport and the DCS Elgar Plus DAC Processor for a shootout with the Burmester CD001. Well, I suggested the A/B comparison be done as a 'set' thing, meaning Set 1 is composed of the DCS source with the Halco top line pre-amp while Set 2 is the Burmester CDP001 and the Burmester pre-amp 011 (this is not the top line, since the top line is the 'Reference' something, I forgot). There were suggestions to do cross line matching like DCS source into Burmester pre, but I pointed out that we might take too much time.

It is enlightening to know what is which, meaning, what has the yin sound and what has the yang sound. It almost always comes down to that, in my experience with 'shootouts'. Set 1 (DCS-Halcro) is very very FAST, speedy, that is. It is even kind of dazzling. We played some kodo/chinese drum tracks that would literally fill and engulf a 100 plus square meter listening room. The idea here is to bring the IVY to its limits, to have a raison d' tre for procuring such a behemoth of a loudspeaker. POWER, SPEED, CLARITY, and UNRESTRICTED DYNAMICS - these are the what we heard with Set 1. The transients and the cresendos are really breathtaking. To me, that is what owning monstrous amps and speakers is all about. It is quite obvious that if we subscribe to the British 'sound' of listening to great imaging vocals and small ensembles, a mini-monitor would suffice. I don't think people buy an EVO to drive in city pace. ( Banatin mo sa sa Skyway, pare....that's what I always hear. )

Set 2, surprisingly to me, sounds ALMOST the same in terms of clarity and transparency to Set 1. I don't know if it's the late night time element or that I lately have not attended shootouts, but I almost concluded that there was no MAJOR difference. Until Cantate Domino....Side2 cut 2, the Swedish version of O Holy Night. This one never fails me in deciphering minute differences in almost any gear. Another panelist agreed with me that it is here where the Set 2 combi has a little more 'warmth', the singers sang with more emotion and drama. And also, here, the soundstage seems a tad higher. It was an interesting night, digital sources have come a long way, and I'm happy to hear music through them.

[Jon Agner]

Philip,

DCS Verdi La Scala Upsampling Transport - I was reading the back issue of Stereophile this morning (I think it was on the January 2005 issue) and they seem to be so enthusiastic about this DAC. With your description of its sound, I now know why

Cheers.

[jadis]

yes, jon. JR told me he has sold 7 units here. the price is quite staggering, but it has almost all the digital gizmos that the technology can give, the best of anti-jitter, clocking, upsampling, it even has a decicated cable to link the upsampler to the processor with something called a firecable, if i heard it right.

[Jon Agner]

At US$ 15,000, it is indeed staggering and yet 7 units sold, WOW. The reviewers at Stereophile also complained 'bout the complicated setup, but then again, they still went gaga over its sound

[rossifumi46]

jadis.. if you had the money.. which would you take home?:)

anu yung napili ng owner ng supersystem?:)

[jadis]

jadis.. if you had the money.. which would you take home?:)

anu yung napili ng owner ng supersystem?:)

hi rossifumi,

my personal choice is the Burmester CDP. the owner also chose that.