My Vintage and Modern Systems

[tc-fi]

Hi Guys,

I have two nice stereo systems. One uses a vintage 1980’s Tube/MOSFET hybrid amp and a set of rare DCM “statement design” loudspeakers. The other uses modern powered Yamaha Studio Monitors.

SOURCE
- Macbook Air mid-2013 (Mavericks)
- iTunes 11 and RuneUI
- RPi + ODAC
- ALAC 16/44 CD rips stored on central File Server

VINTAGE 1980’s SYSTEM
- DCM Time Window Squared loudspeakers (rare)
- Moscode 600 amplifier (300 w/channel tube/mosfet hybrid)
- http://www.moscode.com/george_kaye/index.htm
- http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showth ... p?t=503326

MODERN 2014 SYSTEM
- Yamaha HS5 Studio Monitors
- Yamaha HS8S Studio Subwoofer
- http://usa.yamaha.com/products/music-pr ... ab=feature

Heres the configuration I am using for the Yamaha’s. I use a similar config for the DCM's except the ODAC connects to the Moscode amp via RCA-RCA cable.

[ACX]

The DCM Time Window Squared look great! I didn't know those speakers, how is the soundstage?

And, as you use both Macbook Air + iTunes and Raspberry Pi + RuneAudio, which one does perform better?

[tc-fi]

Soundstage is wide and enveloping with the DCM's due to the design having both direct radiating drivers (the inside face of the head unit) and dispersion drivers (the outside face of the head unit) Soundstage can be shaped using the three controls on the back of the head unit: Tweeter Level, Mid Frequency Dispersion and High Frequency Dispersion.

Between iTunes and RuneUI, I'm cheering for Rune!

One noticeable difference between iTunes and Rune is that the Volume control in Rune whether MPD based or mapped to chip hardware by alsa, has much finer stepping than the control in iTunes. The Rune volume stepping appears to be linear all the way down to zero volume.