UberBuss and DigiBuss

[Nick B]

Don is retired from his own company but does consulting work for the new owners at Spatial. 

If you are considering trying to get Holger to use parts from an overseas company he has likely not done business with before I would ask him way in advance of deciding to buy a preamp.  From my discussion with him about preamps he will do some customization in terms of inputs and outputs but I didn't ask about anything else.  Also the Khozmo unit may or may not even fit inside of his preamps with the way they are laid out.  The same thing Mick said.

Getting Holger to add a Khozmo is a long shot I think. But I would ask as it's my first choice, mainly because of price and I think it would sound very good. The single chassis Aric is $4,995 and I'd prefer not to go that high. The Erhard pre would need room for the attenuator and the digital feadout. I am guessing he probably would not want to do it. But anyway, not a priority. I will be adding the LPS you recommended for the iFi optical and will be getting Pete's ethernet, so I'll see what changes there will be.

[Jack]

I don't think the Alp's Blue Velvets are all that bad especially the top of the line model that Backert uses.  As for digital readouts they can just add noise so I always turn them off and adjust by ear.  And yes the Aric's are expensive compared to Erhard plus you put down 50% up front and wait up to six months for delivery. I've had the Rhumba and the 25s back in the system for the last week or so due to the heat and the combo sounds great to me.

[Nick B]

You know I liked the Chardonnay. I just liked the Hattor better as it resolved better. It's also uber quiet with or without the digital readout. I do find it very handy to see the volume numerically displayed. My concern in getting a unit with an Alps is really going sideways at best and maybe not as good as the Hattor.

The Hattor has opamps and maybe opamp rolling would improve things. I have the New Class D installed. Sound great to me, but I have not experimented with any others.

It's nice to be able to mix and match. Glad the Backert and 25s are a good combo. My heat pump is quiet with the AC mode and the Erhard just doesn't put out enough heat to bother me at all.

[Jack]

Well it seems to me that since you want resolution, the Kozmo volume control and don't want to spend $5k your best bet is to stick with the combination you are using now.  As to rolling op amps the "warmest" sounding ones I am aware of are the Sparkos and were when I had a pair of amps that you could roll op amps in.  Another option is to try the Schitt tube buffer from Amazon for $119.00. If you don't like what it does then send it back.  A quality one like the one from Modwright is a whole lot more.

[Nick B]

The resolution is quite good now and the midrange is very nice with that RCA 6ns7. I would like to get just a bit more timbre/harmonics right now. That's what I am curious about. Replacing that crappy 2' ethernet cable really opened up that element. I have been spinning my wheels a fair amount for many years in this hobby/passion. So it's nice to be able to appreciate what I have and what areas I'd like to improve. Getting your advice these last few years has been very helpful! So many thanks for that to get me to this point