Decware have a special house sound similar to a CSP3?
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#fleawattsclub ftw
Congrats!
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It’s difficult to equate the HP amp to the speaker amps, they are similar in that they present an extremely pleasing soundstage, great dimension in the sound presentation. I had a CSP2 and it was a very pleasing pre-amp. The ability to adjust gain and output crazy voltage was very beneficial in some of my systems.
I need more time w/ this amp (SE85UFO25) to be able to compare it to my 341.5 which i found had a very sweet sound. I just sent the 341.5 in for upgrades and a fresh tube compliment w/ the addition of 1/4 HP output, once i have that back in hand I may be able to give some better info.
If any of his amps have similar characteristics it would be these 3 since they share very similar tube compliments and construction.
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That a beautiful two watts!
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@ericg , if you can find a really quiet room in your home, real quiet, i feel a low power system with speakers that have good low volume dynamics is a wonderful and extremely relaxing/enjoyable experience. I am VERY happy, with my choices and configurations. Lastly, being able to really adjust seating and speaker placement has allowed me to find joy and satiation. Everything and anything beyond what i get now is the cherry and toppings on top of my deluxe sunday. 
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I am fortunate, or perhaps you can say unfortunate enough to live near an ice cream shop that is open year round, and always; I really mean always has a line waiting for their order to be taken.
Cherry Cheesecake today.
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I remembered when you ordered it! Congratulations on winning the marathon!!
Looks amazing
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Bought a H1 Mini Pro PC (as an early birthday present) since I’m finally calling it quits with my leisure/gaming and work PC being one in the same. While working from home has taken a lot of pressure off, the days are just melding together for me being in the same spot 8+ hours a day. Trying to accomplish a split-desk and system solution to maybe try and alleviate some of that wonkiness.
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I so wish their higher end amps kept this aesthetic. The ears looks pretty damn interesting to me but the fins litteraly spell out the company name in 2" tall font -.-
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Courtesy of @Salguson I now have a lovely secondhand Bifrost 2 still in extremely good condition and now happily providing sounds to my RNHP and Whammy.
I haven’t had a huge amount of time to listen so far but I would say I have noticed the following. It does sound different enough to notice, that enough is very small and subtle. Listening to quiet piano music I could hear more texture in the notes - how the volume fluctuated over the course of a note, an idea of how hard the key was pressed. Subtle stuff indeed. Would I notice if I didn’t know? Not sure really!
I am very happy with the sound, it is musical and feels very alive and I like it. I noticed the most change in the Whammy as it definitely sounds a lot more natural. Also can I just say that the Whammy is the most dust magnet-y thing ever.
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Generally what you’ll notice with “better” equipment is changes to the Stage, blacker background, sometimes smoother trebble without a loss of detail and better Bass control, better overall detail retrieval.
If you quickly A/B with a switch it can be extremely difficult to hear the difference (even with very different sounding DACs), because for any not broken DAC they will have identical flat frequency responses and that’s the first thing you pick up on.
The best way to compare is to listen to the new DAC for an extended period, then listen to the other one, and see what you miss.
I know when I ran the Amber3 and LaVoce S3 at the same time flipping the input on my preamp was inaudible, but If I thought I was listening to one and was actually listening to the other I’d usually notice halfway through 1 song and it would be obvious and annoy me from that point.
It’s also the reason with the more expensive stuff why it becomes so difficult to describe why it’s an improvement. There is a tendency to discuss signature, but it’s not about frequency response, it’s about presentation.
Anyway congrats on the BF2
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I do not doubt any of this! I think I was expressing my own answer to the question I posed about more expensive dacs and how different they can sound. If I concentrate intensely with the right piece of music on repeat I can pick up some differences for a quick impression. That’s not listening to music though.
I can see the value in the improved performance, even if so subtle and I think it is worth the expense but I also acknowledge that it is my interest in the gear in the first place that means I am aware of the difference! Also all of this is bloody hard to describe, like fish trying to describe birds flying to each other. 
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The biggest way to know how much difference it makes is when you’ve had the dac for a while and got used to it and then you switch it out for something else and feel sad when you feel like you’re missing out on specific intangibles 
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This. When I received my BF2 I felt it wasn’t a big difference from the Modius. Been using BF2 for months then came back to a Modius that I re-bought out of curiosity, and realised I cannot unhear the improvements, and they are definitely not subtle
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This is a good and succinct explanation of happens when you upgrade into the realm of more capable DACs. I’ve struggled to describe what I’ve heard when stepping up, often just doing the dumbed down um… it sounds more real with an subconscious shoulder shrug afterwards. 
I also want to add that for me it’s easier to think of things that I’m missing rather than things I’m gaining. The realization of gains come MUCH later in the new product experience for me, when I stop critically listening and then simply go back to hearing the music, the performance and you can “see” to steal @NickMimi term that I hadn’t ever noticed before.
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Agree! I always struggle to describe it…everything just gets “better.” 
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Small but unfortunately expensive changes and additions, one at a time to fine tune what I have in order to meet certain expectations I have set for myself, based on knowledge gleamed over time with you fine folks.
FTS Callisto USB has arrived to pair with my next Lampizator DAC when it arrives someday.
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Isn’t the callisto yellow/gold? Or is that a custom piece?
You can get custom colors, I saw someone with a white one that looked pretty nice too. I’ve got a gold one, but I see a lot of dealers now selling black ones
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