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Review 1 of 2 Summary:
I always favoured the analog playback, simply because I listened all the years to the demo's from Levinson, Krell, etc. and I always left the rooms feeling sick or with a bad taste in my mouth.
Much too expensive what was offered there ( folks, graphic's DON'T sound like music ).
The last 2 years it changed a little bit when I first heard the Wadia 850, 860 etc, that was the first step for something musical.
Then I listended to the dCS units ( Data Conversion Systems from England ) and these one's are superb, don't ask me why, they sound excellent. Probably they use their own DAC ? ( And I don't have to buy these SACD's ....... ).
Well, after I bought them I looked for a good transport, not easy. The reasons are the same to read above, Wadia is gone and at least I tried the Goldmund.
The results about the dCS / Goldmund combo:
Once the Goldmund was installed in my system, the very first thing I'll noticed was the cleaned up bass and its coherency in terms of the rest of the sonic spectrum. (it has always seemed to me that there was something weird and slightly discontinuous about the bottom octaves of the CD; I actually managed to interpret this as the result of more accurate sampling at the bottom octaves than at the frequency and filter-limited top octave.) Now the bass sounds adjoined, as one, with what happens above it. Not only that, but there is a clarity, a pitch definition and a taut "slam" that is both awesome and breathtaking (especially when heard through a good sounding system), and, in this my estimation, completely beyond the abilities of any analogue-encoding system that we know of, or are likely to know of.
With the Goldmund CD table, suddenly you can hear into the bottom octaves, and even define a low-frequency soundstage. With the Goldmund, it was clearly there, just to the right of center.
I am not certain how to describe the feat that the Goldmund achieves in blending the bass with the upper midbass and parts northward in the spectrum. To do that, I'd have to have the vocabulary to describe the discontinuity that is the bottom two octaves of CD sound in such a way you would take note of its difference, in part and kind I think, from the upper portion of the frequency scale. Once you hear the Goldmund, you'll find yourself saying, "Aha."
The Mimesis 39 is remarkably neutral and linear. No part of the musical spectrum is accentuated and the Mimesis never give a false emphasis to singers voices.
Where the Goldmund however, really distances itself from other digital equipment results from a vanishingly low noise floor. The Mimesis's quietness allows for the retrieval of musically relevant subtle, low level details without resorting to other tricks. Lots of air around each instrument.
This low level resolution combined with the Mimesis 39 dynamic recreation captures the pace and rhythm of the music like few digital pieces. Dynamics are so wide and precisely controlled that you never even think about them. As a result, the Mimesis doesn't favor any single musical genre. Low frequencies are tightly defined and dynamic and the unit's character doesn't change with volume.
Here it is an exception.
For me, I can listen now to CD's for hours without loosing hairs.
That's not bad
System's Components:
Turntable: Well Tempered Super ( Marigo )
Basis Debut Vacuum Mk.V
Arm: Well Tempered ( Marigo )
Graham 2.0 Deluxe
Cartridge: Benz Ruby ' Open Air '
Takeda ' Miyabi '
CD Transport: Goldmund Mimesis
D/A Converter: dCS ' Delius '
Audio Resolution Ref.
D/D Converter: dCS ' Purcell '
Phono Preamp: Stan Klyne 7 PX 3.5
Line Preamp: Stan Klyne 7 LX 3.5
Power Amps : 2 x Jeff Rowland ( Mono )
Golden Tube SE 300 B
2 x QUAD II ( Mono )
Speakers : Kochel ( Horns )
Reference 3A 'Aura'
Tuner : Magnum Dynalab ' ETUDE '
+ Signal Sleuth 205
Naim NAT 101 + Snaps
Tape : Revox PR 99 Mk III
Interconnects: XLO Signature + XLO Ltd. Edition
Phono Cable : XLO Signature
Speaker Cables: XLO Signature
Digital Cables: XLO Signature AES/EBU
Power Cables: XLO Ultra
Record Cleaner: VPI HW 16.5
Power Conditioner: Burmester 948
Octave Filter II
Rack : Solid Steel
Plans for Future: none, only listening
Strengths:
Is THAT really a CD there playing ??? Weaknesses:
Connection between weight of unit and it's price Similar Products Used:
Hm, interesting question ...
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