ecclezia

Overall Rating
 2 of 5

Value Rating
 2 of 5

Used product for
More than 1 year

Visitors rate this review
2.60 of 5, 5.00 votes

Price Paid:  $2350.00 from av123.com

Summary:
I bought a complete set comprising the P-1A, Signature 1 P-3A and MS P3b power supply new from av123. I later bought Revelation Audio Labs I2S cables and power supply links as well. At the time, a Jadis JD-3 Drive was used as transport, feeding the P-1A via a DH Labs Silver Sonic coax digital cable. I ran the PT combo in 24/96 mode most of the time, doing the upsampling in the P-1A, thus employing the P-3A as a straight-through DAC. My initial impressions were quite positive. Compared with playback from the Jadis (which employs a 1-bit processor),I perceived a wider (but not really deeper) soundstage, less glare in the highs and upper-mids and slightly more fullness in the bottom end. I did not sense any real increase in resolution (despite the claims of Resolution Enhancement) but overall the sound was noticeably less "digital" with the PT combo in service than without. For short time, I was forced to use the P-3A alone when the P-1A was sent back to PT to rectify a sudden and unexplained loss of signal strength. To be honest, I could not discern any significant difference with or without the P-1A, other than the fact that with the P-1A in the chain, the level was reduced considerably (by 6dB, I read somewhere). The upshot is that while the PT combo does not, in my view, degrade the signal substantially, they do not enhance the sound very much at all. The most noticeable effect is the reeduction in signal level with the P-1A in the chain. Other than that, the marginal changes to the sound were only discernable if you listened critically (wider soundstage, lower glare). All in, I did not think the units lived up to their lofty reputations. Two years after I bought the PT combo, I had the opportunity to pick up a pre-owned Krell KPS-20i. This unit runs 20-bit proprietary reconstructive software and employs 16x upsampling to 705.6 kHz. The Krell was a revelation. It had pace, grace and bass in spades and truly showed up the Jadis/PT system as distant seconds. The Jadis and PT units are now gone.

Strengths:
Marginal improvement over 16/44.1 straight-through, but not enough to justify its cost or lofty reputation.

Weaknesses:
Lowers signal considerably; push-button interface is a real pain to use.

Similar Products Used:
None.

Price Paid:  $600.00 from used

Summary:
For all those looking into upgrading their p tech setups here's a list of some available upgrades: Power supply: 12vdc high amp switching power supply for p1, Monolithic power supply for P1 and P3, Dan wrights monolithic power supply upgrade, upgraded cable for power lines from monolithic power supply to the p1 and p3 P1: ModHi-Fi capacitor upgrade, 192khs chip upgrade (when available) P3: ModHi-Fi op-amp upgrade (ok), Dan wright stage 1 upgrade (better), Dan Wright stage 2 upgrade (best) I2s: Audio Magic Mystic I2s cable. These units seem to respond well to upgrades, no wonder there are so many available. how does it sound you ask? read annother review besides this one :) I wonder in an A/B test how different a fully upgraded p tech combo would sound compared to a stock setup. it seems to me people are reviewing entirely different setups and configurations with all upgrades and setting combinations it's no wonder some people love these things and some peopel hate them.

Price Paid:  $950.00 from Private Seller (used

Summary:
I got the p1a/p3a duo, used, purchased from a seller on this website. At first, I just plugged it into my modest starter system, quite uncertain if I would hear any difference, given the fact that I had done no other upgrades yet. Well, even with my old JVC rcvr the increased quality was striking. All cd's sounded like the more specialized 20-bit/24-bit remasterings in both classical & jazz music. Less distortion, of even the more intangible kinds where you can't hear any direct distortion problem but still feel that something is hanging there, between you and the music. Then I got my upgrades going. Full range definitive technology speakers, bp10 rear surround, bp20 front. bryston power amps on all channels. these units finally let me just sit back and get lost in the music. As it happens, because of the digital coax cable, the units also process the front two channels of movie dvds. WOW, who knew dts or dolby could sound so good? Yeah I bet you can spend even more, in fact way way more;but the law of diminishing returns suggests to me that these units are a really great place to start moving beyond off-the-shelf consumer mid-fi electronics. Given how great the units sound now, future power supply upgrades will only make them sound that much better. So it's nice to know you can get started, and then continue upgrading piece by piece, level by level. Who knew cd's could sound this much better?

Strengths:
Modest pricing, new. Killer pricing, used. Ease of installation. Deservedly awarded product of the year by several different audio magz/venues. Really deliver on de-jittered, reclocked, 24-bit interpolated DAC output. Excellent detail available at all frequencies. Vivid, clear, large soundstaging. Regular cds can rival SACD or DVDaudio in quality of reproduction.

Weaknesses:
Tricky to program without the assist of an onscreen display. (let's see, which program layer am I in, now?) But who cares? I got help from somebody who pushed the buttons while I read the manual outloud.

Similar Products Used:
Not really fair to compare with DAC's typically built into most of the consumer home audio electronics available in USA.

Price Paid:  $480.00 from auction

Summary:
Where do I begen, it started with the purchase of the P3a Dac when it initially debuted. The 3a replaced my Adcom 600 Dac; I imedietly noticed a huge diffrence in resolution and musicality never heard from my system. Jump two years latter, I decided to pair the 3a with the 1a. Boy was I in for a bad surprise. The openess and resolution decrease and was very noticeable. I initialy connected the PT units with a Wydeye AES/EBU cable, I was not happy with the results, I then tried the stock I2S cable that came with the 3a-Strike 2, not much of a diffrence. Reading the professional reviews availiabe and heeding the advise of one Audiophile writing in this venue...I went to the local electronics surplus store and bought a switching power supply($29.00)-12VDC rated at 2.0A, and held my breath when I connected it. Wonderful describes the diffrence in sound when the 1a was fed its required power. Moreover, I upgraded the stock I2S cable and bought the Revelation Audio Lab Siver ($90.00) and was amazed at the detail, sound and dynamics brought forth by this upgrade. I am very happy with the PT products in tandam; together they outmatch CD players costing 2 to 3 times the price of the 1 & 3. The P1a and 3a together with the additional tweeks make this a steller buy. Sound System: Esoteric P-10 transport Sonic Frontiers Line 1 PreAmp Audio Research D115 MII Amp Hales Rev 2 Speakers Soler stainless steel speaker cones Audio Power 116 conditioner Tara Labs Decade 1m RCA interconnets Tara Labs Master Gen II speaker cable Tara Labs RCA digital cable Revelation Audio Labs I2S digital cable vibropods

Strengths:
Resolution, detail, and musicality....

Weaknesses:
cheap op amps used in the 3a stock build, to be replaced.....

Price Paid:  $800.00 from online

Summary:
Some people like the sound of the P-1 while others don't i figure it's the same for tube amps and so forth... some would rather have tons of detail while others would rather have smother sound (and therefore a P-1) Regardless if you like the P-1 or not it's pretty unanimous that the P-3 is an all around great performer... not to mention that you can get the output stage of yoru P-3 upgraded at modhi-fi.com for only 95 bucks. I've tried it and it makes for a much smother sounding unit with EVEN MORE DETAIL so if you regardless if you prefer smoothness or detail you get both and for 95 bucks it's a steal. The P-3 is a great unit regardless with it's 140 db signal to noise ratio it's a truly ground breaking unit

Strengths:
as it relates to the P-3... dynamics, pace and high resolution as it relates to the P-1... smothness, on top of a great quality to the sound that is decidedly NOT digital sounding

Weaknesses:
the P-3 in it's stock form is a touch on the harsh side but that's easily remedied with either modhi-fi's cost effective upgrade or modwrights even more comprehensive upgrade (although it cost's quite a bit more)the p-1 lacks the overt dynamics and detail of the P-3 alone but it's truly great for some forms of music that you dont want a "edgy detail" or where dynamics isnt' an issue for instance smoth jazz or chant, in relaxed music like this the P-1 is in a class of it's own and really does do a great job

Similar Products Used:
too many to mention