esanthosh
Herald
Yep! CK100Pro looks like a CK10 upgrade. Tempting! Going by average_joe's review Hidition NT6 seems like the custom equivalent of CK10. But that's for latter days when INR has retained some sanity against USD.
Meanwhile, my "transportable rig" aka brick stack is nearly complete with the addition of a $100 Sys.Concept cable. As Andy would say.....[attachment=10669:17640.attach]
This is by far my costliest cable to date, even including my erstwhile speaker setup :ashamed:. Typically, they make short distance custom digital cables. Unlike most other setups, my Out and In points happen to be on opposite sides increasing the cost of the cable hugely. But, I wanted to try it out anyway since I was fed up with not only carrying a bloody brick stack, but with extra 1.3m of Optical cable dangling side by side - too much to take even for this audio junkie. The whole process of getting the cable and long e-mails exchanged with Joseph Kmiec of Sys.Concepts Inc was very satisfying. He explained all options patiently. For that tiny piece of cable, the package box size was relatively much larger with lot of protection. The cable I have is mentioned as "1300 strands fiber, Premium Super Polished on 0.3um film Toslink to MiniPlug cable - Custom Made w/o shell". Probably a variation of this - Sys Concept Inc. Fiber Optic Products Attenuators, Patch cords, Laser Diodes, Connectors, MP3, Toslink, Hybrid Adapter and more: 1300-strands 24/196, Toslink Mini 90-deg Precision Premium Cable.
It made my rig much easier to carry. But for the first three hours, it felt like I was getting worse SQ out of the setup what with collapsed sound stage, grainy upper mids, not as good separation, but a tad extra bass punch. After 3 hours, everything settled. Do not worry! It's not cable burn-in, though I seriously suspected my sanity for those three hours. I think dropping QA350 on the table when excitedly picking up for connecting the cable may have more to do with it than cable getting "better" with 30 mins of actual use in those three hours. May be they did a secret handshake and decided not to screw me more? Whatever! Even Sys.Concept did not say their cable needed burn-in, just proper care
Now if I can only add one more brick like a battery pack to make this brick stack a mini wall!
Meanwhile, my "transportable rig" aka brick stack is nearly complete with the addition of a $100 Sys.Concept cable. As Andy would say.....[attachment=10669:17640.attach]
This is by far my costliest cable to date, even including my erstwhile speaker setup :ashamed:. Typically, they make short distance custom digital cables. Unlike most other setups, my Out and In points happen to be on opposite sides increasing the cost of the cable hugely. But, I wanted to try it out anyway since I was fed up with not only carrying a bloody brick stack, but with extra 1.3m of Optical cable dangling side by side - too much to take even for this audio junkie. The whole process of getting the cable and long e-mails exchanged with Joseph Kmiec of Sys.Concepts Inc was very satisfying. He explained all options patiently. For that tiny piece of cable, the package box size was relatively much larger with lot of protection. The cable I have is mentioned as "1300 strands fiber, Premium Super Polished on 0.3um film Toslink to MiniPlug cable - Custom Made w/o shell". Probably a variation of this - Sys Concept Inc. Fiber Optic Products Attenuators, Patch cords, Laser Diodes, Connectors, MP3, Toslink, Hybrid Adapter and more: 1300-strands 24/196, Toslink Mini 90-deg Precision Premium Cable.
It made my rig much easier to carry. But for the first three hours, it felt like I was getting worse SQ out of the setup what with collapsed sound stage, grainy upper mids, not as good separation, but a tad extra bass punch. After 3 hours, everything settled. Do not worry! It's not cable burn-in, though I seriously suspected my sanity for those three hours. I think dropping QA350 on the table when excitedly picking up for connecting the cable may have more to do with it than cable getting "better" with 30 mins of actual use in those three hours. May be they did a secret handshake and decided not to screw me more? Whatever! Even Sys.Concept did not say their cable needed burn-in, just proper care
Now if I can only add one more brick like a battery pack to make this brick stack a mini wall!