Letter from NYC 2011 (14): Infinity IRS Beta redux

Letter from NYC 2011 (14): Infinity IRS Beta redux

Close on the heels of my visits to MW came a re-visit to AL's magnificent palace. You will remember him as the man whose system I heard on a previous visit earned my nomination for best sound of 2010.

AL is a meticulous man. A look at the facade of his nice house will tell you something. This time I walked in to find a recently acquired EMT 930 in the middle of set-up. More interestingly, he seemed to have been doing work on some cartridges under the dissecting microscope! Now, that's a pro!

A twixt, unlike last time, this time we listened to only digital playback, unusual for this vinyl man. And was it awesome! List of Gears:

CD transport: CEC 1
DAC: Sonic Frontier SFD II MkII
Preamp - Audio Research Reference II Mk I.
Amp for Tweeter/Midrange column - VTL MB-450 monoblocks (8 x 6550 each)
Amp for Bass column - McIntosh MC-2500 (for bass column)
Loudspeakers - Infinity IRS Beta

Let's cut it to the chase: this is likely the best sound of 2011. What, so early in the year? Why not? How often do you hear things that prompt you to rethink?

If anything, the sound was quite the equal of the analogue playback we heard exclusively last time. The holographic field was populated by flesh and blood images of exquisite texture. This once again confirms my long-held view that the SFD II DAC is STILL unsurpassed in many areas. Also, the experience prompted me to re-evaluate CEC transports, some of which I have heard to be slow and not quite revealing. Not this one. Dynamically the music was marvelous, and, if my memory serves me, trumped the vinyl playback (leaving one to wonder about the gain structure of vinyl playback). I'll just cite one example of excellence: the orchestra in the Messiaen Turangalila Symphony (EMI/LSO/Previn) heaved and sighed, and one could clearly separate the various percussion and keyboard instruments. Again, what a lovely recording that everyone should have. For me, the orchestra in this piece swoons like in Scheherazade, and can be orgiastic as in Scriabin's Divine Poem, and the system captured everything in glory. All this from a cheap EMI forte re-issue; I wonder what the famous LP (pictured right) would sound like here.

Back home, lazy and still jet-lagged me immediately set about to improve my Maggie setup a bit more. In my narrower room, I cannot hope to emulate AL's panorama, but a little improvement is definitely possible. I also pulled out a copy of the Messiaen (Salonen/Sony) to play. Can there be greater tribute to AL's system? I think not.

Overview-Sonic Frontiers

Overview-Sonic Frontiers

Back in the early 90's, Sonic Frontiers was all the rage. They went under later but the AV subsidiary Anthem is still around. Information on old SF products can be found here. I have used and heard a lot of their products. Here are my views, briefly:

Digital
I put this first because I think in this area they excel, partly because of the era during which they produce products was the era of the excellent (and expensive) Ultranalogue 20-bit D20400A chip. I believe this is one of the best DAC chips ever.

SFD-2 This is the earlier flagship which uses 2 chips and has balanced outputs. Earlier MkI does not have HDCD decoding. Later beefed up MkII does, but there are also minor changes and cosmetic variations within its long production, which I shall not go into. I have owned before a MkI before it went bust, and still own a MkII. I suspect, contrary to popular opinion, the cheaper MkI is better sounding. But either one will still show a clean pair of heels to much more expensive, especially modern DACs. e.g. Just recently, in a friend's place, it completely slaughtered the DAC section of his Acuustic Arts CDP (whose transport section is no good either; all those over-rated reviews!). Tube rolling further enhances this DAC. One of the best DACs.

SFD-1 This is a cheaper version that uses only 1 chip and does not have balanced features. It does not sound nearly as good as the SFD-2.

Ultrajitterbug and Transdac I have owned both before but IMHO they are not as good as similar products from the contemporary Audio Alchemy or Monarchy Audio.

SFT-1 and SFCD-1 The SFCD-1 is actually a very good player, since it uses their own DAC. But the problem of this player, and the SFT-1 transport, lies in the unreliable laser mechanism, Philips CDM12 (.4 I believe). I would avoid these.

Transport and Processor 3 These are later ones. For similar reason I would avoid the transport. I have heard the Processor 3 in my home and I personally think it is not as good as the earlier SFD-2.

Preamp
SFL-1 This is the first one, and has numerous incarnations and special edition. Mine I think was the MkIII. It can be configured to use 1x 6DJ8 or 1x 12AT7. But it is the transistor part of this hybrid preamp that is troublesome. Beware IC failure is common, though it's not difficult to repair. It sounds reasonably good with a good tube and has very good imaging, but if you compare it to an ARC hybrid preamp that uses also just 1 tube, like LS-1/SP9 (which I did), there is no comparison. ARC wins hand-over in every department, particularly dynamics, yielding ground perhaps only in imaging. For its price, it's a good buy.

SFL-2 Haven't seriously heard this 2-box flagship with balanced features, reputed to be clinical sounding. But its price is not bad for a balanced tube preamp, and worth a try!

Line 1, 2, 3 Based on my extended hearing of friends' Line2/Power2, and Power 3, I'd think these are OK, but not great. They should be run in balanced mode for best results. Using RCA connection somehow loses dynamic.

Amps
SFS-50 is the earliest one, and I have used it, but I think the next one, SFS-40, using EL34, is the best sounding of the whole lot. Mine had better treble than almost all other tube amps I used, but the woolly bass is not too good, and cannot be ameliorated by tube rolling, hence its Archilles' heel. I am not impressed by their higher powered SFS-80 and SFS-160.

Power 1, 2,3 I am not impressed by these. They should be used in balanced mode for best results.

Overall, I am not crazy about their preamps and amps. In this department, comparison with ARC would be disadvantageous. But SF's digital products still have a place.