toetapaudio

Well we are waiting for one but we use the Makua Pre/Dac atm. If you are a using a turntable as well as digital, this is the one to go for.

@Marcel073, the new Lumin U1 mini is £1,695.00. Great value I believe. The Fidata is £6k, but is extremely good and we use it as our reference. The only others that might compare are the Netherlands brands Pink Faun, Evo 432 and SMG, all of which cost more. @jtwrace, are you in the U.K.? We can lend you one to try if you are.

@Marcel073, two products I can recommend you take a look at: Fidata server (for music downloaded). 1 or 2 TB storage. and/or Lumin U1 or U1 mini renderer (for streaming).

@rickca, I believe they have lent out before. Let us know how it goes.

@rickca, we haven’t tried the Ayre QX-5. We have tried against the Chord Dave and others have commentated that they rate the MM compared to Nagra and dCS. Not sure if that helps? Maybe you could borrow a Tambaqui?

Oh, I forgot to mention we also use toetapaudio custom built isolation furniture which is hung on silk threads. All solid wood construction.

@Hyperion, that’s our system right there. Nice photo. We use the Fidata server and Sablon cables with SteinMusic Harmonizers. Plus a stack of Bybee Signal Enhancers on the mains consumer unit, switch and hub. Calms things down dramatically and makes a HUGH improvement given time. We are going to experiment with other mains calming techniques in the near future which I’m very hopeful about. Attention to mains quality is a whole subject in itself and deserves our utmost attention. @Marcel073 it’s a pleasure dealing well with Sven, really nice guy and he knows his stuff. Same with Bruno Putzeys.

@Marcel073, thanks for your input. It’s great to hear from people who are liking Mola Mola. Vivid and Mola Mola are a great combination, which I’ve heard. I can also highly recommend the Boenicke speaker range which we demonstrate with the Mola Mola dac and power amps, for really good compatibility. @barrows, great comments and insight. Mola Mola Kaluga’s can be compared with the best Class A designs imo. We know of somebody who has switched from a £50k Swiss made class A design to £10k Kaluga’s and was very happy with his decision. As regards where the Benchmark ABH2 stands when we tried it was on par with the cheaper Nord class D amps, no way as good as the SST Son of Ampzilla 2 and all of them not in the same league as the Mola Mola Kaluga’s.

Yes. £2,295.00. Let me know. www.toetapaudio.com.

@john925, if you are in the UK I can arrange for you to hear a Makua. The Makua is a very versatile pre-amp and is very neutral sounding. It can be fitted with phono or dac modules, as required. Specific settings can be applied for different types of cartridges, so for example if you had a turntable with several pick-up arms each fitted with different cartridges, each one can be set-up individually for optimal performance. Volume control and input selection can be made from your tablet using the app or the remote supplied. Manual selection is also available. Inputs are XLR and RCA. Digital inputs if specified are USB and AES. Outputs are XLR and RCA. Fit and finish are immaculate, the top and front panel machined from one piece. The Makua is supplied in a solid flight case with a comprehensive set-up manual. As regards comparison with the Audio Research Reference SE, this is something we haven’t made but we and others have compared the Makua with other pre/dac’s and the Makua has always been preferred. Apart from my Dave comparison (see above) favourable comparisons have been made against dCS, SST, Weiss, Playback Designs, Nagra etc. If you have any specific questions please ask.

@Stereophonic thanks for the information. I would be interested to have your comparisons with other servers.

, I blame it on autocorrect

What’s Best Forum has more user reviews, see “Sablon affordable state of the art”. Their Ethernet cable is also getting great reviews, we will be trying shortly. We can lend out cables for anyone interested in trying in their systems. We are biased in the U.K. The whole range of Sablon cables have similar characteristics, that is very open, naturally balanced, more micro detail and good on transients.

@HeeBroG This is the distributors take, Bruno’s comments I will need to wait for: Using the Tambaqui in this way is not recommended by Mola Mola, even with speakers with 105dB efficiency and with impedance boosters.The benefit of not having the additional circuitry of a power amplifier in the signal path is offset by the compromised performance of using animpedance booster and the limited speakers available with high enough efficiency ratings. We would definitely recommend using the Tambaquiin conjunction with a pair of Kaluga mono power amplifiers. This will then drive virtually any high performance loudspeaker and offer significantlybetter performance.Are owners of Dave using the headphone output as the feed to loudspeakers or the preamp outs? If they are using the balanced or unbalancedpre amp outputs, then the spec of Tambaqui should be virtually identical as these are reasonably uniform voltage outputs. @HeeBroG, your thoughts please.

@HeeBroG, I have gone back to the factory with that question and expect an answer shortly. We have not tried ourselves. What speakers did you have in mind and what is their efficiency please? What country are you living in?