Little brother
Contents
I wanted to add a second converter, Alpha Audio is a digital platform after all, and found it at Swiss company Merason Audio. I bumped into this manufacturer earlier by chance and was pleasantly surprised to learn that there is now a Dutch importer (KlangQ) for this particular brand. Their cute little Frérot dac convinced me from the first minute and with the new Pow1 power supply the ‘little brother’ even comes surprisingly close to the Morpheus. The Denafrips Ares 2, which stayed in the system for a while, is also very good but it colored more and let less info through so it was less suitable for testing. If all goes well I will be testing their top model, the Merason Audio Dac1, later this year.
Every little thing helps
Any changes? Yes there are. Because I cannot and do not want to say goodbye to my indestructible Nad M50, colleague Jaap suggested to attatch a Mutec Mc3+ reclocker to it to take it to the next level quickly and affordably. He had already applied this tried and tested recipe to full satisfaction on a Metrum Ambre and so the choice was quickly made. The Mutec is primarily a step forward in terms of spaciousness, intelligibility and calmness. And it is also just nice to know that everything now clocks perfectly again.
Safety first
Another important addition came after my Audioquest story in which I reviewed several of their products. I very quickly decided to leave the Audioquest Powerquest 3 in the set. It seemed prudent to protect my increasingly expensive gear with a power filter, and the Powerquest 3 has a built-in safety mechanism that kicks in when there are disturbances on the grid. The Powerquest 3 is a bargain as far as I am concerned and also makes an audible difference in the set.
Keep it simple stupid
Finally, I did some major chastening in my cables and chose the no-nonsense Tpr cables from Grimm Audio. Both single-ended and balanced. And since I did want to try the Speakon connections on my Benchmark AHB2, I opted for the equally affordable Benchmark speaker cables.
All of these cables add little or nothing and that’s just the point. For my power cords, I chose the Audioquest Monsoon which are very solidly made and excellent value for money. So, now you are completely ‘up to date’ and I can take on another year or three. You will know in the coming weeks how everything sounds because it still needs some time to adjust and I have to get used to the new set-up.
In any case, there are many fine reviews planned with brands such as Polk, Audio Note, Chord, Totem and so on Reference system (July 2021).
- Revel Performa M126Be
- Benchmark Media Systems HPA4
- Benchmark Media Systems AHB2
- Sonnet Morpheus d/a converter
- Merason Audio Frérot (with Pow1 power supply)
- Nad M50 (with Mutec Mc-3+ clock)
- Audioquest Powerquest 3
- Hifiman Sundara
Cabling: Audioquest Monsoon, Grimm TPR and Benchmark Speakon Roon Software (Qobuz and Tidal)