A few hours with the M7's

Darrel

Darrel

Active member
Joined
Nov 1, 2018
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460
Location
Auburn, Washington USA
I wanted to thanks Ed DeVito of AudioUltra for the privilege of spending a few hours listening and talking audio this past Saturday. A few week ago I was at the same room listening to the S5's. So, comparing and enjoying this level of systems back to back was a real pleasure. With the help of Ed I was able to move from my A3's to my current S3's.

The S5 listening showed me why moving up the line of speakers brought out more of the Magico magic. They are really a special sounding speaker with just more dynamics and clarity. They have to be heard to understand and compare.

The M7's are in a total different league. But, still have the all that one appreciates in the Magico line. I've been able to listen to a good number of Magico speakers since my first purchase of the A3's. Thanks again to Ed for giving me the opportunity to drop by and talk and listen to his ever evolving line of speakers and equipment. The M7's take up a bit of room but once the music starts playing they just disappear. And each instrument or vocal stands in its own location and dynamics. We played the LP of Pink Floyd "Wish You Were Here". Now, I've heard Pink Floyd live when they toured as far back as when "Meddle" came out. And their concert audio experience is just not possible to recreate on any two channel system due to their four channel arena sound systems. But, this was the best I have ever heard in a stereo setup. Just amazings.
M7's.jpg
 
We’ve installed the M7’s and they are as “complete” as Magico speakers come (save for the M9’s). Really impressive.
 
We would not find a demonstration room in Australia like that. I am curious about the M7 positioning,in the room. The speakers seem to be placed for convenience, not for optimized sound. But not having heard this particular room it's only a hunch, as I know this speaker.
 
brodricj said:
We would not find a demonstration room in Australia like that. I am curious about the M7 positioning,in the room. The speakers seem to be placed for convenience, not for optimized sound. But not having heard this particular room it's only a hunch, as I know this speaker.
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The speakers have only been with Ed for about two weeks. So, some repositioning could take place. My main concern was about the height of the audio rack between the speakers. Ed moved the rack that was at the left side and behind the listening chair. He claims that it opened up the rooms sound. I was there just to experience and enjoy what I heard.
 
Darrel said:
The S5 listening showed me why moving up the line of speakers brought out more of the Magico magic. They are really a special sounding speaker with just more dynamics and clarity. They have to be heard to understand and compare.
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The system behind those S5s had a lot to do with what you heard. Magicos do an excellent job of showing off what's driving them.
 
Interesting and thanks for posting , would love to hear the M7 or M9 one day , to see how “special “ ..!

Speaking of , the Wadax while ridiculously priced , is about as good as digital gets IMO so not surprised you enjoyed the audition..

Regards
 
brodricj said:
We would not find a demonstration room in Australia like that. I am curious about the M7 positioning,in the room. The speakers seem to be placed for convenience, not for optimized sound. But not having heard this particular room it's only a hunch, as I know this speaker.
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What would you do differently ..?
 
a.wayne said:
Interesting and thanks for posting , would love to hear the M7 or M9 one day , to see how “special “ ..!

Speaking of , the Wadax while ridiculously priced , is about as good as digital gets IMO so not surprised you enjoyed the audition..

Regards
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We didn't listen to the Wadax on Saturday. We started in a small room where Ed has a smaller system using a Revox reel to reel to a Tidal integrated amp and the Magico A3's which I think are a really good speaker for its size. Then moved to the main room and listened to a few Cds I brought. Neil Young-Harvest Moon, Steve Miller-Born 2B BLue, Bob Dylan-Oh Mercy and Robin Trower-Twice Removed From Yesterday (which I should have passed on...very compressed recording...).
 
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I've had a few days to think about my time with Ed in his room with some amazing speakers and equipment. Since Saturday I've also been listening to my system and doing some comparing. My system I would guess is worth about 10% of what's in his room. And I just keep thinking how much I appreciate and enjoy my room and system. It has been built one piece at a time over time. And after spending several listening session with Ed over the years. I can enjoy my system now more than ever. Sometimes you have to hear a great system before you really appreciate what you have.

S3's.jpg
 
Darrel said:
I've had a few days to think about my time with Ed in his room with some amazing speakers and equipment. Since Saturday I've also been listening to my system and doing some comparing. My system I would guess is worth about 10% of what's in his room. And I just keep thinking how much I appreciate and enjoy my room and system. It has been built one piece at a time over time. And after spending several listening session with Ed over the years. I can enjoy my system now more than ever. Sometimes you have to hear a great system before you really appreciate what you have.

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You do have a great system. There are some things you can always tweak, but how many folks wouldn’t kill for that?
 
Mike said:
You do have a great system. There are some things you can always tweak, but how many folks wouldn’t kill for that?
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You are correct of course Mike. Living with a system and making small or sometimes big changes over time is what this hobby is about. It's just easy to lose track at what you have sometimes. Saturday kind of reminded me of what I have.
 
a.wayne said:
Speaking of , the Wadax while ridiculously priced , is about as good as digital gets IMO so not surprised you enjoyed the audition..
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I haven't heard the big daddy Wadax before, but I had my Esoteric in an M7 system comparing against a Wadax Studio with about 10 audiophiles in the room. Everybody preferred the Esoteric.
 
Darrel said:
I've had a few days to think about my time with Ed in his room with some amazing speakers and equipment. Since Saturday I've also been listening to my system and doing some comparing. My system I would guess is worth about 10% of what's in his room. And I just keep thinking how much I appreciate and enjoy my room and system. It has been built one piece at a time over time. And after spending several listening session with Ed over the years. I can enjoy my system now more than ever. Sometimes you have to hear a great system before you really appreciate what you have.

View attachment 34924
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Great system and thanks for sharing. Do the curtains on the back lower over the TV for just music listening?
 
brodricj said:
I haven't heard the big daddy Wadax before, but I had my Esoteric in an M7 system comparing against a Wadax Studio with about 10 audiophiles in the room. Everybody preferred the Esoteric.
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Well Consensus in audio is unheard of so you get the definitive Stamp….. :)

Never heard the Wadax Studio so cant comment , I have heard Esoteric and find them worthy , same for Lampi Digital , but i will continue to stand behind my original Wadax statement for now ..

Regards

PS: Awwww cmon Mike , stealth fingers on scale … 🤣
 
a.wayne said:
Well Consensus in audio is unheard of so you get the definitive Stamp….. :)

Never heard the Wadax Studio so cant comment , I have heard Esoteric and find them worthy , same for Lampi Digital , but i will continue to stand behind my original Wadax statement for now ..

Regards

PS: Awwww cmon Mike , stealth fingers on scale … 🤣
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I’ve heard the Wadax more than a few times. I’ll happily take my Cascade/PF combo over it because my baseline for digital isn’t other digital, but tape. So many people run around proclaiming digital this and digital that with no frame of reference. Without a frame of reference for great sound, you’re lost.

The MSB to me sounds most like R2R tape. To my ears, dcs and Wadax sound digital. But Wadax is slightly better than Dcs in my experience. But MSB tops them all by a wide margin IMHO, even the entry level Discrete with the second PSU is just crazy good . Berkeley is good, but nobody calls for it. When we try to pitch it to people, they all bemoan the lack of DSD as if they have thousands of DSD tracks, but may not have any! The gap for me greatly widen between other DAC’s and the MSB when I added the PF Ultra and MSB/PF fiber card. But let’s be honest, at this level, they’re all excellent and it comes down to personal taste. I’ve had more than my share of top DAC’s come through the store on trade. Many were good, but none like the MSB IMO.

The Aqua LaScala is my go to recommendation under $10k. It has some wonderful qualities of the MSB (like being an R2R ladder DAC). Simple to roll a couple of the tubes and voila it goes up a notch or two.

If I wanted world class digital as a CD/SACD player, Esoteric is it. Add a clock and look out. It’s very very good. The new SE technology (Master Sound Discrete DAC) really catapulted Esoteric to a top spot IMO.

I’m curious about the new Lumin X2 as it seems they were listening to suggestions to try something different. The in-house discrete dac looks very good!
 
Mike said:
...If I wanted world class digital as a CD/SACD player, Esoteric is it. Add a clock and look out. It’s very very good. The new SE technology (Master Sound Discrete DAC) really catapulted Esoteric to a top spot IMO...
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Nothing touches the Esoteric Grandioso N1T playing content from an attached SSD as a digital source....I haven't touched my Grandioso CD/SACD transport since the N1T landed in my YG rack. If you have an Esoteric digital source then putting it in the whole Esoteric ecosystem really leverages benefits. I was thinking about buying the new PS Audio PMG 512 wonder DAC but it looks like that is taking a predictable trajectory with the early adopters.
 
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