Eating your green vegetables
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With the insertion of the HMS cables and the previous acquisition of Grand Prix Audio's Monaco stand and Alvin's latest ContactPatch marvels, my reference system had recently morphed through major advances. I was curious. How much breathing room of improvement might be left if I waved a seriously sweaty wad of quids at my admittedly modest front-end?
Jim owns the fully tricked-out MSB Platinum Plus DAC (ca. $4,000) as well as the Bel Canto DAC-2. Hoping to steal my thunder, he advised that if used with Sommovigo's X-60 i2digital cable, the resolution of the DAC-2 was on par with the MSB, itself wired up with a highly regarded coaxial cable from a popular cable designer. |
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Already having the X-cable in-house (what fun to occasionally beat a well-connected audio buddy to the punch), I'm thus left to assume that shy of robbing a bank, today's outboard comparator to the Audio Magic Stealth Kukama is, indeed, "way up on that digital totem pole". By extension, this tells us about our long-horned African antelope friend. Despite "merely" galloping at 24/96, she suffers zero handicaps in the resolution races. Rather, she makes true on Henry's stated design brief of analogue ease and soundstage expanse, to an extent that remains identifiable and demonstrable even against highly capable competitiors. It's thus not a question of performance caliber or performance flavor. It's a question of whether such incremental refinements are worth the additional grand over the DAC-2. Performance value, in short. Let me approach it this way. My main rig is currently in excess of $50,000. If we define the qualifier "significant" as beyond imagination, demonstrably better in building emotional connection and undermining audible reminders of artifice, I no longer expect significant advances for five percent of this system total. |
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In my system context, the Kukama's blip on the fiscal radar screen is a relatively small percentage spike. While I'm leery to assign values to today's comparisons, I'm very confident that the Kukama vs. the Cairn improved things by about the equivalent 5%. Perhaps a shade more. Simply because I could reliably identify and appreciate these contributions for their added refinement -without resorting to imagination.
And that's significant at this stage of the game! Even if the Kukama merely raised the stakes by 2.5 inches (er, percent), that'd still be commensurate with the inverse logarithmic law of diminishing returns. It's how the cookie crumbles - High-End audio-wise. |
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On that note of basic numbers munching, I shall make a prediction. Like its able Stealth Power Purifier predecessor, the Audio Magic Kukama will quickly be considered a high-performance high-value product of distinct flavor.
One hopes it'll enjoy a commensurately popular following. Chances are that upping the he-man ante in the transport department would further define and separate the Kukama's "analogue" traits over what my Jolida JD-100 managed to extract. Kudos then to Henry Lamb, for allowing himself to be talked into re-entering audio. Perhaps he got the easier part of the bargain. He only had to design the darn thing. Jerry Ramsey will have to sell it. Considering today's troubled waters overall -- and especially in what remains of the once-active flavor-of-the-month DAC club -- that might well be the steeper mountain to scale. Let's wish 'em both luck. This oddly named product clearly deserves it. |
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PS: The pix show what in daylight is a light blue chassis paint. Market research asked for a more neutral finish hence the final will be granite fleck. Also, the twin coaxial inputs will be changed for 1 x RCA, 1 x Toslink. My unit was a final production model for all but these two late changes. >>
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Manufacturer's website
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