Kii Three - my impressions and pro reviews

[skatbelt]

2 hours ago, fpalm69 said:

Here's a good article from TAS about integrated Systems as the future of audio.  It mentions the Kii Three.

 

http://www.theabsolutesound.com/articles/the-future-of-audio-integrated-systems/

 

Very nice read. This part is so true:

 

"I think we often can be enticed down the path of seeking an amazing sonic experience, only to find that this outstanding result comes at the price of many recordings sounding just okay or worse. Reviewers are tempted to write this off as “the system was very revealing of flaws in the recordings I played.” Yes, perhaps, but perhaps the system has distortions that work well on occasion but not very often."

[skatbelt]

11 hours ago, baconbrain said:

 

Thanks for the feedback. At least theoretically, a higher quality D/A conversion in front of the Kii could make sense ...

 

Kii Preamp? Do you have more info?

 

It does make sense. I use a Chord DAVE in front of my Lyngdorf TDAI-3400 (essentially an all digital powerDAC with build in DSP/DRC). So introducing extra D/A -> A/D.

 

The Lyngdorf has a high quality D/A module to facilitate analog inputs. With DAVE in the chain the SQ is at a whole new level compared to direct digital into the Lyngdorf. I almost got lynched when I reported this on another (Lyngdorf) forum. Until others tried it and found the same...

 

Probable explanation: reconstruction filters, jitter reduction, noise rejection. And a very good A/D implementation is a must. I don't know how good this is on the Kii's.

[skatbelt]

12 minutes ago, Emlin said:

No. What it means is that going from digital to analogue and then back to digital cannot improve things. Unless you like any colouration that may be introduced.

 

It is like with network switches, there is a group that says a switch cannot make a difference because of the error correction protocol and it is al '0' en '1'. I belong to the other group that says it is much more complex when digital information is passed via (basically) analog/electrical circuits. Nothing to do with coloration.