We met at Dave Sykes’ house in Foresthill, Ca for our monthly meeting and listening session with his system.  He has a wonderful listening room detached from his house where his Pass Labs preamps and amps/ Exemplar Audio player/ Reference 3A speakers / and Technics 1250 turntable lives.  It is a wonderful system with a big soundstage and accurate natural detailing throughout the musical range.
Dave Sykes discussed different cd formats and some of their advantages and disadvantages.  He passed out a handout from Winston Ma’s website that covered some of the popular formats.  It turns out that DSD is the closest to the analog format of LP’s and tape.  Tape, as done by the Tape Project, is the best by far, with LP coming in second.  DSD is the closest to LP in the digital realm.
Dave Marihart discussed his trip to Washington and his visit to Winston Ma’s sound room in his home.  This room was the best he had ever heard in his 35 years of listening to systems.  It totally redefined what could be done in the home environment.  It also showcased how important room acoustics are in the room environment.  Many audiophiles don’t realise how much the room defines what they hear.  The discussion moved to room treatment and how to do it inexpensively.
The rest of the meeting was devoted to a listening session of Dave’s excellent system.

The next meeting is on Sept. 8 at 1 PM.  A meeting location will be announced here and by email.