The last time I changed two components in my reference system at the same time was never.
The fact of the matter is I tend to keep the gear I own for years—I bought an original Leben CS600 in 2018 followed by the CS600x in 2022, I bought my first totaldac in 2015, and I’ve owned the DeVore Fidelity O/96 since 2021. That’s about a century in gear-swapping audiophile years.
All of which makes this post uncommon as it serves to announce two changes—I am very happy to welcome the Aurorasound HFSA-02 Integrated Tube Amplifier and Imersiv D-1 DAC as the newest members of my system.
The Aurorasound HFSA-02 is, from a bird’s eye view, similar to the Leben CS600x as both rely on EL34s in their output stage producing about 30 Watts of power. I went into some detail about why I prefer the HFSA-02 to the CS600x in the Aurorasound review so I’m not going to reiterate those details except to say I find music to be more compelling through the Aurorasound. And this is something every piece of Aurorasound gear I’ve heard does which is why I also own their VIDA MK.II Phono Stage, EQ-100 Variable Equalization Monaural Phono Amplifier, and AFE-12 MC Step-Up Transformer. I also believe the price to performance ratio of the Aurorasound gear is very owner friendly.
The Imersiv D-1 DAC is not very much like the totaldac in that the latter relies on a series of resistors for DA conversion making it a true R2R DAC while the former uses a pair of chip-based DACs and DSP in what the company calls its (patented) multi-path architecture. Just like the Aurorasound, I went into some detail about why I preferred the D-1 to the d1-unity in the Imersiv review so you can read all about it there but the Imersiv DAC also raises my level of musical engagement and excitement by an important, to me, degree.
In both instances I knew this to be the case soon after each arrived and after months of living with the HFSA-02 and D-1 DAC my level of certainty has only grown making me one happy customer and listener. Just as I’ve been for the past century or so in gear-swapping audiophile years with the Leben and totaldac. It’s also worth noting that from a price perspective these were both horizontal moves—after more than 50 years of hifi buying I’ve learned to trust my smile more than what other people, topologies, spec sheets, measurements, and price tags have to say.
I will point out that I list my entire system on the TM About page along with what gear I own and what is on loan as well as details about the Barn with lots of pictures to hopefully give you some sense of the listening environment. From where I sit as a hifi enthusiast, knowing what gear reviewers choose to buy and use as their ‘reference’ is important information as it tells me about personal preference. I also value seeing reviewer’s rooms as they tell me about the listening environment which speaks to things beyond gear that I find to be another important piece of the overall story.
After all is said and done, whether written or videoed about, the gear we choose to live with and the place we live speaks to our personalities and preferences which are the most important determining factors when it comes to the enjoyment of listening to music on the hifi.