Well after attending the ehome get to gether fri night I left early 7ish and headed across to Kew to collect a Stello pre amp from the importer Vince,he was kind enough to bring it to his house save me a trip acrooss town to the warehouse!Great customer service I have basically paid for it in full,cash,but have the option of keeping it for 2 weeks on trial,and returning it if im not happy!It is last one in stock,and has been out on demo before,all still in box,as new,so a good deal.Will keep price to myself until i decide to keep,but is sub $2000,a lot less than $3700 retail!O.K got home late fri night so had a wine and went to bed.Up early sat ready to hook up and have a listen,so here goes.
Other gear
Power amp-Elektra 7 ch
C.D player-JohnAs old rotel 1072
Sonique sav5 series speakers
kordz cables
Linear crystal speaker cables bi wired/amped

Hooked up player via coaxial to the stello to use the dac and pre,also hooked up the player to denon 3805 cd in,re routed cabbles from the denon back down thru the bypass on the stello to the electra power amp,using double adapter to biamp into the elektra,hope this makes sense.So now I can play a cd directly to the new pre then to power amp,and for direct comparison push the bypass button and compare the sound to the denon as a pre.Well no problems picking the difference!The Stello has made a big difference,so very happy.Now this is where the fun started!I have decided yes i kike this,lets hook up the sub as per Als instructions in the sticky!Run a stereo rca lead from a 2 ch variable pre out on the pre to a input on the avr!Only problem is these pres(I also checked the specs on the primare and nuforce pres)have only 1-set of rca out,and i am already piggy backing on these to biamp to the power amp!I tried using a digital out optical up to the avr cd input but have to then use the avr volume control to control the bass!No good.I then double piggybacked the analouge out ,2 leads down to the power amp,one up to cd input on avr for each channel,this worked only just!I can now get bass to the woofer,and can control the volume using just the volume control on the Stello,but to match the bass with the main speakers i need to put the Denon volume at 0db,i never use it at anywhere near this level!Next thing i did was run 1 pair rca leads from denon dvd player to the Stello so i can listen to sacd 2ch thru the pre,this caused a problem got a awful screech thru speakers,I think because dvd similtaneously sendig sinal thru denon link to avr,and then pre is sending same signal up to cd i

nput!Not really sure wat happened here but thank god volume wasnt at reference!Looks like no harm done.O.K so i quickly give up on the idea of using the dvd to play to the pre amp for now!I am also not happy with the avr at such a high level as well so i hook the sub up directly to the 2 leads that i was trying to feed into the avr,works a treat,but will have to keep swapping leads when i want to use sub for H.T. use?Any suggestions Al?

OK bit more on the review

Pros.
Great unit for the price i have been offered
I get a great pre,and added bonus of upscaling dac all in one box
Sounds really good from my existing setup


Cons.
The unit does not turn off from front panel,only clicks into standby mode,if i want to turn off completely have to reach thru cabinet to rear of unit!
It runs quite hot,probably to do with the class A amp thing?Left on overnight on standby unit is still very warm to touch in morning?
Bloody remote control is made out of a solid chunk of billet aluminium!If this gets dropped it wont break but it will certainly

chunk my polished floor boards!
To change batteries on remote need to use allen key to pull apart,hope batteries last a while
Seems to be hard to incorporate sub,but I guess this will sort itself out.


Initial conclusion,very happy with the sound improvement over existing setup,frustrating weekend swapping leads etc,Hopefully a bit of input from anyone who reads this re the sub intergration?Thats all for now.cheers muriwai

Thanks for posting your impressions. I’ve had the opportunity to listen to some of the Stello gear and very much like the look and performance of it.

good to read muriwai and glad to read that the final bits fallen into place in regards 2ch.

have heard the stello over at fields place, lovely gear with the bonus's of ht bypass and a quality built in dac.

re the sub, field had it hooked up so uses the 2nd pre-out from the pre to feed sub inputs. he does not use a 0.1 sub. I got a bit confused reading your method mutri, there are other means, there are some other suggestions re setup in the sticky. If you have the same pre as feild I would use that to feed an input on the avr. 0db vol setting on the avr is too high. if you switch inputs by accident could give yourself a nasty shock. I have mine at -19. jsut the matter of boosting the level of the sub for that particular input on the avr, can do on the HK not sure about your avr.

I dont liek the sound of hi pitch screech etc, that wouldnt do your speakers any good. dont understand fully the implications with denon link. you want to get that side of it sorted before playign around.

worth talking ot field another stello owner and comparing notes, he's contactable over at AVL(audio video lifestyle) forum.

Hi Mate, just wondering how the Stello gear is treating you, still enjoying it I bet

Another question, do you have any idea what Stello stock Vicent still has or what he can still get.

Bump, enquiring on behalf of a friend.

have sent pm,

Cheers

Thank you.

Thanks,

My unit should be in my hands some time this week.

Been a long wait, and hope it turns out worth it

It’ll be worth the wait I’m sure Drizt. You know two others with the same unit and both are happy with it, plus you’ve also had first hand experience with the unit at Field’s GTG. I realise it’s not the same as listening to it in your system, but I’m sure it’ll perform its magic very well.

I’m looking forward to reading your impressions once it’s had some time to settle in.

Muriwai, how’s your system going these days, must catch up for a drink?

great stuff drizt, having heard the stello pre-dac with the mono blocs at fields can imagine your going to get a pretty good result from this. see from your sig you have some consonance mono blocs too, imagine therye a nice match for your osborne's

what about cd source ? rotel been sidelined ? surely you want ot be able to play some discs now and then for the best quality ? the stello as dac with cd source would probably out do the sb3 for sonic quality I'm thinking, jsut based on other user comments from around hte place including what spearmint has said before ?

Edited in a vain attempt to lessen the embarrasment of not having looked at the original post date

hehe that was the e-home gtg back in may curious ! have a look at the date on his post hehe

unless there has been a more recent gtg. must say though been thinking of paying ehome a visit sometime, to say hello to your divas, check out the pio kuros and the new denons.

Doh! Thought it was a new thread (blushing very red just now)

Nice idea to visit Al, if you do let me know how my babys are fairing without me

"Soon my darlings, very soon you shall be in the loving arms of your owner"

Thanks for the kind words Spearmint. Ill make sure to do an initial write up after I get the unit, and do a follow up a few weeks later

Thanks Al.

My main medium will be FLAC stored on my PC transferred to the SB3 then output digitally to the Stello DP200. Ill pick up a cheapish transport at a later date so that I can spin some CD's aswell. Ill hook that up to the Stello DP200 digitally aswell.

At the moment I have a Consonance Mini Droplet on loan from Greg Osborn. Ill do some comparisons between using the Mini Droplet as a transport and the SB3 as a transport. Ill also compare the Mini Droplets analogue output compared to the Stello's DAC to see how they compare.

Fun times ahead.

excellent stuff, fun times ahead indeed ! good you have the mini droplet as a referenced to compare with too.

Hi Guys,

If your a member of Stereo.Net heres a link to my initial thoughts along with some pictures -> http://www.stereo.net.au/forum/index.php?s...ost&p=64107
Note: you have to be a member and be signed in to see the pictures.


If your not a member here is a copy and paste of the text from that thread:


Its finally here after much waiting.... cool.gif

These are my initial impressions so they may change. . . . . . . So I reserve the right to retract my statements after I become more accustomed to the new gear. biggrin.gif

After setting it all up the first thing I noticed was that there is plenty of detail but I had too much bass. I'm pretty sure that has to do with the fact that the sub is being fed by the XLR outputs which have higher output voltage than the RCA outputs which are powering the M800's (hence the mains). So I had to dial down the sub levels a bit to compensate. This was just a quick change on the behringer cx2310 to bring the level down to a more natural mix between the sub and the mains.

How its setup:
The mains are running full range from the Stello (RCA) -> M800SE monos -> Osborn Interludes
The sub is running from the Stello (XLR) -> Behringer CX2310 -> Aslan CW-12 sub.

I have been listening to a valve front end for almost a month so Im very very used to the sound quality I had been relaxing to. So its going to be very hard for this setup to top what I have been listening to. Although it wasn't completely smooth sailing with the Consonance T1 preamp. It clicks and thumps through the speakers when you change inputs, and it has a rather high noise floor. You can sometimes hear the hiss through the speakers from a distance upto a meter or so.

The Consonance T1 preamp is more laid back than the Stello as the T1 has got a little of that valve romantic sound. My initial impression was a win to the T1 but that perhaps will change. The fact that I have been listening to the T1 for a month means im very familiar and biased towards its sound signature. It is entirely possible I have grown so accustomed the T1's sound that the Stello's sound was a bit of a shock as a difference. I have been listening for almost 1.5 hours now and I'm already acclimatising to the new sound. Its actually surprising how quickly this has happened. Brings new light to the discussions of burn in. Is it the equipment that burns in or our own perception of the sound that changes.

I have done some quick comparisons and here is my initial results...

Mini Droplet DAC vs. Mini Droplet Digital output to the Stello DAC = Stello win
-> There was better separation between instruments with the Stello. There seemed to be a slight veiling to the sound with the Mini Droplet compared to the Stello's DAC. This could be due to a number of things, ill revisit this to do a rematch later.

Mini Droplet Digital out vs. SB3 Digital out = Draw....
-> I couldn't tell a difference myself and neither could Jen.
Note: I'm a believer in digital being digital smile.gif so disregard my opinion if you like tongue.gif

So im pretty happy.

good to hear you got it drizt and your up and all going.

yes I imagine could also be a case of both some aclimatising plus some equipment burn in as well.

re the comments on the charecter differneces of the pre's, some could be down to solid state vs tube designs, but also some could be due to pre pwr matching producing different result between the two combinations.

interesting re the dac comparisons, presume the mini droplet also has a tube output stage ?, some differences could be jsut due to the tube based analog output stage vs the pure solid state circuit of the stello.

you'll probably be pretty happy re the sb3 vs transport comparison I imagine, saves you considering a transport ?

ps boy have done quite some comparisons you probaby jsut want to enjoy it for a while let the stello go for a day or two or a few days and then come back to the T1 & droplet. could be interesting comparisons again !

re the T1 I think johna found the same with the unit he borrowed, and the cyber version he had later I too heard the same as you describe - high noise floor and hiss. Probably jsut a charecteristic of its design.

Thanks Al.



Ill leave it on for a couple days and see how it turns out. I think the Stello is more neutral than the Consonance T1 and thats bringing a little more of my speakers tendency to be a little on the bright side. Ill have to see how that all goes, I had gotten used to the smooth T1 sound.



Im pretty sure the Stello is a good match for almost all power amps due to its very low output impedance. But your right, some components pair well with some more so than others.



Mini Droplet is complete solid state. It sounded awesome when running through the T1 -> M800SE mono blocks. But the Stello as a pre/dac out did the Mini Droplet -> Stello.



Yeah pretty happy. Although I will get a disc spinner at a later stage. Its still nice to throw on a disc from time to time. And when people come over its easier to just throw on a disc than to rip it to my computer first.



Yeah, i get a little carried away sometimes.




Yeah the noise floor and its operational characteristics annoyed me somewhat. Having no HT Bypass really killed it for me aswell.

Muriwai, how’s your system going these days, must catch up for a drink?
[/quote]


Hi Spear,sorry for late reply,been offline over school holidays,system goin sweet,i purchased jonn a`s B&W mains a few weeks back,now system for 2ch is rotel cd,stello pre,elektra 7ch power amp{mains biamped]and B&W mains,subsonic Ml2 subwoofer,am a very happy[and poor]camper!Drizt happy to hear you now a member of stello camp!I thought I got the last pre from Vince?Did he import 1 for you?I spoke to him the other day re the ADC optional add on,and the phono stage add on,quoted approx $400.Would tou at any stage be interested in adding these to your unit?Dont drop the remote on your foot!enjoy your new toy.

Yeap, Vince had to import one for me, apparently they are very scarce and its unlikely he will get any more. Apparently they haven't been a big seller for Stello as their main selling item is their mkII DAC. I won't be getting any of the optional add on cards as that would mean I would lose an input or an output for their uses. I intend on using all of its inputs/outputs so I won't have any spare spots for them. Plus I don't really have a need for a ADC or a Phone Stage at this point in time

I take it your using the digital outs on the rotel to the Stello? You done any comparisons between the analogue outs on the rotel to the DAC in the Stello ?

I take it your using the digital outs on the rotel to the Stello? You done any comparisons between the analogue outs on the rotel to the DAC in the Stello ?
[/quote]


Yes I did compare,the stello dac won so i use digital out from rotel cd and use the stellos dac

Cheers. The stello definitely makes an outstanding DAC.

Just curious what volume levels do you find that you listen to on the stello? I find on average I listen to the stello at around 6.0-10.0 on average when using the stello's dac.

When I compared the Stellos DAC to the Mini Droplets Analogue outputs I found the volume difference to be around 5.0 on the stellos volume control. I.E. 10.0 for the Stellos DAC was equivalent to 15.0 when using the analogue inputs from the Mini Droplet.

Hi, congrats on the new speakers, john a's speakers looked like a real bargain, can't believe it took so long for them to be snapped up. Just wondering how your finding the B&W's compared to the Soniques as I'm planning to upgrade mine soon ( if I can get it passed the FPO :ph34r: ). and will be using an Elektra to drive them.