UPDATE:
(sorry for the delay, I have been getting hammered at work)
I spent about 2 hours thoroughly comparing the Aeris and ODSE yesterday morning. Back and forth, focusing on each little detail and part of each units performance. I started with the Aeris and made every effort to not listen, but just fall into the music. Then I changed to the ODSE and repeated my entire song list. Then back to the Aeris and forth to the ODSE to focus in on different qualities. Here are my final findings.
I will start by saying that I did not try the Aeris direct to the amps. I have found, over and over, that the pre-amp gets me closer to the music. I don't know why, but it just does. I will try direct in the next week or so and report, but I expect to like it more going through the Criterion. I also need to report that I retired the Final Drives as they didn't match my system.
The Aeris now has over 750 hours on it and, I believe, has settled in to what it is. Yes, it may get better over the next 750 hours, but I think that its primary qualities and characteristics are well displayed at this time. It has become an amazing DAC over the hours and truly blossomed into world class performance. The soundstage is now almost equal to the ODSE and it's imaging it laser point accurate. Each performer locates at a unique place in space and has air and life around them. The depth of the soundstage opened up as well. its lower frequencies are accurate, extended and have impact while nicely controlled and never lose or flabby. Mids are magical, open and reproduce vocals wonderfully. The highs are extended and meticulous. Leading and trailing edges are right on and sound as they should. It is clearly a solid state piece of kit with all of the benefits that come along with a top tier version of said kit.
The ODSE is unchanged and still has the same sonic signature I described before.
Time to chose between them…..
In my system, my room, and my ears, I prefer the slightly warmer and more analog tone of the ODSE. Both throw practically holographic images, but the ODSE seamed to be a hair wider and deeper. Accuracy with imaging was identical, both sensational. Low frequency extension was a tad better with the Aeris and the Aeris holds control a wee bit better. But the ODSE is no slouch in that regard. My unit will have CUTF coupling caps, which Steve says will provide a slight improvement in the lower frequencies. The mids with both are natural, accurate and musical. Tone and texture is recreated beautifully in both cases, just with a slightly different voice that would not make me chose one over the other. There is an ability to hear into the music a bit more with the ODSE that the Aeris sometimes didn't give me. Little nuances and whisps of a sound or even a texture of a sound that caught my attention with the ODSE that were not quite as pronounced with the Aeris. A hammer on a string, the breath blown into a french horn, the pluck of a harp. Not dramatic, but there. Vocals seamed a bit more natural on the ODSE, more like they were there in the room as opposed to standing on a stage. High frequencies helped me to make my choice most profoundly. I simply prefer the upper register reproduction of the ODSE over the Aeris. The Aeris has been, since its start, a bit more pronounced then the ODSE in this regard. It is no longer bright, or dramatic. But vocals, flutes, and bells have an extension in the upper registers that pulls me from the magic and makes me hear more analytically.
I would say that if my system were tubed, the Aeris would be a MUCH better match. The warming of the tubes would perfectly offset the high frequency extension that I am hearing with my Criterion and Veritas amps. Its interesting since the lower end Rowland gear does still maintain a very subtle sense of warmth that the Criterion does not. I do not know if the amps have them also. I can see that the Aeris would be an un-freaking-belieable complement to the Capri S2 with a good amp that would verge on ultra exotic performance for WAY less. But in my system, with my equipment, I prefer the magic the ODSE provides.
The music that emerges when listening to vocals on the ODSE is just downright stunning. You have to fight to stay focused before you close your eyes and drift off to magic music land. With classical music I honestly found that the Aeris was a bit better. if I could keep both, I would listen to the Aeris for classical and instrumental and the ODSE when any vocals were required. But I felt that for my needs, the ODSE did pretty much just as good a job with instrumental and the Aeris wasn't quite up to the magic that the ODSE gave me.
I want to overstate that in a different system the Aeris would clearly beat the ODSE. For those deciding between the two, you can build a top tier system first and just tune to taste using either of these amazing dac's!
To over-simplify: in my system, room and ears the ODSE sounded a bit more analog then the Aeris. So much so that at one time I pulled out an LP on my Terres Audio table, Graham arm and Denon cartridge (Electrocompaniet phono stage) just to compare ODSE to true analog and the similarities were almost creepy comparing a red book CD to LL of the same song. Don't know how Steve does it, but its quite an accomplishment.
So there you have it. If anyone is interested in the Rowland Aeris, please PM me and we can work out a fair deal. It is for sale. In the right system, I truly believe you won't find better.
I will be totally honest - I was shocked! I expected to like the Aeris more (as did Agear obviously). lol. But thats why we do auditions. Steve did something seriously right with the transistors in those 2 boxes and he deserves a standing ovation for his accomplishments!!!
Now, I have not decided 100% on the ODSE just yet since the PS Audio Direct Stream is still steeping. I took a quick listen yesterday and with about 380 hours on it there is some serious performance warming up in that heavy box Paul built. it outclasses the PerfectWave2 in every way and showed me some serious high end performance. More similar in sound to the ODSE then the Aeris to be honest. I have very little expectation for the DS. Paul did such a great job of generating buzz that I became skeptical almost immediately as to its real level of performance. It constantly gets compared to less expensive dac's and NEVER to more expensive dac's; and Paul claims it can eat $15K dac's for breakfast and expose music, texture and tone that even the recording engineer of the CD didn't know was there. Uh, count me in the nay sayer group.
But, with all of that said, I was impressed with my mid burn in listen and won't count it out until it has 500+ hours on it, which will happen next Wed. I didn't expect it to sound as good as it did at the mid 300 mark, and I never expected to hear performance to make me truly consider it over the Aeris or ODSE….
I originally told Steve that I would ship everything back this Friday, but I am hoping he lets me postpone final shipment until next Thursday. I'm SO close to completing my shootout….
On a side note, I must mention the Short Block USB filter. I finally tried it out on the ODSE and it will remain there. The improvement is not dramatic, but its not subtle either. It doesn't do anything truly identifiable. I felt that my system was as black as space before I added the SB, and I didn't really detect any lowering of the noise floor after. But adding it made the music more musical. The soundstage didn't open or deepen and image accuracy didn't improve; it just got better. I don't get it, but it works. I even tried it on the Aeris and it had the same effect. Anyone using USB as a source needs to get one of these little $200- gizmos; you will be very glad you did!!!
Sorry for the long delays between posts. Lots going on here family and work wise….
I will post after the next shootout next Wednesday. I also look forward to getting the Aesthetix in to see how it fairs.
I will say that JoeCasey and Agear certainly have a good point in saying that whats good now may not stand the test of time. But I don't really know how to truly tell unless I kept both for a year, constantly swapping the two. I can't afford that, and it would make me even crazier then I already am. I need to decide now and happily live with my decision. Besides, I am sure that in another year or two someone will come out with a magic Gosnoto cube that converts digital to uber digital and will blow everything away. Color me blown away by what is currently available and in no great need to replace what I chose in the next few years; at least not until high res gets to the point that all music is available in that format and then I'll upgrade.
