Coincident Dragon MK I vs MK II

Yes, I heard the Black Shadows at 213Cobras a few weekends back. It was an enlightening two visits over two weekends. We listened and compared the Melody M845's to the Audion's. We also had a Pre-amp shoot out, and listened to the Druid V's and the Def's. It was quite a blast.

I would agree with your assessment of the Black Shadows as lightning fast, with a very holographic sound stage. And the most impressive atribute, was their "shove" as Phil likes to call it which I have not yet found the words to express in any other way! It was similar to the "shove" of the Joule Electra Mono Blocks that a friend uses (but the Joules are very noisy and not as warm).

Update: I upgraded the tubes on my Dragon to Psvane 300B and Psvane 211's and it was a nice improvement.

The external power supply for my Chord QuteHD dac was also a great improvement. The external power supply added more weight and smoothed out the top end so that it no longer had a bite.

My Fathom F110 sub blew out its amp, so my system has been limping along, until I can get that repaired. Lately I'm noticing that I miss the weight, bass and wallop of my Pass Labs XA30.5. I was thinking about selling the Dragons and buying another XA30.5, or getting the XA60.5 mono blocks, or trying out a Luxman M-600a.

In an effort to improve my situation I bought a Sablon Audio Uber Robusto power cord and I have to say I'm impressed by it. It adds more bass weight and dimensionality.

Here's what I concluded so far: I definitely need to get my sub repaired as this could be a big part of the problem of my recent desire for more weight, bass and wallop. I'd also like to hear what it would sound like to have these Sablons power my Dragons. This could help too. I could test this out easily because my friend has a Sablon and I could ask to try it. Bottom line is that after getting my sub fixed and trying the warm sounding Sablon power cords, if I'm still missing the weight, bass and wallop then I'll have to seriously consider selling the Dragons.

It seems the subwoofer contributes significantly to your system`s performance,so step one is to get that fixed. I`ve haven`t read complaints about the Dragons`s bass before.Could simply be your speaker is better matched with a SS amplifier or you may just prefer the sound of SS to tubes.
Regards,

My sub is in the shop getting repaired. I decided to keep the Dragons and I'm trying a different dac to bring more organic warmth. I've now got an MHDT Stockholm that is delivering this in spades, maybe a little too much. I think I can tweak the MHDT to tailor the sound and will likely be selling the Chord QuteHD soon.

Erdog,
Have you determined the problem you were hearing is more the DAC's sonic character than the Dragons?