Some first impressions:-
Monica had a little over 24 hours constant burn in on the PC, so last night took her upstairs for a session
……. Warmed the system up with a bit of Jamie Cullum … For ref the system is a Linn based (you never guessed
Karik II CDP, Knekt Room receiver as a pre-amp, 3xKlout power amps, with Active Kabers.
.
Much is said and written about the house sound of various brands, though I largely agree I can’t say I feel the Linn sound is strongly focused in any direction, being reasonable neutral to dry, certainly for the electronics, speakers can maybe more of acquired taste. Some on the Net claim Monica adds a vinyl or analogue sound to CD, may be, but then so does the Bit Stream Delta Sigma DAC in a Karik, it’s was the only CDP I could find to sit next to my LP12 for over a decade !!!
Switching to Monica was not a dramatic change, the balance and presentation sat along side the Karik very well. Delivering up a smooth weighty even sound, that was quite easy to sit back and listen to. Wasn’t made to feel like I needed to jump from my chair and change anything.
Moved on to a Peter Cincote album, this has some more up-tempo and bite to some tracks with some great (grand ?) piano work. Now the two DACs started to show, Monica had it’s even handed presentation, nice detail, open sound, with some nice depth, placing the vocal within that depth. Moved to the Karik and the vocal comes forward and more immediate and intimate, losing a little depth reward. Detail about the same, but now as the piano is played with various degrees of enthusiasm, and the pace and tension is raised the Karik went with it, giving more scale and presence to the sound, conveying the drama that was meant to be created. Monica tended to sit on the sound, levelling it off. Like it was running out of steam, and couldn’t quite keep up.
Moved on to a current favourite of mine, Jack Johnson, I have the first 3 albums, and would say the recording on these, Brushfire in particular is some of the best I’ve heard, I think someone forgot to switch the dynamic limiter/compressor on ! Which is used in just about every recording these days
These albums have awesome bass guitar or double bass, the Karik can and does get a little muddy and out of focus down the bottom end (an area where the Unidisk spanks it) and here Monica made a slightly better job. Slightly less rich and with a bit more openness and cleaner detail, not huge, but every bit helps in my small room, as it doesn’t work well with overblown loose bottom ends….tighter the better I say hey Monica !
So far I’d say not a clear winner, a bit album specific. Next stage is to build the switch mode power supply in to the box, so I can direct couple it, and then use a Russ Andrews yello power lead. Not sure how long the run in period is, but with a bit more detail work and few more hours hopefully I can ease a little more out of Monica…..
So a 1992 £1400 CD Player against a 2006 DIY DAC for £125…… more later.
Update:-
It rained so couldn't cut the grass
Hence had chance for few more tweaks, now with SMPS inside Monica's little black box.
And just for DRZ a link to a hi res close up (1Mb)
Closeup
She's back on the PC getting a few more hours, I'll listen again this evening.....
But from a very low volume seems to be clear, detailed and open/lean. 
