Recently installed OLADRA on a MSB stack, looking Bling in BLACK
“Right out of the box it’s easy to hear that it’s another level compared to K50 and everything else”
“The dynamics and bass is in another level but what surprised me was the highs that had a lot more air but still softer and more pleasant. More like live. I cant imagine how it will sound when its fully broken in. This is fun. Great job done.”
Hi Mark,
Please could you stop teasing those of us that are still waiting delivery 
Shoulda bought the black…
Regarding the dogma surrounding the switch mode versus linear debate:
It is important to consider when evaluating individual components that you are listening to an entire system, the start point is the power feeding it and the end point the physical space it is all in, and in between is every single component and every constituent part of these components.
The worst of SMPS designs will be noisy on their output and will also throw a heap of noise back into the mains supply. Better SMPS can be designed with great power output delivery, stability and purity characteristics but too little attention to not polluting with their high speed switching noise everything else sharing the same power. The very best SMPS have the possibility to outperform linear supplies for dynamic agility and silence on their output and present as benign load to the supply as the best linear types.
Evaluating the effect of replacing a switch mode power supply with a linear type is not a valid exercise unless the existing SMPS and everything else powered up in your system remain in the same state and in the same sockets. Otherwise you have a confusion as to whether it is the power output of the new linear supply that is influencing the new sound or it is the fact that the SMPS is no longer plugged in polluting all else in the system and merely the removal of that SMPS has allowed all other components to perform more agreeably.
A friend telephoned me today and said his Oladra was being delivered today. He has just messaged to say he has plugged it in to his system. It is fresh out of the box and hardly warmed up but he has warned me to hide my wallet!
This is a known side affect of OLADRA listening… wallet hiding 
Well just been delivered…and singing like canary
Clive, you might have guessed it was you who phoned me but you will also know I have branded you as an evil wealth diminishing tempter!
Despite that I am looking forward to your further thoughts as you settle in with your new Oladra. 
I am hopeful, and not a little excited, that my Oladra may be with me next week…fingers seriously crossed.
Given the differences between the Oladra and the K50, are there any insights yet on how to get the best from it, beyond switching it on…?
@RDG my Oladra has been here for a week. Two bits of advice:
Use one of the synchronous outputs (I use AES)
Put on your seatbelt… I reckon it’s like nothing you’ve ever heard. Mine started out all brash and dynamic but with some hours the subtleties are really developing.
I now realise ‘how to get the best’ from the Oladra could be expensive 
Think I might start with a few cable or isolation experiments…
Thanks @Acg…I was thinking AES would be the way to go, though may try S/PDIF too, as I have possibly a better cable for that connection.
I compared the new Oladra to my K50 at home in my system. Same cables, same surrounding, same test music. On a scale from 0 (zero) to 5 (best) the difference in my system and to my music sensivity it is just a 2 for the Oladra. So, the K50 is already an high end server/player/Re-clocker.
My goodness, I recognise the Magico mountains, but what is all the rest of the stuff on the racks?! I am feeling sea sick from all the waves in that room.
Mark, is the the Reference MSB with the preamp module driving the S202 directly or you are using a preamp?
These images are from our Swedish Distributor Klarsund.
The MSB Premier is diving the S202 directly, with Marten Parker Duo’s
Apparently the amps are Pilium Audio Hercules monoblocks
Image from Greg Weaver, The Audio Analyst, Magico tour to be released on his YouTube channel soon.
