New Posts New Posts RSS Feed - Bitzie first impressions
  FAQ FAQ  Forum Search   Events   Register Register  Login Login

Welcome to the Graham Slee Audio Products Owners Forum

 

Open to all owners plus those contemplating the purchase of a Graham Slee HiFi System Components audio product and wishing to use this forum's loaner program: join here (Rules on posting can be found here)

This website along with trade marks Graham Slee and HiFi System Components are owned by Cadman Enterprises Ltd


Bitzie first impressions

 Post Reply Post Reply Page  <1 678910 33>
Author
Fatmangolf View Drop Down
Moderator Group
Moderator Group
Avatar

Joined: 23 Dec 2009
Location: Middlesbrough
Status: Offline
Points: 8960
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote Fatmangolf Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 03 Mar 2013 at 7:40pm
The Bitzie plus Lautus USB cable is great value. It turns a computer into a top notch hi-fi source!
Jon

Open mind and ears whilst owning GSP Genera, Accession M, Accession MC, Elevator EXP, Solo ULDE, Proprius amps, Cusat50 cables, Lautus digital cable, Spatia cables and links, and a Majestic DAC.
Back to Top
morris_minor View Drop Down
Moderator Group
Moderator Group
Avatar

Joined: 27 Mar 2012
Location: Surrey
Status: Offline
Points: 6015
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote morris_minor Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 04 Mar 2013 at 2:34pm
My last proper session with the Bitzie:

I unplugged the Proprius amps from the AV processor, and with the iPad as source (streaming from the Squeezebox server - no computer near enough for a direct connection) plugged the amps direct into the Bitzie with CuSat50s. Speakers are PMC GB1i floorstanders connected with Spatia cables & links - so it was a minimalist GSP only system (aside from source and speakers, and I don't think these are on Graham's development road map (yet??)).

Music ranged from Bach organ, unaccompanied choral, jazz (Dexter Gordon - Tanya from One Flight Up), Dire Straights (Telegraph Road), and Holst's Planets (Zubin Mehta/LAPO, Decca LP rip).

[Edit - that's Dire Straits, of course Embarrassed]

My usual source is a Slim Devices (Squeezebox) Transporter with it's own "audiophile" DAC and output stage, and also the Transporter into the (Audiolab) AV processor's 192/24 DAC. (I tend to alternate between analogue and digital out from the Transporter - can't really tell the difference as the DACs are so well matched!).

I won't bore you with all my listening notes for every piece, but the scale and authority of the presentation from the Bitzie was mightily impressive. Delicate and transparent when required, dynamic and hard-hitting when required. The low toms in Telegraph Road had a body and resonance that was definitely in the same ball-park as the bigger DACs. Likewise bass from The Planets (Saturn especially), and the various Bach organ pieces. The organ music was notable too for it's low level detail - the mechanical noises of pipe organs, the noise of the blowers, the decay of notes in the big acoustic; these were all really well defined. Mid-range was lucid and treble was just right - no digital glare, but you got what the recording gave you. The choral music (by Eric Whiteacre - Stephen Layton/Polyphony on Hyperion) was just as sublime on the Bitzie as via the other DACs. 

And lastly - the first note of "Tanya" is a woody, fortissimo, double bass in "unison" with a drum hit. The first time I could separate out the characters  of both instruments was when I put the Dutch NOS DAC in my study system. That the Bitzie pulled off the same trick is, for me, testament to it's quality.

I have three good DACs in the house - two in equipment costing around 3-4 times more than the Bitzie, and a DAC over twice it's price. Never was the Bitzie outclassed. Once or twice I could discern a touch more body, or air, and sometimes marginally better dynamics - but I think Graham has designed a truly remarkable piece of kit here which operates in many scenarios. Use it with a mobile source out and about, and when home it will slot neatly in to a "full size" system, giving a suitably "full-sized" sound. As a USB to S/PDIF converter it works transparently. As a headphone amp from a USB source it gives the Solo UL a good run for its money.

I think the Lautus USB cable should be a regular part of the package, though, as it allows the Bitzie to perform to it's full potential. If you don't use a "good" USB cable it'll be like a V8 firing on 4 cylinders.

All in all this is another product Graham and his team should be very proud of. At the price it is an absolute steal!




Edited by morris_minor - 04 Mar 2013 at 5:18pm
Bob

Majestic DAC/pre-amp
Accession MC/Enigma, Accession MM, Reflex M, Elevator EXP, Era Gold V
Solo ULDE, Novo, Lautus USB and digital, Libran balanced, CuSat50
2 x Proprius + Spatia/Spatia Links
Back to Top
mitch65 View Drop Down
Senior Member
Senior Member
Avatar

Joined: 02 Feb 2013
Location: East Sussex
Status: Offline
Points: 553
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote mitch65 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 04 Mar 2013 at 3:36pm
I use Telegraph Road as a system tester myself, I find it ticks most of the boxes for me..........and i just happen to like it Smile
Greg

Rega Planer 3
Gram Amp 2
Audiolab 8000A
Auralic Aries Mini
Russell K 50
Back to Top
morris_minor View Drop Down
Moderator Group
Moderator Group
Avatar

Joined: 27 Mar 2012
Location: Surrey
Status: Offline
Points: 6015
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote morris_minor Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 04 Mar 2013 at 5:13pm
Yes, Telegraph Road's got it all (well sort of) - quiet noodling and thunderous climaxes . . . 

Plus it's a bit nostalgic for me as I saw DS at the Hammersmith Odeon (as it was) on their "Live in '85 (and a bit in '86)" tour . . . (feeling my age now Confused ).

Really like MK's guitar playing. Sultans of Swing prompted my to buy my first pop album since Sgt Pepper in '67 - had many years in the classical wilderness Shocked. Now I listen to anything; well, not country & western, obviously . . . LOL
Bob

Majestic DAC/pre-amp
Accession MC/Enigma, Accession MM, Reflex M, Elevator EXP, Era Gold V
Solo ULDE, Novo, Lautus USB and digital, Libran balanced, CuSat50
2 x Proprius + Spatia/Spatia Links
Back to Top
mitch65 View Drop Down
Senior Member
Senior Member
Avatar

Joined: 02 Feb 2013
Location: East Sussex
Status: Offline
Points: 553
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote mitch65 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 04 Mar 2013 at 7:44pm
Originally posted by morris_minor morris_minor wrote:

Yes, Telegraph Road's got it all (well sort of) - quiet noodling and thunderous climaxes . . . 

Plus it's a bit nostalgic for me as I saw DS at the Hammersmith Odeon (as it was) on their "Live in '85 (and a bit in '86)" tour . . . (feeling my age now Confused ).

Really like MK's guitar playing. Sultans of Swing prompted my to buy my first pop album since Sgt Pepper in '67 - had many years in the classical wilderness Shocked. Now I listen to anything; well, not country & western, obviously . . . LOL

Hammersmith Odeon? saw Mike Oldfield there in '82 and OMD in '83 so you're not the only one feeling their age LOL
Greg

Rega Planer 3
Gram Amp 2
Audiolab 8000A
Auralic Aries Mini
Russell K 50
Back to Top
Graham Slee View Drop Down
Admin Group
Admin Group
Avatar
Retired

Joined: 11 Jan 2008
Location: South Yorkshire
Status: Offline
Points: 16298
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Graham Slee Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 04 Mar 2013 at 7:49pm
Originally posted by mitch65 mitch65 wrote:

Originally posted by morris_minor morris_minor wrote:

Yes, Telegraph Road's got it all (well sort of) - quiet noodling and thunderous climaxes . . . 

Plus it's a bit nostalgic for me as I saw DS at the Hammersmith Odeon (as it was) on their "Live in '85 (and a bit in '86)" tour . . . (feeling my age now Confused ).

Really like MK's guitar playing. Sultans of Swing prompted my to buy my first pop album since Sgt Pepper in '67 - had many years in the classical wilderness Shocked. Now I listen to anything; well, not country & western, obviously . . . LOL

Hammersmith Odeon? saw Mike Oldfield there in '82 and OMD in '83 so you're not the only one feeling their age LOL


Stop it! I saw Black Sabbath at Sheffield City Hall in 1972 so that should mean I'm a corpse by comparison... Wink
That none should be able to buy or sell without a smartphone and the knowledge in how to use apps
Back to Top
ICL1P View Drop Down
Senior Member
Senior Member
Avatar

Joined: 04 Aug 2012
Location: Faringdon, Oxon
Status: Offline
Points: 2341
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote ICL1P Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 04 Mar 2013 at 7:54pm
Originally posted by Graham Slee Graham Slee wrote:

Originally posted by mitch65 mitch65 wrote:

Originally posted by morris_minor morris_minor wrote:

Yes, Telegraph Road's got it all (well sort of) - quiet noodling and thunderous climaxes . . . 

Plus it's a bit nostalgic for me as I saw DS at the Hammersmith Odeon (as it was) on their "Live in '85 (and a bit in '86)" tour . . . (feeling my age now Confused ).

Really like MK's guitar playing. Sultans of Swing prompted my to buy my first pop album since Sgt Pepper in '67 - had many years in the classical wilderness Shocked. Now I listen to anything; well, not country & western, obviously . . . LOL

Hammersmith Odeon? saw Mike Oldfield there in '82 and OMD in '83 so you're not the only one feeling their age LOL


Stop it! I saw Black Sabbath at Sheffield City Hall in 1972 so that should mean I'm a corpse by comparison... Wink
King Crimson at Chatham Central Hall in 1971!!!
Ifor
=====
Reflex M & ACCESSION M, CuSat50, Majestic DAC, a Proprius pair.
Back to Top
 Post Reply Post Reply Page  <1 678910 33>
  Share Topic   

Forum Jump Forum Permissions View Drop Down

Forum Software by Web Wiz Forums® version 12.01
Copyright ©2001-2018 Web Wiz Ltd.

This page was generated in 0.168 seconds.