Hi-Rez Highway: REVIEW: Kora Hermes 2 DAC Processors by Croc New high resolution SACD releases, players and technology.

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Model:	Hermes 2
Category:	DAC Processors
Suggested Retail Price:	2600$
Description:	24/192 DAC
Manufacturer URL:	Kora
Manufacturer URL:	Kora

Review by Croc ( A ) on December 27, 2003 at 11:30:13 IP Address: 81.218.212.144

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I got Hermes 2 for audition at home for one day.
I connected it to Sony DVP-S9000ES player using “sonic silver” coaxial table.

First of all – Hermes looks quite impressive. It’s big, it’s heavy, it looks expensive.
In my rack it became the most eye-catching component.

I used it as it comes out of the box – stock tubes and I didn’t change output level jumper.

Well, let’s talk about the sound.
After 10 minutes with it I understood that it sounded not very well and I tried to use VDH the mainstream power cable. It gave noticeable improvement.

All following observations were done with this cable connected.

Now Hermes sounded very good indeed but not perfect.
Bass is well extended but a bit lumpy.
Midrange is very clear and vocals get special treatment.
Treble is very extended and very informative but a bit “etchy” and certainly can’t be called “very smooth” or “silky”.
Soundstage was very good – very wide and satisfactory deep.

Dynamics was good indeed and impact was great.
it seems to me that micro dynamics was less well served but still was satisfactory.

More important – music just flowed and a lot of times I found myself enjoying the music instead of analyzing sound qualities – and this is very good sign.

I can’t say that the band was in my room – but it wasn’t very far from that.

All instruments sounded very life like – violins, strings, guitars, trumpets.
Female voices sounded very good and somehow got their own space.

In short – the whole result was quite good and very enjoyable.

Now - the bad news.

When the music gets busy it loses its focus. Instead of easy identified instruments you hear “the whole bunch” together and a lot of details gets lost and swallowed.

Perhaps tubes’ rolling can improve this but it’s impossible to tell for sure.

In not very busy music it sounded very detailed. On well-known discs i noticed few details that I never heard.
I guess that’s not because they were never reproduced but because of different picture presentation which emphasized some things.

Don’t get me wrong – in total Hermes 2 sounds good indeed – fun and enjoying.

It indeed can’t substitute 4,000$-5,0004 CD player but it will be great improvement over 1,000$-1,500$ player.
It offers endless sound tweaking possibilities – output levels change, tubes types change, tubes brands change.

I think it’s a very good looking and decent sounding for its price.

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Product Weakness:	loompy bass, a bit etchy treble, loose focus and instruments separation with busy music, need qood power cable
Product Strengths:	natural, dynamic and quite good in "placing the band in the room"

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Associated Equipment for this Review:
Amplifier:	Harman Kardon Citation II tube power amplifier with Jim McShine kits installed
Preamplifier (or None if Integrated):	VTL The Ultimate tube preamp modifiyed with Solen and Blackgate caps and Alps pot
Sources (CDP/Turntable):	Sony 9000es SACD/DVD player
Speakers:	Sonus Faber Cremona
Cables/Interconnects:	Audioquest Dragon speaker cable, VDH MC Silver IT mk II , VDH MC Gold, XLO Reference
Music Used (Genre/Selections):	Jazz, Vocal, Classic
Other (Power Conditioner etc.):	VDH The Mainstream power cable for the DAC
Type of Audition/Review:	Home Audition

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