Being critical is what audiophile is about. My passion has been strong, it drives away complacency. I conduct check on my audio on regular basis to deny self-serving subjectivity. I come in as a regular audience like anyone else to enjoy a make belief performance, I do not accept anything less. Doing so, choosing the right recording is essential. Classical piano is my preferred recording for the said task because the mixing engineer could do the least editorials on this type of material, says the guru.
Piano among all covers the widest frequency bandwidth and the overtones are awesome. It is also the most difficult to get it right due to harmonics richness. Drum is tricky, I couldn't accurately identify a snare drum or hanging toms in the mix. Let's alone big Chinese drums like Tanggu or Japanese Taiko. You don't listen to these every day. Voices too, are more like a groove than timbre check particularly if you are not familiar with the artist. Emotion communicative is largely subjective. You might not get the same blood pressure reading at home or at hospital, too many external factors in play. When thing subjects to questionable doubt, things like how big is the bass, dynamic and tenacity, these will only draw in more controversial views and endless heated debates. Some audiophiles even conclude "as the way you like it" approach, everybody is happy.
Busyness and laziness explain the lack of posting. I am currently trying out a pre amp. Another newly acquired used power cord yet to break silence. Too cheap to let it get away. O shoots! The latest sting is a non oversampling DAC I'm eager to lay my hands on. Apart from that, I wouldn't want anything else. The road is laid and the new addition should complete my audio utopia, hopefully.
Not that my system suffers serious dynamic deficiency or what, my gut feeling that something was not quite click. There is some substances missing and I can't put my finger to it. The dynamic could use more authority, the soundstage dimensionality could be greater I guess. However, I am currently enjoying a high level of transparency, it is as addictive as drug.
Preamp is a critical component. Driving direct from DAC is more misses than hits for me, mainly, lacking in gain is the major stumbling block. Perhaps, it may work wonder in a high efficiency system. I received a preamp loan from a friend, hooked up, there and then I am convinced that I should get myself a unit. The lethargic performance is glaring with DAC/pre upon comparison with a dedicated preamp. More authority on the sound, so to say. The pleasant surprise is that it matches the transparency of the DAC pre which itself is a tall order. The preamp return is saddening, I already started missing the vigorousness and realism. That's the threshold of high end and non high end audio, in my opinion. The departure has left a vacuum in my head.
I have been listening to this preamp for one and a half month. Indulging in the realm of musical pleasure, loving every minute of it. That damn preamp is my missing puzzle, it thrashed out most of my system ill remarks. Reviewing now would be a little premature.
Elvis has left the building. Spent two hours tweaking my audio ET rack in one lazy Sunday afternoon, basically, tuning the resonance to reduce ringing. Changing the washer to better curb resonance. Nitty gritty, you don't want to know. Most audiophiles do not care much for cable management, I treat them meticulously because the impact is audible. Proper care to the cables would result a more relax presentation as opposed to a strained and lifeless performance.
So, you may be right to accuse audio system pictures could tell a thing or two about the sound. Some calls eye-fi. O yes, the speaker character is dominating. The one speaker I know that possess a chameleon like character is YG Acoustics. Speakers with strong character are overly coloured does not get my vote. Great artists like David Foster, Qunicy Jones, Burt Bacharach, Rolling Stone, Michael Jackson, Carlos Santana and as well all other have their own sonic peculiarities, they wanted the audiences to hear their sound. There are two important rules in audio. Rule number one is neutrality rules, rule number two, don't forget rule number one. We must be issue-based audiophile. By that I mean get on top of the problems, get on to deal with them. The reward is handsome. The room, hardware arrangement, resonance control, soundwave dynamic motion, cable management and in room sound loading, they do have their impact. My hardware arrangement may look quirky, zigzaggy, but they do sounded best that way. Amplifiers elevated about one foot? No way man. Try it and you tell me. Try it on a board or bare concrete floor, you tell me.
Audioing is a turnkey project, you are the project manager. This voicing effort reflects your preference, knowledge and how much you understand music. Crazy ideas too. Good luck.
