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Post by jandl100 on Nov 27, 2019 8:46:31 GMT
New speaker cables arrived yesterday - Chord Epic Super Twin. They have a hard act to compete with, as my W&M LS-06 are sounding great with the Hegel amp. The W&M are a bit more relaxed and warmer sounding than my Tellurium Q Silver and DNM cables, which err on the 'excitingly forward' side of the balance sheet - the W&M is an excellent match with the Hegel amp, which also errs on the excitingly forward side to my ears. I was intrigued by the excellent reports of the Chord along with its alleged smooth top end. Hmm, quite thick [16mm] and fairly inflexible - a bit of a bugger to route round things, it only does gentle curves. Stock image ... A big boned and bold sound. And the top end suits the system even better than the W&M, a bit of tizz that I had barely noticed is now obvious by its absence. Very fast, high rez sound - rapid runs on a lute are beautifully deliniated but not exaggerated, this is the best I have heard from this very familiar album. Bass is deep, noticeably powerful and very well controlled [no, not the lute - big symphonic]. The only fly in the ointment atm is the imaging. Initially not as deep and 3D as the W&M, which imo excels in this regard. I've been tweaking speaker orientation a bit, so the MBLs are now pointing more forward, almost straight ahead, and that has improved things. Somewhat surprisingly for a mostly-omni speaker, I find that orientation makes a real difference. More speaker shuffling to come, methinks.
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Post by MartinT on Nov 27, 2019 9:35:07 GMT
The only fly in the ointment atm is the imaging. If the cable is brand new, Jerry, give it some time. It should improve somewhat.
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Post by jandl100 on Nov 27, 2019 10:03:05 GMT
No, I bought it used, so it's probably well run in. Nonetheless, cables can sometimes take a while to settle in after a move. It's no hardship to listen to at all, and is in many ways really excellent, so I will let it play a while and see how it goes. I need to acclimatise to the different presentation as well.
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Post by MartinT on Dec 8, 2019 20:00:25 GMT
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Post by jandl100 on Dec 8, 2019 20:22:22 GMT
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Post by MartinT on Dec 8, 2019 20:30:01 GMT
Interesting, it looks like the valves were switched to standard socket-based ones at some point.
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Post by MartinT on Dec 10, 2019 7:45:00 GMT
How are you getting on with Tidal, Jerry?
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Post by jandl100 on Dec 10, 2019 8:15:20 GMT
How are you getting on with Tidal, Jerry? Fine. Enjoying it. Some oddities - a small percentage of albums have tracks in random order, at least on my setup. How does this one look to you? ... tidal.com/browse/album/60285696
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Post by MartinT on Dec 10, 2019 8:40:13 GMT
LOL - that doesn't help with listening to a continuous symphony, does it?
I've noticed a couple of funnies with Qobuz, but not to that extent.
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Post by jandl100 on Dec 10, 2019 9:07:45 GMT
Ah, good, it's not just me, then.
Tidal are using 'Volumes' to segregate tracks into groups to try and sort [oops, sorry about the pun] the problem, but too often they don't seem to know what they are doing.
In that linked album, Brahms 3 has its own Volume and is fine, but the rest are still muddled.
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Post by jandl100 on Dec 10, 2019 9:27:32 GMT
Well, well .... whodathunkit? Not me [but I had to try it]. A Pass Labs class A power amp that isn't boring and lifeless. ... an upgraded version of Pass DIY aleph-M, sold by Taiwan-based Vintage Audio Lab. 20wpc pure class A, and the chassis gets too hot to keep your hand on. Had it a few days now and really enjoying it. Fast, subtle, transparent, dynamic. And a surprisingly taut and powerful bass. The sound seems to bear very little resemblance to the two other Pass power amps I have tried, neither of which impressed me much with their sq.
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Post by julesd68 on Dec 10, 2019 9:53:25 GMT
Is that a volume control on the front Jerry?
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Post by jandl100 on Dec 10, 2019 16:38:24 GMT
Is that a volume control on the front Jerry? Yup. It can be used as a single input integrated, but I have it on max volume.
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Post by jandl100 on Dec 10, 2019 16:55:21 GMT
How are you getting on with Tidal, Jerry? Fine. Enjoying it. Some oddities - a small percentage of albums have tracks in random order, at least on my setup. How does this one look to you? ... tidal.com/browse/album/60285696... I'm on the 3 month free trial with Tidal. Current thoughts are to return to Qobuz after that. Reasons - the above mentioned track muddling bug is an occasional irritant with Tidal - on my system I can search by record label with Qobuz, I can't with Tidal - I like the reviews and commentary you often get with Qobuz albums Sound quality is very good with both, just a bit of cable swapping needed to synergise the different tonal presentations.
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Post by MartinT on Dec 10, 2019 20:08:20 GMT
I'm also on the Tidal trial but I shall not be continuing with it as I've already found myself subconsiously returning to Qobuz.
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Post by Firebottle on Dec 11, 2019 8:21:16 GMT
Well, well .... whodathunkit? Not me [but I had to try it]. A Pass Labs class A power amp that isn't boring and lifeless. ... an upgraded version of Pass DIY aleph-M, sold by Taiwan-based Vintage Audio Lab. 20wpc pure class A, and the chassis gets too hot to keep your hand on. Had it a few days now and really enjoying it. Fast, subtle, transparent, dynamic. And a surprisingly taut and powerful bass. The sound seems to bear very little resemblance to the two other Pass power amps I have tried, neither of which impressed me much with their sq. I have worked on one of these, a nice amplifier. The standing current can be reduced by changing one resistor per channel, the temperature of the heat sinks dropped from 70+ to 48 degrees. I think Vintage Audio Lab were aiming for 40W into 4 ohms, but it is still 20W into 8 ohms with the reduced current.
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Post by Eduardo Wobblechops on Dec 11, 2019 11:06:52 GMT
I've had these for a while, very good to my ears, a bargain at £300 IMO-
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Post by jandl100 on Dec 11, 2019 11:14:40 GMT
Ah, interesting - are they similar to mine but with 10wpc?
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Post by Eduardo Wobblechops on Dec 11, 2019 11:30:38 GMT
Not certain if they are a Pass circuit or the JLH, info is a bit vague. They do sound very good though.
Yes 10w Class A, one site claims a further 60W in A/B.
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Post by jandl100 on Dec 11, 2019 11:39:09 GMT
I had a Chinese Nobsound JLH circuit class A 10wpc amp, it was excellent, amazing control and definition. Someone even mocked-up a Krell badge for one, and a mini Krell is what it sounded like to me, very reminiscent of my old KSA50 mk1.
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