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Post by stellabagpuss on Nov 12, 2022 22:04:47 GMT
The journey never ends Martin T
Ref the I2s l reckon you'll have a hard task to improve on the Belden, as it's so neutral
Due to my R26 being fussy, l purchased another AV cable, due to the l2s layout. Anyway,briefly l've managed to get both working both Belden and AV running,the Belden is the clear winner again, the AV would do wonders with a polite set up.
So spill the beans on the l2s cable,will be really interested to hear how goes down.
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Post by MartinT on Nov 12, 2022 23:29:36 GMT
The journey never ends Martin T For me, it's end game tweaking now. I have all the major components I want in place. I agree that the BJ FE is an excellent cable so I had to push the boat out if I had any chance of beating it - and I won't know until I've received it. The AVPlay was clearly inferior to the FE every time I tried it. The I2S cable I have coming is a Tubulus Argentus from Holland. It should be with me in a week's time. |
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Post by stellabagpuss on Nov 13, 2022 0:01:29 GMT
l hope they work out okay...Not cheap.
My only concern, is the use of Silver,so l'd imagine they will take some running in.
Fingers crossed 🤞
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Post by MartinT on Nov 13, 2022 0:09:01 GMT
My only concern, is the use of Silver,so l'd imagine they will take some running in. It's a shot in the dark, but has to be tried  Oh, and Tara Labs will take care of the burning in. |
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Post by stellabagpuss on Nov 13, 2022 0:29:01 GMT
lf the where awards for HI Fl bravery, l would award one to yourself Martin.
Slight change, looks like SMSL have released two new DACs, with new Chipsets.
Should make interesting reading when reviewed.
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Post by nicholas on Nov 14, 2022 21:32:34 GMT
Listening today, the soundstage seemed incredibly deep with fantastic note decay. I haven't made any changes since the Active Optical Cable debacle. Perhaps I'll continue to not touch anything for quite a bit longer! I've left the Tara Labs Cascade burn-in track running overnight (see here). If burn-in tracks were judged by how horrible they sound, this one should be really effective. We'll see, I'm going to run it every night for a week and will report on any changes. A tip 'o the hat is in order for MartinT for discovering this free and effective tweak. How or why it works is well above my pay grade but work it does. Just crossed the 100 hour mark and what I'm hearing is a truly wonderful improvement in all aspects of sonic reproduction. Somewhat embarrassed to say that I've spent gobs for tweaks that delivered far less... and it's free and uses no rack space! |
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Post by MartinT on Nov 15, 2022 6:10:56 GMT
That's great to hear, nicholas. There have been no negative reports on the Tara Labs burn-in signal at all. It's quite astonishing and appears to have a permanent effect as far as I can hear. I shall henceforth use it whenever I introduce something new to the system. |
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Post by John on Nov 15, 2022 6:30:44 GMT
I been gradually building up time with the burn in process nowhere near 100 hours with it but I starting to like what it does. Music has a greater sense of flow and depth something which I am not short on has even improved.
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Post by MartinT on Nov 17, 2022 11:29:56 GMT
According to DHL, my new I2S cable is arriving today.
The cable is a 0.5m Tubulus Argentus I2S silver cable with bespoke HDMI connectors. As some of you will know, the Blue Jeans (Belden) FE cable I'm using between Gustard U18 and X26 Pro is the best of several I've tried and will not be easily beaten. Its sound can be defined as neutral, detailed and dynamic but not harsh as many have been (AVplay, Clearer Audio), or dull (Supra). The BJ is a true HDMI cable whereas the Tubulus will only work as I2S, omitting the unnecessary HDMI-only cores.
I'm going to give it a try immediately but I'm pretty sure the full Tara Labs burn-in treatment will be needed before I can conduct a meaningful shoot-out between the two.
Why the Tubulus? It's getting great reviews on other forums, the design goals are interesting (using air-gapped and pure silver solid core conductors) and it's probably one of the few cables that should outperform the BJ. We'll see.
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Post by mattspl on Nov 17, 2022 13:00:50 GMT
The Tubulus cables do look very interesting. I hadn’t heard of them before.
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Post by MartinT on Nov 17, 2022 17:42:54 GMT
It's here and placed immediately on the burn-in signal before I have a first listen later. Build quality looks great.  |
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Post by stellabagpuss on Nov 17, 2022 18:21:54 GMT
I'm looking forward to your views....Very interesting
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Post by MartinT on Nov 17, 2022 19:46:53 GMT
I gave the Tubulus an hour and a half of burn-in: not nearly enough, especially for silver, but I wanted to have an evening's listen.
You know when a cable sounds right from the off, even before it's settled down? This one sounds so right, and it's not even a subtle difference from my previous best I2S cable, the Blue Jeans FE. There is a lift in quality that is significant and I am really surprised to hear such a gap in performance between the 30cm BJ and the 50cm Tubulus.
What I hear so far: there is an immediate improvement in focus. I hear no tonality difference but the treble is noticeably sweeter, more extended and less grainy. The decay shimmer on cymbals is improved and the distinct sound of high bells emphasises the clarity of my beryllium tweeters. There is overall a little more midrange clarity, some more insight and edge definition to everything. The plosive sounds of voice makes them even more vivid.
The bass is more surprising although it has been noted in several reviews of this cable. Bass is just better defined, tighter and with amazing power. The pluck of bass strings and strike of drum beats have better definition and more impact.
I could go on but I'll stop at this point and keep listening. There's no denying that it's a step up in class from the valiant BJ. This is a silver cable done right and has none of the brightness/harshness of poor silver cables.
I shall put it back on the Tara Labs burn-in signal once I've finished tonight.
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Post by stellabagpuss on Nov 17, 2022 21:14:10 GMT
Great result Martin, sounds like they are used proper 99.9 pure silver, than than cheap sterling.
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Post by MartinT on Nov 17, 2022 21:36:53 GMT
Great result Martin, sounds like they are used proper 99.9 pure silver, than than cheap sterling. "With a special thermo-process the silver conductors are restructured at a molecular level to reach a quality close to mono crystal silver." |
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Post by MartinT on Nov 18, 2022 20:47:44 GMT
About 30 hours in and the cable has gone past the 'shouty' phase of burn-in, getting smoother and developing fine detail in the treble. Silver always needs more burn-in than copper and this is par for the course. The system is gelling remarkably well around this new cable.
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Post by mattspl on Nov 18, 2022 21:37:19 GMT
About 30 hours in and the cable has gone past the 'shouty' phase of burn-in, getting smoother and developing fine detail in the treble. Silver always needs more burn-in than copper and this is par for the course. The system is gelling remarkably well around this new cable. Sounds good Martin. Will you be looking at any of their other cables like the silver Ethernet cable? |
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Post by MartinT on Nov 18, 2022 23:15:23 GMT
Will you be looking at any of their other cables like the silver Ethernet cable? No, I don't think so. My system is pretty much done and, importantly, the balance is to my liking. I'm going to wait until the Tubulus I2S is fully burned-in and will then assess the overall balance again. |
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Post by nicholas on Nov 18, 2022 23:47:00 GMT
Would love to try the Tubulus I2S in my rig but I need a 1.5 meter length which could compromise my current "good behaviour" status with the missus.
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Post by julesd68 on Nov 19, 2022 14:03:16 GMT
Well you've got Xmas coming up! A gift from Santa to you or even from your good lady??  |
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