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Post by Sovereign on Oct 9, 2014 21:25:24 GMT
Heres a random thought I just had whilst listening to a wee bit of Stevie Wonder, If you use Magnetic (floating) feet does that not negate the need for a dedicated rack? i.e. my Torlyte rack is all about dispersing energy away from the hifi components as fast as possible. If all my hifi equipment is floating on magnets would it make any difference if I removed my Torlyte rack and replaced it with one made of cardboard, only figuratively speaking of course. Food for thought.
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Post by MartinT on Oct 10, 2014 5:24:42 GMT
I don't think so and here's why: my experiments have shown that both decoupling (isolation) and coupling are important. When I moved my SACD player from decoupled (big sorbothane feet) to coupled (RDC Cones) I heard a very substantial improvement in SQ. Much of my system components want coupling with cones (to the strong and heavy system rack), one needs decoupling (the turntable). It seems you have to try each type and listen for the best sound.
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Post by MartinT on Oct 17, 2014 18:28:30 GMT
Fascinating: I tried swapping out the Maglevs for sorbothane feet under the butcher's block. Better immunity to vibrations, worse sound. So next I removed the butcher's block and left the RDC 1 Cones, Cone Cups and Bases perched directly on the sorbothane feet. Worse isolation, better sound. It seems that there is a sweet spot right now, very close to where the feedback sets in at about 57-58 on the volume control. I'm getting the strong idea that the Technics doesn't like mass loading, but it improves its ability to resist feedback.
I'm still waiting for the magnets to arrive from China.
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Post by John on Oct 17, 2014 18:37:04 GMT
Getting stuff from China often takes time
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Post by speedysteve on Oct 18, 2014 17:54:34 GMT
Just spent the afternoon at Martin's having a good listen (John there as well).
Very enjoyable, thanks Martin for the hospitality and coffee / pastries.
Very good system Martin has put together... Where to start, well the turntable just digs out so much detail and dynamics, that'll be the Cart and arm etc. Then the deck itself puts all the rhythm and drive in (all those mods, PSU, bearing, platter etc etc...).
Anyone who does not think an SL-1210 can cut it should shimmy on over to the likes of Martin, Marco etc and have a listen...
I've heard several of these mega Techies - great!
Ooh dinner just arrived - to be continued:)
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Post by speedysteve on Oct 18, 2014 19:19:23 GMT
Continued...  My SP-10 is great and I like what the deck does very much - perhaps it is the Cartridge I would have to add to... Something like Martin has would be an interesting complement to my SPU Royal N. There was an immediacy that the SPU's cannot reproduce. Martin's CD / SACD player is also a very fine front end. We streamed a bit through a Raspberry Pi -> Coax SPDIF -> Caimen DAC and in. It's not upto par with the other front ends Martin has / other serving solutions I've heard. We then used John's solution of USB drive into Blue Ray player ,outputting via optical SPDIF to the Caimen, using Martin's Pioneer Blue ray player. For me this was a bit step up over the Pi. It might even get Martin into music serving?! Very cost effective way to get music serving and with big TV displaying the tracks and with a but of effort perhaps also the art work too, it is an interesting option for a dac solution. The main take away for me was how powerful Martin's Chord amp was into the Ushers. I'm going to try different (read F-off big) amps on my two bass channels next:) Many thanks Martin for a great afternoon sharing his system and to John as well as Martin for sharing of music and the ideas interchange. |
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Post by John on Oct 18, 2014 19:22:20 GMT
Yes a great afternoon by all.
I last heard Martin system about 2 years ago and whilst most of the equipment has stayed the same the system has moved on with all the effort Martin has put in around cables isolation and accessories.
Lets start off with the TT the last time I heard it was with the Whest this time around a Aurosound VIDA phono stage and this has made a huge difference to detail and sound stage
Martin Ayre player is nearly the equal of the TT What I notice bass has less overhang and the balance of the system is pretty spot on. The Ushers are great speakers and yes the Chord power amp works really with them.
The Raspberry Pi shows potential but at the moment a bit congested it does not have the scale of the Ayre
I think we might have also converted Martin to trying out the dark side a bit more with regards to files. His Pioneer using USB input with the Caiman was nearly the equal of the Ayre but not quite
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Post by MartinT on Oct 18, 2014 22:54:08 GMT
Thanks, guys, it was a most enjoyable afternoon. I love our get-togethers, swapping music and ideas. The big lesson for me was that I have a rather good file delivery system to hand and didn't even know it. That unassuming USB socket on the front of my Pioneer BDP-LX55 Blu-ray player has sat ignored ever since I bought it. Plugging in both Steve and John's external drives was a revelation, with the Pioneer driving out via optical into the Caiman-II. Both red-book and hi-res files sounded very good indeed. I shall be pursuing that idea much further, including running the Pioneer from the regenerator.
Meanwhile, I'll see what I can do about improving the RPi. One thing to try is to run it via optical into the Caiman. I'll do that soon.
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Post by MikeMusic on Oct 19, 2014 10:25:37 GMT
Maybe I'll test my Pioneer/Caiman against my Isis at Christmas time when I will have the time
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Post by John on Oct 19, 2014 10:45:15 GMT
Using a DVD player as a file based player was a big surprise to me the first time I heard it and is the best way I know of playing files without to much hassle and good SQ
I am sure with time you can get the Raspberry pi up to the same level
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Post by MartinT on Oct 19, 2014 10:47:04 GMT
I've asked Stan about his optical cables. Will try the RPi over optical and get the BD player over to clean power.
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Post by John on Oct 19, 2014 10:53:45 GMT
Be interesting to know how much it helps with the regenerator powering.
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Post by MartinT on Oct 20, 2014 18:29:37 GMT
I moved the Blu-ray player to the regenerator and played a few FLAC files via the Caiman-II DAC and optical cable. Not bad, not bad at all. It throws a good soundstage and lots of detail but doesn't have quite the impact and authority of the Ayre. I have a Beresford optical cable on its way to me from Stan.
The player does not show artwork images, which is a shame, but certainly not a showstopper for me. Meanwhile, I'll get the RPi running on optical too, and compare them both.
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Post by John on Oct 20, 2014 18:38:14 GMT
Yes close but no cigar
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Post by speedysteve on Oct 20, 2014 20:28:07 GMT
Hmm, Could it be the DAC? Does the Caimen compare equally to the Ayre in the DAC/OP amp etc. department?
Have you tried the optical out from the Ayre into the Caimen to get a bit closer to comparing apples to apples?
Just a thought.
I've always thought it a shame with such fine CDPs that there is not SPDIF in, so one could use the thing just as a DAC / Line out but, hey ho!
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Post by ChrisB on Oct 20, 2014 20:30:19 GMT
My Accuphase player has an optical and a coax input, which is really useful.
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Post by John on Oct 20, 2014 20:32:06 GMT
Worth a try but that ayre is pretty decent
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Post by MartinT on Oct 21, 2014 7:11:02 GMT
The Ayre has a very fine Minimum Phase DAC implementation, which the Caiman cannot quite match although it gets close. I'm not displeased with their relative performances. We'll see whether Stan's optical cable raises the game a little further and then I'll be happy.
Remember, for me file-based is always going to be secondary. I shall never buy downloads until I have to.
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Post by MartinT on Oct 23, 2014 21:05:27 GMT
Coherent 6D Power Cable - Take Two
My second 6D power cable arrived today. I know the 6D is a bit special as I have a 2m length forming my main feed to the P10 regenerator. I ordered a second from Tony as I liked very much what the 6D brought to my system last time, and I know how sensitive my Chord power amp is to input power. This latter point has been brought home to me time and time again and is completely counter-intuitive. It has a switched-mode power supply and chops the rectified mains waveform up at a high frequency for reconstitution after transformation. How can it be sensitive to input power and even the cable feeding it? It just is. More than any other component in my system. It makes no sense but then many things we hear in our systems can be equally puzzling.
So I ordered a 1m length of 6D because, with the amp being so sensitive, I wanted it to get the best damned feed possible from the P10. I connected it up after swapping in my Synergistic Research Red fuse and left things to warm up again, giving it a couple of full doses of the P10's Cleanwave degaussing treatment. What I heard was immediate and a copy of the first 6D in the system: a tremendous pulling forward of midrange clarity and detail, like the most fantastic wiping of my lenses or application of the hackneyed old phrase 'lifting a veil'. Only not a veil, more like drapes. With this comes a tightening of the bass, with incredible grip and delineation of the bass lines. The very opposite of one-note droning. Tightness, clarity, startling detail and greater focus in the soundstage. What a cable! It's not as if the MCRU HC Ultimate (Furukawa 2.6) it replaced was a slacker.
I don't know how Tony does it exactly, and I do know that making it up is painstaking and takes him hours to do, which means it isn't cheap, but as the final killer ingredient for a well sorted system, the 6D is tremendous.
Pictured is a 4D cable: the 6D is more substantial again.
Coherent Systems |
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Post by John on Oct 23, 2014 21:15:35 GMT
Where is it now with that test track for bass I think you should hear a lot more coming through Glad its tightened up the bass even further.
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