With deference to Shatern and others herein, I would submit the best resource we have in the final analysis is to Try em and see for yourself Unquestionably.
To make a beleaguered and contested thread still more monotonous, Ill re-emphasize the more practical aside.
and this time keep my laptop plugged in.
AS sensible as it is to school our minds to the various equipment designs, so too should our ears be as well, educated. Notwithstanding this note I feel we have at our disposal remarkable testing apparatus even without being so necessarily informed. It is a fundamental prerequisite to pursue this hobby, just as is sight for the pursuit of printed text.
As long as one can initially determine notable differences as they stroll the confines of their local high end audio dealerships, moving from one outfit to the next better positioned one as they go, they are armed sufficiently enough.
Regardless the system under construction or now complete, the deciding factors for the effort has been the perceptions of the owner themselves, and via most laudably their own hearing abilities.
One has but to be able to discern between the 4 types of systems:
Uh
Ill pass
Now that aint bad at all!
Take a check?
Or the more profound
Oh
my
God! (or explicative of your choice)
The latter by its very nature usually precludes me from asking about the finances without laughing
or crying. Depends on the mood.
If the capacity for such divination is at ones disposal, and is accompanied by some modicum of good sense, and the financial wherewithal to further the process they are on their way! Therapy might well be included in the budget too. For some however the machinations of the hobby are sufficiently therapeutic.
Regardless where we find ourselves on the scale, our own auditory abilities remain the sole litmus test as deciding good, better or best, irrespective of the designs we follow. Flea power or goliath, glass or sand, one signal path or the electronic dissimilarity of two, so long as more often than not, better and not different is followed, improvement is the result. No matter the philosophy one subscribes too.
I had an all BAT power train a while back. Balanced Audios Victor K applies a purely balanced approach to both his tube designs and his MOS FET SS designs. I used a combination of tube preamp and SS amp. Used XLRs to connect them ultimately. At first they were so attached using SE cables and adapters. I heard several xlr cables before deciding on one particular set. The XLR to XLR attachment was better sounding once done that way over using SE + adapter.
My source however was always SE + adapter into the purely balanced preamp.
I sold the preamp, and moved up a few notches to a SE tube preamp I felt sounded better. Naturally the new SE preamp had to use an adapter to connect to the amp. I used those supplied by BAT to do that. Even had my fav XLR cables converted to SE.
The result was #3 of the aforementioned levels of system performance IMO. In truth I should say it as IME
. Or In My Experience. In my own house and over many of those rigs Ive heard at dealers. I sold all of that system save for some accessories and the preamp, and now have IME, one that yields a far better presentation. Better across the board? No. Just better overall.
Through this trek hearing was first and foremost the piper which solicited me to change and improve upon various components. Curiosity played a role, some wisdom was prevailed upon and my wallet presided over the whole of the affair. The latter at times being ignored, usually reaffirmed its voice by planting the detour sign which pointed me back to good sense and the inherent financial reality of each move.
Hearing too accounts for as much of the rhetoric around here as does anything else. Consequent professions of cabling worth or worthlessness. Power line accessories or their lack. Even tonality impressions of brightness, recession, fatiguing sounds, can be on a per basis debate and the end answer is held by the owner of that rig. No one else.
True too a consensus of viewpoints could be used to support one approach or another as long as the taker of the poll is capable of living with the results and not their own preferences.
I doubt seriously, very seriously anyone here has said no outright, to a thing they felt sounded better because some review or spec sheet said the numbers do not support its sonic abilities.
Have you ever heard someone say, or thought yourself to say, Nope. I simply cant buy that piece, Mister. It sounds great but the specs arent sufficiently adequate. Thanks anyhow.
I think youll find that statement right next to the ones saying Oh My Goodness systems are free while they last.
We are by nature, more often than not, predisposed to overkill. Pedantic. Anal. Just plain picky. With occasionally the dog ego firmly attached to our heels, rather than nipping at them while we ascend our hills, as ol Frederich N. warned us about some decades ago. From it all and despite it too, now and then, is the very place that holds the involvement, excitement, deliberations, and consequent fun one can derive from our hobby of choice. To limit oneself from experimentation or investigation on an end user level, the accumulation of knowledge and hence a better defined approach will cease. We will then wear, the blinders of the unknown and untried. These muted and veiled oracles are then our guides, and our own ignorance then, the sole bar to our increase.
Certainly there are more congruent or amenable connections in how we interface our gear. The maker of the gear should be foremost in deciding which electronic path is best in those regards.
Although there are indeed some fascinating new twists on older themes now erupting from high end audio component manufacturers, how pieces are integrated one to another remains our own enterprise. Many are surely robust enough to afford several sorts of connections, and the best path will always be realized IF some personal trials are endured. Sometimes performance increases are not as constricted to only one way
. So long as human perception is handing down the verdict alternative means can be at least interesting, and at times profound.
If however we dont Try em and see for ourselves
. we wont really ever know fully the answer best fitting our particular & often unique, circumstances.
