My take would be that I doubt it would be the Tara Labs cables causing this 'sting' on female vocals, more likely the Esoteric. I've owned a couple Esoteric units, and listened to a few more. That seems to be their house sound. Very dynamic, powerful and detailed, but not the richest or smoothest player out there. Esoteric will have it's fans, as do all components and cables. I'm not saying they are not good, but I know that they are not my cup of tea.
Who knows though, maybe with another 800-1000 hours you will adapt to the sound.
FWIW, I do believe in burn in, and more so than Dodgealum does I guess. I think that 100-200 hours will get you 95% of the way there though. Especially if you spend some of that time running the Ayre/Cardas burn in cd.
Cheers,
John |
I agree with much of what Dodgealum is saying. I do believe in burn in time, as I have heard subtle, but meaningful change occur over time. However, in the case of the ridiculously long burn in times mentioned here, I'm more inclined to believe that it is simply your ears adapting to the sound than the sound of the cd player changing.
I also agree that "unbearable" sounds a bit harsh, especially for a $7K cd player. I am not a fan of Esoteric players, but I would not say they sound unbearable. They have there strengths, dynamics, power, details, and in the right system I'm sure some will love them. I do prefer a more musically involving, richer and dimensional sound from my digital source, which is why the Esoteric's are not for me. However, I think "unbearable" is a bit melodramatic.
Cheers,
John |
I am not here to debate either Cerrot, I'm sure you heard what you heard. I wish you well in your search for affirmation.
Cheers,
John |
01-26-08: Knownothing
1000/24 = 41.67 days. Less than 1.5 months. That is not really that long of a time. I could see continued improvements occurring over that period. I also agree that continued improvements are possible. The question here is: Can 1000 hours take something from "unbearable" to "wonderful"? My answer would be no. As always, YMMV. Cheers, John |
So let's re-cap shall we? At 674 hours you were "almost there" except for the bit of a sting in female vocals. Now at 760 hours, you are "there", especially when listening to test cd's.
I agree that the Esoteric is ruthlessly revealing. I have moved on because of that. I found that 90% of my cd collection was not up to the task w/ the Esoteric units. The choice was to find a player that made my collection sound good, or limit the cd's that I could listen to without grinding my teeth. I chose the former.
I'm glad to read that you are "there" Cerrot, enjoy the music.
Cheers,
John |
Dodgealum, I guess it's safe to assume that you are not using a tube preamp. I have a tube preamp, and I would not advise this break in method to other tube preamp owners.
It looks like I may have sold my Esoteric's too soon. :)
I know mine had no where near 1000 hours on them when I sold them.
Power cords may be a good way to take the edge off the Esoteric's too, as Guido suggests. I've gone the other way it would seem, using a very revealing power cord on a warmer cd player. I've also heard a couple of modded Esoteric's that seemed to take the edge off too. Whatever it takes......
Cheers,
John |
I still don't understand the value of turning the preamp on when buring in a cd player, can someone explain this? I'm under the impression that just having the cd player on repeat would burn it in. Since you cannot hear it anyway, I would recommend using the Ayre/Cardas burn in cd as the disc on repeat.
Cheers,
John |
I guess there may be something to the 'active load' philosophy. There is no way to know unless identical units have been burned in for the same amount of hours, one by itself, one connected to a 'live' preamp.
Dodgealum, burning up 800-1000 tube hours is exactly why I would not do this. If you feel it necessary to have a preamp turned on, I would suggest grabbing a receiver (I know I have a couple laying around the house), plug the Esoteric into the receiver and turn both on. No need to hook a speaker load to the receiver. I would assume this would accomplish the 'live load' for the player, but not wear out your tubes.
As Germanboxers suggests, and I tend to agree, the 'live load' is a theory with no certain results. Good tubes are too expensive for me to try this with my Ref 3. If I had a SS preamp, I would try this as a "why not?" tweak.
However, I do recommend you investigate the Ayre/Cardas burn in cd. I and many others have found this to be a valuable tool. I would think a few hundred hours with the Ayre/Cardas cd on repeat with no preamp would accomplish more than a few hundred hours with a regular cd with a preamp. Just my $0.02
Cheers,
John |
Dodgealum, the key question is, would you classify the sound of the X-03SE as "unbearable" at the beginning too?
Cheers,
John |
Gawdbless, first of all, I am not a fan of the digital medium. Vinyl is my heaven. However, as far as digital goes, I'd rather have a player of omission than commission. Therefore, the Esoteric's are not for me, as no player is for everyone. I'd rather be able to listen to that poor recording without grinding my teeth, than worry about hearing footsteps or breathing or some other stuff on a cd that I've never heard before. Music is more important to me than quality of recordings. That being said, if hearing deep into a recording means that much, look for the SACD version. That's my $0.02
Cheers,
John |
I used to love vinyl, but prefer the convenience of cd's these days. Is It still a more mellow sound that cd?, It used to be to my ears, If my memory serves me.
Gawdbless Not even close, IMHO. I've tried many different digital players, single box and seperate, up to $20K....vinyl beats them all easily. I do agree that I do still listen to digital for convenience sake, but when listening for music's sake, vinyl wins hands down. YMMV. Cheers, John |
