randy-11 First, get the mids right...
Agree, I list to the piano first. It has to sound right to me and it seems that it is the hardest for digital to reproduce. After that violin, I have to know if I am listening to Sastradivarius violin. Then space between instruments, vocals, placement and then TONE, TONE, TONE. Front to back layering, left to right layering. Decay of notes especially the piano. Stand up bass has to have that wood sound. I never found the sound I was looking for with what I could buy so I finally built my own DAC, preamp, phono and now amp. Not to say there is nothing out there because I have not heard it all but I was swapping out components and cables, etc., and never found the overall improvement I was looking for (actually I never knew that something could be so different because I never heard it before in a system). Even with people I know who also build or modify their own components, I heard better sound but not to where I am today. What I found when building my own components was I learned what parts made a difference and how they made a difference. So I can use that information to modify other peoples components as I do repair/modification work also. It was a extremely great learning experience for me at least. I was looking for my digital to sound analog. Now I finally have that although the phono stage I build is also something special also.
Happy Listening.
Agree, I list to the piano first. It has to sound right to me and it seems that it is the hardest for digital to reproduce. After that violin, I have to know if I am listening to Sastradivarius violin. Then space between instruments, vocals, placement and then TONE, TONE, TONE. Front to back layering, left to right layering. Decay of notes especially the piano. Stand up bass has to have that wood sound. I never found the sound I was looking for with what I could buy so I finally built my own DAC, preamp, phono and now amp. Not to say there is nothing out there because I have not heard it all but I was swapping out components and cables, etc., and never found the overall improvement I was looking for (actually I never knew that something could be so different because I never heard it before in a system). Even with people I know who also build or modify their own components, I heard better sound but not to where I am today. What I found when building my own components was I learned what parts made a difference and how they made a difference. So I can use that information to modify other peoples components as I do repair/modification work also. It was a extremely great learning experience for me at least. I was looking for my digital to sound analog. Now I finally have that although the phono stage I build is also something special also.
Happy Listening.