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Fatigue Subjective???

I went to my local high end store and compared to Thiel CS 1.6 played on a Naim system to the CS 1.6 on a Levinson/arcam system. The naim system blew the Levinson away in sounstage width and depth, continuity of image, musical involvment. Only bad thing about the Naim was the fatigue, which was immediate.

So I called up the dealer,today, thinking maybe there was one weak link in the Naim system, that if eliminated, would still preserve the good things but get rid of the fatiguing
quality. And maybe I'd get the Naim. The dealer (who was on the surly side and has therefore probably lost my business) tells me that since "fatigue is subjective" there's nothing that makes the Naim more fatiguing than the levinson, other than my ears.

My question: is fatigue subjective, or do some sytems/components produce it.
robertd

Showing 2 responses by robertd

robertd OP
76 posts
 
I'll try to describe the "fatigue" more, and I probably won't do a very good job. Almost immediately with the NAIM system, I wanted to turn it down, and turn it off. It had something in the treble, I would guess, that was very uncomfortable to my ears. I get this from my factory car stereo sometimes, especially if I'm listening to CD patched through the headphone jack of my discman - and in the car it's not a high res situation. I play the thiels with a mccormack amp, and SS ARC preamp, and I have to stop and reset my ears. If I use the mccormack and a passive control unit, it's much more bearable. If I use a golden tube power amp, I can use the ARC SS preamp with no problem. So, I feel there are alot of factors - preamp, power amp and the source (digital). Maybe it's just the digital thing - I've heard many converters produce some nasty odd order harmonic distortion. The levinson setup did not make me want to turn it down, but it did not have alot of the spatial info the Naim setup had. If it's a software issue, one problem is that alot of good music is not that well recorded, so I don't want to paint myself into a corner with just a few listenable CD's.

I thank you all for your comments.

Robert
robertd OP
76 posts
 
I'm currently using a tube amp with the Thiels, and it has a low fatigue factor. And for only about 35 watts a side, I'm not complaining about missing power. As far as the soundstage depth, it was there in spades with the NAIM relative to the Levinson integrated. This is of course just what I heard one day with about 25 minutes of listening in total. I know the Thiels are not rolled off like others, and Thiel does not stipulate tubes like some other makers, so I believe they get a bum rap on the fatigue side. And there was a good point that live music is fatiguing. for rock, I usually wear earplugs if it's a small space, so I don't notice. And there are alot of sounds we encounter everyday - saws, sirens, some voices, which would be fatiguing if recorded and reproduced perfectly, god knows they're bad enough in real life. I think I have different expectations for recorded music than live music. Like the soundstage at the symphony vs what I want from a cd through my system. Definitely expect it to be more pronounced on the system. I had not considered rowlands. I'll check 'em out!

Thanks,

Robert
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