I have positive results to report here as my good friend Bon ( @jayctoy ) and others have already reported with this shotgun IC tweak .....Bottom line, the tweak will stay in my system!
I first tried the tweak with dual GCs, and the results were decent and acceptable, but later I tried shotgunning with an Ultra and a GC, and the results were stunningly better, IMO.
I didn't notice a huge improvement in the air or holographic nature of my soundstage (which was good to begin with), but it did come forward a few feet from my speakers towards me, so I guess that’s a little bit of soundstage extension. The biggest impacts in my system: generally better “detail” across the board (no, my system did NOT become brighter or edgier, but actually appeared a little “meatier”), with an edge going to bass reproduction (tighter, quicker, more fleshed out and tactile) and an overall better “presence” to vocals and instruments. In fact my system sounds a little “faster” now, and the transient response and dynamics really improved a bit in this shotgun configuration. Lastly, the system sounds (I’m only saying “sounds” because the volume knob on my preamp is more or less in the same position as pre-shotgun) more “powerful” with my measly 8wpc 300b-based mono blocks.
After the 9 hour or so session this weekend with the shotgunned Teo cables, I really tried hard to detect if there were any adverse effects / negatives from using the ICs (from my DAC to my preamp) in this way.... I only came up with one.... cost. I really heard / found no sonic deficiencies as compared to my system without shotgunning ICs. I think I was expecting maybe a slight loss in focus, but nope. Imaging is still great.
I did find myself playing tunes quite a bit louder than I normally do on some cuts... a testament to an apparently lower distortion and a blacker presentation afforded by the shotgun IC tweak.
Thanks to Doug Schroeder and Taras for bringing this forth. Well done gents!
