Why does it sound less dynamic?


It has been a great puzzle to me. I have upgraded my whole chain from a SFL-2 with a PA-7 STASIS amp from Nakamichi connected to some PBJs, three Racing cones connected to a pair of Gershman X-1s, and SW-1 companion woofers and some old japanese digital front end (CHEAP*) and switched the power cord to Synergistic Master Couplers and the set up sounded explosively dynamic etc . . . .and since then, I switched to Sonic Frontiers Power 2, and added the BEL CANTO DAC-1, to my Panasonic DVD player, which was wired with Synergistic Research Alpha Sterlings and the whole set up sounds worser than before. The soundstage is less dynamic, the inmediacy is gone and overall, I feel a lot less excited by the results. I would say that somehow the digital sound sounds a little more artificial and annoying than before. What is wrong? Is the amp slow sounding? Is the digital front end bad? What caused this problems? I need help with this connondrum
bemopti123
To be honest, I am in this Quest or massive revamping mode. I got the SFL-2 on February and the PA-7 around the same time, then came the some cabling change, an Analysis Plus 12 wires
Analysis Plus which is not as great sounding as the company suggests, later, about three weeks ago I got the Subwoofers (SW-1) and then the Power 2s two weeks ago, the DAC-1 two weeks ago. I am wondering if I have overprepared the system and now, it needs some "cooking" time, before it shows the true colors. I believe that there were two many changes, without me gotten used to their ultimate sound and now I am paying the consequence. Perhaps, I should wait for months, before plugging back my old Yamaha+Music Fidelity X-10, and then sit and wait for some mystic light to appear. Talking about Sibilance that FPEEL spoke about, I used to have with the Yamaha, but it also had more body and immediacy, and now, the sound is sort of smoother but very non dynamic. Hum. This may simply mean that I might be a fan to the "distortion factor that is built in" in products as ONHWY 61 stated. Is it possible that I might have been carried away with the POWER 2, whose Net price was outragiously low and having ignored what the STEREOPHILE pack said about its sound as being "boring." Gosh, this is maddening. Any suggestions on set up and improvement would be appreciated. PS: Could it be that the interconnects that wire the preamp to a remote box (CREEK) and then to the POWER 2, a pair of Kimber PBJ are truly showing their ugly colors with the addition of the POWER 2? Maybe I need better cables. HUM Wondering PAUL
I agree with the cones needing to be played with with,and the sound being more real and less distorted(dynamic)..the "S" sound of some vocals do come out this way..remember if you were listening to it live it would do the same in some applications BUT!!! Please remember that if you upgrade you are only as good as your weakest link and the lower end synergistic interconnects are critical here in the transport of your SOUND! Move up to at least a synergistic resolution reference MKII or better..The most important dollar for dollar spent in cabling is between the source and the dac!!!PERIOD...good luck!
Paul: Don't want to thicken the plot but better equipment demands more from your house grid due to larger power consumption, transformers, capacitors etc. How is the power part? Do you have dedicated lines / grounding? Are the front end and amplifiers on the same circuit?
I second the point Mmkwf made about the cable between the transport and dac - it is without a doubt the single biggest improvement in cabling that I have ever made and I've made a bunch. BTW I have been using illuminati for several years now and couldn't be happier.