calvinandhobbes
Responses from calvinandhobbes
| Very small, warm and dynamic speakers Have you heard the Totem Model 1? Though I've not heard the Model 1, my impression of Totems from listening to different models over the years is that they are the opposite of warm sounding. Sonus Faber would definitely be warm sounding as would a... | |
| Help selecting a power cord. I’ve found that even the base Shunyata Venom V14 power cord makes a noticeable improvement over stock power cords on a DAC. I think the benefit comes from better shielding of electromagnetic interference. That could be a good starting point.FWIW, ... | |
| Old digital that still kicks butt The Linn CD12 from 1999 is one of the best sounding digital players that I can remember. I recently heard a Chord Hugo TT/MScaler which didn't sound close to being as musical as a CD12, let alone a mid-90s Marantz CD63 SE | |
| Old Amps that can still Kick Butt I'm still running a Creek 4140 integrated in my system. I thought it would be easy to get something that sounds better given that it only cost $550 in 1989, but that has not been the case. I think the reason it sounds good from the perspective of ... | |
| Strong recommend: The HiFi Podcast with Darren & Duncan What I appreciate is that they combine deep knowledge about the engineering principles behind audio equipment with a curiosity for listening to equipment to explain why it sounds that way. | |
| Shunyata Denali Damn! What led you to formerly deny any effect from power cables and what was it about the Denali that changed your mind (compared to prior experiences with power cables)? | |
| Chord DACs .. who has moved across to them from R-2R based DACs ? Here are my listening notes on the Qutest and the Pontus II: I've had a Chord Qutest in my system for the past 2 months with the intention of comparing it to the Denafrips Pontus II.Background on the Qutest as a reference point: The Qutest sounde... | |
| NORDOST vs CARDAS USB cables @edgewound I'm a fan of the Nordost Flatline speaker cables as well. They sound incredibly fast and transparent. I also got mine in the early 90s when the Flatline Gold cables were more reasonably priced because Nordost was just starting out.The o... | |
| Ethernet Cables I got an AmazonBasics Cat 6 Ethernet cable and a Supra Cat 8 cable to be able to listen to both. My plan was to sell the Supra Cat 8 cable if I didn't hear any clear improvement from the AmazonBasics cable. FWIW, I'm using the Supra Cat 8 cable no... | |
| Which speaker among Dali, Dynaudio and Acoustic Energy should I choose? These were my listening notes on the Dynaudio Excite X34 when I was speaker shopping last year: Dynaudio X34 Excite: ($1995): Looser especially in the low end than the Monitor Audio Silver 300 and the Audio Physic Sparta. Plays rhythms much more ... | |
| NORDOST vs CARDAS USB cables @andy2 The difference between USB cables is surprisingly evident even with pretty modest systems such as my own. Last fall, I was loaned some USB cables and got some cheaper USB cables for comparison as I have been in the process of building a dig... | |
| TONE My impression is that I can only judge the "rightness" of tone when I hear it. As others have said, some recordings will never sound real on any system. Every so often everything aligns and I hear something reproduced that sounds incredibly real t... | |
| Sound quality of the Audioquest Dragonfly Red via a good streamer @soix I did a quick listen to the Dragonfly Red with and without the Jitterbug. My perceptions are that the sound is better with the Jitterbug in. I'm sure many other factors affect the sound that comes out including the quality of the data stream... | |
| Amazon HD Lower Price Unfortunately, Amazon HD sounds terrible. | |
| Denafrips Ares II +1 to the Pontus II being a big step up from the Ares II. |