New gear exciting times ahead.

[hilroy48]

Absolutely cracking looking setup sir

Your room is beautiful and seems to be correctly treated too. I bet it just sounds bliss

Thank you very much. Yes i am very happy with the result. I do things methodically if you will, if i make changes i make one at a time play music, listen for a while. Make another change, play the same music and listen see what i hear. I have everything i need for this system now except for one more component. I am going to be buying a Saturn 102C power conditioner. I have spoke to 3 people now who have them, and have reported very good results.

 

[hilroy48]

...and (God forbid) I (and this forums mods) would not want you to debate the fact 👍
Under the STRICT conditions that nobody can debate your explanation - if you are prepared (and know the answer) perhaps you could give me some info.
I understand the need for screening where appropriate.
However, on your specific statement above, please explain what, on the reference ends, is physically making the huge difference.
You're qualified to explain. As a qualified Electronics Service Engineer, (I'd like to think) I'm qualified to understand your explanation.
If you'd prefer not answer, feel free to say, otherwise I would be most (genuinely) grateful for a once-and-for-all, definitive explanation.
Some people report hearing a difference - but they neither know nor care what's causing it.
You can't be one of those people. Something is going on, what is it?
Remember, you won't be debating , you will be merely educating.
If you do want a debate though, there's a 'mains cable' thread, where there are a few people in need of education.

when i first started with new audio equipment, The store i was buying from connected the exact same amp, cd player and speakers up. All they did was swap the power cable from the factory cable to a Nordost blue haven cable. I could hear a difference. They gave me the cable to take home and try. I could here the same difference in my house with the exact same gear. what happened was the white noice, background noise if you will was gone. it was quiet there was nothing. The beats in the music sounded better. there was a hit of the drum then nothing, there was a snap of the fingers on the track then nothing. I would tell people who came over, to listen to the nothing. Once there was nothing, i could hear the music more clear. So it eliminates white noises, EMF , any interferences that may be in the air that the system may absorb. Cables are nothing more than an antenna wire if you will. I use shielded cable at work to prevent noice being picked up by sensitive equipment, why would audio equipment be any less sensitive. All i can tell you is i could hear a difference. I swapped out my speaker cable on my new system, and that made a noticeable difference. I went from a Nordost Purple Flare flat cable to my new Wire world Equinox 8 cable. I sold the Nordost cable this week, got 2/3 of my money back on it so i did ok. I have bought the same speaker cable for my basement system as well.

 

[newlash09]

Thank you very much. Yes i am very happy with the result. I do things methodically if you will, if i make changes i make one at a time play music, listen for a while. Make another change, play the same music and listen see what i hear. I have everything i need for this system now except for one more component. I am going to be buying a Saturn 102C power conditioner. I have spoke to 3 people now who have them, and have reported very good results.

Very nice sir

Since I live in a very populated apartment complex, I have very bad power. So on a whim I tried a isotek evo3 polaris. It works on the small box components like my streamer, Roon chain, dac and preamp. Though I cant say it effected my power amps in any way. But the reduction in back ground noise was convincing enough. So I eventually plumped for a PSaudio P1200 pure power regenerator. It again cleaned it up quiet a bit more.

So after some more research, I found that a passive preamp, completely breaks the chain apparently. So nothing goes into the power amps but the pure sound signal. So I've since changed to a MFA passive preamp. And it sounds unbelievable. The level of detail and resolution is even more now, plus the noise floor has vanished completely. And the MFA had quite big shoes to fill, as it was replacing a T+A P1260R, which by itself, was no slouch

This is the cleanest sound I've ever had. Sorry for my idle rants .. thought I'd share my findings since your goodselves are considering power treatments. All the best

 

[Gray]

when i first started with new audio equipment, The store i was buying from connected the exact same amp, cd player and speakers up. All they did was swap the power cable from the factory cable to a Nordost blue haven cable. I could hear a difference. They gave me the cable to take home and try. I could here the same difference in my house with the exact same gear. what happened was the white noice, background noise if you will was gone. it was quiet there was nothing. The beats in the music sounded better. there was a hit of the drum then nothing, there was a snap of the fingers on the track then nothing. I would tell people who came over, to listen to the nothing. Once there was nothing, i could hear the music more clear. So it eliminates white noises, EMF , any interferences that may be in the air that the system may absorb. Cables are nothing more than an antenna wire if you will. I use shielded cable at work to prevent noice being picked up by sensitive equipment, why would audio equipment be any less sensitive. All i can tell you is i could hear a difference. I swapped out my speaker cable on my new system, and that made a noticeable difference. I went from a Nordost Purple Flare flat cable to my new Wire world Equinox 8 cable. I sold the Nordost cable this week, got 2/3 of my money back on it so i did ok. I have bought the same speaker cable for my basement system as well.

Thanks for your reply.
I said no debate, so that's what you'll get from me.
I can only be (100%) certain about 2 things:
1) There are people who are convinced they hear what others can't.
They might have read theories as to why something should sound different.
They may have paid a lot of money for it. There's undeniable expectation bias involved. They would however, not reliably be able to identify the product in a blind test.

2) There are people who actually hear what others can't.
Everybody's hearing is different. I can't know what others are actually hearing - for that reason I would never tell anyone that they're imagining what they report.
Though, in the case of snake-oil products, I could only be convinced by witnessing someone reliably and consistently identifying the product in a blind test - something that would absolutely astound me.

 

[rainsoothe]

For the record, my mom has a Chord mains cable on her Naim Uniti 2 and it actually makes it sound worse than the stock Naim cable

 

[newlash09]

Thanks for your reply.
I said no debate, so that's what you'll get from me.
I can only be (100%) certain about 2 things:
1) There are people who are convinced they hear what others can't.
They might have read theories as to why something should sound different.
They may have paid a lot of money for it. There's undeniable expectation bias involved. They would however, not reliably be able to identify the product in a blind test.

2) There are people who actually hear what others can't.
Everybody's hearing is different. I can't know what others are actually hearing - for that reason I would never tell anyone that they're imagining what they report.
Though, in the case of snake-oil products, I could only be convinced by witnessing someone reliably and consistently identifying the product in a blind test - something that would absolutely astound me.

Hello sir

I would honestly leave it to ones ears. There definitely are differences between cables. But if Mr.hillroy48 is happy having spent on some exotic cables, then it is his money , his ears, and in the end he is happy. Nothing else matters, in my humble opinion

 

[hilroy48]

I am not trying to sell anyone anything. All i am doing is sharing my experience.

 

[hilroy48]

Very nice sir

Since I live in a very populated apartment complex, I have very bad power. So on a whim I tried a isotek evo3 polaris. It works on the small box components like my streamer, Roon chain, dac and preamp. Though I cant say it effected my power amps in any way. But the reduction in back ground noise was convincing enough. So I eventually plumped for a PSaudio P1200 pure power regenerator. It again cleaned it up quiet a bit more.

So after some more research, I found that a passive preamp, completely breaks the chain apparently. So nothing goes into the power amps but the pure sound signal. So I've since changed to a MFA passive preamp. And it sounds unbelievable. The level of detail and resolution is even more now, plus the noise floor has vanished completely. And the MFA had quite big shoes to fill, as it was replacing a T+A P1260R, which by itself, was no slouch

This is the cleanest sound I've ever had. Sorry for my idle rants .. thought I'd share my findings since your goodselves are considering power treatments. All the best

Very cool, thank you for sharing your findings.

 

[Gray]

I am not trying to sell anyone anything.

No, I know you're not 👍
(And if you can pass that blind test I spoke of - I'm very happy for you).

 

[Gray]

Hello sir

I would honestly leave it to ones ears. There definitely are differences between cables. But if Mr.hillroy48 is happy having spent on some exotic cables, then it is his money , his ears, and in the end he is happy. Nothing else matters, in my humble opinion

Leaving it to your ears, would you bet money on passing the blind test Newlash?

 

[GSV Ethics Gradient]

Obviously no-one ever really knows what contribution their psyche makes in this area, but in some areas I think the 'just imagining it' argument is hard to accept. I've just added a final platform to my setup, under the power amp - the part that the maker suggests would benefit least. My expectations weren't great - indeed I said to Mrs 12th that the main reasons for platforming it were aesthetic.

There are many small improvements, but the one that can't be chalked up to my fevered imagination is stereo placement. Some things are in different places - not massively so, but unmistakably so. I know this because mentally I have marked where voices and instruments are placed with things that are in my room. And the section in Bridge over Troubled Water where you can tell that Art Garfunkel moves to your right before returning to centre stage I can now tell that he actually goes beyond the original position before returning to dead centre.

A wonderful listening session, and one where I was intending to listen to things to see whether I heard anything but ended up just listening to lots from Michelle Shocked's Captain Swing.

 

[hilroy48]

Happy Listening everyone.

 

[newlash09]

Leaving it to your ears, would you bet money on passing the blind test Newlash?

I cant bet I will pass the blind test. I've never bothered to, to be honest. It is still early days for me to get into exotic cables. Maybe once my system is settled, then maybe, just maybe I will them a try out of curiosity. I do find that analogue interconnects and speaker cables have different voicing. But never tried power cables. I use some triode labs power cables, and happy with them at the moment.