Post by Deleted on Feb 27, 2019 12:24:06 GMT
Last night I went to Sonority Designs with Jimbo, to meet his mate Steve.
We've been trying to get over there for a couple of years now but somehow never managed to get the timing just right. However, last night the planets aligned and we found ourselves over in brierley hill listening to some very expensive equipment. In the rack was a Chord Dave, M-scaler, Innuos server (?), Chord 1200 power amp and a pair of YG speakers.
Stock Pictures as i didn't get permission to photograph the room.
We listened to a lot of music and lots of things that I've never heard before. A track called Radioactive Man sticks out which, I've got to be honest, if I never hear it again I'll be happy lol
Overall it was very enlightening experience. Not because of the equipment but because of the room.
The room is acoustically treated with enough rockwool to fill the Albert Hall! What this highlighted to me was how much of an effect my room has on my system. The truth is, you're not really listening to your system if it's just set up in your front room or in your living room etc. You're listening to the rooms effect and this is where my next big move Is gonna come. A purpose built listening room. I am now convinced that it's the wisest spend.
You can buy all the equipment out there but you'll never know what it is really capable of until you get it in an environment in which it can thrive and Steve at Sonority Designs certainly has a room tailor-made for the evaluation of hi-fi equipment!
The equipment itself was phenomenal in scale. I've never heard a soundstage as big as I heard last night. He used a chord power amplifier but to be honest I found that a too analytical for my taste. The chord DAC was eye opening for two reasons reasons.
1) It delivers 3D imaging, it delivers detail, it delivers on all fronts except that last little bit of magic the analogue gives you. The human touch. Whether that was down to the Dave or whether it was down to the amplifier I'm not 100% sure but I'm more inclined to think that the amplification played at a larger part in the tonal qualities of the sound than the Dave. what I would love to do is get Dave in a system with more neutral or warmer amplifier and see what happens.
2) I don't want one. I thought I would, after all, it's THE DAVE! But no. I don't want one.
I got up this morning, still reeling from the effect the room had on me last night and stuck the pi on.
I'm not going to claim it's better or any of that nonsense but it does something that all that ultra high end gear didn't do. It tricks me into forgetting it's a digital file being played. Again, I listen to Rory Gallagher and I look at the TT to see how much of side one is left. I haven't even got this album on vinyl lol.
For all the wonderful things the Chord Dave did and let's not make any mistakes here it is an absolutely epic performer the one thing it just did not do was convince me, or trick me I should say, into believing that what I was listening to was a real human being.
I don't know what everybody else wants to listen to. I don't know what anybody else looks for when they are listening to their music, but for me, I don't want a live sound. I want a real sound. Something that tricks me into believing "yeah, I'm actually listening to a human, a living breathing entity" that was recorded and put onto a disc or onto an LP or onto a FLAC file. It doesn't matter what the file format is or what the medium is, what matters is that I forget it's a recording.
Whether that be just for a fleeting moment or whether I'm lost for 45 minutes. If you can convince me or if you can trick me into believing what I'm listening to was a real human, then I'm happy.
I'm sure a Chord Dave would achieve this feat in my system, such is the quality of it but it's unlikely to ever happen. For now though, the Pi is still playing away, bringing me joy beyond the £100 it cost me. Would I be any happier £10k in the hole for a Chord Dave, I doubt it.
I have no doubt that the amplifier was too lean to convey the human touch and even though Jim did his best to blame the speakers, I know the amp was my issue.
The Chord amplifier is forensic in nature. It's incredibly detailed and if you like the kind of analytic presentation that this amplifier will deliver, you would be hard pressed to find anything else that would do it better. It felt like I was listening to a piece of surgical equipment, it was incredibly clean there was absolutely no distortion, no grain. But it was hard and sharp at times and whereas at my house, I'm used to listening to a more full bodied sound. This really was stark contrast to my ears.
The thing that I couldn't get my head around was the mids and the midbass. To my mind the speakers should be capable of delivering a fuller sound and in my opinion, and that's all it is, my opinion, it all sounded a little too lean. There are a lot of things to like about this system the detail the clarity the ability to hear nuances and transients. It was all so easy to pick out but I just couldn't get past the hardness of the sound. At one point I commented that I would love to have a mid-range control and just add a bit because if it had that made range it would be an absolutely phenomenal sound system. One I am pretty sure would be untouchable. But I suppose that is the difference at that level. VERY fine margins dictated by personal taste. For instance, if I took my Krell there, I'm pretty sure Steve would want to throw it out the window and I accept that, because that's what this game is all about. Finding things that you like because you have to listen to it and nobody else.
Thanks to Jimbo for facilitating and giving me a lift, thanks to Steve @ Sonority Designs for the hospitality.
We've been trying to get over there for a couple of years now but somehow never managed to get the timing just right. However, last night the planets aligned and we found ourselves over in brierley hill listening to some very expensive equipment. In the rack was a Chord Dave, M-scaler, Innuos server (?), Chord 1200 power amp and a pair of YG speakers.
Stock Pictures as i didn't get permission to photograph the room.
We listened to a lot of music and lots of things that I've never heard before. A track called Radioactive Man sticks out which, I've got to be honest, if I never hear it again I'll be happy lol
Overall it was very enlightening experience. Not because of the equipment but because of the room.
The room is acoustically treated with enough rockwool to fill the Albert Hall! What this highlighted to me was how much of an effect my room has on my system. The truth is, you're not really listening to your system if it's just set up in your front room or in your living room etc. You're listening to the rooms effect and this is where my next big move Is gonna come. A purpose built listening room. I am now convinced that it's the wisest spend.
You can buy all the equipment out there but you'll never know what it is really capable of until you get it in an environment in which it can thrive and Steve at Sonority Designs certainly has a room tailor-made for the evaluation of hi-fi equipment!
The equipment itself was phenomenal in scale. I've never heard a soundstage as big as I heard last night. He used a chord power amplifier but to be honest I found that a too analytical for my taste. The chord DAC was eye opening for two reasons reasons.
1) It delivers 3D imaging, it delivers detail, it delivers on all fronts except that last little bit of magic the analogue gives you. The human touch. Whether that was down to the Dave or whether it was down to the amplifier I'm not 100% sure but I'm more inclined to think that the amplification played at a larger part in the tonal qualities of the sound than the Dave. what I would love to do is get Dave in a system with more neutral or warmer amplifier and see what happens.
2) I don't want one. I thought I would, after all, it's THE DAVE! But no. I don't want one.
I got up this morning, still reeling from the effect the room had on me last night and stuck the pi on.
I'm not going to claim it's better or any of that nonsense but it does something that all that ultra high end gear didn't do. It tricks me into forgetting it's a digital file being played. Again, I listen to Rory Gallagher and I look at the TT to see how much of side one is left. I haven't even got this album on vinyl lol.
For all the wonderful things the Chord Dave did and let's not make any mistakes here it is an absolutely epic performer the one thing it just did not do was convince me, or trick me I should say, into believing that what I was listening to was a real human being.
I don't know what everybody else wants to listen to. I don't know what anybody else looks for when they are listening to their music, but for me, I don't want a live sound. I want a real sound. Something that tricks me into believing "yeah, I'm actually listening to a human, a living breathing entity" that was recorded and put onto a disc or onto an LP or onto a FLAC file. It doesn't matter what the file format is or what the medium is, what matters is that I forget it's a recording.
Whether that be just for a fleeting moment or whether I'm lost for 45 minutes. If you can convince me or if you can trick me into believing what I'm listening to was a real human, then I'm happy.
I'm sure a Chord Dave would achieve this feat in my system, such is the quality of it but it's unlikely to ever happen. For now though, the Pi is still playing away, bringing me joy beyond the £100 it cost me. Would I be any happier £10k in the hole for a Chord Dave, I doubt it.
I have no doubt that the amplifier was too lean to convey the human touch and even though Jim did his best to blame the speakers, I know the amp was my issue.
The Chord amplifier is forensic in nature. It's incredibly detailed and if you like the kind of analytic presentation that this amplifier will deliver, you would be hard pressed to find anything else that would do it better. It felt like I was listening to a piece of surgical equipment, it was incredibly clean there was absolutely no distortion, no grain. But it was hard and sharp at times and whereas at my house, I'm used to listening to a more full bodied sound. This really was stark contrast to my ears.
The thing that I couldn't get my head around was the mids and the midbass. To my mind the speakers should be capable of delivering a fuller sound and in my opinion, and that's all it is, my opinion, it all sounded a little too lean. There are a lot of things to like about this system the detail the clarity the ability to hear nuances and transients. It was all so easy to pick out but I just couldn't get past the hardness of the sound. At one point I commented that I would love to have a mid-range control and just add a bit because if it had that made range it would be an absolutely phenomenal sound system. One I am pretty sure would be untouchable. But I suppose that is the difference at that level. VERY fine margins dictated by personal taste. For instance, if I took my Krell there, I'm pretty sure Steve would want to throw it out the window and I accept that, because that's what this game is all about. Finding things that you like because you have to listen to it and nobody else.
Thanks to Jimbo for facilitating and giving me a lift, thanks to Steve @ Sonority Designs for the hospitality.
