And Zoot Allure, and all that.
Awhile back I asked Bruce if the papery dryness and sibilance I was encountering might have something to do with the Apogee Duet 2 I was listening to my Hi-Res files through. After advising I try lotion for the papery dryness, he said, "Ehhhhhh, could be, Doc!"
Well, right you are, Bugs!
I just replaced said Duet with a MyDac and a 99 dollar piece of Schiit headphone amp. Listening through AKG 702s to 176.4 ripped SACDs. About 24 hours break-in. All I can say is Jebus! The interesting thing is nothing jumps out at you. In a very good way. Yes, there's no more vocal spit and sizzle. It was so bad on the Duet that Nat King Cole's ribbon-miked goodness sounded like Ice-Ice baby. That's gone. So are high hats that sound like steam valves. So is the chilly overlay on close-miked piano. Tonal beating still beats but the resonant collisions are merely there, not raucous and never fatal.
All the yuck vanishes. But nothing's smoothed-over. The fundaments, good and bad, remain. As do the overtones and air and all the extras. The equipment seems to bring very little additive distortion and, best of all, not much subtractive either.
Not sure if Harley said it, or someone else, but I stopped listening analytically at some point, but kept listening pleasurably. The nuts and bolts were still there if I wanted to listen in. More important, though, so was the music.
Awhile back I asked Bruce if the papery dryness and sibilance I was encountering might have something to do with the Apogee Duet 2 I was listening to my Hi-Res files through. After advising I try lotion for the papery dryness, he said, "Ehhhhhh, could be, Doc!"
Well, right you are, Bugs!
I just replaced said Duet with a MyDac and a 99 dollar piece of Schiit headphone amp. Listening through AKG 702s to 176.4 ripped SACDs. About 24 hours break-in. All I can say is Jebus! The interesting thing is nothing jumps out at you. In a very good way. Yes, there's no more vocal spit and sizzle. It was so bad on the Duet that Nat King Cole's ribbon-miked goodness sounded like Ice-Ice baby. That's gone. So are high hats that sound like steam valves. So is the chilly overlay on close-miked piano. Tonal beating still beats but the resonant collisions are merely there, not raucous and never fatal.
All the yuck vanishes. But nothing's smoothed-over. The fundaments, good and bad, remain. As do the overtones and air and all the extras. The equipment seems to bring very little additive distortion and, best of all, not much subtractive either.
Not sure if Harley said it, or someone else, but I stopped listening analytically at some point, but kept listening pleasurably. The nuts and bolts were still there if I wanted to listen in. More important, though, so was the music.
