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Blue58

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Thanks for the kind words Marc. I also attribute the increase in density from the addition of the Bocchino terminated Prince Sablon power cords and the King Sablon IC (still have 1 more to add:)) and the greater air provided by the Aqua. Soundstage is now larger and more palpable though limited by the dimensions of the room.

Vyger on order..........only kidding :p

Cheers
 

spiritofmusic

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Sure Barry.
I certainly had a masterclass in soundstage yesterday at yours, w the recent unearthed John Coltrane Classic Quartet sessions Hi Rez download.
To the point where I really felt the studio environment.
Now, it was the combination of Aqua replicating the air, and the Bocchino Sablons enabling maximum tonal expression, on top of the AG Duos natural ability to max this out, that nailed it.
 
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Audiophile Bill

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Thanks for the kind words Marc. I also attribute the increase in density from the addition of the Bocchino terminated Prince Sablon power cords and the King Sablon IC (still have 1 more to add:)) and the greater air provided by the Aqua. Soundstage is now larger and more palpable though limited by the dimensions of the room.

Vyger on order..........only kidding :p

Cheers

Hey Barry,

I noticed the extra texture and musicality with the Bocchino.

I find it odd that a ss dac would change so much with such a long “burn in” - what is the reason for this in your opinion?
 
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spiritofmusic

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Bill, facinatingly Barry describes zero burn in needed on the Bocchino Sablons.

Handy since he needed a cool 1000 hours on Aqua and SR Blue fuse combined LOL NOT!
 

Audiophile Bill

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Bill, facinatingly Barry describes zero burn in needed on the Bocchino Sablons.

Handy since he needed a cool 1000 hours on Aqua and SR Blue fuse combined LOL NOT!

I simply can’t comprehend why the Aqua and fuse needs that much “burn in” - weird
 

Uk Paul

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Hi all,

The Bocchino terminations, despite their size and mass, have always brought out a more textural and organic sound in my experience of nearly 10 years with them now, and Marc, this is part of what you heard here. And yes, break in seems to be a non issue, unlike the Furutech which I rate as second to Carmine's.
 
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Blue58

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I simply can’t comprehend why the Aqua and fuse needs that much “burn in” - weird
It was a surprise to me too that the Aqua requires in excess of 600 hours and in all honesty I was beginning to doubt my initial enthusiasm for the Aqua around the 500 hour mark.
I’ve no idea why it takes so long and have given up on trying to explain reasons for break-in of components. It is what it is and let’s leave some mysteries for future generations to explore.
I should have the other King Sablon IC and the TomCat RCA by end of January to complete my upgrades.
BTW, the Coltrane track from Both Directions, as heard yesterday in H-Res, is distorted due to clipping unlike the more dynamic CD, apparently.
 

spiritofmusic

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Well Barry, the Coltrane track was certainly very "present" in your room. I could really hear/feel the swell and vibrancy of the performance. The ambience of the session was palpable.

60s Coltrane always draws mixed reactions from listeners. Me? I consider the classic quartet as a direct line to God. I'm a non believer, but music like this makes me an agnostic LOL.

I wonder if this listener berating the Hi Rez has a system that just can't cope w the energy and dynamism of this recording. Indeed, even on Barry's system, the walls of his room were JUST sufficient to cope with what was the most fascinating insight I've had into soundstage in my listening experience
 

Audiophile Bill

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It was a surprise to me too that the Aqua requires in excess of 600 hours and in all honesty I was beginning to doubt my initial enthusiasm for the Aqua around the 500 hour mark.
I’ve no idea why it takes so long and have given up on trying to explain reasons for break-in of components. It is what it is and let’s leave some mysteries for future generations to explore.
I should have the other King Sablon IC and the TomCat RCA by end of January to complete my upgrades.
BTW, the Coltrane track from Both Directions, as heard yesterday in H-Res, is distorted due to clipping unlike the more dynamic CD, apparently.

What happened to the sound after 500hrs, Barry?
 

Blue58

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What happened to the sound after 500hrs, Barry?
It could well be that I got use to the sound but it revealed itself as more natural, ie. lifelike, more palpable and the air had an increased solidity which I can't explain any better.
Overall the presentation is opposite of what I hear from these big, expensive, hifi show systems that create an enormous soundstage with pin point accuracy and much closer to actual real life performance.
 
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spiritofmusic

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Barry, the big take away I had was how what I thought was an affectation in your Aqua when I heard it originally, ie this increased sense of air, that initially seemed to make a lot of music a little "samey", had pretty much gone.

Now that air was present, but didn't dominate proceedings, and was counterbalanced really nicely w extra weight and texture.

This meant my mind wasn't drawn to what slightly jarred first time, but was able to fully relax and take the whole experience in.

What does seem consistent is that so much Prog Rock resolutely refuses to open up on Hi Rez, and is so lacking in depth, stage and delicacy, compared to the more stellar recorded music that comes thru loud and clear on Barry's v revealing setup.

I'll stick w my vinyl. But critically, will I make that move to horns?
 

spiritofmusic

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Just left Barry after an in depth listen to his Duos system, now kitted out with a couple of Daiza platforms under SGM server and Aqua Formula dac.

My hearing a little sub par w sinusitis, but I know a good sound when I (partially LOL) hear it.

Daizas have introduced a little calm and introspection to proceedings, evidenced by more controlled energy in 1963 Coltrane Lost Recordings and tidier soundstage in many other pieces.

I've heard his system for 5 years now. It's jumped levels at various times, but at the high bar it's now reached, it's all about refining the sound. Barry's recent Sablons and Daizas additions are absolutely achieving this.

Making me seriously consider a move to horns in some form.
 
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spiritofmusic

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Just returning from a visit to Barry. If an audiophile's job is never done, then Barry is deffo an audiophile Lol.
His big changes of course are install of Taiko Extreme and Aqua Formula XHD to replace his Taiko SGM and T&A Dac8.
I'll freely admit, in the first two visits despite being made fully aware of the Extreme's class leading resolution abilities, I had been left a little cold by how it then presented this information. To my ears it lacked holistic music making and mids density. I felt a little accosted by the leading edge of notes and hyper imaging, and less aware of tonal colours and anything approaching fleshed out.
This was apparent in both visits (prior to first lockdown, and last summer), and I assumed I was gonna be an outler in being an admirer of Extreme, just not a fan.
I revisited Barry two weeks ago, and listened to the Extreme with TAS, USBcard and USBdriver installed, and despite the system being sub par with stock 99 cents power cords installed (due to an earlier house circuit failure), it was instantly apparent that the Extreme sound had lost its previous very forward, etched, overly holographic/overly lean nature, and was much calmer and more grounded despite still sounding uber resolved. A massive step fwds.
Today I revisited, and a lot had happened in the intervening fortnight. King Sablons on Aqua, platinum plug/IEC, and Extreme, silver plug/IEC. I believe there may be a gold King in there somewhere too.
Java Triple shot LDR preamp replaced by Java V2.
Barry was a little unsure about his result, fretting about the dreaded burn in etc, but I was happier. I mean he's beavering away in the lab occasionally coming up for air, I'm providing a fresh perspective.
I detected a smidgen less uber transparency, but way greater heft and mids density.
It brought somewhat more presence to Dave Brubeck/Take Five (alternate takes), so maybe missing some previous absolute see through with the old setup, but welcome extra body on the horn and drums.
Christian McBride/Brouhaha was super kinetic as I'd expect on Extreme thru Duos horns, but again now a greater anchoring thru those all important mids/upper bass. All very well to have music expand in space, but its gotta be tangible as if it's come from somewhere real rather than being appearing wraith-like, in space/time.
Where the system really ticked boxes for me, and for the first time showed Extreme to be a tour de force musically, was on the last three tracks.
Brand X/Macrocosm mid 70s fusion can really be so synthetic and tizzy sounding on digital, but here the crazy polyryhymns and frankly joyous morass of effects and percussion, were really engaging, and critically sounded substantial and organic.
Frank Zappa/Inca Roads really presented very spookily close to vinyl with real solidity and deep tone in those all-critical mids frequencies, never once losing feel or texture despite the careering nature of the piece.
And Jeff Beck mid 70s fusion Goodbye Pork Pie Hat had a real tangible mids core to it's sound.
This is pretty substantial stuff, the Extreme was doing two things. Convincing me it's a hell of a source component...at last Lol. And critically, playing right in the best analog territory of mids density and tonal color.
A big call out to Mark's Sablon PCs. After the previous demo where the sound was good but not great on stock PCs, the various Kings absolutely are an integral reason why the sound was so good today.
And the Java V2 preamp imho has the edge on V1 for balancing the battle of uber transparency versus warmth more to my liking of greater warmth. Barry now needs to take time and agree w me Lol.
Just a final word to say it's been so good catching up w Barry twice now after such a long period of enforced isolation. A good thing we have plenty in common belong music and audio. Hes a fine audiophile and even better friend.
In summary, after a period where I thought Barry may have gone down the rabbit hole w Alice in search of the elusive, and imho unmusical desire for ultra transparency, he's pulling it back dramatically well at the eleventh hour, and his system again fully engages, but now with a level of deep resolution beyond his old SGM/Dac8.
Congrats, Barry.
 
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Blue58

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Kind words Marc and it’s always good to hear another opinion on my sound progression. I am happy with the sound however I have reservations about the Java performance and that’s all I’ll say about this at this time.

The Sablon King cables do wonders for the Extreme and more so for the DAC however there is no Gold Sablon. I think Marc may have gotten confused with my using the gold RCAs rather than Silver RCAs.

An audiophiles journey is never ending, more Dorothy along the Yellow Brick Road than Alice down the Rabbit Hole.

See you in the Emerald City

Blue58
 
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spiritofmusic

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Maybe our hobby is more Tenet...you know, back and forth, and WTF is going on???!!!
 

Lagonda

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Kind words Marc and it’s always good to hear another opinion on my sound progression. I am happy with the sound however I have reservations about the Java performance and that’s all I’ll say about this at this time.

The Sablon King cables do wonders for the Extreme and more so for the DAC however there is no Gold Sablon. I think Marc may have gotten confused with my using the gold RCAs rather than Silver RCAs.

An audiophiles journey is never ending, more Dorothy along the Yellow Brick Road than Alice down the Rabbit Hole.

See you in the Emerald City

Blue58
Congratulations with your system upgrades Barry,and bless you for all the patience you have with Marc ! ;) Where you streaming or playing files from a hard drive ?
 

spiritofmusic

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Milan, I eat all his cake and drink all his coffee. All other issues pale in comparison.
 
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Blue58

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Congratulations with your system upgrades Barry,and bless you for all the patience you have with Marc ! ;) Where you streaming or playing files from a hard drive ?
All streaming from Qobuz.
Patience isn’t required, only selective hearing
 
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Lagonda

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All streaming from Qobuz.
Patience isn’t required, only selective hearing
Marc is still searching for that magic system that makes every shitty recording sound great, AND not have a little extra meat on the bones ! :)
 

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