Whatever concerns I might have had about confirmation bias based on the knock-your-socks-off assessments of the Alpha USB by two AA'ers whose ears I trust and respect were dispelled late last night at about the 31-hour mark as I listened to Emil Tchakarov conduct the Sofia Festival Orchestra and Sofia National Opera Chorus perform Alexander Borodin's "Polovtsian Dances with Choir" ("Stranger in Paradise", anyone?) from the opera "Prince Igor" (1987 Sony 16/44 rip).
The male chorus in particular really belts out its praise of Khan Konchak on this track. Which could lead to testosteronic edginess as f escalates to ff and beyond on the fortissimo scale. And has, at least to a trace degree, even with the "best" bedroom-system configuration. Until now.
The "edge" has disappeared. But there's no rounding off of vocal tone, timbre, or texture in even the loudest, shake-the-wall passages with the Alpha feeding the DAC. What I'd attributed to mike overload heaped on 1987 digital is apparently a line-noise artifact raining on the singers' let-'er-rip parade. The sung Russian is distinct and intelligible at even the loudest levels, and the timbral quality of the articulated-to-the-nines male voices as well as their three-dimensional presence had me reaching for the cable ties Ivan said I'd need for my socks.
Yeah, Stephen, WOWZA!
And that's at only 31 hours.
__________________
Jim
Bedroom: Aurender N150, Bryston BDA-3, EMIA Cu Elmaformer passive line stage, conrad-johnson MF2500, Paradigm Studio 20 v5. Shunyata Delta D6, Altaira CG hub. Shunyata Alpha XC, Delta NR v2, Alpha USB, Alpha and Venom CGC/SGC. Wireworld Eclipse 8 interconnect & speaker cables. Stillpoints footers, Butcher Block Acoustics maple platforms. Stillpoints and GIK acoustic panels.
Home Office:Windows 11 PC/JRiver 31, TEAC UD-505 AKM version, Luminous Audio Technology Axiom II Walker Mod passive, conrad-johnson Sonographe SA-250, Paradigm SE-1. Shunyata Hydra (Original Version), Venom 10 NR. Wireworld Eclipse 7 interconnects. Blue Jeans speaker cable.
Living-Dining Room: Windows 11 Laptop/JRiver 29, Oppo BD-83, TEAC UD-501 DAC, SOTA Sapphire TT, Graham Slee Era Gold V, Ortofon 2M Black, McIntosh MR-77, c-j Sonographe SC-25, c-j MF2500, Paradigm SE-3. Wireworld 8 IC, Blue Jeans SC. Shunyata Hydra 8 v.2, Shunyata Delta NR, Venom NR. GIK 244 bass & scatter-plate panels.
Last edited by jimtranr; 05-15-2019 at 04:46 PM.
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