At 90 hours...
Spent the early part of the morning listening to Bela Bartok's Concerto for Orchestra (Bernstein, NY Philharmonic, Columbia/Sony SBM'd 16/44 rip), Dmitri Shostakovich's Symphony #5 (Honeck, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Soundmirror/Reference Recordings, 24/192), and Zoltan Kodaly's Hary Janos suite (Szell, Cleveland Orchestra, Columbia/Sony, 24/192 remaster). All three works feature densely-scored passages and occasionally explosive tuttis that can wreak congestive havoc on a listener's ears.
There was none of that here this morning, and what I heard is easily the best presentation of each work on the bedroom system to date. I was struck in particular by image focus, solidity, and ensemble coherence in the passages where things could get messy (but never did). The instruments seem to have more space in which to "work the room"--more precisely, the air around them in their respective performance venues. Their sonorities are spot-on, with the highs at once filigree-detailed and airy, the mids corporeally present (and "breathy" as hell where appropriate), and the bass full-throated and tautly defined to a degree I'd not experienced before with this system. The "reach in and touch someone" factor has bumped up several degrees.
As Yoda might say, clam-happy I am.
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Jim
Bedroom: Aurender N150, TEAC UD-505 AKM version (to be replaced by inbound 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-501, 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.
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