Shunyata Alpha USB 1.5

[mr_gray]

just got the alpha usb as a loaner whilst sigma order comes in (cannot complain about supply though, i've only had short waits thus far). i really loved how my system sounded and it was bedding down from some other changes and getting better every day. i sort of thought maybe i wouldn't hear much difference because i've already done so much work on noise.

but it is the house shunyata sound in spades and that sound is what happens when music is played without noise. and there is no end to the novelty of hearing a song you've heard many many times and feeling like in some way this is a superior presentation than you've had access to previously.

cheers for people being hear (geddit :-)) sharing impressions because i really love these things (SR cable) and in some ways i think they are not adopted as they should be given they basically let the gear you have perform at the level it can regardless of local power issues.

[Puma Cat]

Originally Posted by mr_gray

just got the alpha usb as a loaner whilst sigma order comes in (cannot complain about supply though, i've only had short waits thus far). i really loved how my system sounded and it was bedding down from some other changes and getting better every day. i sort of thought maybe i wouldn't hear much difference because i've already done so much work on noise.

but it is the house shunyata sound in spades and that sound is what happens when music is played without noise. and there is no end to the novelty of hearing a song you've heard many many times and feeling like in some way this is a superior presentation than you've had access to previously.

cheers for people being hear (geddit :-)) sharing impressions because i really love these things (SR cable) and in some ways i think they are not adopted as they should be given they basically let the gear you have perform at the level it can regardless of local power issues.

[SCAudiophile]

Originally Posted by mr_gray

just got the alpha usb as a loaner whilst sigma order comes in (cannot complain about supply though, i've only had short waits thus far). i really loved how my system sounded and it was bedding down from some other changes and getting better every day. i sort of thought maybe i wouldn't hear much difference because i've already done so much work on noise.

but it is the house shunyata sound in spades and that sound is what happens when music is played without noise. and there is no end to the novelty of hearing a song you've heard many many times and feeling like in some way this is a superior presentation than you've had access to previously.

cheers for people being hear (geddit :-)) sharing impressions because i really love these things (SR cable) and in some ways i think they are not adopted as they should be given they basically let the gear you have perform at the level it can regardless of local power issues.

[mr_gray]

thanks Puma and SCA. and whilst i'm here i wanted to say how pleasant it is to come here and be able to say a cable makes a difference without u know what happening.

as well all know (and no one more than Puma Cat after his epic thread about cables on some other site i can't recall now) there are alot of people who will aggressively and quite boringly attempt to prosecute an argument that i do not in fact hear a difference and that i have in fact been "fooled". and it is gaslighting and it is tough to deal with when it is incessant.

i find the cable makes no difference view particularly difficult to understand today because the bass on the alpha USB is quite distinguishable from any other USB cable i have heard. the bass is so extremely resolved and the opposite of a bloomy amorphous bass noise.

[Puma Cat]

Originally Posted by mr_gray

thanks Puma and SCA. and whilst i'm here i wanted to say how pleasant it is to come here and be able to say a cable makes a difference without u know what happening.

as well all know (and no one more than Puma Cat after his epic thread about cables on some other site i can't recall now) there are alot of people who will aggressively and quite boringly attempt to prosecute an argument that i do not in fact hear a difference and that i have in fact been "fooled". and it is gaslighting and it is tough to deal with when it is incessant.

i find the cable makes no difference view particularly difficult to understand today because the bass on the alpha USB is quite distinguishable from any other USB cable i have heard. the bass is so extremely resolved and the opposite of a bloomy amorphous bass noise.

Yeah, that was my thread based on subjective listening impressions of Ethernet cables at SHF. IIRC, it went on for months and months even after my last comment.

As for not understanding, or rather being able to explain with reductionist science (read: be able to measure) everything we know to be "real", there are lots of things we know to be real that reductionist science cannot explain. Some are simple and others rather more complex.

Simple stuff
1) Why our dogs (and to a lesser, but still statistically significant extant, cats) are waiting for us to come home.
2) The sensation of being stared at.
3) Animal behavior we attribute to "instinct" or "innate" behaviors (e.g. birds' complex nest-building). Ever hear of someone cloning a gene and identifying a protein for a hummingbird building something as complex as hummingbird's nest? Me, neither.
4) Why a daisy looks like a daisy and not some other flower.
5) Why an Amperex Bugle Boy 6922 sounds different than a GE/JAN 6922 in the same exact circuit.
6) Pet Psychics

More complex stuff
1) Why we feel an opposing "force field" when we bring two of the same poles of a magnet towards each other...
2) For that matter, what a "field" actually is...
3) Why only a "conscious observer" causes the collapse of the wave function of laser light in the classic double-slit experiment (doesn't happen when computers do the observing)
4) Gravity (there is no particle for gravity in the Standard Model)
5) The "measurement problem"
6) Unifying General Relativity with Quantum Mechanics

Bottom-line: Science cannot explain everything we know to be real.

My advice: Don't worry about it. Do as Hans says, and "Enjoy the Music".

[Levitator]

Originally Posted by Puma Cat

Yeah, that was my thread based on subjective listening impressions of Ethernet cables at SHF. IIRC, it went on for months and months even after my last comment.

As for not understanding, or rather being able to explain with reductionist science (read: be able to measure) everything we know to be "real", there are lots of things we know to be real that reductionist science cannot explain. Some are simple and others rather more complex.

Simple stuff
1) Why our dogs (and to a lesser, but still statistically significant extant, cats) are waiting for us to come home.
2) The sensation of being stared at.
3) Animal behavior we attribute to "instinct" or "innate" behaviors (e.g. birds' complex nest-building). Ever hear of someone cloning a gene and identifying a protein for a hummingbird building something as complex as hummingbird's nest? Me, neither.
4) Why a daisy looks like a daisy and not some other flower.
5) Why an Amperex Bugle Boy 6922 sounds different than a GE/JAN 6922 in the same exact circuit.
6) Pet Psychics

More complex stuff
1) Why we feel an opposing "force field" when we bring two of the same poles of a magnet towards each other...
2) For that matter, what a "field" actually is...
3) Why only a "conscious observer" causes the collapse of the wave function of laser light in the classic double-slit experiment (doesn't happen when computers do the observing)
4) Gravity (there is no particle for gravity in the Standard Model)
5) The "measurement problem"
6) Unifying General Relativity with Quantum Mechanics

Bottom-line: Science cannot explain everything we know to be real.

My advice: Don't worry about it. Do as Hans says, and "Enjoy the Music".

Great post!!

[mr_gray]

wonderful. empiricists unite!

[crion2]

xx. What if gravity and magnetism are part of the same essential force, just different aspects of it? The experiments on either can sometimes expose anomalies because of being part of the other aspect, so I heard...

[RH67]

This cable has my interest but it seems that retailers are sold out.

[Masterlu]

Originally Posted by RH67

This cable has my interest but it seems that retailers are sold out.

Send me a PM, I can hook you up (pun intended)