Thanks to Jeff of Tone Audio, I have a new craving

[Alberto]

I am VERY happy with my system. It sounds great and just the way I like it. My only issue is that some of the material/recordings are not up to par. Even with the C220 in the system, many recordings are thin and 2-dimensional, especially (and not surprising) streaming audio at less than full CD quality.

In my experiments, I've found that the combination of tube buffers and the right kind of EQ can work magic with some material. I believe that the best combination for adding some tube warm and delicious sounding EQ is a product that Jeff of Tone Audio has reviewed and given its top award to.

Feast your eyes on this beauty:



For the review and more fantastic looking pictures of this device get the PDF of the issue of Tone Audio here and go to page 88.

In summary, while I am ecstatic with the sounds (and tone) of my system these days, I am less ecstatic about the quality of some recordings and I believe that a great next investment in my system would be something like the Massive Passive. If I end-up buying it, it will be my next video review on YouTube. Only problem, there's no place around here where I can audition it. Since it's intended for Pro (i.e. recording studios) I guess it's only available through mail order.

Anyway, thanks Jeff! Being very happy with my system is great, but I do miss having something on my "want list".

Alberto

[1KW]

I don't know Alberto, too many knobs for me. Are you going to fiddle around with every album or song you listen to ?

[PHC1]

I don't know about this either Alberto... Way too much work and way too many additional circuits in the audio path not to mention phase shifts and overall veiling of the sound. If it's luscious sound you're after, why not just buy more vinyl? That kind of money will buy lot's of it.

[gregswaim]

Digital playback definitely needs tubes to smooth things out and take that "edge" off of the unnatural sharpness. I recommend the MC2102. It has only 2 knobs-1 for On/Off/Remote & 1 for Meters: Lights Off/Watts/Hold. It looks cool too.

[jdandy]

Alberto.......I can see why you would find this an attractive piece of equipment. A pro level, tube based parametric equalizer of this quality level is a serious tool. It offers a lot of audio signal control. My appetite has been whetted, too. Manley makes premiem gear, as the price clearly reflects.

[gregswaim]

Here's a EQ from EAR. Pricing is similar to Manley.
ear_tube

[Clarbin]

Originally Posted by 1KW

I don't know Alberto, too many knobs for me. Are you going to fiddle around with every album or song you listen to ?

+1

[Alberto]

Originally Posted by 1KW

I don't know Alberto, too many knobs for me. Are you going to fiddle around with every album or song you listen to ?

I would definitely not fiddle with it for every album.

I've been experimenting with lower-end tube buffers and eqs, and I found that - in most cases - a small amount of EQ (+mid bass, - mid treble, + high-treble (i.e., air, as the say in recording studios)) combined with tubes turns most 2-dimensional and flat sounding compressed audio (i.e. the sonic equivalent of rice cakes) into a warm, inviting and more 3-D sound (i.e. the sonic equivalent of, say, pancakes).

Alberto

[Alberto]

Originally Posted by PHC1

I don't know about this either Alberto... Way too much work and way too many additional circuits in the audio path not to mention phase shifts and overall veiling of the sound. If it's luscious sound you're after, why not just buy more vinyl? That kind of money will buy lot's of it.

I would not use it for pristine audiophile recordings (e.g. 2 mics straight to tap, no EQ, no processing). If you think about it, most recordings preceding the digital age, already went through lots of analog EQ and processing which would have compromised the phase anyway (in theory digital EQ should not cause phase shifts). As a matter of fact, the Massive Passive is still a favorite of recording engineers who put their digital mix through it to give it more body and "analog" sound in the final mix.

My goal is to used it through the tape loop in the C220 for when I listen to recordings that could benefit from it.

Alberto

[PHC1]

I can see why the pro industry, recording, mixing, etc.. would need such elaborate and flexible EQs since they work with "sound" to make recorded "music" better but I think in the long run you will simply get tired of chasing the "sound" instead of listening to music. I can see how this may unfold for you. Let's see, let's play some Led Zepp, ok, not enough bass, the highs are too much, let me tweak the EQ, adjust the bandwidth, adjust the frequency, cut it a bit... boost it a bit, there, I think that sounds pretty good. Ok, let's play some Diana Krall, oops, too much bass, not enough highs, OK, here I go again, let's tweak it here and here and there..... OK, sounds pretty good... Next? Oh, WTF, it doesn't sound right again... Wait, I'm tired of running back and forth and what was it that I just listened to again??

In the end, I can almost guarantee you that you will find some compromise and leave it there.... Something that you could have easily done with any of the preamps with tone controls.