GoodSoundClub - Romy the Cat's Audio Site

In the Forum: Didital Things
In the Thread: Digi Redux; Drive 1 transport and iDAT-44+ DAC

Post Subject: A Strange Tale From the Immanent Edge that Isn'tPosted by Paul S on: 6/2/2010

Trying to gather and get my thoughts in order, in order to share them, I just remembered a recent mod that John Wright happened to mention specifically. While I believe John regards - and guards - as proprietary his ideas for reworking this gear, I also believe he will not mind if I share in generic terms that he added some sort of proprietary shielding at the inputs (and possible the outputs, as well). I do not want to speculate at this time whether or how this may play into changes in the sound I am noticing.

Regarding the cable swap again, along with the recent mods, it may well be that the Acoustic Revive cable either needs further use to develop fully or it may still change as it "reconditions" from further use. None the less, it appears at this point that I have "successfully" turned my CD playback chain into a stock 16/44 CD "listening tool", a CD version of what I've done to/for my K&K phono stage (qv). And since my regular experience with digital is limited to crappy computer server and generic CD, I want to make it clear that my remarks are NOT about "Digital", but they are only the flux generated by my reflections on my own experience with my own limited CD playback.

Circling the "edge" thing, the sense is of listening so far into the recording that its implementation becomes "plain". There can be a unique (to me) sense of "pixilation" at times, and for the first time in my listening experience I am aware of a sense that seems on further reflection to be pretty much the opposite of the "edge" thing, or at least it counterbalances it. This "opposite" effect is that even the hardest notes and impacts seem exactly and specifically devoid of the "edge" that their "sudden and unexpected appearances" might suggest. Specifically, it is not really sharp - ever, at least not compared to my vinyl. This can make for a certain very subtle rubbery quality on plucked upright bass, or at any rate I presently associate these things. On further reflection, I can imagine that my sense of the "edges" will change as I get used to the sound, especially in view of the fact that this "edge" never "cuts", despite its new, sudden forcefulness. Heard in this way, recordings become instead a little "threadbare", not from stretching timbre or relative diminishment of dynamics, but a little like a cloth held up to the light from a sunny window. Everything "lines up" a great deal better than the smeared, eratically striated CD of times past, but you can "see the lines", as it were.

Who could blame anyone if they thought all this was something to avoid? But this is where the path to digital "harmonics", "ambience", "decay", inflection, intent, etc., has taken me, and I do not want to give up what Ive gained in terms of musical interest and insight - for myself. Who is surprised that, once again, the price of the extra musical information may include a sense of the medium, itself?

Paul S

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