Jez;142946 Wrote: > I actually did exactly this prior to going to the CEDIA show. This is > obviously going to sound like shameless marketing, but I was concerned > that with my cloth ears I wouldn't be able to hear any difference . . > so I wanted get the facts before engaging sales BS mode ;-) > > I hooked an SB3 + DAC1 to a pair of Swans S200's via balanced cables. I > then connected the Transporter to the unbalanced inputs on the same > speakers. I realize this isn't super audiophile kit but it was what was > available. I then connected both players to the same source and selected > the same flac file on both, before doing to jiggery pokery so that > hitting pause on the remote set one playing and paused the other > source. > > Well I have to admit I was very surprised that difference was > noticeable to someone as deaf as me. It was more than noticeable, it > was obvious . . . and yes the Transporter sounded the better of the > two. > > On Dolly Parton's bluegrass version of 'Stairway to Heaven', the DAC1 > setup made her voice really stand out - but through the Transporter she > became a member of the band, with each instrument being defined and > placed. I realized the DAC1 seemed to have muddied the backing > instruments together somehow (is this the 'smearing' some refer to as a > syptom of jitter?) and so her voice was what really stood out. Just to > check I wasn't mad I got a couple of other colleagues to listen and > they came to the same conclusion. > > I did a similar check with several tracks and the most interesting one > was 'Crazy in Love' by Beyonce. For the most part it sounded great on > the Transporter, really punchy and full of life. However the horn > sample that forms one of the main hooks sounded flat as a pancake. It > was so obvious that it was just a loop and not a great recording at > that . . It really surprised me that a great pop record was being > spoiled by what seemed like laziness on the production side. I guess > they expect it to be played mainly on radio's and iPods but I figured > beyonce was an artist that didn't need to do things on the cheap. I'm > sure it's just an indication of the low esteem certain parts of the > recording industry has for its customers. > > Anyway, I'm sure this post will be summarily dismissed as hype, but I > really just wanted to chip in to offer one response to this question.
Did you try just connecting one source at a time to the speakers to see if it made any difference to sound quality? -- P Floding ------------------------------------------------------------------------ P Floding's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=2932 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=28126 _______________________________________________ audiophiles mailing list [email protected] http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
