Letter from Hong Kong (20-8): Eric L updates on his system, with Streamer on the Horizon
Gotham GAC4 IC, power cord, 10700 Digital cable
One of my biggest surprise is the use of Gotham GAC4 I.C. and power cord. In a nutshell, the soundstage has brightened up and feels energized. Great transient, natural and non-fatiguing. For the price, it's a steal and puts many multi-thousand dollar cables to shame and make them sound manipulated. Their digital cable 10070 (75ohm) is still under run-in and being compared with my 47 OTA cable. Initial impression is positive: more energy, enhanced resolution and, again, a brighter presentation and exciting. After a while, I began to miss the 47's more refined and sinewy manner, which gives music more flow and elegance. That said, the 10070 is far from broken in, so I'll give it sometime to prove itself [Editor: see Footnote 1].
Single Power Humpty or Duo on my Gaincard? Decisions , Decisions
When I first purchased my 47Lab Gaincard, I bought 2 Power Humpties (which give 50 wpc), as I had presumed that my Dynaudio would be difficult to drive (proven by my tenure with the low power int. amp from Sparkler Audio). I used it for many years with no problem until some months ago, when I decided on a hunch to disconnect the cord from one Humpty and lump the power cord to the other Humpty in order to run solo - the result was more music involvement and foot tapping! Hence, I have been running Single Humpty until a few days ago, when I wanted to see if my current setup still justify the single Humpty configuration or does it benefit from going duo? I then hooked up the other Humpty again. With duo Humpties, soundstage is more relaxed, wider and deeper; instrument separation has improved; more details can be picked up; and the content of music and intention of musicians are better conveyed (30% gain). But that comes at an expense of a slight loss in PRaT and foot tapping, less so on the take no prisoner approach (10-15% loss). With the Duo setup I'm having now, I don't know if I will go solo again or remain in the duo mode. But currently, I rather enjoy the additional volume of information and the less strained and more at ease music presentation that I get from Duo Humpties. [Ed: Footnote 2]
Tidal SQ
SQ from Tidal can be extremely good if the recording is good. Hooking up with my Laptop yields some surprisingly pleasing sound. Neither cold nor warm, musical yet not over the top, always well poised. If the passage demands dynamics, it provides (aced) and if the passage is slow and sublime, it will go slow yet with tension and good preservation of the important spaces between notes. Often, with a great recording, it can surpass my CDP's performance!! I cannot, though, pick up significant difference between HiFi mode or Master mode (which Tidal claims uses MQA). My verdict, Tidal is highly recommended given the extremely reasonable fees, range of selection and very respectable recording quality! That said, I have been hearing less Youtube lately... Let me play Hiromi and Chic's Spain tomorrow!
Sparkler 503 CDP standalone vs CD through Vega DAC
Running the same setup with 47 as dig cable, I sometimes cannot distinguish clearly if I'm running the CDP through the Vega or not. Yes there are minor differences, but not to a point that I have a clear preference: the standalone CDP has slightly more PRat and Vega has more ease and better interpretation of slow passages. Changing from 47 to Gotham dig cable brings two different styles as I have mentioned above. So I will review it again once the latter is broken-in.
Preview: Search for my first Streamer
I haven't stopped searching for a streamer. After weighing many options for SQ/size/price/versatility, I have narrowed it down to a few: Innous Zen Mini Mk2 or 3, Lumin U1 Mini and Aurender N100H. Each one has its pros and cons and they all come with a price tag less than 1500 USD. Meanwhile, my friend has promised to loan me the Zenmini Mk2 but it has not arrived yet. Last night, I chanced upon a second-hand Auralic Aries Mini (less than $400USD) that came with a Jay's Audio LPS. I took a plunge; it should be a decent little box which I can easily sell if I upgrade. Apart from not having a CD Ripper, it ticked all the boxes for me , it can stream Tidal, has 500GB internal storage plus a slot for SSD to use as server. Most importantly, it's really compact in size! But one needs an iPad or iPhone to work with it. I dug out my ancient first gen iPad, which has not been used in ages, but the charging cord is missing...damn! When things all work out, I'll report back in detail!
Editor's Footnotes: [1] I have used both of these as digital cable and my impressions are similar. The 47 Lab is smooth and not so detailed. The Gotham 10070 is indeed very detailed and one of my references, though it can be sharp in some systems. Both are good but I prefer Belden 1694 for overall performance; [2] both Herb Reichert in Listener and Steve Rochlin in enjoythemusic preferred just one Dumpty.
Posts
I remember reading somewhere that mr. Kimura himself prefers the Gaincard with the single power supply, but it might be that my memory is not correct because I can't find this anymore... Anyway John Atkinson's measurements for Stereophile https://www.stereophile.com/content/47-laboratory-4706-gaincard-power-amplifier-measurements show something interesting: crosstalk is very high with one power supply. Now I know trying to link measurements and listening we are easily misled, more often than not. But this might be an audible effect. Incidentally it could be remarked it brings the channel separation close to the values typical of vinyl reproduction.
ReplyDeleteRegarding Tidal, I'm enthusiastic about it. It sounds just gorgeous to me, especially smooth and rich in MQA. So much so that I get the impression they intentionally differentiate sound quality at different formats. Maybe I'm completely wrong (and MQA is a complex and partially obscure subject). Might there be some kind of processing going on to elicit users preference for higher resolution formats?? I remeber noticing "normal" content played at strangely lower level, but I did not make comparisons and never listened to much normal tracks on Tidal anyway.
Streaming is getting better and better. Even YouTube is not bad at all these days. It used to be much, much worse years ago, in most cases unlistenable from an audiophile point of view. Something must have changed there.
Hi, Francesco, can you send me an email? doctorjohn@myself.com
DeleteOf course!
DeleteDear Francesco, Humpty going solo or duo has each's pros and cons. Two PS will definitely help in stability and instrument separation and lower noise background but missing the synchronicity of both sharing one PS but nevertheless may suffer from crosstalk.
ReplyDeleteThis coincides with my day one impression, more musical yet raw with solo compare with more stable and clearer duo. It is a matter of choice and speakers you are trying to drive. Right now, I'm using duo. Well aware of what I'm gaining and missing. There's always a trade off...
MY DAC don't do MQA unfortunately, only the streamer, so can't tell a huge difference of MQA Master to Hifi. But on general a good choice. That said Amazon ultra high music could be another choice for exploration!
Cheers,
Eric
Interestingly, in HK, Mr Tsang of Wai Lee told me the stereo McIntosh MC240 sounds better than the monoblock MC40. He said the single power supply assures synchronicity.
DeleteI know of russian audiophiles who power the entire system from one transformer with multiple secondaries. turntable/CDP, preamp, power amp; for this very reason.
DeleteFunny then that monoblocks confer prestige in the hi-end!
DeleteThank you for your valuable direct experience reports. Unfortunately all I can talk about is other people's opinion, as I have never had the opportunity to listen to any Gaincard (or Gainclone, or any 47 Labs gear for that matter). I would love to try the original Gaincard someday, and maybe comparing 1 PSU vs. 2 PSU's myself. Someday it might happen. Who knows...
DeleteMQA sounds super on my Meridian Explorer2, but when the difference is too great I always look for another explanation. (Digression. It's like with a Musical Fidelity DAC I had... RCA coax sounded so much better than TOSlink, I thought there must be something wrong with the TOSlink input.) So in this case I'm inclined to think TIDAL is trying to make MQA sound better. I don't know if it makes any sense from the marketing point of view, maybe not. But that's what I heard.
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DeleteAnd monoblocks are unbeatable in the channel separation department, aren't they?
DeleteFrancesco,
DeleteThink I have yet to unleash the max potential of MQA, another motive for me, haha!
As for single or duo, it's very system dependent. If you give up a little musicality and is still acceptable in the final outcome, then you be rewarded with many nice gains in hifi terms. Fish and bear paws, I am greedy to wanting both!!
DeleteMy take on mono vs single. Mono has better channel separate but suffers from parts variant of chips, capacitors, transformer etc causing loss of synchronicity
ReplyDelete