XXHighEnd

It was great to see Nick again - he was here for the day and we had a very enjoyable, interesting and very productive day. Maybe Nick will say a few words but after many comparisons (more to follow) Nick suggested a very small change to my system that transformed the SQ in W7.

Where I was before Nick arrived was that OK W7 was easier to listen to (than W8) but W7 was just too "polite" and missing the "X" factor of excitement of W8. OK ultimately I could not live with W8 being just too tiring to listen to. So I hankered after W7.5 i.e. somewhere in between.

We were listening to W7 with SFS=1 and Nick suggested SFS=1.5 and Q=10. I could not believe the difference suddenly the excitement, dynamics and clarity that was missing in W7 was back. A big difference. This is the W7.5 I was looking for.

Just shows though - never get complacent about settings in XX they make even more difference now than they used to. I thought I had arrived using such a low SFS but it does seem that there is a threshold below which the SQ loses its magic.

Paul

Hi Paul, hi Nick,

tried the settings and was surprised again :). At some tracks I feel like watching a movie in 3D. Very nice ...

Georg

Hey Paul,

Thanks to you and your family, I had a great time yesterday. We had a lot to get through and listened to some great music along the way. This visit I was determined not take so much of your time but it was another 7 hour session. How time flys when i listen to your system :).

So a few listening impressions from our session. First thing to say is that I still experience your system as bout the most resolving end engadeing system I have heard. It's just sounds so right and makes it so easy to hear and make assesments of changes made to settings, DACs etc.

When we started the day comparing 09z-82 on W7 and W8, W8 was exceptionally detailed with excelant left right sound stage and quite good depth. The mid hardness of W8 was there but better on your system than on mine. I could certainly understand why you liked W8 so much bit for me W7 still had the edge over W8. Just. Everything was however not right with W7 it was too smeared and had a slight confusion to the sound. I think we used the word "impressionist" in the sense that it lacked the incisiveness if true life.

So onto the W7 tweaks.
SFS from 1 to 1.5
Q1 from 14 to 10
Remove the unconnected SATA cables from the PC mobo

Smiles and disbelieving looks all round from the first notes and W7 sounded FANTASTIC. Almost the same level of detail as W8 but with lifelike realness spark and dynamics. I felt i coud have gone for a walk in the sound stage of your system at this point - front to back left to right top to bottom !

Next some tests on DACs which we remain quiet about  :whistle:

Amplifier comparisons were extremely useful for me in pointing out a problem in the presentation of my gainclones.

And then a long session soaking up the absolutely beautiful sounds generated by Peters superb software and NOS, and your absolutely excellent system. What a treat !

A truly enjoyable and interesting day, many thanks.

Nick.

Guy's thanx!! Nice read and tips!!

Nick,

Really you are welcome anytime. Ros says you can come anytime (you have inveigled your way into my wife's affections ha ha).

It was a very productive day and I learned yet more about my system and ways to improve it further (but for none obvious reasons must remain secret just now).

And I hope it was a two way process I do hope you can get those input caps for your amp - they do seem to work.

The irony is that you love the sound of my system - but who is responsible for it? well that would be you (and of course Peter). I had never even heard of a gainclone amp before I read the "Gainclone Heaven" thread (wow how many hits has that had now!!). But after much hard work I now have a system that exceeds my original expectations of what I thought was possible by such a massive margin that it is ridiculous.

But I am sure we would both say at this point that XX and NOS are the real stars of the show. But you really do need something special downstream to show them off.

Nick - one thing you did not mention is that we played some music recorded by my cousin Chris. He is a very seriously gifted musician (OK I did not inherit that gene) but he does not understand even the most basic technical aspects of electronics analogue or digital (he will not be upset I said that (I hope)). So we played an album that he recorded and produced himself in his garage (OK much work was done on the garage to get the SQ right but all very basic). The electronics he used cost about £350 which basically converted analogue direct to redbook 16/44.1 (Chris has no idea what than means by the way). The point is that the SQ of his album when we played it yesterday was great - right up there with some very respectable recordings.

I think Nick you were surprised - but for sure we were both really annoyed to think that most recording engineers now have no idea what good SQ is or how to record with good SQ. Actually it is worse than that they just do not care!!.

Anyway a great day and I look forward to the next session.

Oh and by the way I hope you like my home made RCA interconnects - much to my surprise I think they are a bit special. But I hasten to add I do not take any credit for them other than the design (by others) just satisfied basic engineering criteria that most i/c's do not.

Cheers

Paul

Just got XX working 'properly' again and tried these settings. Great, great sound. Thanks for sharing guys.

I think I've now got the best sound I've ever managed to achieve... ever. Not bad going seeing as I've been 'totally satisfied' many times in the past. And Paul I agree, the real stars are XX and the NOS1. I mean, my amps, speakers, cables, etc haven't changed since last week, but the sound was mediocre at best. Until I got XX sorted out earlier today. It's now just staggeringly real, and so musically engaging.

Mani.

Mani hi,

Check your PM, I dropped you a note with a few other things to check / try that appear to work well with our MoBo type  :).

Regards,

Nick.