The O.P. doesn't know what he's hearing and he doesn't know what he's talking about. Whatever his reason is for claiming the schiit vidar failed the comparison it wasn't because the schiit amp wasn't as good.There are ten other more plausible reasons why the esoteric room "sounded better" (if it, in fact, did and the O.P. isn't simply making all of this up, which I suspect he is).
Schiit not that Good?
Schiit was at AXPONA again this year. They were showing a Salk music server streaming into a Gungnir Multibit (?) feeding a Freya and two Vidars. Speakers were the Salk Song 3As.
So what happened?
Esoteric was just next door. This allowed attendees to move immediately from one room to another. Esoteric was showing a full stack of thier latest separates plus a VPI Avenger for analog. Speakers were a pair of Cantons I didn’t get the model of.
The Schiit room, while not bad, was completely destroyed by the Esoteric room. Esoteric played one SACD that unfurled a massive soundstage that I could sense even not being in the best seat. The sound of the Esoteric system, both via SACD and vinyl was dynamic, resolving, extremely musical, collected, vibrant, both large and delicately structured. It was a system that got all the minor details right. Such a good setup. The Schiit setup, while unoffensive, clean, and musical in its own right, simply couldn’t face the Esoteric in inner detail, soundstage, reality and low-level dynamics.
Why did the Schiit system fail so hard vs the Esoteric? Part of the reason might have been the junk cabling used by Schiit. Peaking behind the system I was Blue Jeans speaker cables and mess of power bricks, basic cabling, etc. I don’t know how much of the Schiit’s performance was compromised by inferior cabling, but I’m curious how close it would have come to the Esoteric had Schiit paid some basic attention to that area.
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w3ua1 posts04-20-2018 10:10pmRule of thumb:So much thread drift here but this requires a response. You are entitled to your opinion. You are close but incorrect IMHO. Without percentages and simply ranked in order of importance; Room Acoustics Quality of Source (cartridge/turntable or digital front end) Electronics Setting up speakers optimally to room (arguably part of Room Acoustics) Wire Choice of loudspeakers The choice of loudspeakers affects the CHARACTER of the sound far more than the so-called "accuracy" or level of being "true to the source". All loudspeakers suffer from more distortion than any other link in the chain. So many confuse character and quality. Yes, like a nose on a face, a loudspeaker has a huge affect on the perceived sound character, but it is subjective. This debate never ends and I only respond out of compulsion, knowing that I will never change any one else's mind and that instead, a certain number of audiophiles will come to this conclusion out of experience, age, and wisdom. |
- 99 posts total