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What Does Holographic Sound Like?

And how do you get there? This is an interesting question. I have finally arrived at a very satisfying level of holography in my system. But it has taken a lot of time, effort and money to get there. I wish there had been a faster, easier and less expensive way to get there. But I never found one.

Can you get to a high level of holography in your system with one pair of interconnects and one pair of speaker wires? I don't believe so. I run cables in series. I never found one pair of interconnects and speaker wires that would achieve what has taken a heck of a lot of wires and "tweaks" to achieve. Let alone all the power cords that I run in series. Although I have found one special cable that has enabled the system to reach a very high level of holography -- HiDiamond -- I still need to run cables in series for the sound to be at its holographic best.

There are many levels of holography. Each level is built incrementally with the addition of one more wire and one more "tweak". I have a lot of wires and "tweaks" in my system. Each cable and each "tweak" has added another level to the holography. Just when I thought things could not get any better -- which has happened many times -- the addition of one more cable or "tweak" enabled the system to reach a higher level yet.

Will one "loom" do the job. I never found that special "loom". To achieve the best effects I have combined cables from Synergistic Research, Bybee, ASI Liveline, Cardas, Supra and HiDiamond -- with "tweaks" too numerous to mention but featuring Bybee products and a variety of other products, many of which have the word "quantum" in their description.

The effort to arrive at this point with my system has been two-fold. Firstly, finding the right cables and "tweaks" for the system. Secondly, finding where to place them in the system for the best effects -- a process of trial and error. A lot of cables and "tweaks" had to be sold off in the process. I put "tweaks" in quotation marks because the best "tweaks" in my system have had as profound effect as the components on the sound. The same for the best of the cables, as well. For me, cables and "tweaks" are components.

Have I finally "arrived"? I have just about arrived at the best level that I can expect within my budget -- there are a couple of items on the way. In any case, I assume there are many levels beyond what my system has arrived at. But since I'll never get there I am sitting back and enjoying the music in the blissful recognition that I don't know what I am missing.

I should mention that there are many elements that are as important as holography for the sound to be satisfying, IMO. They include detail, transparency, coherence, tonality, and dynamics, among others. My system has all of these elements in good measure.

Have you had success with holographic sound in your system? If so, how did you get there?
sabai
mapman's avatar
mapman
22,341 posts
 
Newbee,

Substitute "directional" for "dynamic" and I would agree with most of what you said.

I am not sure directional speakers are necessarily easier to set up with adequate results than omnis. I think it depends. In smaller rooms with limited placement options away from walls, that might be true.

Tweaks are what they are...tweaks. You no doubt have to get the big things, starting with speaker and matching amp selection, speaker placement + room acoustics, right first for best results, not to say that good results might still be achieved otherwise, just not the best possible.
bryoncunningham
890 posts
 
09-20-12: Kijanki
"I agree with Al that shorter cables are not always better"

He mentioned exception of digital cables related to timing of the reflections, but shorter analog cables should always be better. I've never heard of anybody claiming improvement with longer analog audio cable, other than salesmen trying to find excuse to sell more common longer cable (1m vs. 0.75m or 0.5m IC) that he has in stock.
Hi Kijanki - My post was written playfully, not precisely. I agree with both you and Al that digital cables are the most demonstrable exception to the generalization that shorter cables are always better.

Having said that, there may be other exceptions, though they are either controversial, system specific, or semantic...

The controversial: Some folks claim that longer power cables can result in better SQ. The explanation typically offered attributes the improvement to reduced "reflections." That may be nonsense, I'm not technically competent enough to say.

The system specific: On a few occasions I've had cables that were so short that they created a "nest" of criss-crossing behind components. In those cases, I have sometimes opted for a longer cable to provide wider spacing between cables, which at least in theory, could result in less interference and therefore better SQ.

The semantic: The generalization that "Shorter cables are always better" might give a false impression that shorter cables are always AUDIBLY better than longer ones of otherwise equivalent design. I suspect that, for any specific design, there is a range of lengths which are sonically indistinguishable. This is particularly likely with balanced cables.

Bryon
kijanki's avatar
kijanki
4,429 posts
 
The controversial: Some folks claim that longer power cables can result in better SQ. The explanation typically offered attributes the improvement to reduced "reflections." That may be nonsense

It is nonsense for audio cables. I'm not sure about power cables but home wiring is so long that any difference shouldn't matter. I don't know why longer cable should reduce reflections and if it does it wouldn't be a good thing, since we're talking about high frequency energy, that is far better to dissipate in cable on multiple reflections than to enter power supply.

The system specific: On a few occasions I've had cables that were so short that they created a "nest" of criss-crossing behind components. In those cases, I have sometimes opted for a longer cable to provide wider spacing between cables, which at least in theory, could result in less interference and therefore better SQ.

True, but I'm only talking about "sound" of the cable alone. Speaker wires 1ft long will most likely sound better than 10 footers but speakers 2 feet apart will not. Longer IC might allow to separate interacting components benefiting overall sound but it doesn't change the fact that shorter IC causes less of transparency loss itself.

The semantic: The generalization that "Shorter cables are always better" might give a false impression that shorter cables are always AUDIBLY better than longer ones of otherwise equivalent design. I suspect that, for any specific design, there is a range of lengths which are sonically indistinguishable.

True, but if you believe that particular cable has any affect on the sound then half of the cable will have half of the effect.
bryoncunningham
890 posts
 
Kijanki - We are in agreement.

bc
csontos
1,311 posts
 
There's also a big difference between artificial effects vs. what's actually going on in the recording studio. Not a lot being said about that here. But there is a lot of hysterics going on considering what is actually achievable with cables.
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