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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
22,308 posts
 
"Mapman,
Please answer the following questions:

1. What "tweaks" do you have in your system?
2. Do you have any Bybee products in your system?
3. Do you do series or parallel cabling?"

1. Power strip, ICs, Mu Metal RF shielding for low output phono step up transformer
2. No Bybee products. Have never seen or heard. Same true of many other tweak products out there.
3. I use a single cable between each pair of devices. THe exception is my main rig runs through a Niles speaker selector that outputs to in-wall speaker wiring that runs to several rooms, so technically the speaker wires running into and out of the Niles are in series.
mapman's avatar
mapman
22,308 posts
 
"What you call my "strategy" has given stunning results. Since you have no experience with my "strategy" you are only left with speculation because you have no personal experience here. Just hot air."

I suppose everyone that takes a different approach from another could say that. Its not hot air for me to say I would not endorse your strategy based on my experience either. THat is not to say yours does not work. IT may very well. Its just not the approach I would take. I always like to keep things simple.

Sabai, does your system ever not sound "right"? WIth all those gadgets used, how much time does it take to isolate a problem to a specific device if it occurs? That has to be a disadvantage of your approach I would say. I simple system using as few devices as possible is much easier to troubleshoot when something is not working properly. That is a scenario we all have to deal with at some point in that all devices fail eventually and do not perform identically forever. I think that is an undeniable disadvantage to adding complexity versus keeping it simple assuming similar results can be achieved either way.
mapman's avatar
mapman
22,308 posts
 
":You stated, "I am not so certain". Certain about what? That a "strategy" you have no experience with may or may not work? This is like speculating about whether you will like vanilla when you have never even tasted it yet. More hot air."

I have followed a strategy more similar to yours in the past and abandoned it in that it became to complicated to maintain. Were IO to change, I would look to make my system even simpler if possible, not more complex.

Of course your realization of your strategy in terms of the specific configuration is likely unique and different from most any other it sounds like. THe only way to make a valid claim that yours is superior would be to have a direct comparison to another system in an unbiased manner. In lieu of that, any claims of superiority by any of us is just hot air. The benefits of keeping any system as simple as possible in order to achieve results is pretty hard to argue though I think.
mapman's avatar
mapman
22,308 posts
 
Sabai,

Here's some more hot air....

When you demonstrate a willingness to respect the opinions of others, I might continue the discussion, which I find an interesting one. OTherwise I will save my hot air for a more useful purpose.
chadeffect
586 posts
 
Sabai,

Sometimes it's hard to get ones intent across clearly in these little posts. It seems you have a good balance of obsession/enjoyment to me. I'm glad we cleared that up! Or should I say I'm about the same? My system is pretty stable these days. I learned a lot experimenting and reached a good place.

I tried some ICs with bybees of some sort inside some years ago. But had nothing to compare it with. I.e the same cable without the bybee.

I wanted to try the quantum purifier bybees on each of the speaker driver terminals, but when I asked about it I was told they were not worth the effort by someone with the same speakers.

The manufacturer said they had not gotten great results or feedback from the very few who had tried it. So I shelved the idea. I didn't feel that $$$$ brave :-(

I had the impression that less sensitive/speakers that needed more current which gained more. I would give the WA chips a go sometime.
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