2. misc-audio
  3. 1347580739

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
sabai OP
2,027 posts
 
Gbmcleod,
Thanks for this very interesting post. You are correct in that components have to be capable of projecting holographic sound for it to be manifested by the system. You cannot squeeze orange juice from an apple.

Imaging and holographic sound go hand in hand. Images projected clearly in space with air around them help create the illusion of holography. It is the extent to which these properties are present that determines the quality of the holographic sound. And it is not simply a matter of holographic or not holographic. There are many, many gradations of holographic sound.

I have found that cabling and tweaks can greatly enhance the holographic illusion that components allow. Without these special elements in my system the level of holography would be a 3 or 4 instead of a 7 or 8.

Listing components will only provide an impression of what can be done regarding holography because I run my front end in series and I also run cables in series with some unique tweaks.

Here is my front end:

isolation transformer > QB4 > Bybee Stealth > power regenerator

I have added many levels of AC purifiers to the system as well as DIY tweaks that are unique to my system.

Here are my downstream components:

PS Audio transport
Antelope Zodiac + Voltikus DAC
Atma-Sphere S-30 power amp
Joseph Audio Pulsar monitors

I will be experimenting with new DACs in the near future.

But this only tells part of the story on the downstream side because I run many levels of tweaks here, as well, which, incrementally, add to the holographic portrayal. I use Bybee GG speaker bullets in series with SR speaker cells and Schumann resonance devices parallel with QRT Symphonies and Steinmusic Harmonizers as well as a number of other tweaks both DIY and commercial.
geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
23,365 posts
 
As the wise old Einstein ant says to the little naive ant in the comic strip B.C., "Everythng is relative, my son." It appears to be one of those peculiar facts of high ant audio ;-) that closed-in, "non-holographic" components - even bog standard crap components - can be made to open up and project holographic images. We all have our tricks of the trade. My latest one is Reef Knots.
sabai OP
2,027 posts
 
There is also another old saying -- you cannot make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. You cannot imbue a component with properties that it does not inherently possess. The laws of physics apply. There is no mystery or magic or secret here.

In my opinion, using the forum for commercial purposes -- as was obviously done here -- is inappropriate. This belongs in the advertising area of Audiogon, IMO.
geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
23,365 posts
 
Ah, the old laws of physics argument. Say, isn't that the same argument naysayers use for your SteinMusic Harmonizer device? Laws are meant to be broken.
geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
23,365 posts
 
Sabai wrote,

"You cannot imbue a component with properties that it does not inherently possess."

Of course, you can. You did, didn't you?
More to discover