Labtec,
The Esoteric was designed to sound better in balanced mode so you HAVE TO LISTEN TO IT BALANCED to hear it at it best. All the reviews that have been done (as well as the owners manual) explicity state this. The Electrocompaniet EMC 1UP and the Ayre CX-7 also sound better in balanced mode and the owners manuals for those respective units point that out. Its amazing to me how many people use this player or demo it with cheap pre/pro's or receivers that don't have balanced inputs.
Secondly, you have to experiement with the different filter settings on the unit. You can considerably tighten the bass by using the middle filter (FIR). Again, the Esoteric owners manual states the bass will tighten with the use of this filter.
I did find the UDP-1 bass to be tight and well defined but at the expense of bass slam and impact. Bass slam is also important with drums as you can better hear the impact of floor tom toms, kettle drums and other orchestral instruments.
Many audiophiles eschew bass slam because they don't want to hear a lot of bass in their music. They mistakenly associate it with rap or hard driving bass lines that can overpower the music when the truth is deep,tight bass with impact benefits the whole sonic soundscape. Bass and drums are the anchor for most types of music including jazz, blues R&B and country.
AB the two units again and let me know your impressions.
AVGURU
The Esoteric was designed to sound better in balanced mode so you HAVE TO LISTEN TO IT BALANCED to hear it at it best. All the reviews that have been done (as well as the owners manual) explicity state this. The Electrocompaniet EMC 1UP and the Ayre CX-7 also sound better in balanced mode and the owners manuals for those respective units point that out. Its amazing to me how many people use this player or demo it with cheap pre/pro's or receivers that don't have balanced inputs.
Secondly, you have to experiement with the different filter settings on the unit. You can considerably tighten the bass by using the middle filter (FIR). Again, the Esoteric owners manual states the bass will tighten with the use of this filter.
I did find the UDP-1 bass to be tight and well defined but at the expense of bass slam and impact. Bass slam is also important with drums as you can better hear the impact of floor tom toms, kettle drums and other orchestral instruments.
Many audiophiles eschew bass slam because they don't want to hear a lot of bass in their music. They mistakenly associate it with rap or hard driving bass lines that can overpower the music when the truth is deep,tight bass with impact benefits the whole sonic soundscape. Bass and drums are the anchor for most types of music including jazz, blues R&B and country.
AB the two units again and let me know your impressions.
AVGURU