WC,
Thanks for introducing me to that wonderful recording, Perhaps Love. Musically and sonically wonderful, even on lousy computer audio and phone speakers as someone said on your video comments. Sonically it is great because of minimal processing, yielding a natural sound. Even a regular resolution CD would sound great, provided there is minimal processing. This is the 1st time I have heard this recording, and I think you should use it when making decisions about what supporting components you favor with the Mephisto.
This recording will show that DCS direct will yield even more purity/clarity than the Christine or any other added preamp. With other recordings which are highly processed, I can see why you may prefer adding preamps and euphonic cabling, because you hate the distortions revealed by DCS direct + Nordost cabling + Mephisto. But with this pure recording, this purist combo would reveal much more beauty, as well as some relatively minor defects, so the balance of good and bad would be much more in favor of the good.
You probably have never heard an unamplified singer live close up. As an experienced musician, I have, and can tell you that the real thing is a mixture of good and bad, but the good vastly outweighs the bad. Only absolute transparency in all the components will reproduce this live feeling in the highest degree. Your concept of flavored synergy is not correct--you don't need to soften the Mephisto for recordings like Perhaps Love. Then when you go back to more mundane processed recordings, you will be able to still appreciate that the good still outweighs the bad, even though the good/bad ratio is less than on a great recording.
Once again, your car analogies are leading you astray. As goodsource said, there is something wrong when an amp sounds great only with particular cabling and lousy with ordinary mid level cabling. But the truth is that there is nothing wrong with the Mephisto. Using mid level cabling and preamps, it will still give more complete musical revelation than an inferior amp with the same mid level components. A great amp is not a race car that is clumsy threading a needle. Its purity will let you appreciate loud, dynamic music as well as soft music like Perhaps Love, and even softer sounds like subtle brushes on drums. A high performance car is deafeningly noisy, a bull in a china shop. Don't think of the Mephisto in that way that it needs to be tamed and driven by only a skillful professional driver.
Thanks for introducing me to that wonderful recording, Perhaps Love. Musically and sonically wonderful, even on lousy computer audio and phone speakers as someone said on your video comments. Sonically it is great because of minimal processing, yielding a natural sound. Even a regular resolution CD would sound great, provided there is minimal processing. This is the 1st time I have heard this recording, and I think you should use it when making decisions about what supporting components you favor with the Mephisto.
This recording will show that DCS direct will yield even more purity/clarity than the Christine or any other added preamp. With other recordings which are highly processed, I can see why you may prefer adding preamps and euphonic cabling, because you hate the distortions revealed by DCS direct + Nordost cabling + Mephisto. But with this pure recording, this purist combo would reveal much more beauty, as well as some relatively minor defects, so the balance of good and bad would be much more in favor of the good.
You probably have never heard an unamplified singer live close up. As an experienced musician, I have, and can tell you that the real thing is a mixture of good and bad, but the good vastly outweighs the bad. Only absolute transparency in all the components will reproduce this live feeling in the highest degree. Your concept of flavored synergy is not correct--you don't need to soften the Mephisto for recordings like Perhaps Love. Then when you go back to more mundane processed recordings, you will be able to still appreciate that the good still outweighs the bad, even though the good/bad ratio is less than on a great recording.
Once again, your car analogies are leading you astray. As goodsource said, there is something wrong when an amp sounds great only with particular cabling and lousy with ordinary mid level cabling. But the truth is that there is nothing wrong with the Mephisto. Using mid level cabling and preamps, it will still give more complete musical revelation than an inferior amp with the same mid level components. A great amp is not a race car that is clumsy threading a needle. Its purity will let you appreciate loud, dynamic music as well as soft music like Perhaps Love, and even softer sounds like subtle brushes on drums. A high performance car is deafeningly noisy, a bull in a china shop. Don't think of the Mephisto in that way that it needs to be tamed and driven by only a skillful professional driver.