Warm vs Revealing—the struggle for balance
For me my upgrade path has been finding balance between warmth and dynamics/detail.
It’s looks something like this: find satisfaction (Raven Nighthawk + Tekton), get upgrade bug seeking more dynamics, get more revealing gear (Ma 352), feel fatigued, buy new tubes (Telefunken) and speakers (SF Olympica); want more dynamics (Mc 601 + c50), I immediately get tube pre because of fatigue (c2300), still too sharp (new tubes and DAC); excellent balance, but of course sell speakers, new speakers too revealing, buy Cardas cables to replace Wireworld (ahh just right for now, but may be a little more revealing might be nice).
And oh yeah, working on fixing the damn room problems!
Chasing the unicorn.
Anyone else doing this back and forth?
@w123ale No. Whenever you have increased detail that is also fatiguing (bright and harsh), the fatigue is often the result of distortion. You know you're making progress when the presentation is detailed and relaxed at the same time. |
Early Manet. And if you prefer Realism, or something other than Impressionism, Monet wouldn’t be your guy. This isn’t really a strong argument for less resolving sources. Different folks like different things. |
Hey, My favorite way to get warmth and revealing is a tube preamp and a SS amp. I use ARC Ref 2se with a Luxman M10X. Even if you went with an much older preamp and went reasonable class D amp. Even some of the Chinese stuff as long as it can drive your speakers properly. It is the sound you car looking for. Rogue has great preamps that won’t break the bank. My first preference would’ve the preamp. It is the soul of your system. One of my favorite integrated amps of all time is the Rogue Sphinx. Tube input, 100w SS amp, and it it has a very nice phono stage for $1800 with the metal remote. I hope this helps. |
I guess my point is exactly that. Different strokes for different folks. In sound just like art. Do you prefer a high res detailed image of your water lilies or a more abstract impression? How about of Medusa? Maybe if enough detail is obscured and otherwise distorted you don’t change to stone? You never know! How much of that horrific recording of an otherwise enthralling Motorhead tune can a Motorhead fan even handle? Break out the filters! A strategically placed tube or two might do. OR just stick with mp3. DSP anyone?
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