How do you add color?
For those of you who are adherents of straight wire, ruler flat frequency response, accurate and neutral sound, artists’ true intentions, etc. ... please stop reading now. You’ve been warned. If you continue to read, you might get heartburn and since I’m a nice guy, I don’t want to do that to you.
Now, for those who are not opposed to adding a bit of color and flavor to tune/tweak the sound to their liking, what is your preferred method of madness? Speakers, amps, preamps, DACs, cables? I know many who like the combination of solid state amps with tube preamps. Lately, a lot of upmarket DACs are using tubes (Lampizator) or R2R to add a sort of tube-like flavoring. Let’s say you’re happy with your solid state amp but want to add a bit of tube magic to the chain, would you get there by way of tube preamps or tube DACs? Or both -- which might be too much of a good thing perhaps?
@lalitk -- well, I do hold you partly responsible for my affliction :) But in all seriousness, listening to your well-thought out, well-put together system was a great learning experience for me. I had listened to several systems at various dealers but yours really provided a guiding light in my quest for a better system. Some systems impress you, some pull you in with their musicality. Yours is certainly a great example of the latter. |
@hilde45 I have also been told by a good friend that 6SN7 based preamps are the way to go. I'll be researching a few preamps and will definitely keep this in mind. |
Agreed. There's no compression algorithm for experience. But to me, that is what makes this journey so enjoyable and memorable. It's an evolutionary process ... not just in terms of how your equipment choices evolve, but also how you gradually learn what type of sound appeals to you the most. Honestly, when I started I had no clue what I liked. So it's not always about the synergy but also an exercise in self-exploration. You must peel the onion one layer at a time. Otherwise, what's the point.
|
Profound observation and eloquently put. This is the kind of discovery that puts the lie to gear-churning and rash upgrading. I can imagine one engaging in this hobby not with the goal of reaching "the top" but of listening to as many kinds of systems as possible. And the best part about that goal is that it is best done by exchanges with others -- meeting people, talking, listening, developing a vocabulary which reaches across rooms and ears and tastes. It's really what makes this a "hobby" and not just a consumeristic merry-go-around. Of course, the influencer industry on YouTube (and magazines, etc.) finds such a method anathema to their business, but that puts their opinions into proper perspective for the rest of us. |
I concur with your observation... Because our own taste are grounded in our ears/brain neurological specifics among other factors and this is adressed in psycho-acoustics... Then it is not only about the gear synergy and embeddings for sure...Our tastes reflect our history and neuro-biology of hearing ...
|
