Audiophile know thyself is my motto - you seem very self aware and that is always good. Best to you in your chase of better sound
Give Up on Bacch?
I have sitting next to me a little suitcase with the Bacch4Mac hardware. Implementation is scheduled for Monday, next week but I may return it before then. I thought I would seek advice before pulling the trigger. Theoretica gives one 14 days from shipping to return for a refund less a $200 restocking fee. The 14 days is up Monday. Why the cold feet? First, I will not have the opportunity to listen to the Bacch system in my home before the return period expires. Second, I was underwhelmed at the Theoretica room demo at Axpona. Third, I have a modded Peachtree Gan1 that requires a coax input. I will have to spend an additional $1000 to get that capability with the Bacch system. Fourth, at Axpona the sweetspot was narrow and impractical (2 seats, one behind the other).
It will cost me a $200 restocking fee and shipping to return the Bacch system. I hate to do that, not because of the cost, but because I won't have the opportunity to hear it in my home. What do you think?
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The Bacch4Mac is up and running, sort of, but I need some more advice. First, though, I'd like to make clear the Edgar is a pleasure to work with. He is patient and, of course, very knowledgeable. I'll keep it and explain the pros and cons for me later, but because I am going to keep it there are some consequent choices to be made. First, I had to swap out my modded Gan1 power dac for an old HK Signature power amp. I could either upgrade the Babyface Pro interface for $1100 to get a coax out that the Gan1 requires. Alternatively, I could sell or repurpose the Gan1 and buy a power amp that supports an xlr input from the Babyface pro. I have in mind Orchard Starcrimson monoblocks. TMR has a used pair for $1500. I like the modded Gan1 very much but am open to an alternative. However, I have no experience with other power amps. Second, I had to disconnect my sub as the Babyface pro has no sub-out. I really need the sub as the speakers are Spendor SP3/5r2 (newer version of ls3/5a). Edgar said I could route the speakers through the sub using its high-pass filter, but this would be suboptimal because of the crossover: having a digital crossover integrated with the Bacch dsp would be better. The Babyface pro upgrade mentioned above would allow me to integrate the sub with the dsp digital crossover. Thus, the $1100 Babyface pro upgrade would allow me to keep the Gan1 and better integrate the sub. Is it worth it? Is the sub's high-pass filter sufficient? Maybe I should take this opportunity to try another power amp and put the $1100 toward that end. Your thoughts would be helpful. Edgar's solution is simple: just upgrade the Babyface pro. End of story. However, I'm not sure. I really could use a dealer to work with and advise me. That's not the role Edgar wants to play, nor should he. There are other issues the Bacch implementation prompts, such as the streamer, the dac and the webcam. But I'll post about them later. And then there are my initial impressions of sound quality. Like just about everything concerned with the Bacch, the answer is complicated. More later. Thanks. |
I have hesitated to comment on the effect of the Bacch system on "sound quality" because I'm not sure what I'm hearing, or if I'm striving to hear what I think I am supposed to hear. Or if my ears are just too new to this sound to discern and process it. I'll try to be more clear. Edgar steered me to an article he published in The Absolute Sound recently: https://www.theabsolutesound.com/articles/going-spatial/ Here is a crucial part: "Spatial music is music in which the spatial aspect of sound—the perceived location, extent, and movements of sound sources in surrounding space—is more or less equal in stature to the traditional aspects, or elements, of music—pitch, timbre, texture, volume/dynamics, attack/duration/decay, melody, rhythm, and form. We shall call this traditional aspect of music canonical and contrast it with the spatial." Until now I thought of sound quality as the traditional aspects plus imaging and soundstage. The later two are spacial, to be sure, but Edgar defines spacial sound with seven terms, such as reverb, envelopment and depth/proximity. Bacch leaves the traditional aspects alone and focuses on the seven aspects of spacial sound. So, as I started listening to music played through the Bacch system I was trying to identify and evaluate these seven aspects of spacial sound. I didn't get far, but I fully admit that the sound may have been there but I didn't know how to discern what I was listening to. My initial impression is that the spacial effects are highly dependent on the quality of the recording. Most of the tracks I listened to didn't sound different (to be sure, I did not A/B the tracks although I believe Bacch can be toggled on and off). Tracks from the Gotan Project (Argentine tango) was a striking exception. I believe I was hearing spacial segregation, motion and extension/resolution although I can't be sure at this point. It's just too new to me. Was I hearing all these things Edgar said to look for, or did I just want to hear them? I don't know, but for me at least sticking with Bacch will lead down a long learning curve. Worth it? Maybe. |
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