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Has anyone else ever reached an audio impasse?

Perhaps I should explain -

A friend of mine has a VERY high resolution system which would retail close to the $100K mark. Each component upgrade he has made over the years has been based upon comparison between components. He has built a fantastic system.

Now here is the problem -
Recently he and I compared his source CD player which is the top model currently available under 15K, against a Sony 9000 ES SACD/DVD player. We A/B compared them.

After extended listening, we found the differences to be so minor that it was difficult to detect which was better. We did the comparisons with Redbook CD vs SACD, RedBook vs. Redbook and still the 15K CD player was only marginally (.05%) better.

The 15K CD player had better more expensive interconnects and power cords than the Sony which was using a stock power cord an old Audioquest Topaz (cheap) interconnects.

In previous listening sessions over the past year we had compared the same Sony 9000 CD/DVD/SACD player against MANY other CD players ranging in price from 2000 all the way up to 7000 and on redbook CD's the Sony always got it's butt kicked! It sounded hollow - with a recessed midrange - electronic - over emphasized highs, etc.

Then - I took a 100 Toshiba DVD player to his house and tried it against his 15K CD player. It sounded the same as the Sony. In fact, the 100 Toshiba sounded as good if not better in some ways than the Sony DVD player but...still was .05% out classed by the 15K CD player.

With each source component in these auditions, the soundstage remained VERY large, images were perfect and tonal balance couldn't be better. The subtlety of the changes between the various source components would be best described as perceived rather than actual.

I am curious to know if anyone else has experienced this type of an impasse. I know the $100 DVD player should not sound like the 15K CD player (at least it never did before)
but it does now. Why??

Could there be a bottle-neck somewhere? Could the character of an pre or amplifier be so strong it restricts performance of a source component? What could cause this to happen?

Help please...
bwhite
bwhite OP
807 posts
 
Asa - thanks for the response. The ART and Syrah are VERY close. Both are extremely liquid and wonderful - but I think the ART has a bit better bass than my Syrah - we haven't had time to do a fair comparison between the two since we have been more focused on the source components which all sound the same.

This is mind blowing and its making us second-guess all the decisions we've made in the past.

Just this morning however, my friend noticed a spark fly between his RCA interconnect and the RCA input on the CJ P8A as he changed interconnects. Shortly thereafter, he saw lots of smoke. Once he shut off power, and removed the interconnects, he found one of his Stealth PGS cables to be 2 1/2 inches shorter and burnt through to the outer mesh. The outer mesh actually changed color from a golden yellow to a crusty brown.

Initially, we thought it was the amp, we did some testing and discovered the wall outlet to be broken - it was cracked inside.

Something tells me the source components will start sounding like themselves again once the power problem is fixed.

An electrician is on the way!
sean
6,231 posts
 
YOW !!!! You bring up a good point about checking our electrical systems and checking what our insurance policies will cover. While i just changed a few outlets myself, i can imagine how fast your buddy's jaw dropped and heart sank when he saw what he did. Let's hope everything is okay. I'm kind of leary of that though, as it would take one helluva lot of juice to actually melt down an interconnect. Sean
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bwhite OP
807 posts
 
My friend had two new dedicated circuits installed. So far there has been no smoke or fire. The electrician wired his system with 10 gague Romex strung to a pair of PS Audio Power Port AC recepticals. I have not listened yet but he claims this made a modest difference regarding the bandwidth of his amplifiers. He says the system seems "cleaner" but still notices no significant differences between source components. Bummer.
detlof
1,899 posts
 
Look, I don't mean this as a joke at all: But when did he last have his hearing checked and his ears cleared out? I've had this happen to an audiophile collegue, whose ears had truly clogged up. Well, I thought of bringing this up, though improbable, nothing is impossible and I feel sorry for your friend and the plight he is in.
P.S: if nothing else helps, I would still try the speaker thing.....
audioguy123
40 posts
 
I did not read every post, but little was said about the room.

I am not impartial on this subject as I used to sell the product, but it would be very interesting to have someone "SigTech" (digital room correction) the room. I performed thousands of room measurements (and corections) and one of the many benefits of digital room correction is the ability to better hear differences in components up stream. Many of the folsk for whom I demonstrated (on their system) the SigTech were sort of where your friend was/is. That is, they were spending gigantic sums of money and not really moving forward --just got "different" sound.

A specific example which was always easy to demonstrate was the difference in a live recording in a SigTeched versus un-SigTeched room.

One of the ways we can tell a recording is live is because we can hear the recording venue --specifically the delayed/reflected sounds in the recording venue. In most rooms (even those passively treated)the recording venue relections are masked (at least to some degree) by the reflections in the listening room.

So, if one of the differences in two components is, for example, air/space around instruments, the room could be masking some of that. Furthermore, depending on what the room does to the frequency repsonse, the room could be masking subtle frequency variations as well.

I can say this: if your friend has not heard his system with digital room correction APPROPRIATELY DONE, (either with the SigTech or the Tact), he has not heard what his system really sounds like. He may not like what he hears (he would be in a tiny minority) but he would at least hear what he has purchased.

As to why the less expensive pre-amp seemed to highlight the differences, I can not comment.

Anyway, further food for thought.
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