At 193 hours of break in, here is one more update.
What is quite frankly surprising me, is the dynamic range that the Criterion can yield without overt signs of clipping, while maintaining sonic and most of all musical integrity.
part of the continuing break in, today I decided to go through all the Beethoven piano sonatas played by V. Ashkenazy on a multi CD Decca reissue box. I believe these to be old analog recordings from the 70s and 80s. I have not played this set very much in the past because I always found the sound somewhat hard and prone to unwelcome clipping on the louder passages. . . . not today.
What I found remarkable is the dynamic range that Criterion appeared to yield on the Waldstein without signs of apparent effort. I kept raising the volume and found mostly. . . more detail on the entire frequency band. I suspect I have reached SPL levels that normally would have chased me from the listening room, or at least would have caused severe ringing in the ears. . . yet, I am still perfectly comfortable after listening to the entire Waldstein sonata at concert volume level from a virtual distance of about 15 feet from the grand piano. While fff passages where awesome for their sheer impact, pp remained present, feathery, and never recessed into a murky distance. In fff, musical structure was still in evidence and had not started to coalesce into the typical blob of sonic overpressure. . . musical notes maintained their individual granularity even in complex arpeggios and chords. I never got the impression that I was getting into dangerous territory for either my ears or my speakers. A few passages here and there did have some hardness. I have no idea if this has to do with Ashkenazy getting overly enthusiastic and losing some wrist/elbow elasticity in his chording, or more likely, I was finally reaching the current limits of the criterion. I'll repeat the listening in several days and will know more.
On a different 'note'. . . you guys probably know that I am not exactly a great fan of Diana Krall. . . yet today her Temptations redbook album was absolutely delightful and totally enjoyable. The hot miking that so often bothers me was not in evidence. Rather, Krall's diction seemed superb and expressive, while her articulated pianistic commentary to the songs was crisp, harmonically satisfying and emotionally delicious. And yes, if anyone were asking, there is definitely more instrument individuality/separation/definition than on my still beloved Capri. The bass lines with Criterion are definitely easier to follow than on other pres I am familiar with.
If I were to judge the Criterion purely by the krall album, I may be tempted to conclude prematurely that the pre has reached sonic maturity, yet I really doubt that this is already the case.
G.
