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Is it all in my head?

Okay, sad to admit it but I just did an a/b comparison, granted it was only on one dubbed cd, between my musical fidelity a3.2 cd players dac and my new parasound z dac and could hear absolutely no difference. When I got my dac a few days ago I thought it was the best thing since sliced bread, but spank me and call me sally, I can't for the life of me distinguish between the two. I hooked it up such that I could go between the two on the fly with a press of a button. Hmmmm... I could hear a difference between my denon dvd 2900 and the musical fidelity a3.2 but no dice between the a3.2 and z dac. I can also hear slight, slight differences between i.c.'s and speaker cables so I dunno. I think I may be spitting the kool-aid out if it doesn't give me a buzz anymore, or else I'm gonna buy some of those ufo thingies to put on my windows (sorry G).

Doh...
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rrog
1,958 posts
 
Something is amiss. Even the smallest changes should be audible. System resolution would have to be very low not to hear changes.
jmcgrogan2's avatar
jmcgrogan2
6,346 posts
 
In this hobby, yes, many differences are in the head. Pshyco-acoustics is a real topic. Don't get me wrong, there are differences between gear and cables, but to varying degrees. Some differences are obvious, some are very hard to detect, and some cannot be detected at all. Just like the size of the pea under the mattress, sometimes it is so small that it is undetectable.

On another note, remember, different is different, and not neccessarily better.
isochronism
2,893 posts
 
Jmcgrogan,
I always enjoy your posts!!
Regarding your pea/mattress analogy, (the princess and the pea) the pee on top of the mattress is more detectable.
rodman99999
6,131 posts
 
What cable are you using, between the transport and DAC? Less than excellent and you could negate any audible gains that, otherwise, might be realized via the outboard DAC.
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islandmandan
1,260 posts
 
After nine years of constant use, I had to replace my old Marantz DV 8300, a first-generatiion uni-player from them. It had extensive upgrades, and it was used in conjunction with a Genesis Digital Time Lens, and Musical Fidelity A3 24 DAC. Both of these having been modded as well.

I acquired a McIntosh MVP 871 Universal (which has also been modded). I can switch between the McIntosh on its own, or the McIntosh as transport with the outboard DAC and Time Lens in use.

The new player was a very nice jump in overall sound quality, which was no surprise. What is a surprise is, there is very lttle difference to be heard between the lone McIntosh, or with the outboard DAC and Time Lens switched in.

I listen mostly to the MVP 871 by itself, but occaisionally, if things sound a bit ragged, the DAC/Time Lens do smooth things out a bit. The Mac has a bit more detail, but not by much.

Other than that, there is no discernable difference, but as I said, the 871 was a nice step up for me.

Just my observations, regards,
Dan
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