Sunlight: Sound Impressions

Shortly after installing Windom, while I did appreciate its sound quality, I started experiencing some listening fatigue during musical passages with multiple high pitch voices singing together (a single voice was not an issue). In an effort to eliminate listening fatigue, I changed my speakers from Spendor D7 to Pierre-Etienne Léon Kantor S3.2, and that was a great improvement.
But, over time, the listening fatigue crept back-in: still there, but lessen :frowning:
After a conversation with Ted, he indicated to me that the DSD Sr. output analog section was sensitive to the electrical characteristics of the XLR cable I was using, and he suggested a low impedance cable, and he mentioned the Iconoclast cable company.
Unfortunately, being in Canada, when I buy something from the USA, it is not always so easy to try something and return it if it does not work - there are always delays and extra costs in exchange rate, duty taxes, shipping.
So, I contacted my favorite dealer, explained my problem (listening fatigue due to some occasional harshness in the highs) and asked for XLR cable suggestions to replace my Audience AU24E 1.5 m XLR, and he suggested Kubala-Sosna, and he loaned me a KS 1 meter expression XLR cable.
I tried it, it seemed nice, but I was not sure: I still had this auditory memory of a previous listening session of the Hugo TT2 where the TT2 did have sweet highs.
So, I decided to wait until Sunlight came along.

Now that Sunlight is there, I contacted my dealer again and asked him to loan me the KS 1 meter expression XLR cable and the Hugo TT2, in order to compare:

  • “DSD Sr. + KS 1m Expression XLR” against
  • “Hugo TT2 + Audience AU24E 1.5m XLR”.
    I just completed the comparison this week-end.
    I was flabbergasted: the DSD/KS combination was actually pretty much on par with the TT2/Audience, where the:
  • DSD and TT2 have similar amount of details
  • bass was better with the DSD
  • medium was slightly more accurate on TT2
  • image accuracy almost the same with TT2 having a slight advantage
  • image on the DSD not as forward as on the TT2, which I prefer : I do not like forward image very much
  • strings sounded more natural on DSD
  • harsh high pitch passages seemed drier on the TT2 but wetter (or more fleshed-out) on the DSD

To my surprised, the DSD was now easily on par with the TT2 and superior on some factors important to me.
So, I decided to keep the DSD/KS combination.
Now, my DSD Sr is singing instead of shrieking :smiley:

Conclusion: I would suggested for those with excess treble energy using Sunlight that they would try a good quality Kubala-Sosna XLR cable and see if the situation improves.

Thank you Ted - it seems I will finally keep the DSD Sr (I am actually relieved, and my wife is glad I did not buy yet another DAC).

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