Sunlight: Sound Impressions

They especially put the „musical and warm“ PSA sound near McIntosh…not sure if Paul‘s happy about that :wink:

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Oh, you definitely need a regenerator.

Yeah, that’s the ticket…a regenerator, yeah…

:wink:

All kidding aside, yours is an interesting experience/observation.

Cheers.

Update:

First, do you want me to write this stuff?

I went back to Windom… I think I may end up staying here. That Alice Cooper School’s Out CD really bothered me… that I can’t enjoy some disc I know very well. I even swapped in some MIT interconnects I never liked hoping… So as another test, I popped in Joe Jackson’s Look Sharp!.. the production on this record is pretty bad… but I love the music. Sunlight made my ears bleed… I kept reaching for the volume control and lowering it. So back to Windom… and while I still can recognize this as a bad production… well I can listen and enjoy the music again.

Oh humm…

I always knew I am super (overly?) sensitive to the high frequency register… maybe this is why I am so drawn to tube equipment? Another example of my love/hate history with my ears… I had a Sonic Frontiers tube DAC… Robert Harley of Stereophile reviewed a factory upgrade and gave it raves. I sent the unit back and had it done… forget the price… When I got it back, I was pissed off. The higher frequency register just was off the charts. I was really mad. So was it my system that was deviant from everyone elses’s? or was it my ears?

Sunlight has some big stregths… but … I don’t know if I can live with a system that is half fantastic and half not. Windom was just so good all around for me.

Ted is clearly a gem… what a creation (his software and his brain)… but I dunno about this last one in regards to my ear/brain system and Sunlight. I don’t think it is my system… I think it is me.

Peace
Bruce in Philly

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To really like Sunlight I had tobi-wire my speakers and rid myself of plate jumpers. The Soundstage has opened up further and more three dimensional and i have easy listening of Windom with better detail. So far I have found nothing that sounds awful and my system is less sweetspot centric. The backup singers and some instruments or percussion is just plain startling popping out of nowhere in layers of depth.

I do say I am more aware of multi track recordings as they now sound so much flatter and lifeless since the sound doesn’t harmonize and you sense the dull layering more than previous with Windom, but still listenable. It is easier to separate studio pieced together hifi recordings from audiophile or live recordings be because the presentation has dulled. Some Peter Gabriel stuff turned rather flat in-depth since it is obvious track lay downs.

I now appreciate Sunlight and could not go back due the the grin it evokes every second of great recordings or stuff that seemed lacking previously.

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There are always some who prefer a previous release. No justifications needed. The most important thing is that you enjoy your system. Perhaps tho, if later (for whatever reason) you change something else in your system, you might want to try Sunlight again. Or not :slight_smile:

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Bruce I find it interesting that I really struggled with Windom the way that you struggle with Sunlight, but I have had very little problem with Sunlight and definitely prefer it to Windom.

After my sources it is tubes all the way for me. I think you should consider getting on the build list for a Decware ZROCK2–that has made me relax into my system in ways no other component ever has.

Yes, I enjoy and I’m interested in all insights.
What HDMI cable are you using?

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USB from my desktop computer with some WireWorld cable. I do have a AQ Jitterbug between.

Peace
Bruce in Philly

hearing, like smell, taste, are personal and subjective senses. I really like sauvignon, my wife says it’s cat pee. At first sunlight screeched in my ears, after about 100 hours of running in, the high range softened, and the SQ became amazing. This is the beauty of audiophilia, the continuous search for the best SQ for our ears.

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The Sunlight SQ is better when I played quality CD for sure. But when I played USB stick (thru a noise filter) with DSD128 files the SQ seemed flat and unfocus than before. It could be because Sunlight is revealing more digital noises in the recording and in connection.

still working on sunlight. much of what i listen to is classical and i have pleased with sound of sunlight regarding most things. many pop cds i listen to… yikes. bight and unpleasant. so not sure what i will do next? i am going to swat out some tubes in my prima luna dialoque premium pre and see what i can do.

after great experimentation i return to redcloud, the most resolving and ‘swinging’ with airy and large scene on my system: usb/pc, no preamp (and bridge out of DS!..)

I am back to WIndom and going to stay here. Done. I just love music on it … that Sunlight … I found myself listening to it and not the tunes. Windom is good for all music, well and poorly recorded.

Peace
Bruce in Philly

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@bruce-in-philly Thanks for sharing your experience it helps.

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It is interesting that you feel the same way that I do about sunlight. I have always perceived every update as a positve forward step. That was true until sunlight. I have given it many hours but I am not enjoying it as much as I do Windom.

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think im gonna go back to windom for a bit. some dramatic stuff with sunlight. but need to hear windom again to see whats what?

interesting dilemna. appreciate other views so i dont feel just wrong in what i perceive!

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Still loving Sunlight even more so with the Auralic and NOS tubes. I’m still waiting on the Edcor’s!

I’m loving Sunlight also for the I2S signal coming from my NuWave Phono Converter–a clear improvement there. it’s two, two, two upgrades in one!

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On DS JR with Ayre integrated and Sonus Faber speakers, sunlight was nearly perfect upgrade - the SFs are generally a bit smooth and some may say laid back, the Sunlight upgrade provided the right amount of punch. Need to redial in my sub though - seem to have a bit more overlap at low end - using Sumiko s9 - similar to REL with Neutrix connector to integrated.

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I continue to be really delighted with Sunlight in my system. Maybe it’s because I run tube amps (Primaluna Dialogue Premiums) and a BHK Pre both with vintage tubes. Mostly it’s the dimensionality and low noise floor that makes me shake my head and get goosebumps from. As always, YMMV, but for me and my system, I find Sunlight to be an incredible improvement over Windom which, to me, was already fantastic…

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