The Edcore 4400’s are still all over the place in my MKII while breaking in. I went from lean to rich to heavy bass tonight. I stayed quiet on M-1 but figured you’d be missing them. I finally had to shut down missing the DS mids too much I will let it churn and burn more . In the meanwhile i have been moving a tuning ring on DC cable to router to lean out the heavy bass pockets. I had walls shaking so much thought i send pictures flying.
But no SR fuses for me yet.
Do you still have the Ultimate Beewax in MK2? I had that fuse at one time. My recollection is that fuse has stronger boom in lower frequencies than stock fuse. It’s worth a try to put the stock back for a day see if it helps the balance.
Purple brought all the right balance in my case. If next week you do not get the right balance than yours needs it more than mine.
The Purple in the MkIl has settled in a bit more. Definitely a faster and more forward presentation that can be a bit bright, especially with poorer recordings.
I still like it though, but do not see putting it in the P20, PST, or BHK for now. This extended fuse demo reminds me of many tube tryouts between vintage tubes and current production types. Each have their own characteristics. It begs the question, “do I want reality our have a good time?” Euphonic colorations or laid bare realism? The better the gear and the recording, the easier are the choices but it can drive you nuts. Kudos to guys like @Vmax who can tweak till the sun comes up, share their findings, and stay sane.
Yes it is the same fuse the DS had. Ultimate Bees Wax SHD. The bass isn’t boomy it is solid. Right now it is strong even at 12 watts. I am still getting used to 100 percent volume levels of MKII just a few ticks up will easily put it at 120 watt peaks. If it doesn’t settle in a few days the original fuse may be worth a shot. The good part is highs are sparkling and mids clear but seems like moure output transformers need burn in.
Good luck! The Returned MK2 sounds a little different than I remembered. But I only had it for two days before shipping back. Whatever they did in the lab seems to make it sound a bit heavy and less focused. In my earlier post I said it didn’t sound as good as before.
Again, I had it for a very short time so I could not be sure. If I had to describe the difference, I say it sounds more like M1 fuse and before it sounded more like Purple. But very few had my experience so there’s no way to verify it.
I agree it is sounding heavier than the DS did. Its ability to dig deep in the below 20Hz region is more pronounced that is readily apparent. The stock fuse kind of blends things together whereas the Beeswax Ultimate SHD lets everything pop out and be heard clearly I can only imagine what the Ultimate Beeswax Premier would sound like. With its heavy too warm mid bass.
I guess the purple fuse is an option still. i just don’t like its “tooty” saxophone treatment playing Sonny Rollins and over accenting the notes.
The heavier bass will disappear giving more time as you indicated in other thread. One reason I like Purple is it helps to bring the mid-range into focus better. It does make high more pronounced. I guess the perfect fuse has not come out yet.
While I was streaming on MKII last night the Sonny Rollins song camep up I’m Just an Ole Cowpoke and the Ultimate Beeswax SHD fuse rendered the Sax totally realism no toots. Bass and Highs were equally impressive. Now just if the lead vocal mids spotlight a-touch more with transformer burn in……
I will then be in fuse heaven. But there’s always power cable to DS or I could live what was is already there, but I did like DS better the way lead vocal was what a bit more emotional sounding perhaps closer, and slightly more forward but not in your face
I should have kept my Ultimate Beewax fuse to try, but I am happy with the Purple+M-1 combination. My speakers use soft-dome tweeters and metal (?) super-tweeters and the high frequency is extended and super smooth. In different systems Purple may not be the best choice. I am done with fuses until SR comes out with a new king. I am sure they will.
I was trying to find the right description of MK2’s mid-range, and you found it. MK2 needs to be a bit more emotional with vocals. The fixed version smears it a bit. I hope time will cure that.
You should post this on BEta Tester topic. I didn’t upgrade to see if worse but could try. Have you tried reverting back firmware? Then see if it also has a firmware tie in. Perhaps Ted knows a solution.
I did, there are a bunch of things I will try first before I go back to the previous version. Maybe I need some tweaking of my entire setup.
I don’t think it’s the firmware update, if anything the update actually sounded better as I can remember, and you would lose the DSD 256 on USB function. My feelings are it’s the hardware that they worked on, it may take more time to break in. I would give it more time and see.
I can’t remember when the 4400 s broke in on DS. The emotional part of lead voice was there on my DS before swapping mkII to same IC cables and power cord. . If it doesn’t clear in the next couple of weeks I will swap in Lundahl out put transformers in MK Ii and start covering this processor chips with 3M absorber.
You’ve been modding and tweaking your MKI so much and getting it to sound just the way you wanted it that putting in a new DAC no matter how good the DAC is, might not suit your taste. Yes, the MKII has much greater potentials than the MKI and I have confident that if anybody, you will get this MKII to perform way better than the MKI in your system.
The MK2 needs a different tuning and tweaking setup, it has a richer tune and fuller soundstage than DS. So, I started doing a bit of experiment with source components.
It can drive one crazy too. For example, just using PST and MK2, I replaced the duro70 sorbothane footer under the PST with rubber footer, it sounded different, and eventually I moved back the wine cork support and I like it the best. On MK2 I replaced the duro70 with harder rubber footer that turned out to help more. However, if I do not have other supports at various components then duro70 footer works great on MK2. All these damping devices work together and interact with each other. I am sure there are better setups than my current one that I have not tried yet.
As of now the mid-range is gaining magic, but the soundstage feels a bit smaller. I know in any other system one would need a different setup. I am still looking for mine.
I have had the MKII for some time (no send back) and have made the Beta upgrades. In addition, I have added a Purple fuse vs. the stock one and have heard improvements. However, over the past couple weeks my system seems to have lost some of that midrange magic. Everything is still more quiet, clean, open and dynamic due to the MKIl, but some of that organic weight you get from vocals and instruments with extended harmonics, is, on the thin side. I have not gone back to original FW/SW or fuse. This is simply putting it out there and an acknowledgment to @Vmax and @dchang05 and their findings and I will listen some more. It wouldn’t be the first time that it was all in my head (or setup) but I can’t shake the feeling at this time. Variables and more variables.
I found for sorbothane 70 work adjusting upward force will change the way it sounds. It is like the Isoacoustic footers. Get closer to the limit of the Sorbothane the bass gets sloppier to much weight for puck size and warms up mid bass and bass with increasing oscillation action. To me sloppy low bass is worse than warmer mid bass too
You added. those rubber anti slip nubs to the bottom of bedframe supports. That can change the sorbothane response. I went solid post to solid floor. On top of my audio rack ceramic tile. I use sorbothane sheet between the support and rack top to limit slipping. Better than rubber and on top of bedframe support T angle tanother layer. Then weight it
I remember those feelings when I first got my BHK preamp. Ebb and flow for weeks until finally it seemed to bloom and stay there.
What footers do you have under your MKII both of you? Mine are pretty heavy because mine has a 30 lb preamp sitting on lid. I noticed the natural harmonic tone of rapping the top lid with knuckles on DS is different than MKII. I am wondering if case is inducing differences to sound.
The first thing I will do is to get a shot of my favorite Balvenie Caribbean Cask 14-year single malt. It should improve everything. Then I will stay with this setup one day and see if I still like it tomorrow before I try a new one. 