I hope you can get a good load as it makes a difference, you may not have one yet. So mysterious the “load phenomenon.” Windom is very different than Snowmass 3.0 though in the treble.
I’m sure those AP SACDs sound great but I’m tired or rebuying those Prestige sessions!
Another example, if you don’t mind:
One of my favorite albums is the famous DBQ “Take Five”. I have it on CD, which I have ripped to my iMac.
I have always loved the music but thought the quality of the recording/sound was just average, whether I spin the disc or stream the file. I don’t have any reasonable theories as to why, but to my ears Windom has made this work much more “sonicly” pleasing - best this recording has ever sounded. A welcome change, indeed.
Regards.
I’ve always liked the sound of that studio and engineering, it’s one of the sounds I grew up with, my parents had a number of recordings made in that studio on LP.
I do find though that there’s both natural room reverb that is an important component in these Columbia recording and in a number of them there’s added reverb for the final mastering. A system that really resolves all the information and gets this reverb right makes a significant difference to my ears as to how “good” these recordings sound.
When my most recent amplifiers, Decware SE84UFO3 Monoblocks with 25th Anniversary Mods, seasoned in I found I was hearing these Columbia recordings I’d heard for decades suddenly seeming even “better” sounding especially with instrument imaging and location in space. With these amps I began to feel more “you are the microphone” than “you are there”–it’s as if you are closer to the actual note hitting the transducer, as odd a concept as that is. And Windom has reinforced this as if it has stripped away more distance from where the note begins if that makes sense (makes sense to me as an analogy but I’m weird and had already been tempted to think this way with the amplifiers).
A real revelatory listen for me was the new SACD of Charles Mingus “Mingus Ah Um” from Mobile Fidelity Lab. The SACD mastering and the excellent playback I had drew me into this recording in a way that hadn’t happened before in the four decades that I have been listening to this music. Mastering, Windom and 25th Anniversary Mods have really been dishing out great “immersions in music” for me.
I am not an Apple person so could someone explain this to me? I thought those with Macs need only double-click the zip file and they are off and runnning.
Only if the healing crystals are in alignment.
I have found that any time AC noise can be lowered/removed… without any type of detriment to sound quality… it can only do your system good. As Elk mentioned, the UO is passive in nature and does not lower incoming current, as does my Hydra 8…The two in tandem only make a good sounding system… a much better sounding system.This combo is a noise killer in my setup and takes the musical involvement factor to a higher level.
Nah the Mac files have a verification programme that works only on the older Mojave OS. Folk who upgraded to Catalina can’t run that programme.
Elk - in order to reduce the possibility of errors in the creation of SD cards at home, the Etcher program is being used to flash the card, saving having to insure a bunch of steps are taken/done correctly every time. As yacheah notes -as with many other mac programs - it has not been updated to work with Mac OS Catalina.
I have always liked the recording of Take Five too.
Thanks for the tip on Mingus Ah Um - I’ll be getting that. I only have the CBS 3-fer CD box set of this Mingus stuff.
Any others to look out for?
Thanks for the Mac explanation, guys. An annoying issue.
As “vintage” Columbia recordings go I noticed Windom really drew me in to another favorite: Duke Ellington “Jazz Party in Stereo.” I’ve listened to both the most recent Columbia cd reissue and the gold CD from Mobile Fidelity Lab (which unlike the Columbia cd includes the “party noise” added to the tape). All the tracks here just “pop,” especially the tracks with percussion and the great voice of Jimmy Rushing.
The recent SACD from Mobile Fidelity Labs of Thelonious Monk “Monk’s Dream” also just brings you right into the quartet performance–the piano is especially rendered with realistic resonance as if you were right near the instrument.
Many good digital masterings seem to be somehow enhanced with “life” by Windom. Snowmass to is great–Windom just has this subtle new “view” of the recording in my system.
Re. Apple, that’s all I have to do. Works a charm every time.
I got a great deal on a used Shunyata Denali 2000. It’s feeding my P20 and it gives a substantial improvement in detail.
@scotte1 and @lonson - There are a couple of dynamics bugging me here still, in my struggle to remain objective.
One is the “pressure” I noted weeks ago (and I use this word somewhat tongue-in-cheek) to “conform” to Feeling the Windom Magic. Note the comments recently Lonson, congratulating you and “welcoming you into the Fold”, so to speak. We’re all so relieved you have Seen the Light Brother ; )
I’m going to stay a Sinner and a Skeptic at least for a while here. I will admit that after a month-plus, I’m pretty well burned out on Comparison Mode at this point, so I don’t entirely trust my judgement any more. I think you can only do this for so long before something gives in your rational and/or aural processes. Dunno how professional reviewers do it. I sorta suspect that half the time, they sorta don’t ; )
The other bit is that I am deeply suspicious of terms like, “getting new little bits of “aural magic”” and, “I particularly sat up and noticed…” - the sort of thing that never happens with live music.
I am looking for what simply sounds good all the time, sounds like continuous music rather than having various sounds wow me; doesn’t make me sit up, or distract me from the flow of the music itself to geek out over sonic details.
Having written all of that Heresy, it might seem to infer that I think there is something Horribly Wrong or Different about WIndom. I don’t. I don’t doubt that I could get it to work for me. I made Huron work eventually, though I hated it initially (thought it was WAY more extreme of a change than this is) and never really cared for it, and was happy when it was updated.
On the other hand, I have to say I really liked the switch to Snowmass last year from the get-go, and it required no adjustment at all for me. Still works great, and I doubt very much anyone listening to what I’m hearing here now would be able to tell that it Isn’t WIndom.
I’ll let y’all know when or if I come into the Fold.
Ted: Thanks for all you do here : ) I’m uncomfortable with the notion that a prior Work of Art is somehow diminished or negated by a subsequent Work of Art. I have more than one painting in my house. More than one favorite Song by a favorite Artist. It’s All Good🤠
The Ellington MoFi is from 1998 right? I have the CD - i can’t remember if it is the regular one or the gold - I think it’s prob the regular as the gold became a collector’s item and went for may bucks quickly. Is the gold that much better?
I have Monk’s Dream. I was just listening to it today (on Snowmass 3.0.0) and vs the already excellent 2015 ORG SACD I found the added detail spooky in a good way. The ORG had more solid imaging and specificity and a larger soundstage but tone is overall better on the MoFi.
True, and this is listening to the equipment rather than the music.
But is this not what audiophiles do as part of choosing and setting up a system? You need to listen to and optimize the system first before you can listen to the music.
Cool Ron. I’m not going to “rock any boats” and introduce Shunyata items. What I have going on right now, Ultimate Outlet to P10, is working great for me . . . and all I can afford.
True - but knowing what it is you’re hearing is the issue. It certainly is OK to just like that sort of thing. If it’s all more realistic and so on, cool. And of course we’re talking for you in your system. There is this thing (guilty of it myself) of inferring that “you must either have done something wrong, or you don’t have what I have”. Which of course isn’t necessarily the case. I had talked myself into it being all good once I got a good load. Was pretty shocked when I switched back the other day. Just feel like this is actually more realistic and natural. For me. In my system. There’s nothing missing, and it doesn’t sound like it is “more distorted” as you would assume, coming from a FW with lower distortion.
The Ultimate Outlet is a wonderful bit of kit.