I was just thinking a bit about how there was discussion about how in a particular song (I believe it was “North Dakota” by Lyle Lovett) there was something like a disconnection in the two voices with Windom that didn’t sound like live music. Something like you could too clearly tell there were two voices and it didn’t sound like live music.
My experience with live music/singing doesn’t completely line up with that assessment. If two people are singing together, even standing right next to each other, they are quite easily separated and you can tell which one is on the left vs right etc. It is only when they are singing into microphones on stage and amplified that this smears together because the mics aren’t picking up any of those spacial cues. How can they in that setting with just 2 handheld mics.
I guess what I’m getting at is I suppose it depends on what you mean by live music?
Edit: and I believe that the added separation is consistent with live music that isn’t amplified.
It’s been my experience all along that more accuracy leads to more musicality. But apparent detail that isn’t more accurate rarely does. It’s easy to give more apparent detail without better accuracy: raising the level of the highs just a little, a little more jitter, a little more noise (like -100dBFS) in the highs, etc. and similarly in systems by choosing cables that accentuate the highs (or slightly muffle the lows…)
Not heard Windom yet. As with most upgrades it will sound different, but whether it sounds better than what you listened to before is purely subjective. When I first heard Snowmass I hated it, everything sounded too bright, so I reverted to Redcloud. After a few months I thought I would give Snowmass another go and give it more time. I still thought it sounded bright so I tried a different USB cable between Melco and DSD Snr and it sounded better to me so I stuck with it. The weird thing is a couple of months ago I changed the USB cable back to the original one I had in the system and I didn’t notice any difference to the sound.
Interesting as that was my initial impression of RedCloud, which was basically the motivation to purchase a different DAC. It was a too forward to my ear, and somewhat analytical. That was with a PSA PS 20 feeding a DSD into a Bel Canto Black EX to Sopra 2s. Wires were Cardas Clear. Went with a Metrum Onyx which was more musical. I now have a DSD running Snowmass. Have yet to update to Windom. Still have the Metrum as well.
Edit #1: Fixed typo as well. I am not running hybrid firmware knowingly, SnowCloud=Snowmass.
My comment; but it had nothing to do with live music…
My point was that what was perceived as blended harmonies now seemed more like distinct voices when comparing the recording with SM 3.00 and Windom.
I attributed this to better resolution of what was actually on the recording…ELK observed that it might be the result of less distortion in terms of Windom arguably being a superior performer.
Just checked this thread now. I’m guessing this was another casualty of humor. So tough to know what someone intends without audio or facials*. All it takes is a slight inflection of the voice, or a slightly raised eyebrow…in person.
Sorta thinking this is a large part of a lot of the Trouble various factions of various groups have with online communication.
That’s also what I would say.
When something sounds good and right to someone (take Snowmass) and an update that just obviously improved technical parameters (like noise etc) without changing anything else in general (take Windom) sounds clearly worse in tonality for this person, then his setup must have had some kind of compensation inherent so far (like phase tweaking cabling or tone controls etc) or general problems (like general phase anomalies) which show up negatively now…or the setup was on the edge already in terms of tonality.
The only reason contradicting imo could be, that assumed technical improvements (like reducing noise) can have negative impact on sound and technical parameters which we don’t know yet. But I’d say this is unlikely in this case.
All this doesn’t help much for those in the situation, but you should be aware that actually you’d have to search elsewhere for the „fault“.
Imagine you’d improve speed stability or better…resonance control of a record player and this suddenly sounds problematic in tonality in your setup. You would probably go back to the worse resonance control for the moment to get back your previous tonality…but you’d know, actually you’d have to look for a match of your setup towards the better resonance controlled turntable.
Am I alone (again) in thinking that there’s more uncertainty about the virtues of Windom than there was with Snowmass? (If it matters, Windom is installed and I’m not going to bother again with going backwards, etc)
Don’t forget “regression toward the mean”: Snowmass was by far the most universally accepted OS. So anything else appears (and is) less universally accepted.
Wow. I am amazed at the wide range of perceptions on Windom. I have had every update and to me this update is both more musical and includes low level micro detail that makes it higher resolution. I think many folk don’t like some of the flaws in recording technique unmasked. However, I would never say the sound is hyper detailed or unnatural which always drives me from the room. My ears are very sensitive to the presence region and I find no problem here. The music has much more weight and solidity than previously. The best thing is pick your update and enjoy it.
Man I wish it sounded that way to me. And I’ve agreed with the consensus on all updates before this one. I may have some bad files, as I know what is being described, and that’s not what I hear.
But it’s alright, I can cope for now. Snowmass 3.06 is very good.
Everyone seems to go from their individual (focus group of one) experiences and extrapolate/assume stuff about everyone else’s individual experience.
This is not about recording flaws. Been there, aware of that.
I am perfectly willing (indeed, hopeful) to believe that my Current, Freakishly non-conforming-with-the-Crowd Experience is due to any number of possible bits.
There are a lot of reasons for why one or another user of One Of the DS DACs or The Other is experiencing the sound they are hearing.
I hope very much that I will be Proven Wrong, so to speak, and have a Bad Load, or whathaveyou. Though there is always the real possibility (horrors!) that some of us have Systems or Tastes that do not conform with everyone else’s.
