My SR Galileo SX speaker cables came today. I got a chance to compare it to my Tara Labs The One speaker cables. The SR has quite a different presentation. It sounds more organic and more at ease. It feels like it has less distortion and forwardness than the Tara Labs. The resolution are about equal. All the micro detail I hear with the Tara Labs, I hear also with the SR, but the SR sounds more natural. You hear it especially on the singer’s voice. The SR sounds more human and real. The Tara Labs sounds more immediate with more brillance in the overtone. Some may prefer this hi fi sound more depending the type of music played. Anyway, I’ll let the SR settle in more and see if there are any more changes in it’s sound. I’m pretty please with it as it is now.
Because of the more at ease sound of the SR speaker cable, I decided trying the SR Master fuse back in the system again. I took it out and put in the M1 before because it got a bit shouty when I changed my speakers. Now with the Master back in, the sound got more air and detail without getting shouty so I’m back to the Master’s again.
The box says “never compromise”, but they compromised on the size of the box. If they sound as good as they look …very Darth Vader styling, in a good way.
The SR galileo SX’s really settled in today. There’s no doubt they are far superior than the Tara Labs. The music come out at you with much more fullness, density, and just so much more real sounding than the Tara Labs. This rabbit hole is so deep in this sport. There’s always seem to be something better out there.
I went ahead and bought this B&O portable speaker. I am super impressed. It sounds great for what it is. The bass is the most surprising, I don’t know how they do it. I also learned it can be paired for stereo with another unit. I’m not going to do that, but for a small apartment, or beach shack it would make a great and quick portable rig. I’ve been streaming my Sony ZX707 non-stop to it for the past 30 hours or so to break it in a little. It hasn’t dropped the aptX HD connection once.
This is really going with me on travel. I’ve grown tired of being in hotel rooms in the mornings and evenings without some reasonably decent music. It’s clearly not like a rig at home, but I think it’s a huge leap over laptop speakers. It’s also a good speaker phone, so that might be nice for evening calls home as well.
The Sony ZX707 has a 2TB SDCARD in it filled with music. It’s remarkable how much music I’ve put on it. On long flights I plug my Campfire Audio Andromeda IEM’s and run them into the balanced connection. It sounds fantastic.
Well I finally decided to try an “audiophile fuse” in the Decware SEWE300B amplifier and chose a relatively inexpensive one to try first, the ACME Ag/Cryo Fuse 5A SB 5x20mm CFC Series, from partsconnexion. About 31 dollars including postage.
At first I thought perhaps I had it installed in the wrong direction and that may still be the case, but after about four hours of play the sound has shifted and the frequency balance is less tilted to the high fequencies than initially. I rolled a few tubes and now have an Amperex Holland Bugle Boy 12AU7 in the ZROCK2 again, and a “Sun” labeled Holland 12AU7 in the SEWE300B, a nice slightly warm combo.
It’s early to make judgments but I do notice an increase in “punch” – a dollop of more dynamic shift, and there is a tightening of the attack of notes. I’m listening again (second time this morning) to Betty Carter “It’s Not About the Melody” and there’s a real precision to the rhythmic sense and a sense of accuracy to each enunciated syllable from this master vocalist.
I have an AMR fuse on the way from Germany to try soon. … but so far I’m liking this Acme.
Do you have the Acme with the coating? I heard that it offers very high detail resolution. Not particularly warm, but very fast and finely defined. I’m curious to see how the AMR works. I found the sound to be on the warmer side, very pleasant but the details were a bit lost. The Acme and AMR should be exactly the opposite of each other. Have fun while listening. Backups continue to change for up to 300 hours.
Because I know the amp, the tubes, I’ve been at this game for thirty years. The difference between the tubes was subtle. Two out of fifteen tubes in the system, both the same tube types, just different brands. And tubes I knew the nature of thoroughly.
Yes, the Acme have the CFC coating. I’m definitely noticing dynamic playback in a significantly improved way.
You guys are killing me! Another fuse? I said yesterday that I am done with fuses. But then I checked the price. Darn, I ordered two ACME CFC fuses. One for BHK Pre, and the other one? May be for future 2nd switch that I am hoping 2A will fit; if I am getting one at all.
Some say it is better than Orange, and I hope it is better than stock. Lately I like stock fuse in BHK for some strange reason.
Well, I have 2 Purple in my ZTPRE and M-1 in my PST and DSD Mk II and ZROCK2, so this fuse is working along with them. I broke the amp in with a ceramic fuse, instead of the glass stock fuse, I find ceramic are preferred in my system for basic fuses. A bit less “smeary” I would say.
I got word from Dave that PSR-11 will be shipped out today!
One odd thing he told me is that the ZenWave silver cord needs over 2,000 hours of break in, and it will not sound good until after 3 weeks in the system! That is three times more on break in than AQ Dragon, and I thought that was crazy long.
He may be right. I remember the demo cords I tried took a week to settle, and those had a million hours on them already.
Which means it will take the rest of year to break in the cord, and I am not sure I can tell what changes a fuse will make during this period, and I am sure MK2 Mod and Omega are not done with break in either.
I’m definitely noticing dynamic playback in a significantly improved way. I do notice an increase in “punch” – a dollop of more dynamic shift, and there is a tightening of the attack of notes. Things seem tightened up a bit, listening to a compilation of tapes I made of a band I was in during the 'eighties recorded in the garage apartment I then lived in, that I know very well, all aspects seem very accurate.
