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Interesting conundrum

I had an audiophile buddy over last weekend and we spent Saturday afternoon listening to music using my Cary211 AE amps. After dinner, I swapped out the Cary amps for Odyssey Audio Kismet References. The Cary Audio have a very relaxed and involving but detailed presentation. The Kismets are excellent but we always prefer the tube amps. 
I was just playing music off my server and nothing caught our attention until I played a HiRez file ; Hey Nineteen by Steely Dan. As it was playing I was thinking to myself that this recording was over the top. When it ended my buddy said play another song off the album so I did Babylon Sister. At the end of the song I hit pause and we talked about what we had just heard. The Kismets were giving the Cary amps a real run for the money. I tried a regular cd download and it wasn’t anywhere near as involving. Mp  3 was next and we both agreed that the Kismets were showing stark differences between the different formats. On the other hand unless a recording is just plain awful the Cary’s seem to have a good , better or best sound presentation with just about all recordings.
The Kismets have Cardas rca Clear Beyond and Synergistic Research precision reference power cables and the Cary’s have Synergistic Research Atmosphere Level 4 XLR and Voodoo Air Dragon power cords. Both amps are using Cardas Clear Beyond speaker cables feeding my Tekton Design Ulfberhts. All the amps have the same equipment connected to them.Any ideas why Kismets are so unforgiving whereas the Cary’s are very democratic?
128x128lwin
millercarbon's avatar
millercarbon
12,531 posts
 
Right. I'm always puzzled by people who change three things and then act like its just one.

Makes me wonder, if they aren't aware such obvious things matter, what else are they missing?
lwin's avatar
lwin OP
566 posts
 
Douglas thanks for the detailed response. I have swapped the cables around and this current configuration brings out the best in the amps. For some reason the Kismets work better with rca connectors and Cary’s  xlr’s. I have had the Cary’s for years and the Kismets for only a couple. The Voodoo Air Dragon was designed with tube amps in mind but I did try it on the Kismets. The Synergistic Research cable sounded better than the Voodoo on the Kismets. 
@millercarbon the current cable configuration has been in place for at least 6 months after I spent a lot of time moving the cables around and listening to what they were or were not doing.
noromance's avatar
noromance
9,389 posts
 
Cary amps seem to be voiced that way. Very euphoric and warm - anecdotally warm. The Kismets are telling you like it is. I wonder if the output tubes are getting tired in the Cary.
lwin's avatar
lwin OP
566 posts
 
@ noromance good point on the output tubes. I have been thinking about replacing them but the ones I am looking at aren’t cheap but they are on my list to do during the next few months. I have another Audiophile friend coming over for the weekend before he and his wife get here I will check the bias.

mijostyn's avatar
mijostyn
8,151 posts
 
You see this effect with other equipment. When I compare both Hi Res and Vinyl versions of the same recording the vinyl always sounds nice and the digital depends on the recording. So, noromance is right. The coloration (harmonic distortion) of the Cary's and in my case the vinyl lend a euphoric element that over rides the actual sound quality of the recording. Digital is more accurate but in many instances analog just sounds better. Sounding better and accurate are not the same thing and are at times wildly at odds with each other. Like Nelson Pass says," Audiophiles just want to be happy." So he adds some harmonic distortion to his stuff.
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