Can "worse" sound "better" ?
Greetings,
I recently retired and have been migrating my gear from two places of residence to my main house. Since I have a dedicated music room, moving forward, I will only use the main system. During this process, when mixing equipment, selecting which component to keep, I came across a strange situation, which I do not understand. Hopefully someone can help and shed some light on what's going on?
I am perplexed by the sound difference when connecting my pre and power amps with my interconnects. I own: Nordost Freys (original, not Frey2), Van den Hul The Orchids and Van den Hul The Integration Hybrid. The best sound gives The Integration Hybrid, which I believe is about a third of the price of the Nordost... The Orchid also doesn't sound as good as the cheaper Integration. Why it is peculiar, is the fact that between any of my sources and the preamplifier the Freys and Orchid are significant better than the Integration... The Integration sound better only between the preamplifier and power amplifier. Can anyone explain why?
The sense of "better" I can describe as: a lot more air around the instruments, even those at the very back of the stage, more precise soundstage (you can hear the distances between orchestral rows, for example second violins and wood instruments, brass also exhibit space and air around them).
My system:
Krell KSA 100 mk2 power amp
Krell KAV-280P preamp
Dynaudio Contour 3.4 connected with Frey speaker cable
Sources:
Nottingham Analogue AceSpace + Space Arm + Ortofon Kontrapukt B;
VPI Aries Scout, AT33; Phono Stage: Trichord Delphini mk2 with separate power supply
Marantz SAKI Black Pearl and also Arcam CD37 as a transport
Chord Electronics Hugo TT with linear power supply
Cables : Nordost Frey speaker cables, Nordost Freys, Van den Hul Orchid and Van den Hul The Integration Hybrid mostly unbalanced
All audio equipment is connected to a dedicated and separate power line and the preamp and power amp is on a separate circuit, only for them.
Have a great weekend everyone :)
Steven
@zbig06 perhaps it might be helpful to read Iconoclast Design and Technical white papers to get a basic idea of high-end audio cable are designed. It addresses LCR and dielectrics in cable design using measurements. Iconoclast was designed by a Belkin cable engineer who decided to create higher performing audiophile cables and his white papers describes the process including measurements and calculations. Beyond basic understanding, audiophile cable companies do not reveal their secret sauce. |
I think those saying synergy is the culprit here are probably right. I also haven't had great luck with Nordost power cabling vs basic Cardas cabling. My system is extremely revealing but I felt the Nordost made things sound more "etched" - maybe with an even more revealing system they would sound better? But this helped me understand that synergy is way more important than price. Also some super transparent systems can uncover flaws in mixing or recording. I am a huge fan of Aphex Twins Selected Ambient works 85-92 but if the system is extremely revealing, the mixes sound a bit harsh and disconnected I've found. Add a tiny bit of warmth to the system and bam it sounds way more organic. Trust your ears. And whenever making cabling changes I highly recommend trying at least three different cables of varying price points and construction to really determine the proper cable for YOUR system. Best of luck OP! |
@jrareform Thank you. I do trust my ears, and I also believe the system synergy is very important. I also like Nordost cables, have Valhalla between my CD transport and DAC and this is the best cable of all I tried. If I could afford the whole Valhalla line up - I would have bought it and probably never started this conversation. (And definitely missing an opportunity to learn more). As I stated before, my Freys and Orchids (VDH) perform admirably between sources. Its just pre/power link that The Integration does a bit better. I just listed to Stimela from Hugh Masekela's Hope album, where Hugh's "recitation" on places trains come from - creates reactions from audience. Audible on all cables, but through VDH Integration these voices in the very far back still have air around them. The differences are very subtle, but are there... The purpose of opening this topic was also to share my experience, which was a result of a pure coincidence. My "music journey" goes on since the age of 7 when I started my musical education, which continued for 15 years and combined performing and listening. So, I know what I want :) But sometimes our "believes" often supported by audio press, prices and general opinion clouds our judgment, it did mine. I am happy I have learned this lesson, and learned from those who contributed. Moving forward, I decided to buy another VDH Integration and try it between my phono stage and preamp. From reading posts above and provided references, I am leaning towards an opinion, that at my house I may have a lot of magnetic and RF pollution, from extensive MESH wifi networks to other devices, which the pre/power amp link may not like very much. Hence the extra shielding and lowest capacitance of all three cables - gives the result that I hear. Maybe? Who knows, I will share my findings when ready.
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