The test setup
Contents
We tested this trio on our reference system. We grabbed a few tracks to determine the sound signature. Think Anathema: Untouchable pt2, Gazpacho – Night of the Demon – Vulture (highly recommended, great album!), Beth Gibbons: Floating on a moment. We did listen to some other tracks as well of course, but these three tracks formed the benchmark for this test.
Reference system
- Pass Labs X150.8 power amplifier
- Sonnet Pasithea d/a converter
- AlphaPC (streaming bridge) with Jcat USB and Ethernet
- Pura Dodo power supply on Jcat cards
- Mutec MC3 USB / Mutec REF10-120
- Isotek Titan V5 filter for Pass X150.8
- YETI Reference 1000 for sources
- Yeti power-cables
- Van den Hul CNT XLR interconnect
- PSI AVAA active bass traps
Measured values are per meter or for the full 2.5m length?
2.5m
Hi Tobias, Thanks for your kind suggestions and your appreciative words.. I can’t promise when or where, but I will try to experiment with it, let’s call it an A-B test.
Wait and see!
As always i love reading your tests and value your opinions on everything you compare!
This is just a small suggestion, that i hope you are not offended by.
When testing things like cables, switches and power, have you thought about replacing phrases like “How do they sound” with “How do they influence this setup to sound”?
It might sound like a small nit picking, and maybe it is, but i truly believe that many of your readers that often might be sceptic are going to be even more sceptic when someone says that a cable has a certain sound. Isn´t it so that the cable only influences other parts of the system downstream to behave/react different and change the sound in components after the cable/switch/power. That could potentially mean that the same cable could “sound” different in another system, meaning that it doesn´t have a sound, as such? I actually think it will make a big difference what wording you use, from an educational perspective.
Hi Tobias,
Thanks for reaching out.
You are absolutely right in your assertion that a component’s sonic presentation is related to its match in the audio chain. That’s why we always mention the review setup.
In our livestreams and reviews we always mention that what we hear, doesn’t necessarily mean it sounds the same in your system. Everything is relative and so are our and your experiences. In writing and in videos we try to share what we hear with you, our audience. That doesn’t mean that this is THE truth.
We entice you to let your ears do the talking. To not take a brand’s claim for granted. To not take our view for granted. Our measurements are an additional service that (sometimes) clarifies what we hear or where the differences in sound come from. I really don’t think that a semantic change, as you so kindly suggest, would make much of a difference. If people are sceptic, let them be sceptic. We enjoy what we do and we enjoy the beautiful music and feel privileged to share our experiences.
For me (and my others i suspect) the semantic would have made a very big difference initially in my journey. The general HiFi press semantic delayed my understanding just because i didn´t even try to listen due to the wordings used. I think you where actually the ones that where much better than others in articulating this in a better way than others so that I started to listen. So, you are obviously already doing a great job already! But when you get into this hobby and you have a computer background, as many now a day´s have, then you won´t even try to understand if someone say “this switch sound…” or “the cable sound…”. As i said, I know you are very careful and good at explaining already now, like you just said, which is great. But i actually think the devil is in the details here.
Wording won’t convince skeptics. We don’t try to convince people, not our mission in life. There are much nicer things to put your energy into.
Ok, i put it badly. What i am trying to say is that you are standing out in the HiFi press as someone you can trust, due to the way you work and how you approach HiFi. If you want even more readers/consumers, which i assume is the whole point with journalism, then i think these things matter to get peoples attention. People are not deniers because they want to, they really need some help, and easy one-liners, to understand and many are not going to dig into a long article if you see simple wordings, like headlines, that put you off, i believe.
I´m not gonna ramble more here, and i might be wrong! i just want to share my honest opinion since i love what you do.