Whaleblue
Southbound
OK, as you'll all know my recent experiences are telling me "all DACs sound the same".
On Wednesday evening I started to wonder if all pre amps also sound the same. I have the extremely well regarded, and flat as a pancake measuring, Tom Evans Vibe. I also have a Tag McLaren AV32R to add surround capability. Originally I set the system up so that the AV fed the Vibe for front left-right duty, meaning that for 2-ch sources the AV was switched off entirely.
Because the 32 is a pretty good little processor I wondered how much better than the Vibe it would be...
So, to create a mini bake-off for myself I set up as follows.
1. Sonos into 32 via analogue RCA and on to the Vibe via the volume attenuated output of the 32 (as if for surround channel duties).
2. Sonos digital out to Young DAC and DAC direct to Vibe.
So easy AB checking ensued...
Guess what STILL no difference detectable!
A chance visit by Dan K allowed him to hear for himself. Although it was a quick demo, and I think Dan started to question my sanity ( ), he certainly wasn't pointing out major differences I'd not noticed.
This might look like an objectivist wind-up, but it's not. The point of the thread is primarily to ask if anyone not too far from me (Wokingham, Berkshire) is happy to demo any kind of similar AB where they can hear a difference I'd really appreciate an invite to come and listen before the Vibe ends up in the classifieds!!!
I'm stumped.
On Wednesday evening I started to wonder if all pre amps also sound the same. I have the extremely well regarded, and flat as a pancake measuring, Tom Evans Vibe. I also have a Tag McLaren AV32R to add surround capability. Originally I set the system up so that the AV fed the Vibe for front left-right duty, meaning that for 2-ch sources the AV was switched off entirely.
Because the 32 is a pretty good little processor I wondered how much better than the Vibe it would be...
So, to create a mini bake-off for myself I set up as follows.
1. Sonos into 32 via analogue RCA and on to the Vibe via the volume attenuated output of the 32 (as if for surround channel duties).
2. Sonos digital out to Young DAC and DAC direct to Vibe.
So easy AB checking ensued...
Guess what STILL no difference detectable!
A chance visit by Dan K allowed him to hear for himself. Although it was a quick demo, and I think Dan started to question my sanity ( ), he certainly wasn't pointing out major differences I'd not noticed.
This might look like an objectivist wind-up, but it's not. The point of the thread is primarily to ask if anyone not too far from me (Wokingham, Berkshire) is happy to demo any kind of similar AB where they can hear a difference I'd really appreciate an invite to come and listen before the Vibe ends up in the classifieds!!!
I'm stumped.