Best Of

So, let me clarify a bit on the noise I am talking about. It's a combination of noise floor, room minimum dB level, RFI, EMI, leakage current, jitter, Allan deviation, reflections within the room, timing variances within the 1's and 0's (whether it be immediate, misread, short or long), along with noise that rides the incoming A/C waveform, or if you stream? Through the incoming cable.

This noise is not the same as vinyl surface noise or tube noise, although you want to try and keep those as low as possible as well.

I used to listen to my CDP and think that there was no noise. This was with a reference player. Two years ago, as I really got into improving every aspect of my streaming rig, I started to slowly discover that streaming started sounding cleaner than physical music. WHAT?

So, I started looking into why this would be....as I never had any issues with CD's before. Especially with the Marantz. I learned a lot about the "noises", how they manifested themself, where they came from, what gear I could use or utilize to get rid of it and what caused what, what affected what and how to eliminate as much of this noise as possible.

I wouldn't have....or probably wouldn't have ever known any of this for years to come, had it not been for a cheap, $14 ethernet cable upgrade. That lead to me learning about what E cables did. Then there was the Muon Pro.

Geez, I hated that thing for the first week or two...but after that, my audio journey really took off. That lead to me upgrading my clock, which lead to me upgrading my CDP to a transport and dedicated DAC.

Had it not been for my streaming journey taking off like it did, I would still be happily listening to that same noise I have listened to all my life. That transport was the last piece of gear I bought. Since then, every new addition to the rig has been nothing but things that help the rig eliminate any and every type of noise.

From the Purons, to shielded (double and triple shielded) cables, to the Snubway and MC....every purchase since then attacks noise. Literally no more of the gear merry go 'round. Doing that really exposed what the gear I already had.....well, what it actually can do.

I would like to think I have a pretty decent system in the whole grand scheme of things. Not that it's a competition or anything....I know full well that there are many systems out there that make my system look like a blue light K-mart special. That's all fine and dandy, to each their own. But with that said, I haven't heard a system....any system do so many things so well, across all frequencies and volume levels, with so many genres of music so cleanly, effortlessly and with such blackness in-between the images. All this with no boundaries within the room, other than height. In other words, I have yet to hear a sound come from directly above my head or beneath my listening chair.

I don't think it's the gear that does this. I think it's because of the loss of noise. I honestly have no desire to change any gear. Just tweak things here and there. Upgrade some more cables, mess around with the SDFB (which will be on the way shortly) and start working on upgrading the vinyl portion of my rig. Everything else sounds so good now, I am not yearning to do anything really.

A question was raised elsewhere that got me thinking tonight. The question was two parts. How do you know when you are done? That was one part. The other part was, are you an audiophile or a music lover?

I think my answer to that is this. Now that the noise is gone? I may now be done being an audiophile because all I hear now is the music. That's all I hear now....and it's radiantly shining a small slice of audio heaven on Earth for me.

I cannot emphasize enough to all of you (even if you think you have no noise) to thwart any hint of noise from distracting you from what is possible.

Tom

Tom and others speak the truth.

I finally had a chance to get some new pieces of gear in the rig. I've had the Puritan Audio PSM 136 conditioner as well as the Uptone Audio EtherRegen w/ separate power linear power supply and the installed the linear power supply board in the BlueSound Node3. Finally the Keces P8 dual linear power supply to run the Node3 and EtherRegen. I've had these pieces for awhile and didn't incorporate them until the move.

I also recently replaced power cables with all Puritan Audio Classics. And finally swapped out speaker cables going from MIT Shotgun S3 single wire to Shotgun S1 bi-wire.

I know the new room has some issues and I've spent a week tweaking the system. Mostly listening position, speaker position and toe in/out, etc. The room is still very lively.

What I am hearing at lower mid volume levels is incredibly different. The clarity, transparency and overall presentation is like being in the front row. The silence between everything is so surreal and spooky. I am hearing little breaths, scrapes of a pick on a guitar string, creaking of a studio chair, instruments that used to be buried or indiscernible.

It's been rather startling to hear how lifelike and completely free of hash/noise, etc. my well known favorites sound. I am hearing things in the recordings I've never heard before.

I'm not sure what else to say to explain it. Once the hash/noise is gone you'll see what I mean (and others mean too).

Cowboy Junkie songs are freaking incredible with all the nuance going on in many of their recordings. Another highly recommended recording is the Nils Lofgren Band Live.

My goosebumps had goosebumps. I had to force myself to go to bed last night because I didn't want the listening experience to end.

My rig has never sounded cleaner and more articulate and transparent. Leading edge attack is frightening as is decay and everything in between.

I have work to do with room treatments, so I can imagine it will get even better. Right now I as giddy as can be.

Most of this is what I've been chasing, I finally feel like the investment is paying off.

My only apprehension is I am going to switch over to a Roon Nucleus One for streaming and to be a music server. I hope I don't upset what I've achieved. The only digital out connection is USB, I am a bit leery about that. I may need to add a Mutec MC3+. We'll see how the Uptone Audio USB-Regen performs first.

H9

P.s. for those on the fence about Puritan Audio conditioners and cables. Go for it. While I can't do a side by side vs. the APC H15..........I feel the PSM136 has a good deal to do with what I'm experiencing, and I really like the peace of mind of the non-sacrificial voltage surge protection.