Cables and Sources

Archived from groups: rec.audio.high-end (More info?)

Pierce <james592@excite.com> wrote:
> I know this topic has been beaten to the ground but I have a unique
> situation.

> I have a NAD C541 as the CD source, a Pioneer 563a as my DVD and a NAD AV
> T752. I listen to mostly 2 channel but I have the NAD AV for both HT and 2
> channel. Dynaudio 42's are my speakers. Well I have been upgrading cables
> lately and also bought an inexpensive monster power center, the power
> strip type. I upgraded the speaker cables to monster reference Z2 and
> right off the bat the sound was much cleaner, deeper soundstage etc. I
> live very close to a power substation and noticed an immediate improvement
> in clarity on both my TV and sound with the monster power center. I can
> actually listen to regular TV at lower levels.

> I decided to upgrade to a Kimber Hero interconnect next over a 15 dollar
> Acoustic Research cable. I can truley say the Kimber is better than the
> $15 dollar cable when connectd to the NAD CDP. All the stuff the cable
> manufacturer claims is apparent. I then decided to try a redbook CD in my
> $149 Pioneer DVD which I have abandoned for some time as a CD player. To
> my astonishment the sound is so incredibly close to the $500 NAD CDP and
> $200 Kimber Hero's it is scary. With the Kimber connected to the pioneer
> the highs were even more extended and there was an increased clarity
> almost identical to the NAD with the Kimber. I was using $40 monster
> interconnects for the Pioneer to the NAD AV.

> HDCD is a noticable improvement on the NAD CDP then on standard redbook
> with the Pioneer but that is the only somewhat major difference.

OK, so what exactly is unique about your situation? Reports of vast
improvement after switching cables or CD players or 'line conditioners'
are utterly commonplace....and not particularly convincing by themselves.


> Are cheap DVD's on par with $500 dollar CDP's for standard redbook?

They can be.

> Or is it mainly due to my mid level system? How can a cheap $149 DVD
do
it all > player sound incredibly close to a $500 CD only player with
standard CD's > ?


I suspect it's mainly due to either to the usual psychological effects --
the players actually sound the *same -- or
to poor connections in the first case that were remedied simply by
disconnecting and reconnecting your system.

Archived from groups: rec.audio.high-end (More info?)

Pierce wrote:
> I know this topic has been beaten to the ground but I have a unique
> situation.

Yes, it's been beaten into the ground. No, your situation isn't unique.
That's why it's been beaten into the ground.
>
> I have a NAD C541 as the CD source, a Pioneer 563a as my DVD and a
NAD AV
> T752. I listen to mostly 2 channel but I have the NAD AV for both HT
and 2
> channel. Dynaudio 42's are my speakers. Well I have been upgrading
cables
> lately and also bought an inexpensive monster power center, the power
> strip type. I upgraded the speaker cables to monster reference Z2 and
> right off the bat the sound was much cleaner, deeper soundstage etc.
I
> live very close to a power substation and noticed an immediate
improvement
> in clarity on both my TV and sound with the monster power center. I
can
> actually listen to regular TV at lower levels.
>
> I decided to upgrade to a Kimber Hero interconnect next over a 15
dollar
> Acoustic Research cable. I can truley say the Kimber is better than
the
> $15 dollar cable when connectd to the NAD CDP. All the stuff the
cable
> manufacturer claims is apparent.

Isn't it amazing how that happens? Actually, it's not amazing at all.
It's called the power of suggestion. Humans are prone to it.

Before we get to your question, let me just say (so you know where I'm
coming from) that I suspect all of your wire "upgrades" haven't made a
whit of difference to the sound of your system. You've probably just
succumbed to the old Placebo Effect--you've made a change, and
therefore you expect to hear a change, and sure enough you do. That's
not a put-down. It happens all the time, to all of us.

To check this, you'd have to try some blind comparisons. When you don't
know which interconnect is in circuit, can you still tell which one
matches that manufacturer's claims? I suspect not.

> I then decided to try a redbook CD in my
> $149 Pioneer DVD which I have abandoned for some time as a CD player.
To
> my astonishment the sound is so incredibly close to the $500 NAD CDP
and
> $200 Kimber Hero's it is scary. With the Kimber connected to the
pioneer
> the highs were even more extended and there was an increased clarity
> almost identical to the NAD with the Kimber. I was using $40 monster
> interconnects for the Pioneer to the NAD AV.
>
> HDCD is a noticable improvement on the NAD CDP then on standard
redbook
> with the Pioneer but that is the only somewhat major difference.
>
> Are cheap DVD's on par with $500 dollar CDP's for standard redbook?
Or is
> it mainly due to my mid level system? How can a cheap $149 DVD do it
all
> player sound incredibly close to a $500 CD only player with standard
CD's
> ?

Nuthin' wrong with your system. We had a thread a few weeks ago on this
subject, called: Source Units Affect Sound? The last post was Jan. 29.
A number of posters suggested technical reasons why higher-end (i.e.,
more expensive) disk players would sound better than inexpensive units.
Others challenged these ideas, noting that the technical demands of
reading and converting disks were quite modest, and that often the
high- and low-end players were using the same parts.

You should read through that thread, but the upshot was that there's a
fair contingent of folks here who wouldn't be surprised that a $150 DVD
player and a $500 CD player sounded pretty much indistinguishable.
They'd probably say the same about a $5000 CD player as well.
Reproducing what's on a CD isn't partcularly challenging these days, it
seems.

Now what's a little interesting here is that you've bought into the
"better wires" idea, but you seem open-minded on the "more expensve CD
players are better" thing. If anything, there's even less reason to
believe the former. I recommend you go back and try your wire
comparisons again. You might discover that the differences are far less
dramatic than you had first imagined.

bob

Archived from groups: rec.audio.high-end (More info?)

When listening very closely there are differences but I still like the CDP
only a better. It loads discs much faster and does HDCD.

Also thanks for the others who have replied back to my post. A better
interconnect may not give better performance/cost ratio with my current
setup than say a 4004,8008 aragon would. I do love the WBT connectors on
the Kimbers and am thinking of buying some and making my own cables.