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Digital Drive Upsamplers, DACs, jitter, shakes and analogue withdrawals, this is it. |
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Digital Drive Upsamplers, DACs, jitter, shakes and analogue withdrawals, this is it. |
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In Reply to: AudioQuest Vodka RJ/E posted by Luminator on March 5, 2015 at 19:07:17:
After my first impressions - better treble, cymbal shimmer, inner dynamics and clarity - last night's overriding impressions were that it reminded me of the first time I heard the Linn CD12, or the AMR CD-77. There was increased clarity and *zero* hardness (unless the recording supplied it) I listened, with my wife, to a range of jazz and classical pieces, with some 70s pop thrown in at the end, before turning in for the night.Yes, there was more clarity (not just detail). Yes, the sound was less 'congested'. But the impression that lasted longest was that there was more macro- and micro-dynamic 'bounce' and, incredibly (I think, for digital), more flow and contiguity. I was expecting a bit more resolution but not this. Hmmmm. There was also a sense of significantly more sound decay aurally apparent. There's a heightened sense of a performance taking place, not just sounds emanating in a nice way.
The other thing I noticed, was the sense the each instrument's timbre sounded more distinct and truer to life than previously. Instruments and sounds appeared to be rendered with greater coherence and verisimilitude, dynamically, tonally, temporally (this last characteristic is tough to call but I attribute that sense to the perception that instruments' sounds happen more convincingly, seem locked down in the mix and sound less like a simulation). But, and this is a big but, with the much increased clarity, there was no sense of digital pain or treble hardness. Is this the effect of less noise and better time coherence? Don't know.
One can't remove the player from all of this, so others' experience will likely vary. Despite being open to the notion of potential change/improvement, I was in the sceptical camp, simply because I'm not that keen on having to spend more to reliably get more. I thought I could live without this 'beautification'.
I run Blue Jeans certified CAT 6A and thought that was good. Well it is good. And, frankly, these improvements are small and subtle, even if they are detectable. So if your system is only 'meh' and doesn't tickle you, I'm not sure the Vodka would be the ticket to bliss. But, so far (and it's too early to be definitive), the Vodka is making my music sound even more like music played by music-playing people, who actually *like* playing music to music-lovers. Musically.
Big J
"... only a very few individuals understand as yet that personal salvation is a contradiction in terms."
Edits: 03/05/15
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Follow Ups
- Interesting, because I found something similar already - jusbe 19:49:31 03/05/15 (0)
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