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An Inmate who has Simaudio Neo gear reached out, and inquired about moving up to Evolution series gear. But beyond matters audio, he brought up topics and aspects I do not often hear. He stated that he was "5'3" -- in shoes," and "I love when you talk about short little girls playing sports with you. Why? I sure as heck would have loved to play with them, if only because they had to endure the taunts and trash talk. So with opponents directing all that s--- at the girls, I finally would have been left alone!"
He added, "You don't have to spell out how much the music not just mattered, but influenced and shaped you."
On a cloudy Saturday in February 1988, my friends went out to San Francisco's West Sunset Playground, to play softball, football, and basketball. In softball and football, you can position and scheme. But in basketball, if you don't have size, skill, and speed, there's not much you can do. We saw that our opponents were beating us so badly and easily, they were getting bored, and losing interest.
After we were done, my friends chilled. As always, someone had brought a boombox. George Michael's Faith played softly. The sentiment was that we preferred Wham! over solo George Michael. One of the girls proclaimed, "I get it. This [Faith] is critically acclaimed. But that doesn't mean I like it. It's just not as fun and enjoyable as Wham!"
While "Faith," "Father Figure," and "I Want Your Sex" got all of the accolades and airplay, one of our girls declared that her favorite was the hardly-heard ballad, "Kissing A Fool."
I told the Inmate above, and many others, that adding and optimizing an 820S to an existing Simaudio Evolution system allow the music to "tell more of the story." For most users, you will stop talking about sonics, and delve more deeply into the music -- and how it originally moved (or did not move) you.
If you have Simaudio's 750D CD player/DAC, it is like providing you with this choice photo from the first weekend of the Fall 1992 quarter. Adding the 820S outboard power supply points out details, provides context and background, and tells the whole story.
In September 1992, I moved into an on-campus UCSC apartment. Some of my friends from student activity clubs lived off-campus. And to kick off the year, these clubs were holding on-campus meetings, where you were supposed to "dress nicely," but not formally. So my female friends came over to my apartment, brought clothes, and provided dinner (see the takeout containers). I wore ill-fitting collared shirt and slacks. But the girls struggled, with what to wear.
Although 1992 was our Summer Of Love, none of us, to start the school year, had a steady boyfriend. Many of us were seniors, and we were definitely feeling the pressure to find someone. In our case, DAC did not mean Digital To Analog Converter; it meant the dreaded Dating After College.
About the lack of current lovelife, we all had our stories and explanations, but Melanie's was arguably the best. She said she had been dating a guy whose "best friend is a hot female. And they are roommates." Crossing her index and middle finger, Melanie said, "And they are like this!" Melanie said that, she went over to their apartment, and "One would be sitting on the toilet, while the other stands and chats. And they share deodorant!"
To get more belongings, my housemate Tron had gone home to San Jose. When he came back, my friends and I were at the club events. He sampled some of the leftover food. But he got a kick out of all the bras draped over the kitchen chairs, and various clothing on the table. Tron correctly surmised that these clothes belonged not to any one person, but to multiple girls. And the reason why so many bras were strewn about was not because of sex. Rather, the girls wore dresses which did not require a bra.
In the photo of Tron, notice that the shelves were empty. I would go home, and fetch my digest-sized Stereophile and TAS magazines, which then went on the shelves behind Tron. That school year, Naim Audio were best known for formal outboard power supplies. But then Audio Alchemy made outboard power supplies for their relatively affordable gear.
With the Simaudio 820S, you will need to exercise the most patience, with Cooking the 4-pin and 5-pin XLR DC cables. Post-Cooking, the Revelation Audio Labs Passage requires weeks of regular use. Gradually, the 820S/750D produces tightly-defined, sharply-drawn, but accurate images (assuming they are recorded that way). Said images then properly spread out in both width and depth. Digital can have a hard time, preserving air, but here, there is less air and color sucked and grayed out.
Armed with the 820S, the 750D presents music in a less choppy, stilted, and bumpy manner. And with the Pranawire Maha Samadhi powercord, which doesn't have as tight a bass as their own Cosmos PC and Vajra, you can make out the bass guitarist's hands on strings. And then you feel and "see" the waves of bass energy start from a couple feet behind the plane of the speakers, and then come towards you.
Armed with the 820S, the 750D does a better job of contrasting the music against background silence. This quality benefits "Kissing A Fool," where George Michael no longer appears to be looking down at his feet. It's like he raised his head, and has started singing to an area ten feet in front of him.
I removed the 820S, allowing the 750D to be by itself. To which my wife protested, "Limp d---!" The solo 750D disappointed my wife, though not to the levels of (a) Wham! breaking up; (b) your new love interest being intertwined and living with a hot female; or (c) graduating from college, and no longer having it as a dating pool.
Even with the Maha Samadhi, which is a good match for the 750D, the music becomes small, gray, soft, amorphous, and just unsure of itself. It is lacking in focus, detail, shape, spirit, color, vibrancy, soul, and see-through transparency. There's enough detail, that it presents the photo of Tron to you. But it stops right there, and does not offer any guidance or explanation.
Put back the 820S on the 750D, and the source sets the table. You then accommodate downstream audio products, which latch on, and don't let go. And they do not have to be expensive, like the Simaudio 820S and 750D themselves. That is why something like the enthusiastic Totem Sky ($1850) will have you bopping, singing, and playing air drums. And the Inmate at the top of this page can retain, keep, enjoy, and still use his Neo series preamp and power amp.
At the September 1992 club event, the DJ played lots of good R&B, dance, hip hop. But they were all fast songs. The DJ then devilishly played George Michael's "Kissing A Fool," which one of our girls instantly recognized. After the song ended, we knew it was time to go.
-Lummy The Loch Monster
Follow Ups:
I enjoy your stories Lummy when I have time to read them, I am also a fan of Simaudio. Here is a pic from the beginning, although I can't tell an interesting story from my youth at the time to go with it.
When I entered UCSC in Fall 1989, Simaudio called themselves "Celeste" or "Moon." They claimed they were founded in 1980, by a Victor Sima. Then it made sense, why they were "Simaudio."
Anyway, a brunette coed down the hall from me was named Celeste. She was kind of thick-bodied, like a moon. Depending on class schedule, she seemed to like taking a shower in the late morning. FWIW, that was a time of day, when the restroom wasn't in high use. Celeste would carry toiletries in one hand, and a towel in the other. She wouldn't drape the towel, to cover her body. So yes, she was au naturel.
If you passed by, Celeste would stop, and carry on a conversation, as if everything were normal. When it came to ethnicity, she rattled off a few European countries, but claimed that the highest percentages were German and Italian. French was on her list, so when I put "Celeste," her big bare moon, and "French" [Simaudio were from French-speaking Quebec], the audio dweeb in me thought positively of Simaudio.
No, if you quizzed the college-aged Lummy, he would not have predicted owning Simaudio gear, and certainly none this expensive. So far, how is the 700i treating you? Our 600i just goes about quietly, and we mentally forget it is there. For us, that is high praise, but for other audiophiles, that is underwhelming.
From my last visit to the UCSC campus, what was once part of the Great Meadow has been converted to soccer fields. The benches overlooking the field and Monterey Bay are still there. Moreover, they were clean, without the graffiti of the early-90s.
Absolutely happy with the 700i. You were right it is so smooth and just outputs what you feed it. Full bodied signal in, full bodied sound out. This signal in, thin out. Transparent, great sound stage and placement. At this point I couldn't ask for more. Thanks for the tips Lummy.
The Bay Area, including San Francisco, is not teeming with people. So now is the time for people to mask up, and enjoy the outdoors. Heck, with snowstorms across the country, some of my friends and colleagues have gone skiing.
Staying at home also means that people get to spend more time on their stereos. If you have a Simaudio Evolution preamp or integrated amp, be sure to adjust the settings, including the gain for each input. That way when you switch from input to input, the volume across all sources can remain level.
For the 600i, our most cost-effective "tweak" is the Hi-Fi Tuning Silverstar fuse. These have long been out of production, but can still be found at reasonable prices.
I can't find the 600i's original powercord. Some users are perfectly fine with it. These people can squeeze more out the stock OEM powercord (and all after-market ones, as well), by placing it on the audiodharma Cable Cooker, with its Ground Breaker adapter. Above, I am Cooking a throwaway right-angle powercord, which another audiophile uses under his Mark Levinson No. 380S preamp.
Great pics! Lummy.
Great pics! Lummy
Faith is an excellent test disc.
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