AudioQuest Hawk Eye, Part 5
162.205.183.92 |
||
| Posted on October 11, 2020 at 22:37:04 | ||
|
Posts: 7338
Location: Bay Area Joined: December 11, 2000 |
 In the mid-90s, my girlfriend ACS and I had Theta and CAL digital gear. On this gear, digital cables could sound radically different from each other. This was maddening, and over time, made you focus on the negatives. You thus were not enjoying the music, as much or deeply as you should have. We had the MIT Digital Reference ($325), which generally sounded big. Half the time, it sounded big and muddy. The other half, it sounded appropriately 3D and full-bodied. And then, in the January 1996 Stereophile, the Digital Reference was part of a Spectral/MIT/Avalon review. One of the new songs ACS and I liked was Oleta Adams' "I Knew You When." The MIT Digital Reference did not lend itself well, to this torch song. With enlarged images occupying the same space, there was less space and air between those images. Adams' voice was too gray, husky, smeared, and thickened. And the bass range lingered too long. In March 1996, ACS and I had a bowling tournament in Reno. Along I-80, we stopped for gas and restroom break in Auburn, home to MIT. Having time to reflect, ACS said that she wished she could take a knitting needle, and "deflate" the overlarge images provided by the MIT Digital Reference. The MIT Digital Reference provides a useful measuring stick for the AudioQuest Hawk Eye. They sound like relatives, even though they are not. When you switch from one to the other, the Hawk Eye does sound like the images, versus the MIT Digital Reference, have been usefully deflated. They are still round, just not as LARGE. Tonally, the Hawk Eye seems pretty even, neither lean nor overweight. Neither zippy nor lazy, the Hawk Eye possesses reasonable speed, to keep up with what you feed it. When the MIT Digital Reference is on its A game, it can reproduce the music's crunch, like few others. The power and punch of drums, combined with the right kind of distortion in electric guitar, make recordings sound like L.A. Guns' Cocked And Loaded. No, the Hawk Eye does not reach this level, though it times well, and does not leave you feeling cheated of said qualities. The Hawk Eye does not put a drag on the music flowing from one moment to the next. This aids Oleta Adams' "I Knew You When," and compels you to sway emotionally to the music. Yes, there are losses in texture, focus, grip, and colors. But enough remains, that when you are swaying, you do not dwell on these losses. In this comparison, if you like what the MIT Digital Reference does, but find it a bit too much, check out the AQ Hawk Eye. -Lummy The Loch Monster
|
|
