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In Reply to: RE: Tara Labs ISM OnBoard Digital 75, Part 9 posted by fantja on January 25, 2021 at 23:24:37
I don't know exactly when Mark Levinson released the No. 37 CD transport. I first had one in the early 2000s, and with the various DACs I had on hand, clearly, the No. 37's sonics were SOTA. It proved that, at least for the music I had and liked, Redbook CD was awesome.
The issue with the No. 37 wasn't sonics; it was reliability. Units (especially the disc drive) often broke, and repairs were slow and expensive.
By properly reading a CD, a No. 37 makes life on the DAC much easier. However, that assumes that the digital cables are up to snuff. That is, they must pass all of that information intact, without leaving it open to interference and noise.
Feeding a No. 37 into a Simaudio 750D shows that the No. 37 is sonically superior to the 750D's interior Phillips drive. The latter rolls off the treble. The No. 37/750D combo sounds simply superb. And it gets better, as you (a) Cook all of the cables, (b) use the after-market fuses which suit your tastes, (c) select the right powercord, and (d) add Simaudio's 820S outboard power supply.
It's implied that, if you start with a high-quality source, then you are able to judge properly everything downstream, including cables.
Tara Labs' ISM digital cables possess a sonic openness, which makes most of the competition (and Tara Labs' own lesser-priced models) sound hopelessly colored, inept, and broken.
Most audiophiles prattle about how a product sounds. And that's perfectly fine. But astute readers have observed that my writing partners often eschew that. Notice how we phrase audio in terms of "accuracy," "deviations from perfection," and how it moves or does not move us. When we find and use audio products which are clean, transparent, and sonically invisible, they leave you with the music. And when that happens, my writing partners don't talk about "how it sounds." Rather, they supply detailed, movie reel-like life stories, interwoven with, caused by, and intensified by the music. Thus, their connection with the music has been fortified.
Okay, back to real life. An Inmate read the OP, and emailed, "Goddamn, why don't you give foo-foo cables to ME?!!! Talk about privileged. You live in one of the most expensive places in the country. And your relatives live in Hawaii, ferchrissake!"
Follow Ups:
Awesome! follow up Lummy.
Any new gear headed your way in 2021 ?
As far as gear is concerned, that's always been unpredictable. Since the late-00s, my strategy, if it even rises to that level, is to let my audio circle make major upgrades. I then wait for their old, but still plenty good, items. Or, since everyone started to downsize in the late-00s, the gear and racks left, but often, the cables remained. That's how we ended up with excess cabling.
Nobody has the same tastes, but when my audio circle spells out how a product performed, I can glean enough from that, if it would work for my needs. My audio circle does an honest job, of investigating such issues as noise, heat, ergonomics, aesthetics, dust, accessibility, and compatibility.
Because a Cable Cooker (plus various adapters) has taken up residence at my house, cables are shipped to me all the time. Only 10-20% gives me permission to write about his cables. So you don't see or hear about the other 80-90%. But with all of this experience, you (a) know the difference between untreated and Cooked, (b) develop your own preferences, but (c) understand that, with so many to choose from, there's got to be something for everyone, at all budget levels.
Right On! Lummy
the trickle down effect is awesome. There is a plethora of excellent gear
on the secondary market.
Regarding Cables/Cords, have you cooked SwissCable ?
If so, which series? Outcomes ?
Given that I have no personal experience with Swiss Cables, I reached out to a few of my audiophile acquaintances. None of them said they've tried any, either.
Yeah, since the latter half of the 00s, I've let my audio circle be the guinea pig. So if there's something they move on from, but I might like, I check it out. Such was the case with the Simaudio 600i integrated amp. Its last owner moved up to higher-end Simaudio, so he was more than happy to sell the 600i to me. That all-silver unit was in great shape.
Also starting from the late-00s, my audio circle downsized. So while lots of excess turntables, phonostages, amps, speakers, and line-level interconnects were sold off, some choice powercords remained. That's how I obtained some of the massively expensive Pranawire powercords.
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