Hi-Rez Highway

Posted by Perfectionist Jim (M) on October 23, 2006 at 04:44:02

In Reply to: REVIEW: Vacuum State Electronics VSE Level V -- Sony DVP-S9000ES CD Player/Recorder posted by Willie The Squid on October 21, 2006 at 19:23:54:

First of all, I would like to thank Willy for his extremely kind words. But, I feel that it is very important for me to add a few points of clarification here to some of his comments, as Willy’s tremendous enthusiasm for my work on his player might have distorted the picture here slightly.

First off; let me make it clear: The VSE Level 5 and 5+ Sony players absolutely DO NOT require my so called “breath of life” mods to sound superb! They sound truly excellent from the outset (ie in stock level 5 form)! IMHO Allen Wright is one of the most innovative, and brilliant audio designers in the world, and his superb Level 5 modules clearly demonstrate this fact. But, as is the case with virtually everything, some minor refinements on a design is still not 100% out of the realm of possibility.

My mods (tweaks really) merely consist of some very minor refinements to some implementation details involved with wiring-up Allen’s truly superb boards. In addition, I add a mains-RFI filter module into the mix. Other VSE Agents have their own recipes for their own special tweaks that they believe can benefit the sound too (copper foil wires, special capacitors, and high speed rectifiers come immediately to mind). And there is no reason to believe that my particular recipe is necessarily any better than anyone else’s. However, I will gladly share my recipe with any of my colleagues who are interested in learning the about the tricks that I have discovered. That way, if Willy’s review here should happen to generate some special interest in my mix of tweaks, then any VSE agent in the world may just as easily implement these, if a customer should be interested. But please remember, that the “stock” level 5 mods still sound absolutely superb, with or without my mix of tweaks.

So do my tweaks make a difference? I certainly think that they do. But the same can be said of many of the tweaks that are routinely performed by some of my colleagues. Do my tweaks represent a genuine improvement? Frankly, that judgment is really best left to the ears of the beholder. The difference that my tweaks make is sort of like listening to a Linn LP12 vs. a Sota TT. While I may personally prefer the somewhat “livelier” sound of Linn, a great many others will certainly side with the Sota.

Also, it should to be understood that each and every one of my VSE colleagues performs thoroughly excellent work, and receive my very highest recommendations! So regardless of which agent a customer might happen choose, the results should be equally exceptional, wherever in the world you may be located.

And it also needs to be understood that without the unbelievably high resolution VSE boards to work with, my own tweaks would be completely meaningless. In fact, it is only because of the unbelievable transparency, and incredible resolution of the sound from the VSE boards, that such very-minor tweaks would are even audible!

The bottom line is that Allen Wright is the one who genuinely deserves the accolades here for his level 5 mods here, not me. Bravo to Allen for designing such an amazing sounding set of modifications!!! I could not be more proud of having the privilege of working with sombody like you!

Regards,

Jim Ellis (Vacuum State Agent)
Sonic Perfectionists